Washington advisor appointed to chase commercial opportunity
Our US based lithium Investment Mandrake Resources (ASX: MAN) has just appointed a Washington based senior advisor focused on exploring potential government/commercial investment opportunities for its project in Utah.
The ultimate focus is on securing funding that may be available for critical minerals projects inside the US - like the US$1Bn loan that was given to ASX listed Ioneer which is developing a US based lithium project.
Ioneer’s loan came from the US Department Of Energy - the same department where MAN’s new advisor spent much of his career.
MAN’s advisor is Douglas W. Hollett.
Hollett has over 40 years’ experience in the energy and critical minerals sector, most recently as Special Advisor, Critical Materials and Supply Chain at the US Dept of Energy (DOE).
During his career Hollett also reported to the Department Of Energy under Secretary for Science and Innovation in the Special Advisor role.
His primary responsibility was to coordinate collaboration amongst government agencies across the critical minerals supply chains.
Our view is that getting someone in its corner with the CV that Hollett has this early on can only work in favour of MAN, and we hope that come time for financing the groundwork being laid now will pay off.
Through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) the US is aiming to have ~80% of the critical minerals found in Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries sourced from inside the US or from countries that have free trade agreements with the US.
We think the only way to hit that target is to get projects like MAN’s off the ground.
What’s next for MAN?
Maiden exploration target 🔄
With MAN confirming today that it will start preparing lithium sampling programs, the company is likely to have leased as much ground as it needs before starting exploration.
The focus now shifts to exploration, and we are looking forward to MAN putting out an exploration target for its project before the quarter ends.
Lithium sampling program 🔄
Once the exploration target is confirmed, it will be all about progressing the work needed to convert that exploration target into a maiden JORC resource estimate (e.g. sampling existing wells and potentially drilling a new well).
