Capital Markets & Funding
Based on the unprecedented demand, and limited supply of critical minerals, the Company is currently exploring many options regarding funding, and sale of mineral rights. US Critical Materials has been approached by funding sources and continues to seek the best scenario for the Company and its shareholders.
Offtake Contracts
The Company is confident that it will be able to execute forward offtake contracts based on the imbalance in the marketplace, and activity of competitors. The contracts could be broad or targeted to each of the Company’s many critical minerals. Rare earths projects with significantly lower critical mineral levels are currently negotiating and signing contracts with major end users. The contracts are long term, and do not require production for a few years.
End User Investments
Due to the shortage of critical minerals, end users are investing at the beginning of the supply chain so they will not be shut out. Auto companies have recently been entering into contracts with, and have even been purchasing outright, mining companies with a focus on critical minerals. With the expected continuation of geopolitical volatility around the globe, and the ever-increasing need for a secure supply, we believe US Critical Materials will become an acquisition, joint venture or other target for not only auto companies, but a variety of other end users.
Sale of US Critical Materials
Based on the ever-increasing need for rare earths, US Critical Materials believes that it will become a desirable takeover target for the end users of critical minerals. At some point in the foreseeable future, a possible sale of the Company may be up for consideration.
Investment Consideration For US Critical Materials
There is a global rush to secure critical minerals, many of which are vital for consumers, industry, and military applications. The demand for these metals will accelerate sharply in the coming years as the world continues its transition to electric vehicles and more renewable energy sources. Critical minerals are important for electronics such as semiconductors, batteries, magnets, and electric vehicle motors. Unprecedented amounts of capital are entering the critical minerals sector, with many believing the world is entering a “super cycle.”
Commodity Super Cycle
Goldman Sachs recently released a report calling commodity outlook “An Underinvested Super Cycle.” Goldman forecasts raw materials will be the best performing asset class in 2023 with a return of 43 %. Many believe that some of the billions invested in cryptocurrencies will be redeployed in areas that forecast high returns and have underlying physical assets.
Scanning Electron Microscopy
There is a global rush to secure critical minerals, many of which are vital for consumers, industry, and military applications. The demand for these metals will accelerate sharply in the coming years as the world continues its transition to electric vehicles and more renewable energy sources. Critical minerals are important for electronics such as semiconductors, batteries, magnets, and electric vehicle motors. Unprecedented amounts of capital are entering the critical minerals sector, with many believing the world is entering a “super cycle.”
National Security
There is limited supply of critical minerals globally. China controls 80-90 % of rare earths in the world. The U.S. is dependent on China for many of the elements necessary for not only consumer uses, but critical military and industrial applications as well, and is not permitted to buy and import these raw materials from China, but rather only to buy fully processed rare-earth-containing products and product components manufactured within China itself, under CCP rule. Thus in summary, the Chinese Communist Party in China has essentially weaponized its global rare earths domination.
Valuation
Total of 40 claims x 20 acres = 800 acres
1 acre = 43,560 square feet
800 acres = 34,848,000 square feet
34,840,000 square feet x 1 foot deep = 34,840,000 cubic feet
34,840,000 cubic feet / 27 cubic yard = 1,290,370.37 cubic yards
1,290,370 cubic yards x 0.765 mt per cubic yard = 987,133 mt
987,133 cubic yards x 4.0 g/cm3 (~ancylite) = 3,948,532 mt
Volume x Density = Mass (Vp=m)
Total Inferred Resource Value:
3,948,532 mt x $11,000 per mt = $43,433,852,000
Mass x Inferred Value per metric ton = Total Inferred Value
Methodology For Determining Valuation
- Inferred Resource as identified by the U.S. Geological Survey.
- The minerals were identified as carbonatite based on the known definition:
- Primarily > 50 volume percent carbonate minerals, primarily calcite and/or dolomite, and containing < 20 weight percent quartz.
- Chondrite normalized enrichment in light rare-earth elements (LREE).
- Chondrite normalized plot of the rare-earth elements (REE) shows no europium (Eu) depletion.
- Barium (Ba) and Strontium (Sr) abundances are generally high.
- Potassic (K) fenitization, alteration by relatively low-temperature metasomatic processes.
- Have identified 50 surface carbonatites on the original 40 claim blocks.
- Sample 50 surface samples at the carbonatites and send for analysis.
- Identify locations of 3 adits (portals) excavated in the late 1950s and early 1960s in search of niobium. (No uses for REE existed at the time)
- Three adits were located and two were safely excavated for access.
- Adits #1 and #3 were entered and samples were collected for analysis at Activation Laboratories Inc. in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada (pending).
- Adits #1 and #3 confirmed and 21 underground rock-chip samples, 24 surface rock-chip samples, and 17 surface channel samples were collected and sent for analysis. (pending)
- A hand-held X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) scan of the carbonatite in adit #3 showed 8.7% cerium, 6.9% lanthanum, and 2.8% strontium.
- Collected surface samples of carbonatite which were sent to be made into an ore concentrate
- Surface concentrates sent to Activation Laboratories Inc. for analysis (pending)
- Contact Harmen J. Keyser at Precision GeoSurveys Inc. in Canada to reserve a helicopter to fly a geophysical survey that commences after the snow melts in 2023.
- Survey additional 183 claim blocks to surround the original 40 claim blocks to secure exploration target.
- Plan to explore the 183 claim blocks to look for additional carbonatites.
- The latest 2022 sampling included 32 sites of which 4 have a pan-concentrate and more than 200 soil samples sent for analysis. (pending)
- Adit #2 is planned for excavation and access in 2023.
- Drilling targets are needed to be selected and roads developed to access those sites in 2023.
- Drilling is planned to commence once permits are submitted and approved.
- Drill core will be logged on-site and carbonatite sections sent for elemental analysis.
Pending: Samples sent to analytical laboratory and awaiting report.
Based on the information collected to date, it is estimated that an underground buried carbonatite extends beneath the original 40 claim blocks (20 acres x 40 claim blocks=800 acres).