News Articles for Neometals

Neometals Ltd has reported a major increase to its nickel mineral resources at the Mt Edwards project courtesy of four new deposits, nearly tripling metal inventories to 7.4 million tonnes grading 1.7% nickel for just over 123,000 tonnes. The company recently completed the acquisition of the Mt Edwards tenements from Apollo Phoenix Resources and with them, the assignment of further nickel rights.

Neometals has executed a two-year option agreement with the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder to sub-lease a 40 hectare site for its proposed lithium refinery, located in an industrial estate at West Kalgoorlie. The site is located close to critical road, rail and power infrastructure, just 70km by road from the existing Mt Marion Lithium operations, where the company will initially source the raw spodumene lithium feedstock.

Neometals has signed a two-year option agreement for a 40-hectare site in Kalgoorlie for its proposed development of a lithium hydroxide refinery.

There has been a big increase this year in the number of ASX-listed companies, primarily junior explorers in WA, forced to retract announcements.

Neometals has announced it has mined a bulk sample of high grade titanium-vanadium ore from its Barrambie project for dispatch to metallurgy research institutes in China. The material selected is potential ore feed for a future direct shipping operation and samples will undergo extensive beneficiation and pyrometallurgical test work to confirm the optimal processing pathway ahead of offtake pricing negotiations with the Chinese.

In what appears to be a serious opportunity for W.A, the smart money in the lithium space is now moving downstream into the production of lithium-ion battery chemicals such as lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide and the mining of lithium is now looking a bit like the poor cousin. Neometals has kicked off its engineering and design study for a proposed Kalgoorlie lithium hydroxide plant.

Even though Neometals' massive Barrambie titanium-vanadium-iron resource in W.A is of a globally significant scale, it has flown under the radar given that Neometals is better known for its development of the equally significant Mt Marion lithium mine near Coolgardie. The company surprised the market last week by announcing a 280m tonne Resource at Barrambie grading 9.18% TiO2 and 0.44% V2O5.

Tests on lithium concentrates from the Mt Marion mine near Coolgardie have produced exceptionally high quality lithium hydroxide with a 99.99% purity, making a compelling case for part owner Neometals to move into downstream processing by making use of its off-take agreement with its partners. Neometals is planning to build a 10,000 tonne per annum lithium hydroxide plant for the off-take.

Emerging Western Australian nickel company St George Mining is pleased to announce it has successfully raised $4.0 million from institutional and sophisticated investors via a placement at an issue

Neometals has announced the acquisition of a strategic brownfields lithium project, located 40km from its existing Mount Marion Lithium project near Coolgardie. The company obtained 75% of the lithium rights to the Mt Edwards Lithium project for a staged consideration of $2.7M and will obtain the remaining 25% lithium rights by purchasing 19 tenements from a private company for a further $1.8M.

Shares in Altura Mining, which is on the brink of lithium production, jumped this morning after the $770 million company confirmed it was in discussions with its largest shareholder in relation to a potential control transaction.

Neometals has announced high-grade drilling intercepts at its Virginia Hills prospect, located adjacent to its flagship Barrambie project. The discovery shows 8 km of strike continuity for the vanadium-titanium mineralisation. Neometals is well advanced with technical studies for the project, including detailed drilling to define a 50,000-tonne ore parcel for metallurgical test work.

An offshore investment and research house has looked at ASX-listed Neometals with a fresh set of eyes and come up with huge valuation of $1.43 a share. The London firm says Neometals is wrongly perceived as just a holding company with a minority share in a lithium mine and believes a corporate split into separate mining and technology companies could trigger a re-rating of its stock.

Neometals' big titanium-vanadium deposit at Barrambie in the northern Yilgarn is coming into its own thanks to surging prices for its two major products, titanium and vanadium. Favourable markets are creating a multitude of development options for Neometals at the project, with the company stepping up work on everything from direct shipping to downstream processing options.

Neometals' push into high-value lithium hydroxide is moving ahead at a rapid pace, with a FEED study expected to get underway in the first quarter of 2018 followed by a final investment decision as early as the end of the year. The plant is just one of three downstream projects in progress, including a cutting-edge lithium titanate research project that could replace graphite in batteries..

New assays from Neometals' 100%-owned Barrambie titanium-vanadium deposit suggest it could be an emerging giant of even higher grade than previously believed. The news coincides with work by Neometals on a number of fronts to accelerate a fast-tracked development program based on direct shipping high-grade ore to China. Recent drilling returned stunning intercepts of nearly 32% titanium dioxide.

Mining executive Darren Townsend has left the top job at Peak Resources to become the chief development officer at Neometals, though he will continue at Peak as a non-executive director.

The deal-making skill that helped make Neometals become the first of a new breed of Australian Lithium producers has come to the fore once again. The ASX-listed company has landed a Serbian steel mill as its first licensed customer for the company's “Neomet” mineral processing technology. The agreement will see Neometals use the deal as a showcase for a planned rollout of the technology worldwide

Fresh from success at the giant Mt Marion Lithium project, Neometals have turned their attention to their other sleeping giant, the world-class Barrambie Titanium-Vanadium project near Cue in W.A. With the Titanium price jumping by 50% recently, Chinese Titanium producers are screaming for feedstock, creating a potential opportunity for Neometals to cash in via a direct shipping operation.

SPECIAL REPORT: Perth companies Macmahon Holdings and ASG Group have illustrated how contested takeover deals can deliver unexpected outcomes.

WA's world-leading lithium sector could ride a wave of demand led by the charge in battery storage technology.

Neometals will hold on to its minority stake in the Mt Marion lithium mine after failing to find a buyer, and plans to spin-out its technology and titanium assets into a new company.

Perth-listed Neometals are making the transition from Lithium miner to battery materials technologist. The company have lodged a patent in the US to protect their unique technology that extracts Cobalt and other materials from old laptops, mobiles phones and consumer electronics at prices that would make a miner's eyes water.

Neometals' Mt Marion Lithium project near Coolgardie is roaring along at above nameplate capacity just months after the maiden shipment. The Perth-based lithium producer also reported in a project update that Chinese offtake partner Ganfeng Lithium was delighted with the quality of battery grade chemicals produced from the mine.

Neometals have rolled out another breakthrough technology that could make giant lithium brine evaporation ponds a thing of the past. The Mt Marion Lithium mine founder has developed a new titanium-based material that extracts lithium from brines in just 30 minutes, compared to a 12-month wait with evaporation ponds.

Neometals' dream of capturing value all along the lithium battery supply chain is one step closer following great test results for an exciting new type of battery material that can potentially replace graphite. Batteries using the new anode material known as Lithium Titanate outperformed commercially available rivals in recent tests conducted by the company.

Pilbara Minerals has been given a final environmental tick for its Pilgangoora lithium project, and is now cleared for construction, but the company will be continuing work on project financing.

Just like they did with Lithium at Mt Marion, Neometals are again seeking to get ahead of the curve with their new battery re-cycling play in Canada that will focus heavily on reproducing Cobalt in addition to other elements such as Lithium. The company is hoping to eventually produce nearly 700 tonnes of Cobalt a year by recycling old batteries.

Shares in Pilbara Minerals were up 20 per cent on news the company has inked a major offtake and $US20 million investment agreement it says will pave the way for final funding of development of its Pilgangoora lithium project.

SPECIAL REPORT: The value of investment into WA gold projects is about four times as much as this time last year, while growth in spending on lithium has been even more substantial.

Neometals will be relying on third-party interest for the sale of its stake in the Mt Marion lithium mine, after joint venture partners Mineral Resources and Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium declined pre-emptive rights to buy the stake.

The extraordinary deal-making skills of Neometals have been put to work once again to secure a $125 million buyout of the company's 13.8% stake in the Mt Marion Lithium project. The remarkable end to Neometals' involvement in Mt Marion means the project will have generated a staggering $213 million for the company from a total investment of just $3 million.

Neometals hopes to reap about $US96 million ($A125 million) from the sale of its interest in the Mt Marion lithium mine near Kalgoorlie, with the operation's joint venture partners given a pre-emptive right to buy the stake.

The Mt Marion Lithium mine has proved it is settling into production with the second shipment of concentrates setting sail for China this week. Neometals and their partners in the project also reported that a third, larger shipment is due to leave Kwinana in early April, which represents a further increase in the pace of production.

Fortescue Metals Group has risen into the ranks of the top 50 most valuable companies on the Australian share market thanks to soaring iron ore prices which have nearly quadrupled the miner's half-year profit and stoked investor demand.

The board of Australia's newest Lithium producer, Neometals, have signaled their confidence in the company's finances by introducing a share buyback valued at up to $5 million over the next 12 months. The move follows the recent start of production at Mt Marion, which will generate plenty of cash and add to an already strong balance sheet.

Bringing one of the world's largest Lithium mines into production would be enough for many companies, however Neometals are keen to show they still have much more in their armory. They recently unveiled potentially lucrative new technology for recycling cobalt from used Lithium ion batteries that could produce a net present value of at least US$84m over 10 years.

Neometals have dealt themselves into an even better position at the newly commissioned Mt Marion Lithium mine by securing improved off-take and mining services agreements with their major partners. The new agreements effectively boost production by 20% and give Neometals upside exposure to the tightening global Lithium market.

Australia has a new Lithium producer and WA's Lithium boom is well and truly underway. Neometal's giant Mt Marion mine near Coolgardie, this week joined the ranks of Lithium producers as the first shipment of concentrates sailed for delivery to Chinese partner Ganfeng Lithium. Ganfeng will take 100% of the project concentrates for the next three years.

The joint venture partners behind the Mt Marion lithium mine near Kalgoorlie have heralded an inaugural shipment of ore to China, with Mineral Resources becoming the state's third lithium producer.