Categories: Base Metals
Topics: General Base Metals

ACME Lithium (CSE: ACME)(OTC: ACLHF) CEO Steve Hanson on Hitting the Sweet Spot in the Lithium Cycle

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today, is the President and CEO of ACME Lithium, Mr. Steven Hanson. Steve, how are you today?

Steve Hanson: Great, Gerardo. A pleasure to be with you here today.

Gerardo Del Real: Listen, it's great to have you back on. It's hard to articulate the supply demand fundamentals and how favorable they are in the lithium space. Right? It's a trend that I believe will be favorable to those of us that are well positioned in the space for years and years on end. And, it's also clear to me that ACME Lithium has done a brilliant job of not just putting together a world class management team, but also, positioning the company to kind of hit the sweet spot of that cycle. Right? And I think the news that you had earlier this morning speaks to that a little bit. Let me read the headline, and then I'll let you provide your take on the lithium space and the excitement in it. And then of course, what comes next for ACME. The headline from this morning read:

ACME Lithium Receives Approval of Notice of Intent to Drill Clayton Valley Nevada Lithium Brine Project

Obviously projects in great jurisdictions of merit are receiving a premium. You're obviously looking to position ACME in that way. Give me some context there, Steve.

Steve Hanson: Thanks, Gerardo. Well, our vision when I founded ACME Lithium, was to acquire and develop core projects around the world. And in particular in North America that we felt that we could advance quickly, and had most prospect, obviously for finding economic lithium. We were very fortunate in acquiring two projects in the United States, and in particular in Nevada, and our core project being our Clayton Valley project, which is referenced in our very exciting news today. That news being, is that we submitted a Notice of Intent back in December to the Bureau of Land Management. They've now received it and approved that Notice of Intent for our drilling program. And obviously there's some road building and planning in that area in that work that's going to be done. It's the first major step in seeking approvals to go ahead with our work program. There are a couple of smaller permits that we need.

And right now we're securing our drilling contractor, our hydrological firm and other consultants we'll be using to make sure this work goes ahead on time. Originally back in December, I targeted that we would be drilling in the March, April timeframe. And, certainly we believe we're on target this year with this key milestone coming up in Clayton Valley, which really is the epicenter of lithium development in North America. Clayton Valley has a long history of lithium production. Our neighbor, Albemarle, a New York Stock Exchange listed company, has been producing lithium there since 1966. So, we've got the right address. We've got the right team, and we certainly are in the right market right now to be advancing this type of project.

Gerardo Del Real: You just also announced a $3 million, and that's in US dollars, funding agreement with Lithium Royalty Corp. Can you speak to that a bit?

Steve Hanson: Yeah. We've been in discussions with Lithium Royalty Corporation. They really are a leader in backing a number of lithium companies around the world. We're very fortunate, being a very young company. I mean, we're relatively new to this market. We went public last spring. We got on their radar based on the quality of our projects. And again, we were able to negotiate a recent funding here with their group. We have a project in southeast Manitoba in Canada, which they have bought the royalty on.

And then they will be doing a private placement into our company at 94 cents for the further proceeds for that $3 million US. We're in good shape cash wise. We have about $3.7 million Canadian in the bank. This additional funding will put us over seven and a half million Canadian. It's more than enough to meet our work requirements this year on all of our projects, so we're in good shape. No debt, well capitalized, and really, it says a lot about the team and the success we've had this year with our company.

Gerardo Del Real: I mentioned your timing, and I mentioned the lithium cycle and how favorable I view it. Do you share the same sentiment?

Steve Hanson: You know, lithium prices have been on a tear up over 400% in calendar year 2021. Clearly, there's going to be a medium term and long term supply issue, and it's actually going to be a crisis. We're seeing more money being poured into the EV space. Ford just announced another $20 billion they're going to be investing in their EV division. Obviously, there's been some news recently, where in Serbia, Rio Tinto's major lithium mine has been halted. Again, I think we're going to see a continued issue with regard to lithium supply globally. And in particular in North America. North America cannot rely on Chile, Argentina, Australia, and China for lithium supply. We absolutely need a domestic supply. So, we're going to be one of the companies that's hopefully going to advance our projects over the next few years. And hopefully we can meet that demand.

Gerardo Del Real: Looking forward to having you back on. Looking forward to what I think is going to be a year of catalysts for ACME. Anything to add to that?

Steve Hanson: No, I think you're right. This is going to be a major year for ACME. We've got multiple work programs that are going to be taking place, obviously drilling on our Clayton Valley project in Nevada. This spring is going to be very exciting, and then we're going to be getting work in Manitoba, in early spring as well. So, investors should look for some near term milestones. And again, 2022 is going to be a big year for us as a company.

Gerardo Del Real: Thanks for your time, Steve. Always a pleasure to have you on. We'll chat again soon.

Steve Hanson: Great. Thanks Gerardo. Take care.