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ARIKA RESOURCES LIMITED — AGM Information 2016
Nov 24, 2016
64420_rns_2016-11-24_675d549f-4474-471f-a215-6fe3c22044f1.pdf
AGM Information
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Metalicity Limited 6 Outram Street West Perth WA 6005 Ph: + 61 8 9324 1053 Fax: +61 8 9324 3366 Web: www.metalicity.com.au
ASX Code: MCT 25 November 2016
2016 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS TO SHAREHOLDERS
When we met here last year I commented that the continued subdued demand for most resource commodities was keeping both commodity prices and stock prices of most resource companies low.
This year has been a little different. The prices of nearly all metals have gradually improved over the year indicating that demand has started to improve. The exception is probably the copper price that has only recently shown some strength. It seems unlikely that we will see any significant improvement in the major base metals markets until global industrial activity begins to improve markedly.
Having said that, in the base metals, zinc and to a lesser extent tin, have been exceptions. The year on year zinc price has grown by around 50% which we believe is a growing recognition of a looming supply demand imbalance for the metal globally. This of course, augurs very well indeed for our Admiral Bay project.
Also of note have been developments in the renewable energy and energy storage markets. In particular, the rapidly expanding electric car market and the growth in both home energy generation and storage are pointing to a growing need for some of the rarer metals. The notable one at present being lithium.
It that regard, your Company has also made a number of strategic investments in this industry sector over the year.
Twelve months ago Metalicity had just been reclassified as a Resources Industry Sector company and relisted. We were also just beginning to review the detailed data available for our Admiral Bay Zinc project and commencing a Scoping Study.
As a first step, in December last year, we announced that we had identified two new zones of mineralisation outside of the previous Mineral Resource Estimate area. This led to us announcing, at the end of February, an increase of 15% to the then Resource Estimate, taking the total to 111.3 Mt @ 5.7% ZnEq.
We also began re-logging the existing drill core and re-processing available 2D seismic data, which the previous owners of Admiral Bay had not done. The aim was to build a new 3D geological model, following which we would complete a total reestimate of the Mineral Resource.
In addition, as a result of work undertaken by Dr David Leach, a global geological expert in mineral deposits of this type, it was realised that the lateral extension of the Admiral Bay deposit could actually be far wider than previously thought. So with that information we submitted a further six exploration licence applications surrounding the current tenements covering an additional area of over 3,000km[2] .
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Metalicity Limited 6 Outram Street West Perth WA 6005 Ph: + 61 8 9324 1053 Fax: +61 8 9324 3366 Web: www.metalicity.com.au
All this review work was completed in early July and we were delighted to announce a completely updated Mineral Resource Estimate and a revised Exploration Target Range of 170Mt @ 7.5%ZnEq and 160-210Mt @7.2-7.8%ZnEq respectively. These latest estimates now rank Admiral Bay as the 4[th] largest known undeveloped zinc deposit in the world.
In the meantime, in late June, we announced that we had negotiated an arrangement with Kagara Ltd (In Liquidation) to extinguish all future payments and obligations associated with the original purchase agreement for Admiral Bay. For a one off payment of $750,000 and 23m ordinary shares your Company now has a totally unencumbered 100% interest in the Admiral Bay Zinc Project.
At the end of July we were further pleased to announce a positive conclusion to the Scoping Study. This was undertaken and completed by the international engineering group SRK Consulting. The outcome of the Study was positive and confirms that Admiral Bay does indeed have the potential to support a large, low cost, long life zinc/lead/silver operation.
We are now preparing to commence a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS). This will include a new round of drilling to extend and upgrade the classification of the Mineral Resource and an investigation into the potential use of a semi-automated “hardrock” longwall mining system. To assist with funding the PFS we have recently commenced discussions with a select number of parties who are interested in partnering with us in this Project.
Notwithstanding the large amount of work being carried out on Admiral Bay over the year, we were also very mindful of possible opportunities associated with the increased level of activity in the renewable energy generation and storage industry sector I mentioned earlier.
During the latter part of last year and very much as an “early mover” we began reviewing in detail, potential opportunities, primarily in WA, but also elsewhere. The first result of this was our announcement in late December that we had lodged 3 exploration licence applications in the Pilgangoora/Wodgina area of the Pilbara region of WA, which are highly prospective for Lithium, Tantalum and Tin.
Over the next few months we also announced the acquisition of a number of other existing exploration licences and made a number of licence applications, across WA, considered highly prospective for high grade graphite, lithium and more recently, in October, for cobalt.
From a capital raising perspective, in March this year were very pleased to announce that following detailed discussions with some member companies of the China Battery Association we had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with China New United Shanghai Metal Resources Co Ltd regarding the future funding for lithium project acquisitions and development. This was accompanied by a placement of 42.9m company shares at $0.07 to controllers of Shanghai Metals to raise $3.0m to be used for advancing work on our exploration tenements.
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Metalicity Limited 6 Outram Street West Perth WA 6005 Ph: + 61 8 9324 1053 Fax: +61 8 9324 3366 Web: www.metalicity.com.au
Whilst our exploration licence applications were being and continue to be processed, field survey and detailed evaluation work has been carried out and is ongoing. As we have announced, at what we call the Stannum Project (part of the Pilgangoora/Wodgina area), two high priority drill targets have already been identified as being highly prospective for lithium.
As the various exploration licences have started to be granted, drilling is starting and is now underway at Stannum and will soon commence at Lake Cowan.
So as you will see in the past 12 months your Company has been very active. Particularly on its flagship project, the Admiral Bay Zinc Project, where great progress has been made.
Notwithstanding, at Rocky Gully we completed an extensive soil sampling program across the tenements earlier in the year that returned a number of anomalous gold results that warrant further work. Currently plans are being made for further in-fill soil sampling to be followed by drill testing.
On the corporate front the Company is well established in West Perth and under Matt’s leadership the management team has been strengthened in a number of areas throughout the year. So, we are well placed to continue with the proposed work programs over the next 12 months.
I see the next year as being a period where we have the potential to make great strides forward. With Admiral Bay, the current focus is securing a joint venture partner for the next phase of project development, which is the completion of a PreFeasibility Study. We are confident that as that work progresses the real potential of Admiral Bay will be unlocked and that will in turn enhance shareholder value considerably.
On the lithium/graphite/cobalt front, we are just at the start of the drill testing phase in a number of areas. We are very hopeful of success and are very excited about the potential in this sector.
To conclude, I would like to congratulate Matt and all his team on a very successful year. Metalicity has come a long way in the last 12 months and I look forward to continuing that progress over the next year.
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