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Our High Voltage column wraps all the news driving ASX stocks with exposure to lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel, rare earths, manganese, magnesium, and vanadium.
To meet electrification targets we need an impossibly large 336 new graphite, lithium, nickel, and cobalt mines by 2035, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence says, and that includes recycling.
A partial solution to this shortfall is substituting some lithium-ion batteries – especially the large ones used for stationary storage – with alternative battery chemistries.
Stationary storage systems are big batteries often designed to store excess power from the grid for use during expensive peak demand periods.
Here, the spotlight ex-lithium is largely on vanadium redox flow (VRFBs) and zinc-bromine batteries, but there’s a new kid on the block that Far East Capital analyst Warwick Grigor is plenty excited about.
Grigor says that while lithium-ion is the default at present for stationary storage, and vanadium batteries are gaining more attention, calcium-antimony could be better and cheaper than both.
USA company Ambri has developed a liquid metal battery comprised of a calcium alloy anode, a molten salt electrolyte and a cathode comprised of solid particles of antimony, he says.
Importantly, it does not require in-demand materials like lithium.
“Last year it raised US$144m, with Bill Gates being one of the funders,” he says.
“The antimony-based battery has an expected life span twice that of lithium batteries, experiencing minimal capacity loss over a 20-year life.
“This is a grid-scale storage system for solar and wind energy that, according to Ambri, is “the battery that will change the world”.”
These batteries have progressed past the bench-scale test level and are now going into pilot scale field operations with US company Xcel Energy, which is installing a demonstration battery at the Solar Technology Acceleration Centre in Colorado over the next year.
The Excel facility is one of five similar pilot projects planned for 2023.
Antimony is used for military applications including precision optics, night vision goggles, infrared sensors, military clothing, tanks, and even the manufacture of armour piercing bullets.
Because of its fire-retardant properties, antimony is also widely used in plastics and paints, and its anti-corrosion properties strengthen everything from nuclear energy facilities to batteries and wind turbines.
High-tech devices like smartphones, semiconductors, cars and computers depend on antimony to operate efficiently.
Now you can add batteries to that list.
Like most critical minerals, around 80% of antimony comes from China and Russia.
However there are a few ASX junior stocks dabbling in the space, including Southern Cross Gold (ASX:SXG), Red River Resources (ASX:RVR), Great Northern Minerals (ASX:GNM), and Grigor’s own Nagambie Resources (ASX:NAG).
Grigor, who recently joined the NAG board, says the company is optimistic that typical mine grades at its namesake project in Victoria could be in the range of 5-10% stibnite, “which would make it one of the highest-grade antimony orebodies in the world”.
“As such, it is very well positioned to feed into the strong demand we can see coming from the calcium-antimony battery developments over the next few years,” he says.
READ: Antimony — One of the most important critical minerals you’ve never heard of
Tremendous profits have already been made by investors backing battery material companies, Grigor says.
The most obvious ones have been in the lithium space, but one thing is certain; new battery technologies will emerge that provide opportunities for other commodities to outperform.
“Technological development never stops, and the world is always looking for better alternatives,” he says.
“The development of the antimony-based grid storage battery is one such initiative that offers great upside for antimony companies and investors, of which there are very few so far.”
Here’s how a basket of ASX stocks with exposure to lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel, rare earths, magnesium, manganese, and vanadium is performing>>>
Battery metals stocks missing from our list? Shoot a mail to [email protected] .
Drill hole #1 at the flagship Solaroz project hit ~105m of highly conductive brines from 65m depth in sandstones and fine gravels, considered positive due to their porosity and permeability for potential future lithium brine extraction.
Located 10km from Allkem’s (ASX:AKE) Olaroz production field and just 3km from its recently acquired Maria Victoria concession, the diamond drill hole is the first of a high impact 10 hole, 5000m program to convert the massive brine exploration target at Solaroz into resources.
Solaroz has a conceptual exploration target of 1.5 to 8.7 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent based at between ~500mg/L Lithium and 700mg/L Li.
Similar conductive brines are currently being mined by Allkem in adjoining concessions, LEL says, a strong indicator that lithium is also present within the brines in the company’s project.
In an exclusive chat with Stockhead, new managing director Steve Promnitz talked about his departure from Lake Resources (ASX:LKE), and what attracted him to start it all again at QXR, which has projects in the Pilbara region of WA.
“I don’t want to talk about it too much now as I expect some news coming out soon, but the tenements at Turner River are only 15km from Wodgina, one of the largest hard rock lithium projects in the world,” Promnitz says.
“I’m not a nearology guy, but QXR have some pegmatites at surface which look good.
“Results from sampling, followed by geophysics and drilling will show whether we can develop this quickly.
“QXR are reasonably well funded, and relationships with end users can accelerate the timeline for development. One is a shareholder. That may also assist in consolidation if appropriate.”
Promnitz is aiming for QXR to go well for shareholders, he says.
“I can’t promise the x30 uplift like in Lake, but I suspect that even in a tough junior equities market it is going to go well.”
READ: Q+A — An exclusive chat with lithium maestro Steve Promnitz about leaving Lake and his new gig at QX Resources
LRV has come out of a trading halt after raising $3.4m in a royalty, equity and offtake (REO) deal to expedite lithium exploration at the Eyre project in WA.
The REO was inked with Canadian-based Lithium Royalty Corp (LRC) which will acquire a newly created 1% gross revenue royalty payable if any lithium is extracted or sold by LRV from Eyre.
They will also subscribe for ~11m new shares at an issue price of $0.18 to raise $2m – a small 10% discount to 10-day VWAP — and acquire a 20% life of mine offtake right for lithium from Eyre Project for an extra $700,000.
LRC also holds royalty investments in lithium players like Core Lithium (ASX:CXO – $2.2bn market cap), and Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA – $2.9bn market cap).
The remaining $1.8m of the equity investment is being taken by Waratah Capital, which manages over CAD$4bn in assets and is the founding sponsor of Lithium Royalty Corp.
“Bringing a substantial North American institutional fund onto the register is a huge vote of confidence in our assets and management and will enable the company to accelerate its lithium exploration at the Merivale prospect and other areas within the Eyre Project well beyond what was initially planned on listing,” LRV managing director Ron Heeks says.
“This working capital injection significantly improves our balance sheet and enables Larvotto to confidently progress our various drill programs into 2023.”
The 690sqkm Eyre project is under-explored for lithium and recent work by Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) in the area has gained significant attention from the investment community, LRV says.
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