Bring-On the Big-Guns: Major Canadian Lithium Resource Gets ‘Smarter’

Critical Elements Lithium (TSX-V: CRE)(OTC: CRECF) — currently trading around C$1.40 per share — has tapped Mr. Gerrit Fuelling as a lithium market and contracts expert for its hydroxide engineering study for its wholly-owned, high-purity Rose Lithium Project in northern Quebec, Canada.

Critical Elements chairman Eric Zaunscherb commented via press release:

"One of the key attributes of the advance and de-risk approach of Critical Elements' management is its conservatism. Lithium market volatility is an important source of risk, and it is essential to have someone with Mr. Fuelling's hands-on experience and extensive industry awareness to provide the necessary lithium market input in the generation of the Phase II engineering studies. His market view will also be vital in the ongoing financial engineering to fund the two project phases, seeking to minimize the cost of capital and optimize the outcome on behalf of shareholders."

Mr. Gerrit Fuelling is a renowned lithium industry expert and former president of Rockwood Lithium Asia which was purchased by Albemarle Corporation in 2015 for US$6.2 billion. By all accounts, Mr. Fuelling’s forthcoming contributions should prove highly valuable to the Critical Elements team as they forge ahead with engineering. 

Led by former Rockwood Lithium CEO, Steffen Haber, Critical Elements is advancing the Rose Lithium Project within a highly-prospective land portfolio of over 700 square kilometers. A 2017 feasibility study on the project showed an after-tax net present value of C$726 million with an internal rate of return of 34.9% using an 8% discount rate.

The Critical Elements team is presently deploying a two-stage engineering approach to the project. A Phase I detailed engineering study is expected to conclude this year to be followed by a Phase II plant design study for the conversion of spodumene concentrate to high-quality lithium hydroxide.

Already, the company’s pilot plant program successfully converted spodumene concentrate from Rose into 99% purity battery-grade lithium hydroxide using a thermal leaching process. That process yielded a recovery rate of 93% — surpassing the global average of 70-75% which is accepted as an industry standard.  

With those early successes — coupled with a massive, target-rich land package in a Tier-1 jurisdiction — Critical Elements is certainly one-to-watch in the junior lithium space as it seeks to become a large, responsible supplier of lithium to the high-demand EV and energy storage markets. 

You can learn more about Critical Elements Lithium at their corporate website here. 

Yours in profits,

 

Mike Fagan

Mike Fagan
Editor, Resource Stock Digest


Mike Fagan has mining in his blood. As a teenager he staked countless gold and silver properties in Nevada alongside his dad, Brian Fagan, who created the Prospect Generator model that’s still widely used today in the resource space. One of those staking projects was put into production by a major Canadian mining company — a truly rare and profitable experience. That background uniquely qualifies him as a mining stock speculator. One of the most well-known names in the business, Mike is now putting that experience to use for the benefit of Resource Stock Digest and Hard Asset Digest readers.