RML going after US government funding and fast-tracked permitting
Our US critical minerals and gold Investment Resolution Minerals (ASX: RML) is going after US government funding to advance its project in Idaho.
RML’s project has in the past produced antimony-tungsten and gold - all minerals that the US is looking to increase domestic production of.
Antimony and tungsten especially, because they are considered defence critical…
RML’s project is next door to $1.9BN Perpetua Resources.
Perpetua is the poster boy for how a critical mineral X factor can change the fortunes of a company.
Perpetua’s project is primarily a gold project, but just like RML’s project, it has a history of antimony production.
We think Perpetua’s antimony angle is what attracted almost ~US$2BN in government funding to the project - aimed at bringing the project online as quickly as possible.
Alongside all the funding, the US government also added Perpetua’s project to the list of projects that would be eligible for fast tracked permitting under the “FAST-41 Program”.
A combination of government funding and fast tracked permitting is what took Perpetua to a market cap of ~$2BN (up over 1,000% inside 24 months).
That’s where we think today’s news from RML comes into play.
RML’s project currently has a historic ~286k ounce gold resource.
BUT, similarly to Perpetua, RML’s project has produced antimony (and tungsten and gold) in the past.
We think that a lot of the conditions that attracted government funding to Perpetua could apply to RML…
RML will be drilling in August/September based on its exploration model which is that repeats of Perpetua’s project could still be undiscovered in the area:
Our view is that IF RML can show its project has enough resources to warrant a development case it could open the door to US government funding…
Perpetua’s project once in production will be the only domestic supply of antimony (producing ~35% of US demand).
Which tells us the the US government could still be keen to get more projects off the ground.
US government funding was a key reason for our Investment.
In our launch note last week we listed the following key reason for our Investment in RML:
(Source)
We think that the old vendors of the project clearly knew there was potential for this type of deal and wanted exposure to it IF it happened.
We think that a US$5M funding deal from the US government wouldn’t just benefit RML financially, but also bring a whole new set of eyeballs to the company (most of whom would have made a lot money betting on Perpetua).
In today’s announcement RML made mention of the US$2.5BN budget reconciliation bill which would support US critical minerals production/stockpiling.
AND RML said it had already started weighing up its options on which pathways to go down for funding…
Our RML launch note:
In our note you will find:
- A brief overview of why we are adding RML to our Portfolio
- Why we think RML could the next runner of the US based critical metals stocks
- More on RML’s neighbour Perpetua which is up over ~1,000% in the last ~24 months
- How RML’s exploration model is based on Perpetua's project
- The 10 Reasons why we are Invested in RML
Check out the full note here: Our Latest Investment: Resolution Minerals (ASX: RML) Historical antimony production next to the biggest antimony project in the USA ...plus gold, silver and tungsten.
