Home»News» Stockhouse Video and Transcript — Coniagas: A Unique Battery Metals Opportunity in Quebec
Stockhouse Video and Transcript — Coniagas: A Unique Battery Metals Opportunity in Quebec
Nov 20, 2024
ote: Nord owns 35% of Coniagas Battery Metals shares
Stockhouse Video and Transcript:
Unique Battery Metals Opportunity in Quebec
Stockhouse’s The Market Online Lindsay Malchuk interviewed CEO Frank Basa, P.Eng. Ontario about Coniagas Battery Metals Inc. (TSXV:COS) and its current plans and focus.
Interviewer: Lindsay Malchuk
The Market Online Coniagas Battery Metals Inc (TSXV:V.COS), a Canadian Junior Mining Company focused on nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum group metals in Quebec. The Market Online recently sat down again with CEO and Director, Frank Basa
The following is a transcription of the above video, and The Market Online has edited it for clarity.
The Market Online (TMO): We had such a short amount of time in our last conversation, so let’s go back and start with one of your last announcements around Coniagas’ ‘Global Feed-First Strategy’ in collaboration with SGS Québec. Could you elaborate on the strategic importance of this initiative and how it positions Coniagas in the critical minerals sector.
Basa: We have a very large property in Quebec called Graal, where we’ve done about 16,000 meters of drilling. We have spent about $6 million, and we found the strike length to be about six kilometers.
Also, we have had some spectacular results and actually we were raising money to continue the drill program. Then was an offer for feed (mineralized mined ore and concentrates) from all over the world. And I said, okay, we’ll have a look at this feed and there is a lot of this feed. It is surprising that it’s available now.
One of our key core things and what we are really trying to do at Coniagas is to be a supplier to the end user in the EV industry. So we thought, let’s beat everybody out there (other exploration companies) in becoming a supplier.
Drilling at your property and trying to develop a resource could take anywhere to two to six years as well as getting your permits (much longer than it would take to build a plant to process the feeds that are available now).
We have a process called Re-2Ox, which was developed over a six-year timeframe. It went from bench scale to pilot plant and we used it recently to produce an end product (cobalt sulphate) for the Asian market.
So we can produce a product that battery makers would buy.
It’s a very, very simple process. Basically, you can install it anywhere. It’s actually a very cheap process to put in. So we thought, let’s have a look at these feeds. We were offered feed from the DRC for example, 29 million tons of material, with metal grades even higher than our potential resource that we’re going to have at Graal.
We said, that’s quite interesting. Then we were offered even more material in different areas of the DRC.
So right now, we’re looking at this material. We’re going to try and do the test work with SGS in Quebec, and then based on the test work, we’ll probably go to a pilot plant. Then hopefully a full-scale plant.
Quebec has been pretty good to us. They’re very, very assertive, very aggressive.
They really want plants like ours to be in Quebec.
Investment Quebec actually found us a property plus they said, “look, we’ve allocated power for your facility and so you can bring material to Quebec to be processed. We’re looking at a place by a sea port,” which they found.
So feed can come in by ship, and if we proceed, we’ll probably produce the end product, or finalize the end product, in Quebec.
There are two battery plants being built in Quebec and three in Ontario. So maybe our plant might be able to supply some of these battery manufacturers.
TMO: Securing reliable, long-term sources of critical minerals is a cornerstone of your approach. Can you discuss the potential impact of this strategy on Coniagas’ supply chain resilience and its ability to meet market demands?
Basa: We’ve been offered two types of feed. One is in the field — 29 million tons of material, which is basically copper and cobalt, quite high grades. We could reprocess this material on site in the DRC and then finalize it here in Canada.
We were also offered concentrates, and the concentrates we’ve been offered go well with our Re-2Ox process.
Our process can take sulfide or hydroxide or oxide concentrates and the majority of concentrate that has been offered to us are oxides.
A lot of these oxide concentrates can’t go to a smelter because smelters need sulfur (found in sulphide concentrates) as an energy unit. So, we have multiple potential feeds, we’re evaluating them and then we’ll make a decision.
A lot of the people offering them actually want to become a partner with you, so they want to have a little more as a relationship than just selling it to you, they want to have a long-term relationship. And it might happen.
I think when you look at it, it’s easier for Coniagas to build a plant and in a shorter time frame than to carry on with a drill program, which we still will do.
Also, I think we have unbelievable potential at that Graal property from the results we have. Some of the results are quite spectacular and the area is known for these exceptionally good grades.
So, we will try to do two things at the same time. In other words, look at processing the feeds using the Re-2Ox process, and also probably continue with a drill program at Graal, (which could eventually supply feed to the Re-2Ox plant built in Quebec).
We are looking at quite a large drill program. Our real (higher) metal values are at depth.
There are some pretty high crazy grades so far over depths like 30-35 meters – very high grades. So I think we can do it, lots of potential.
The EV market will not go away. If anything, the market will get more and more intense as we move forward.
TMO: Let’s flip to one of your projects. Coniagas Battery Metals has seen significant progress with its Graal project in Quebec. Can you provide an update on the latest drilling results and how they align with your expectations for resource expansion?
Basa: We were trying to raise money for this and it amounted to only a small raise. Then we asked a driller to give us a budget for costs for deep holes.
The company raised a little under $600,000 and basically the deep hole cost estimate came out to be about $400,000. Basically, it’s a master hole with multiple wedges.
I thought, that’s a lot of risk to do only one hole. Instead, we decided to focus on Feed First.
We’ll let the market kind of tighten up, come next spring and then we’ll go ahead and raise the funds to do a larger drill program.
The intent is to do quite a large program. We’re known for drilling a hundred thousand meters plus over a three-year timeframe and that will give us the results we want to see.
So right now, we’re evaluating these feeds that have been offered to us. There’s a lot to look at. We didn’t know there’s so much feed out there. We might try to do a deal with some of these people who have the feed in some sort of relationship.
This kind of guarantees long-term feed for us – to be able to deliver an end product to the Canadian market or probably even the European market.
We’ve talked to people in Switzerland and in Germany. The Europeans are also interested for their electric vehicle market.
TMO: What about your proprietary Re-2Ox technology? It is presented as a game-changer for low-carbon battery metals extraction. How does this technology differentiate Coniagas from other players in the market. Also what are the next steps for its commercial deployment?
Basa: There are actually two processes in the Re-2Ox process. That’s why there’s a two in the name.
It’s hydrometallurgical. In other words, we don’t burn anything. There are no greenhouse gases and it was also designed to be very, what we call high sophistication, low tech.
You can put this plant almost anywhere in the world. Monitor it with a laptop from anywhere in the world. And take a normal person off any project and within three to six months they can operate this plant.
It’s high sophistication, low tech. It’s also the type of process where you can work in a country. For example in the DRC, you have power failures. Usually when you have a power failure in a normal plant, it takes a long time to start up again. But with a Re-2Ox plant, the minute the power comes back on, you just keep on going. It’s a very forgiving process.
TMO: What are some future insights you can give our audience forthe remainder of this year and into 2025?
Basa: I don’t think there’ll be any tax selling in the stock.
I don’t know if most people are aware of how we kind of create these companies.
This company, Coniagas, is actually a spinoff. This asset was in another one of our companies.
We spent a bit of money evaluating it. Then spun it out into a new company. The shareholders of the company from which it was spun get these free shares and warrants in the new company (Coniagas).
Usually there are shareholders who sell about a third of those spun-out shares.
The Coniagas stock has now stabilized about 10 cents. It might stay there.
It’s very tightly held. Hopefully come the new year, we’ll get a story going. Either a drill program or have some feeds to evaluate from Africa.
Actually, we’re offered feeds from other parts of the world as well. We’ll have to evaluate what we are going to do as the best approach. Short term- evaluation of feeds and drilling. Long-term-producing a product for an end user either in North America or in Europe.
You can find Coniagas Battery Metals Inc. on the Venture Exchange under the ticker symbol of V.COS. To learn more about them, their website is coniagas.com.
(See BNN Bloomberg article on Coniagas below, and in case you missed it, a Stockhouse article published earlier this month.)
Electric vehicles need electricity, and that requires the mining and refining of many critical metals for the construction of electric plants, EV batteries, and the enormous amount of wiring involved.
Disseminated on behalf of: Coniagas Battery Metals Inc.
Critical minerals are essential in our transition to a green economy, used in making everything from electric vehicle batteries to wind turbines.
China’s control of critical minerals complicates supply chains. Domestic sourcing of raw ore and its processing into metal pure enough for EV battery manufacture is crucial.
Coniagas Battery Metals is pursuing a “feed first” strategy, establishing an environmentally sound processing facility near ports, rail, and labour in Quebec to tap into international feedstock supply, while exploring a nearby property with the potential to supply cobalt, nickel, and copper.
A few dozen specific minerals are essential to the global shift towards electrification and away from using fossil fuels for energy — copper, nickel, cobalt, and other minerals used in making everything from electric vehicle batteries to modern circuitry. Without them, there is no green economy.
In a report published last year, the federal government identified 31 “critical minerals” and set out a strategy for making Canada “a global supplier of choice for critical minerals and the clean digital technologies they enable.”
The fact is, however, meeting that goal will require billions of dollars of investment in new mines to extract the ore and facilities in which to process them. Wood Mackenzie recently estimated that even under the least aggressive scenario, demand for nickel will grow by 65 per cent in the coming years, copper by 85 per cent, and cobalt by 167 per cent.
Complicating matters is that China has sewn up much of the supply, purchasing numerous mines and smelters as well as related transportation networks. China now controls about 97 per cent of global smelting and refining capacity, according to Wood Mackenzie.
Quebec-focused junior miner, Coniagas Battery Metals Inc. (TSX.V: COS) has a plan to meet the need for a domestic supply of several critical minerals with operations in Quebec and what they call a “feed first” strategy.
“Canada can be a global powerhouse in this transition away from fossil fuels,” Coniagas president and CEO Frank Basa says. “We have the resources here in Canada, the infrastructure, the skillset, the power.”
Coniagas adopting ‘feed-first’ strategy to kick off processing
(Left): Nickel, copper, and cobalt ore from mining operations; (Right): Cobalt sulphate produced by Coniagas’ Re-20x Process—materials essential for making batteries that power electric vehicles.
Basa says that around the world vast stockpiles of raw ore containing critical minerals sit unprocessed, largely because they are in oxide form rather than the sulfide form smelters require. Working with concentrate brokers, Coniagas is considering securing rights to more than 29 million tonnes of this feedstock, with average grades of 1.5 per cent copper and 0.5 per cent cobalt.
“There’s a lot of this stuff around, and you can buy it below market value,” he says.
The process can extract minerals from such ores with better environmental metrics and economics. Called Re-20x, the process is high sophistication low tech and can be operated in countries with challenging operating conditions. The process is hydrometallurgical, requiring no smelting, and operates with zero discharge.
“What they want is security. To be able to produce low-cost electric vehicles, you have to have certainty of product. We want to be leaders in that.”
— Frank Basa, president and CEO, Coniagas Battery Metals Inc.
Re-20x is also cost-effective, as it doesn’t require the heavy concrete construction and furnaces used in traditional smelters, instead relying on less expensive storage tanks, berms, and hoppers. Its largest cost is transporting ore to the site, which is why which is why building near a port and rail is crucial.
$8 million dollars was invested to develop the process, which can be used to extract metal from raw ore or recycled batteries. It is currently being used in two facilities recycling EV and other batteries to separate metals for remanufacture.
“It’s designed to be built anywhere,” Basa says. “It doesn’t require a high degree of technical expertise.”
The Quebec advantage — access to St. Lawrence, rail, and labour
Basa says he’s worked with Investissement Quebec to identify property near the Port of Saguenay, near the St. Lawrence River and its easy access to the Atlantic Ocean, that would be suitable for a facility — close to the port and rail, with plenty of green hydropower available. Not to mention communities with ready skilled labour.
They plan to build the site in collaboration with SGS Quebec, with a capacity of 200 to 500 tonnes of cobalt ore per month and the ability to scale up over time by adding additional processing lines.
Why Quebec? Basa says that unlike other provinces, which can delay projects with arduous permitting processes, the province’s investment firm makes it easy, ensuring companies like Coniagas can rapidly secure permits and find property suitable for facilities.
“Quebec is doing things the right way,” he says. “They’re talking to us and helping us get it done.”
Local ore supply supports secure, long-term processing
Saguenay Port location is ideal to receive offshore ores via ocean freighters for processing, has an abundant supply of low-carbon hydropower, and is also close to and connected by road transportation to Coniagas’ Graal mineral deposit.
The international supply of raw ore oxide will of course eventually run out, so Basa and his team are also pursuing their own mining operation nearby. Located north of their proposed Re-20x site in the Lac Suzanne region known to be rich in metallic deposits, the company’s 6,000 hectare Graal property is showing potential for nickel, copper, and cobalt — all critical minerals.
Test drilling was initially conducted by the previous owners, Virginia Mines and SOQEUM, between 1996 to 2004, showing reasonable concentrations of all three metals near the surface. After acquiring rights to the property, Coniagas conducted $6 million in drill tests in 2022 and 2024, mapping a six-kilometre strike length with good metallic grades near the surface and indications of a more concentrated deposit at depth, near the bottom of a large formation.
The firm is raising funds for additional drilling at the site, going to depth and further mapping the near-surface mineralization to determine how much of the metals are present and where they are. They are currently consulting with local First Nations.
The underground reserve of metallic ore is large, so hitting the deeper concentration won’t be as challenging as it might be with a gold deposit. Based on tests done to date, the site might contain up to 10 million tonnes of cobalt, plus copper and nickel.
Once the site is mapped with drilling, they plan to proceed with an open-pit mine and possibly some underground mining, depending on test results.
Assuming the Graal site comes online, it would provide a steady supply of feedstock to the company’s Re-20x facility, just a short distance away, supplementing the material shipped in from international ports. It would also be able to take in ore from other mines in Quebec and Ontario, as well as recycled batteries.
Once fully operational, the processing facility would employ perhaps 120 people, the mine another 200.
Ultimately, the company aims to be a long-term supplier of cobalt, nickel, and copper to the EV sector from domestic operations.
A move away from smelting
Re-2Ox — a 100% hydrometallurgical refining process for both mined and recycled minerals, producing cobalt and nickel sulphates that meet the specifications of EV manufacturers which want low-carbon alternatives to smelting.
Being a zero-emissions operation sets them up for the long term.
Vehicle makers are increasingly moving away from sourcing metals from smelters, which use huge furnaces that contribute to carbon pollution in the atmosphere. Nissan, for example, has told metal providers it would like to phase out using newly mined metals, preferring to use those recovered from batteries and other sources through hydrometallurgical processes to reduce the environmental footprint of its EVs.
While the economics of extracting materials from recycled batteries are not currently there, increasing demand from companies like Nissan is changing that.
“There’s a secondary life to these batteries,” Basa says. “We are in the early days of moving away from smelting, which is an old process going back hundreds of years.”
What manufacturers need, however, is the secure long-term supply of the metals they require to make vehicles, without having to navigate Chinese control.
“What they want is security,” Basa says. “To be able to produce low-cost electric vehicles, you have to have certainty of product. We want to be leaders in that.”
The key to that is to control both the supply and production of those critical minerals at domestic sites. With Graal and its proposed Re-20x facility, Coniagas has strong potential to help fill that growing demand.
To learn more about Coniagas Battery Metals, visit its website here, or find it online:
The article copied below and a recent Coniagas news release is below the article.
This battery metals stock is on a path to the global stage
By Trevor Abes | The Market Online
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), mineral demand for energy storage and electric vehicles (EVs) will grow close to 30 times between 2020 and 2040, driven primarily by batteries, the metals they’re made of, and their fundamental roll in staving off climate change by minimizing the world’s reliance on fossil fuels.
This state of affairs places a premium on reliable battery metal supplies, as governments around the world incentivize and bring critical material production onshore to de-risk their economies and counteract China’s control of 80 per cent of global refining capacity, making it an opportune time to pick up quality, out-of-favour battery metals assets with most of their growth in front of them.
A junior miner with a strong case for a stock price re-rating is Coniagas Battery Metals (TSXV:COS), market capitalization C$3.10 million, a copper, nickel and cobalt explorer and battery metals production technology developer, whose stock has given back more than 50 per cent since going public in March 2024, despite:
Its promising Graal project in Quebec, which has returned high-grade copper, nickel and cobalt, is progressing towards an initial mineral resource estimate, and is positioned to benefit from expected copper, nickel and cobalt demand growth of 28x, 41x and 21x, respectively, according to the IEA (slide 4), driven by insufficient global production.
Its proprietary Re-2Ox technology, which uses hydrometallurgy to extract battery metals and by-products with no burning or smelting, offering a significantly lower-carbon footprint compared with legacy methods, setting Coniagas up to increase its share in a market propelled by an exponential tailwind.
A management team filled with multi-decade track records in the mining industry focused on global precious and base metal drilling and refinement, as well as executive leadership, mining finance and hydrometallurgical engineering.
A report by an outside research team which estimated a fair value for the shares at multiples higher than its current market price.
As inflation trends downward and interest rates begin to fall from generational highs, warming investors up to high-leverage opportunities such as junior mining stocks, now is the perfect time to analyze the constituent parts of Coniagas Battery Metals’ attractive value proposition.
Coniagas’ Graal project
Coniagas acquired the 6,113-hectare Graal project in Saguenay, Quebec, for only C$60,000, granting shareholders exposure to a potentially large high-grade copper, nickel, cobalt, platinum and palladium deposit near surface along a 6 kilometre mineralized strike length. This potential is substantiated by:
More than C$6 million in drilling and geophysics, including Coniagas’ more than 16,000 metres of drilling at Graal in 2021 and 2022 targeting geophysical anomalies, hitting mineralized sulphides in almost every drill hole. Highlight results reached up to 10.31 per cent nickel, 0.6 per cent copper and 0.15 per cent cobalt, suggesting further expansion at depth.
Historical drilling by Virginia Mines and SOQUEM between 1996-2004 yielding a target estimate of 30-60 million tons up to 0.80 per cent nickel, 0.50 per cent copper and 0.15 per cent cobalt, although Coniagas has already demonstrated through its own drilling that the estimate is only for a small area of the total deposit.
The project, aligned with Canada’s critical mineral strategy and Quebec’s critical and strategic minerals plan, also benefits from road access, mining and battery manufacturing infrastructure, nearby hydro power and access to an ocean port, revealing Graal to be a high-conviction, early-stage candidate for open-pit and underground mining in a province committed to being a major critical minerals supplier.
Coniagas is planning additional drilling, metallurgical testing and consultations with First Nations to usher Graal towards a maiden NI 43-101 resource estimate over the near term.
Coniagas’ Re-2Ox battery metals extraction process
Graal’s robust case for value through exploration is fortified by Coniagas’ proprietary Re-2Ox battery materials extraction technology, which is a key driver, along with access to Quebec’s hydroelectric power grid, to the project developing into a low-carbon supply of critical metals and minimizing Chinese dominance.
Re-2Ox’s zero-discharge hydrometallurgical process requires no burning or smelting, allowing for the production of low-carbon, low-cost, battery-grade materials from both sulphide and oxide feeds without losing any byproducts. This has been demonstrated by metallurgical tests at SGS (slide 13), a globally respected leader in metallurgical innovation playing an important role in Re-2Ox’s development.
Coniagas’ strategic arrangement with Swiss-based SGS, signed in May 2024, will see them validate and build out an Re-2Ox processing plant at the Port of Saguenay to monetize materials from Graal and offshore stockpiles, including from Europe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to fill the gap in Quebec-based facilities that convert raw materials into EV components like cobalt and nickel sulphates.
The arrangement is aimed at expanding Canada’s critical mineral supply chain through a feed-first strategy that prioritizes reliable, long-term feed contracts backed by ongoing metallurgical testing, with Coniagas intending to vertically integrate its own supply chain once it validates Re-2Ox at scale to meet growing global demand for EVs and battery metals.
Coniagas’ path to shareholder value, focused on high-quality raw materials and the demonstrated ability to extract battery grade products, is being put into motion by a management team bespoke to the task. Let’s meet them now:
Management
Frank Basa, P.Eng. Ontario, Coniagas’ president, director and chief executive officer, is a metallurgical engineer and mill expert with more than 40 years of experience. His extensive battery metals expertise includes work with Agnico Eagle and developing the Re-2Ox process described above. Basa has a more than 29-year background in gold mining and development as a hydrometallurgical engineer specializing in milling, gravity concentration, flotation, leaching and refining. Basa has served as chairman, president and CEO of Granada Gold Mine (TSXV:GGM) since June 2004.
Matt Halliday, P.Geo., consulting geologist, is a senior geologist with more than two decades in the field, including multiple minerals and projects around the world with Kirkland Lake Gold, Electra and SGS Canada. Halliday is currently the president and chief operating officer of Nord Precious Metals Mining.
Remantra Sheopaul, chief financial officer (CFO), serves Coniagas as part of Toronto-based Marrelli Support Services Inc., which provides CFO, accounting, regulatory, compliance and management advisory services to issuers on Canadian and U.S. stock exchanges. Sheopaul specializes in initial public offerings, IFRS disclosure and compliance, and is currently CFO of Granada Gold Mine, Canada Carbon (TSXV:CCB), Angel Wing Metals (TSXV:AWM) and Metalite Resources (CSE:METL).
Board
Aurelian Basa, director, brings nearly 10 years of accomplishments in the natural resources industry. These are most recently highlighted by securing feed sources for the Re-2Ox process, including high-grade tailings projects, recycled batteries and battery metal deposits abroad. Basa is advancing Metals-as-a-Service, a platform connecting commodity traders to responsible sources of critical metals leveraging existing relationships with European metal traders and Asian battery manufacturers. He also manages Resource Active Media, a digital content agency tailored to publicly traded mining companies.
Ronald Goguen, Sr., independent director, took on the roles of chairman and CEO of Colibri Resource (TSXV:CBI) in July 2017. Goguen is also the founder of Major Drilling Group International (TSX:MDI), one of the largest mineral drilling service companies in the world, where he served as president and CEO until 2000. In 2006, Goguen became chairman of the Beaver Brook antimony mine, the largest antimony mine outside of China, until the operation began production in 2008.
Heidi Gutte, business consultant, has nearly 15 years of experience working with publicly traded mineral exploration and mining companies. She specializes in providing corporate finance, IFRS financial reporting, audit preparation and response, tax optimization, and corporate compliance for the mineral exploration and junior mining sectors. Gutte earned her bachelor’s degree of computer engineering from the University of Applied Sciences in Brandenburg, Germany. She holds the professional designation of Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CGA), and is a member of Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia and Canada.
Guided by established mining industry professionals with tailor-made experience, Coniagas finds itself on a path to expedite global battery materials production, de-risked by SGS’s involvement, with a stock price that has done anything but recognize this vast potential.
The gift of exponential upside with no market recognition
Having given back more than 50 per cent since March, shares of Coniagas Battery Metals are at odds with the highly prospective Graal project and potentially revolutionary Re-2Ox process, which would be attractive to mines across the world limited by higher-cost, energy intensive production methods, as well as governments keen on bolstering national supplies of critical materials.
We can explain the market’s reluctance to embrace the battery metals stock by a series of factors that are simultaneously the retail investor’s nightmare and the seasoned allocator’s green flags for an outsized opportunity. Here are four to consider:
Junior mining stocks, being pre-revenue, are highly volatile, rewarding a seasoned investor’s ability to hold on to their reasons for conviction, no matter how rough the ride.
The need to decipher technical language to perform informed due diligence on a junior miner favours investors with a taste for the tedious and meticulous.
Canada’s currently restrictive economic environment, marked by high consumer prices, is still encouraging saving and risk-off investment strategies away from micro-cap stocks and towards bonds and cash.
The more than decade-long mining life-cycle will try even the most market-tested investors given the diversity of delays and economic climates that can transpire between exploration and production.
Together, these factors have pummelled Coniagas shares beyond reason, heavily discounting its untapped assets despite results supporting their upside, creating an attractive entry point for investors willing to wait for a ramp-up to commercial production to cash in on greater market awareness.
When it comes to high-quality, early-stage exposure to a junior miner on a path to global relevance, you needn’t look any further.
Vancouver, BC – September 10, 2024 – Coniagas Battery Metals Inc. (“Coniagas” or the “Company”) (TSX.V: COS) is pleased to announce the implementation of its collaboration with SGS Québec, a global leader in metallurgical innovation and strategic resource development. The initiative is aimed at developing a leading position in the critical minerals sector by scaling up the technological capabilities of the Re-2Ox hydrometallurgical process.
Global Feed First Strategy Highlights:
Sourcing critical mineral feed stocks and concentrates globally
Metallurgical testwork to be undertaken by SGS Québec using the Re-2Ox process
Producing on-spec battery-grade materials
The collaboration with SGS builds on a series of engagements, and comprises two phases: the first phase establishes a framework for metallurgical testing and strategic funding pursuits, while the second phase focusses on funding strategy refinement and advancing the Re-2Ox process to meet the needs of the rapidly growing electric vehicle (EV) markets. The arrangement is based on an agreement signed with SGS May 15, 2024 and announced in a news release May 21, 0224.
A Global Strategy
Our “feed first” strategy, which prioritizes securing reliable, long-term sources of critical minerals, is a cornerstone of the Company’s approach. By securing potential offshore stockpiles and bringing them to Quebec for potential processing, Coniagas is not only expanding its resource base but also ensuring a resilient and flexible supply chain that can adapt to market demands.
In parallel, Coniagas is conducting extensive metallurgical testwork on the Graal deposit in Quebec. This testwork is vital for advancing the Graal property towards production as well as scaling up the Re-2Ox process and aligns with the company’s strategy of integrating global resources with local expertise to drive innovation.
Frank Basa, President and CEO of Coniagas, stated, “Our collaboration with SGS is a key part of our strategy to create a vertically integrated supply chain that supports the entire battery metals ecosystem. We are ensuring that our Re-2Ox process is versatile, scalable, and ready to meet the needs of not just the EV market, but also other industries that are driving toward a net-zero future. This global approach strengthens our position and aligns perfectly with our ‘feed first’ strategy.”
Qualified Person
The technical information in this news release was reviewed and approved by Matthew Halliday, P.Geo., member of the Ordre des Géologues du Québec, who is a Qualified Person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101.
About Coniagas Battery Metals Inc.
Coniagas Battery Metals Inc. is a Canadian junior mining company, focused on nickel, copper, cobalt, and platinum group metals in Québec. The Company’s strategy aims to generate shareholder value by developing its mineral assets and constructing an advanced processing plant, positioning Coniagas as a potential key supplier for the electric vehicle (EV) industry.
Graal Project: Strategic Resource Development
The 100%-owned Graal project near Saguenay, Quebec, has shown significant potential through extensive geophysical surveys and shallow drilling. It has identified high-grade nickel and copper mineralization, with showings of cobalt, platinum, and palladium, along a 6 km strike length at shallow depths potentially suitable for open-pit mining. Upcoming activities include further drilling, metallurgical testing, and consultations with First Nations, culminating in a NI 43-101 resource report. The NI 43-101 Technical Report Graal Nickel & Copper Project, Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, Quebec, Canada, dated January 17, 2024, provides detailed project information.
Long-Term Vision and Commercialization Strategy
Coniagas leverages proprietary technologies like the Re-2Ox hydrometallurgical process for the extraction and production of cleaner, low-carbon, battery-grade materials. This innovative process eliminates the need for traditional smelting, significantly reducing the environmental footprint. Combined with strategic projects such as Graal and CAM/pCAM production initiatives, Coniagas is positioning itself as a potential player in the future of the EV industry. For more information, visit the Company’s website.
“Frank J. Basa”
Frank J. Basa, P. Eng., Professional Engineers Ontario
Chief Executive Officer
For further information, contact:
Frank J. Basa, P. Eng. Ontario
Chief Executive Officer
416-625-2342
or:
Wayne Cheveldayoff, Corporate Communications
P: 416-710-2410
E: [email protected]
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release and the above articles and videos may contain forward-looking statements regarding Coniagas Battery Metals Inc. (“Coniagas” or the “Company”) which include, but are not limited to, comments that involve future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Except for statements of historical facts, comments that address the private placement referred to above, resource potential, upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt and security of mineral property titles, availability of funds, and others are forward-looking. No assurance can be given that any of the foregoing will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. General business conditions are factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information in this news release or other communications unless required by law.
Stockhouse Video and Transcript — Coniagas: A Unique Battery Metals Opportunity in Quebec
