REG - Strategic Minerals - UK 2024 Criticality Assessment Published

Strategic MineralsAnnouncement

29/11/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 0924O  Strategic Minerals PLC  29 November 2024

 

29 November 2024

 

Strategic Minerals plc

("Strategic Minerals" or the "Company")

New UK 2024 Criticality Assessment Published: Maintains Tungsten & Tin as
Critical Minerals

Strategic Minerals plc (AIM: SML; USOTC: SMCDY), a producing mineral company,
is pleased to update shareholders on news affecting its 100% owned subsidiary
Cornwall Resources Limited ("CRL").

CRL is pleased to note that the UK Criticality Assessment 2024, published by
the UK Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre and released on 28 November 2024,
has maintained the critical designation of tungsten and tin.  This
announcement continues to place CRL's Redmoor polymetallic tungsten deposit as
a key future potential supply of these critical minerals, further highlighting
the projects strengths and importance both to UK supply chain resilience, but
also to those of partner nations and allies.

Highlights:

·    UK 2024 Criticality Assessment¹ released with the designation of 34
critical minerals, including 17 new critical minerals and maintaining the
original 17 of the original 18 designated critical minerals (palladium
removed) from the Criticality Assessment 2021².

·    The 2024 Criticality Assessment maintains tungsten and tin as
critical minerals to the UK economy.

·    These metals are the key constituents of Redmoor's, JORC (2012)
compliant, mineral resource estimate of a High Grade Inferred Resource of 11.7
Mt at 0.56% Tungsten Trioxide (WO₃), 0.16% Tin, & 0.50% Copper (MRE
2019).

·    Efforts underway through discussion and submissions to Government to
highlight Redmoor's potential important contribution to resilience of domestic
and international supply chains for critical and strategic designated
minerals.

Commenting, Dennis Rowland, Project Manager of CRL, said:

"I am encouraged by the publication of the new UK 2024 Criticality Assessment,
and the continued inclusion of tungsten and tin in the new critical minerals
list.  The time is now to advance this project, and we are working hard to
secure support for this.

"I also look forward to attending the Critical Minerals Association conference
in London on 2 December where these recent developments will no doubt be
further highlighted."

Commenting, Peter Wale, CRL Director, SML Executive Director, said:

"Following the release of this report, it is clear there is significant
potential to continue to push for increased support for the establishment of
domestic sources of critical minerals for metals that the UK is naturally
endowed in, such as tungsten and tin.  The CRL team continues to engage on
this."

 

UK Criticality Assessment 2024:

Following the publication of the UK Criticality Assessment 2021, and
designation of 18 Critical Minerals, the UK Government published its Critical
Minerals Strategy in 2022, and Critical Minerals Refresh in 2023, and
committed to updating its critical minerals list at regular intervals.  On 28
November 2024, the British Geological Survey announced the updated UK 2024
Criticality Assessment and designation of a new critical minerals list.  The
2024 list contains 17 new minerals, in addition to the 17 of the original 18
minerals, who's status has been maintained (see Table 1 below).

The UK 2024 Criticality Assessment maintains tungsten and tin as critical
minerals.  Both metals are the key constituents of Redmoor's, JORC compliant,
mineral resource estimate of an Inferred Resource of 11.7 Mt at 0.56% WO₃,
0.16% Sn, and 0.50% Copper (MRE 2019).  This resource highlights Redmoor's
high grade Tungsten nature, in comparison to lower grade resources being
developed and under operation elsewhere, including in the UK, Australia, and
the US, as well as Redmoor's potential to add new sources of tin to the supply
chain.

CRL's Project Manager, Dennis Rowland, participated in the consultation
process, as part of the review and feedback of the UK 2024 Critical Minerals
List prior to its finalisation and publication.  Dennis joined other industry
consultees with representatives from the UK Critical Minerals Association
membership, mining majors, and other industry figures in a recent industry
session as part of the process.  A key focus was to highlight the key
importance of Tungsten and Tin to the resilience of UK supply chains for
advanced manufacturing, green technologies and infrastructure, and defence
application.

Tungsten: a "dual-use" metal, that cannot be substituted for in both modern
industrial and defence applications is a UK-designated Critical Mineral,
European Union ("EU")-designated Strategic and Critical Mineral, and a
US-designated Strategic Material and Critical Mineral.  Due to its high
economic importance, and supply chain concentration, the tungsten pricing
dynamic is expected to become more favourable with the announcement of recent
tariffs and usage restriction by the US on Chinese-sourced tungsten, and
recently announced increased export curbs for dual-use metals (including
tungsten) by China.

Tin: UK-designated Critical Mineral, and US-designated Strategic Material and
Critical Mineral, with a vital role in electrification and modern and green
technologies.  The UK could reestablish itself as a key supplier of tin
through the advancement of projects in the southwest of England.

Although not included in the new critical minerals list, Copper is an
essential material for the electrification of our societies and our ability to
reach Net Zero.  Growing supply deficits and demand are expected to have
material impacts on pricing economics, as nations continue to seek to secure
resilient supply chains.  Copper is designated as both a Critical and
Strategic Raw Material in the EU, and legislation currently being advanced in
the US may soon add Copper to the USGS Critical Minerals List³, to align with
its designation by the US Department of Energy.

Certain other Critical Minerals listed in the UK 2024 Criticality Assessment,
including Zinc, are present and have been analysed within both the Redmoor
deposit, and in the wider licence area.  Future studies at Redmoor will
assess their potential for addition in future resource estimates, and
targeting during exploration, as part of an assessment into their potential
extraction and economic impacts on the project.

CRL's focus on critical and strategic minerals targets those in increasing
demand due to global shifts towards supply chain resilience for energy,
advanced manufacturing, and defence sectors.  Policy changes in the US,
including usage restrictions in defence applications, manufacturing, and
end-use components for Chinese-sourced tungsten, as well as recently announced
import tariffs for Chinese-sourced tungsten, have created an increased focus
in the US on securing "domestic" sourcing of critical and strategic
minerals.  Under US legislation the UK, alongside Canada and Australia, are
designated as Domestic for the supply of critical minerals.

Coupled with the recently announced tightening of export curbs for "dual-use"
materials, including tungsten, by China, these policy shifts highlight the
strategic nature of the Redmoor Project.  Redmoor has the potential, subject
to advancing to operations, to be a significant new source of tungsten,
alongside tin and copper, to provide resilient supply to the UK, and our
allies and partners.  With the current consultation process for the UK
Industrial Strategy 2035, CRL and others are actively advocating for the
designation of critical minerals as a distinct subsector within the Strategy
due to their important to UK supply chains for advanced manufacturing, energy
and green technologies, and defence sectors and applications.  This is hoped
to have a significant effect of government support for domestic projects.

¹ UK 2024 Criticality Assessment published - British Geological Survey
(https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/uk-2024-criticality-assessment/)

² UK criticality assessment of technology critical minerals and metals -
British Geological Survey
(https://www.bgs.ac.uk/download/uk-criticality-assessment-of-technology-critical-minerals-and-metals/)

³
https://www.mining.com/us-house-of-representatives-approves-2024-critical-mineral-consistency-act/
(https://www.mining.com/us-house-of-representatives-approves-2024-critical-mineral-consistency-act/)

 

 For further information, please contact:

 Strategic Minerals plc                                   +44 (0) 207 389 7067
 Mark Burnett
 Executive Director
 Website:               www.strategicminerals.net (http://www.strategicminerals.net)
 Email:                 info@strategicminerals.net (mailto:info@strategicminerals.net)

 Follow Strategic Minerals on:
 Vox Markets:           https://www.voxmarkets.co.uk/company/SML/
                        (https://www.voxmarkets.co.uk/company/SML/)
 X (formerly Twitter):  @SML_Minerals (https://twitter.com/SML_Minerals)
 LinkedIn:              https://www.linkedin.com/company/strategic-minerals-plc
                        (https://www.linkedin.com/company/strategic-minerals-plc)

 SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP                           +44 (0) 20 3470 0470
 Nominated Adviser and Broker
 Matthew Johnson
 Charlie Bouverat
 Grant Barker

 

Notes to Editors:

Strategic Minerals
plc:
                              https://www.strategicminerals.
(https://www.strategicminerals.) net

Strategic Minerals plc is an AIM-quoted, producing minerals company, actively
developing strategic projects in the UK, United States and Australia. In
September 2011, Strategic Minerals acquired the distribution rights to the
Cobre magnetite project in New Mexico, USA, through its wholly owned
subsidiary Southern Minerals Group. Cobre has been in production since 2012
and continues to provide a sustainable revenue stream for the Company.

 

About Cornwall Resources
Limited
              https://www.cornwallresources.com
(https://www.cornwallresources.com)

 

Cornwall Resources Limited ("CRL") is a wholly owned subsidiary of Strategic
Minerals Limited ("SML") (AIM: SML; USOTC: SMCDY).  SML bought into CRL in
2016, and in 2019 completed the purchase of the project.  CRL is focussed on
advancing the high-grade, underground Redmoor Tungsten-Tin-Copper Project,
through a current relogging and sampling campaign of CRL drillcore, and work
towards securing further funding to advance Redmoor, as well as exploring its
significant and highly prospective minerals rights licence areas in east
Cornwall, Southwest England.

CRL through mineral rights agreements, with Redmoor Minerals Limited, The
Duchy of Cornwall, and a third mineral rights owner, has exclusive access to a
mineral rights operating area of 91.67 km² in the highly prospective and
historically mined Tamar Valley Mining District.  CRL is undertaking regional
and targeted exploration activities to develop critical minerals resources.

The Redmoor Project is situated within the historically significant Tamar
Valley Mining District, yet the sheeted vein system ("SVS") which forms the
basis of CRL's inferred resource is unmined.  CRL's most recent,
JORC-compliant, Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") for Redmoor
utilised a comprehensive archive of historical data and combined this with
information from the completion of two exploration campaigns, in 2017 and
2018, which encompassed 32 drillholes for 14,000m of diamond core drilling.

JORC Compliant (2012) Inferred MRE published 14 February 2019, as summarised
below:

 Cut-off (SnEq%)          Tonnage (Mt)  WO(3)  Sn    Cu    Sn Eq(1)  WO(3) Eq

                                        %      %     %     %         %
 >0.45 <0.65              1.50          0.18   0.21  0.30  0.58      0.41
 >0.65                    10.20         0.62   0.16  0.53  1.26      0.88
 Total Inferred Resource  11.70         0.56   0.16  0.50  1.17      0.82

1 Equivalent metal calculation notes; Sn(Eq)% = Sn%*1 + WO3%*1.43 + Cu%*0.40.
WO(3)(EQ)% = SN%*0.7+ WO(3)+Cu%*0.28. Commodity price assumptions: WO3 US$
33,000/t, Sn US$ 22,000/t, Cu US$ 7,000/t. Recovery assumptions: total WO3
recovery 72%, total Sn recovery 68% & total Cu recovery 85% and payability
assumptions of 81%, 90% and 90% respectively

Based on this high-grade resource, an updated Scoping Study, published in 2020
shows that Redmoor has potentially economic viability as a new, underground
mine.  Subject to receipt of necessary funding, CRL has in place all
necessary permissions for drill programs for further significant exploration
of the Redmoor Tungsten-Tin-Copper resource, with the aim of advancing the
project into prefeasibility study.

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