Mustang to be re-named 'New Energy Minerals Ltd' to reflect its focus on the world-class Caula Vanadium-Graphite project
Shareholder Letter - Notice of Meeting
Sydney, Aug 31, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Mustang Resources Ltd (
ASX:MUS) (MTTGF:OTCMKTS) provides the Shareholder Letter.
Dear Shareholders,
I refer to the accompanying Notice of Meeting containing a number of proposed resolutions.
In July 2018, the Company announced the merger of its ruby assets with Fura Gems Inc. (CVE:FURA), for the consideration of AU$10 million in Fura shares over three tranches and an AU$25 million spending commitment to be allocated to the enlarged Fura ruby project, subject to exploration results. This transaction (subject to final closing by 30 November 2018) relieves the Company of the substantial exploration and market development expenditure required in coming years, to establish the Company's ruby interests as a commercial ruby mining operation.
Importantly, the Fura transaction has allowed the Company to focus its attention and capital on a world-class asset, the Company's 80% owned Caula Vanadium-Graphite project, next to Montepuez and directly along strike from and due north of the graphite project owned by Syrah Resources Limited (ASX:SYR), (AU$731 million market cap). The Mustang Board of Directors considers this the optimal available strategy for the Company, given the strong demand for vanadium and large-flake graphite, coupled with the exceptional results from Caula in the year to date.
With this change of focus, we propose that the Company changes its name to New Energy Minerals Ltd (reserved ASX ticker "NXE").
The new name proposed for approval by shareholders under resolution 12 of the Notice of Meeting, "New Energy Minerals Ltd" (ASX:NXE), reflects the Company's focus on the development and mining of two geologically associated commodities from the same deposit; both essential to the production of electric vehicles and the storage of renewable energy. With Graphite being used in lithium-ion batteries and Vanadium used in vanadium-redox-flow-batteries, both commodities also have traditional applications in the steel industry, a mainstay of global economic development.
It is the use of vanadium as a steel-strengthening alloy and new Chinese rebar standards, which have increased its price more than 500% in the last 2 years to current levels of US$18.40/lb (US$40,480/tonne), with primary vanadium pentoxide flake supply only being delivered by a handful of companies including Largo Resources Ltd (TSE:LGO), (C$1.46 billion market cap) and Glencore PLC (LON:GLEN).
Graphite has also experienced strong demand especially for high Total Graphic Carbon (TGC) large-flake graphite, with the recently reported sale prices of US$1,700/tonne for >300micron, 94% for TGC flake graphite from an African graphite project.(see Note 1 below) Large-flake graphite has the capacity to expand in size when heated and therefore has a fast-growing application in flame-retardant building materials, which augurs well for this section of the graphite market, with annual demand estimated to grow to >2 million tonnes in coming years, almost twice the size of the total current graphite market(see Note 2 below).
As shown in recent announcements, the Company's focus has increasingly been directed to fast- tracking the Caula Vanadium-Graphite project in Northern Mozambique. Considering the quality of the graphite component of this project in terms of grade, metallurgy (expressed as a percentage of large, jumbo & super jumbo graphite flakes) and the size of the JORC Measured Resources (see Table 1 and Figures 1 in link below) the Mustang Board of Directors believes the Company has a unique opportunity to deliver a world-class project to serve the "New Energy Market".
Recent work at Caula has also delivered a sizeable JORC Measured Vanadium Resource of 22Mt @ 0.37% V2O5 (0.2% cut off) for 180 million pounds of V2O5.(see Note 3 below) The Company has already developed a simple, yet fully integrated flowsheet to extract both vanadium and graphite from the same processing plant, using for the most part simple flotation. The vanadium found in the Caula deposit, within the graphitic schists, occurs within a vanadium-mica mineral called roscoelite, which is potentially far simpler and cheaper to process to high grade V2O5 concentrates than traditional titano-magnetite vanadium deposits.
The next 6 to 12 months should be a period of intensive activity with management focusing on delivering the following key outputs:
1. The Caula Scoping Study currently underway which is targeted for completion in September 2018.
2. Preliminary vanadium metallurgical work at Nagrom Laboratories in Perth.
3. ~4,000m of Feasibility Study drilling at Caula to deliver a further resource upgrade, as well as samples for further metallurgical testing in Perth and China.(see Note 4 below)
4. The change of the Company's name and brand to "New Energy Minerals Ltd" (subject to Shareholder approval) and associated change in Company logo and corporate colours.
5. The concurrent 1:10 consolidation of the Company's issued Shares followed by an investor roadshow in the UK and Europe and attendance at the 121 Investor Conference in Hong Kong.
6. Engagement and negotiations with proposed strategic project partners and off-takers in Asia, Europe and North America.
7. Feasibility Studies for the Caula project.
8. Mining Concessions, permitting and approvals from the Government of Mozambique.
9. Phase 1 trial mining at Caula.
We seek Shareholder support for the new focus of the Company and look forward to moving into the 'new energy revolution' by delivering significant shareholder value through the exploration for and mining of these high demand commodities.
Notes:
1 Bass Metals Ltd ASX Announcement dated 20 August 2018
2 Graphite guide: Why fire resistance and not electric cars may drive these stocks. Angela East, April 16, 2018. Stockhead
3 Refer to the Company's ASX Announcement dated 20 July 2018
4 Refer to the Company's ASX Announcement dated 8 August 2018
To view tables and figures, please visit:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/1IIV44JE
About New Energy Minerals Ltd
New Energy Minerals Ltd (ASX:NXE) (FRA:GGY) is an ASX listed junior mining company, that recently announced the divestment of the Company's Caula vanadium - graphite project and the Montepuez Ruby project in Mozambique.
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