{kanada_flagge}Group Ten Metals (WKN A2AN4B / TSXV PGE) has an ambitious goal for this fall/winter: The Canadian explorer wants to deliver the first ever resource estimate on the giant Stillwater West project in Montana – directly adjacent to Sibanye Stillwater’s platinum and palladium mining complex. And this extremely important milestone for any exploration company is getting closer and closer!
That’s because the independent experts from SGS Geological Services, which Group Ten engaged to prepare the resource calculation – which, by the way, only covers Stillwater West’s most advanced target areas – have just completed a visit to the project. They are now already finalizing what they call block models, which consist of drill-defined nickel and copper sulphide mineralization enriched in palladium, platinum, rhodium, gold and cobalt.
Group Ten Geo’s Checking Stillwater West Core; Picture: Group Ten Metals
In addition to the more advanced Chrome Mountain, Camp and Iron Mountain targets, the initial Stillwater West resource will include the Crescent target after block models were expanded due to continuity of mineralization in all target areas.
Meanwhile, drills at Group Ten’s huge and extremely exciting project in Montana continue to spin. A diamond core drill is active on Chrome Mountain, while a second drill rig is testing the most prospective targets on Camp before moving on to Iron Mountain. To date, the Company has been able to complete twelve holes and, with good weather conditions, expects to be able to drill on into October. These holes, according to Group Ten, will also contribute to the overall goal of increasing the size of the new resource.
The Company continues to use a wide variety of tools to increase the likelihood of successful drilling. These currently include a geophysical survey using induced polarization, which has arrived in the area west of the 2020 survey conducted in the Chrome Mountain area.
Carbon sequestration possible at Stillwater West?
Another extremely interesting aspect of Stillwater West is that there appears to be the potential for carbon sequestration! In any case, Group Ten has in fact engaged Dr. Greg Dipple and his team from the University of British Columbia for a second phase of study to investigate the possibility of using mineral carbonate formation to sequester carbon dioxide for ultimate disposal – as part of a future mining operation on the project!
Preliminary work has apparently already shown good potential for this, based on the occurrence of certain minerals at Stillwater West. The next phase of studies, now underway, is intended to refine and advance the previous work by identifying specific minerals in rock samples while beginning to monitor potential reaction rates, among other things. If the new program is successful, further activities would then examine reaction rates and other factors in greater detail, ultimately leading to a full-scale pilot demonstration. This is expected to provide the data necessary to make projections related to full-scale development and inclusion in potential broader engineering studies of Stillwater West.
This would provide the potential for Group Ten to pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere while mining the battery and precious metals needed for the “green revolution.” This represents a major opportunity for the company, especially since Stillwater West has nickel sulfide mineralization that can be more easily refined into the high-grade nickel sulfate needed by the battery industry than the laterite nickel that dominates current production worldwide – and with much less impact on the environment!
It is possible, then, that in the future the carbon footprint of all of Stillwater West’s raw materials could be reduced in an eventual production, and possibly even achieve such large savings that carbon emissions based on mine operations would actually be exceeded. Such a positive effect could, according to Group Ten CEO Michael Rowley, lead to the company virtually exceeding ESG requirements and thus, for example, benefiting from tax relief (45Q Tax Credit for Carbon Oxide Sequestration), as is now available in the USA!
In addition, the experts at Metals Focus – with regard to the largest gold producers in the world – have noted that the fact that large amounts of carbon dioxide are emitted in the production of the precious metal is likely to be one of the reasons that the valuation of the gold majors lags behind that of other sectors. (We reported.) After all, nowadays more and more (major) investors are acting environmentally conscious and attach increasing importance to compliance with ESG standards. If Group Ten does indeed succeed in establishing carbon sequestration on a significant scale at Stillwater West, we believe this should have a very positive impact on the share price, at least in the long term. There is still a long way to go before this could become reality, but the potential for such a development alone makes Stillwater West that much more exciting in our view!
Conclusion: Group Ten Metals is not only about to reach one of the most important milestones for any explorer, the presentation of a first resource estimate, but also wants to mine metals on a significant scale at the Stillwater West project in the USA, that are of crucial importance for the electrification boom. In addition to nickel, copper and cobalt, these include the precious metal platinum, which plays an essential role in the production of green hydrogen via electrolysis and in the consumption of hydrogen in fuel cells. Adding significant carbon sequestration to the mix would drastically improve Group Ten’s already excellent future prospects in our opinion! However, investors should not forget that the company is still in an early stage of development and therefore the risks are still high.
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