Metals One (MET1) , a battery metals explorer with projects in Northern Europe, issued an update on its flagship Black Schist Ni-Zn-Cu-Co project in Finland and related farm-in agreement with Gunsynd.
Metals One announced that the second-stage payment from Gunsynd, pursuant to the farm-in agreement between Metals One Finland, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MET1, and Gunsynd, was now due. MET1 received the first-stage payment of £250k in exchange for a 6.25% stake in Metals One Finland in November 2023.
The payments are part of Gunsynd's commitment to subscribe for 25% of the voting rights of Metals One Finland at an aggregate price of £1,000,000, pursuant to the agreement between the two companies detailed in Metals One's admission document. Discussions regarding various options in relation to the farm-in agreement are still ongoing and investors should expect further announcements soon.
Metals One will use the proceeds to accelerate exploration work at its flagship Black Schist project in Finland, with an Inferred resource of 28.1 Mt of Talvivaara-type mineralised material at grades of 0.19% nickel (53,800t), 0.10% copper (27,900t), 0.01% cobalt (3,400t) and 0.38% zinc (180,000t) at the Rautavaara licence.
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Metals One's farm-in agreement with Gunsynd is moving along, with the second payment now due. The cash injection will accelerate the development of MET1's highly prospective Black Schist project where the Rautavaara licence hosts a range of critical battery metals. The company confirmed another batch of positive assay results today from previously unassessed intersections at the P5 JORC exploration target at Black Schist, adding to a string of positive news since exploration began.
The new assays will contribute to an updated mineral resource estimate for Black Schist, expected in Q2 2024. The new resource should materially boost the current 28.1 Mt MRE and underpin a preliminary economic assessment for the project. This is a significant upcoming milestone and value inflection point for the project and MET1.
Metals One recently announced plans to expand its footprint in the Kainuu Schist Belt with new assets within the resource-rich region that hosts the Black Schist project as well as Europe's largest nickel mine at Talvivaara. This includes a longer-term goal of defining a 200 Mt resource in the Paltamo area of the belt, the scale of which could underpin a significant supply of critical minerals to the European market, at what MET1 expects to be a low cost of production.
Overall, Metals One's strategy for its Black Schist project in Finland promises to unlock significant resources of high-quality critical metals. Nickel, copper, and cobalt are main ingredients in most Li-ion battery chemistries, demand for which continues to climb amid increasing orders for EVs and grid storage solutions.
The European market is seeking to secure such critical metals from within the security of its borders, and at the lowest economic and environmental cost. Recent European legislation enhances these considerations, such as the Critical Raw Materials Act, which pursues indigenous supply, and the Battery Regulation, a directive requiring passports for large batteries, stating their material provenance and carbon footprint.
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