Boadicea facing a perfect storm with ‘right commodity in the right location’

28/01/2021

Boadicea Resources Managing Director Jon Reynolds has provided a number of thought pieces about the strong fundamentals supporting the nickel price and the importance of junior nickel explorers in fueling the growth of nickel developments for the future.

In an interview with Andrew Scott of Proactive Investors, Jon Reynolds says the nickel price has been surging with prices exceeding five years high and is nudging the US$18,000 per tonne.

There is strong fundamental support for the price increases and long term requirements for nickel, it is the electric vehicle battery technology industry which is going to provide the long term support.

Nickel is a key ingredient for batteries used in Tesla electric vehicles. Telsa is reportedly moving away from using cobalt in batteries because of rising costs of the metal as well as ethical concerns surrounding its production being still dominated by the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Elon Musk was reported saying in the media, “Technically, our cells should be called nickel graphite, because the primary constituent in the cell as a whole is nickel.” Nickel is the key component because of its ability to extend the battery life and a more cost-effective metal than cobalt. Given the criticality of the metal, Elon Musk has sent out a call for more nickel to be mined and produced, adding that his automaker company could offer a “giant” long term contract for the producer.

To add to the upsurge in nickel, supplies are under pressure with production issues out of New Caledonia and a ban on nickel exports out of the Indonesia and mining in Philippines.

Why has BOA concentrated on the Fraser Range?

Since its IPO Boadicea has been almost 100% focussed on nickel and more specifically in the Fraser Range.

The company has built an enviable position of 11 tenements in some of the hottest locations. This has borne fruit firstly with the Nova find in 2012 and more recently for Boadicea with the recent IGO deal and recent announcement of IGO commencing exploration activities on the nearest tenement to the Nova nickel mine – Symons Hill.

Initial works will include geophysics followed by drilling on known extensions to existing prospects, with the highest priority known as Orion which is shining more of a spotlight on Boadicea as it is trending towards the company’s Symons Hill licence.

The Fraser Range excitement started with the discovery of the Nova Bollinger Ni-Co deposit in 2012. Since that time, magmatic nickel-copper discoveries by other explorers, including Mark Creasy with Silver Knight and Legend Mining with Mawson, have demonstrated the mineral fertility and general immaturity of the area and the potential for the belt to host multiple economic deposits of similar style.

IGO is making comparisons to the famous Thompson Belt nickel deposits in Canada. The Fraser Range has only two deposits with more than 150km strike length, and total known resources of 18 million tonnes. Taking a look at the Thompson Belt in Canada, there are 10 deposits and total known resources of more than 146 million tonnes which occur over a similar strike length. The opportunity is clearly evident.

There are a number of exciting stories in the Fraser Range, in particular by the Mark Creasy backed Galileo Resources which is heading for the daily treble (they have already unearthed Silver Knight and he was the powerbroker behind the Sirius Nova find). Galileo’s tenements are located in the southern portion of the Fraser Range where Boadicea is also keeper of two solely-held tenements – Fraser South and Southern Hills which it too has begun to conduct some early exploration work to test the ground for any signs and potential for mineralisation.

Galileo Mining is a $39 million nickel explorer while Boadicea is a $15 million nickel-copper-gold explorer holding tenements in three very prospective mineralised districts – Fraser Range, Paterson Province and Charters Towers Province. It can be argued that with the Symons Hill licence Boadicea has the most attractive ground owned by a junior in the whole of the Fraser Range.

Why IGO and BOA?

The Fraser Range is an extensive gravity high with a strike length of over 450km and IGO has access to more than 15,000km2 of tenure. This has allowed IGO to develop a unique access to the key controls on mineralisation.

Through their project identification process, IGO has identified more than 600 potential targets, of which there are 22 that are ready to be drill tested. Of the 600 only three are at the “Prospect Evaluation” stage. At the very top of this “prospectivity tree” is the Orion Prospect, which is located on the edge of the BOA Symons Hill tenement.

In a recent report by IGO on the Orion prospect they reference the following: ”The observed lateral zonation in the chonolith is accompanied by increases in nickel and copper sulphide tenors (grade of the sulphides) that suggest that the intrusion is becoming more dynamic and therefore more prospective for nickel-copper mineralised systems towards the northeast.” And to the north east is exactly where Boadicea is located with the Symons Hill project.

Let’s be clear that the exploration that IGO is about to conduct on the Boadicea tenement is looking for an extension of a known prospect that has indicated greater prospect and higher grade nickel tenor than already identified.

Summary – Boadicea’s standing

• Right commodity: Prices at five year highs, and large upside with battery technology
• Shortage: More nickel deposits need to be found – hence exploration activity is intense and targeted
• Right place: Fraser Range has significant potential for new nickel deposits
• Upside: The path to upside is clear, with direct access to the best target in the IGO Fraser Range stable, the Orion Prospect, out of more than 600 IGO Fraser Range targets.
• Timing: Significant exploration activity about to happen at Orion. Electromagnetic targeting and then drilling in the next six months.
• Share price: Current market cap only A$16M. Obvious path to delivering share price growth.