The SBH Critical Minerals Property

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The Company holds a 100% interest in a 850 square kms mineral property, held under 14 Alberta Rock-hosted Minerals Permits, 120 km north of Fort McMurray, in the Athabasca oil sands region, in northeast Alberta, Canada. Metals-rich black shales extend under the surface of over at least half of the Property. The shales are enriched in recoverable Mo-Ni-U-V-Zn-Cu-Co-U-Th-REE-Li-Sc, hosted in large near-surface startabound Formations amenable to large scale open pit rip-mining.

The Alberta shales, and related mineralized zones at the Property, were first discovered in the early 1990s by Tintina Mines Limited and partner NSR Resources Inc. But despite much exploration and drilling, their advancement was shelved in 1998 considering lack of metals recovery methods at the time to collectively extract all contained metals in a single circuit. Given break-through advances in bioleaching processing methods in the early 2000’s, exploration of the discoveries was re-launched by DNI Metals Inc. in 2006 (previously Dumont Nickel Inc.). DNI extensively explored and advanced prior discoveries during 2006-2014, through more R&D and further drilling, to also confirm that bioleaching technology is suited for collective recovery of all metals from the Alberta shales. In that period, two mineral resources were also delineated, one of which advanced to be designated a Mineral Deposit through a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment Study (PEA) in 2014.

The above discoveries and extensive related exploration programs were carried out by companies which represent predecessor groups which were at the time under the direction of the Company’s current management and operations team. The Company is, accordingly, launching advancement of its Projects with a significant head start thanks to its team’s extensive prior familiarity with the property, having been “on the ground” during first discovery, during prior resource delineations and leaching testwork, and during advancement of one of the resources discovered through a Preliminary Economic Assessment.

The Company will advance development of past discoveries relying on its prior experience at the Property toward developing sustainable critical minerals mining operations with low energy demands and a low ecological footprint. An aggregate of approximately $12MM has previously been spent during the thirty year prior exploration history of the Property on work by the groups previously under the direction of the Company’s current management and its operations team.

Metallic mineralization discovered at the Property is hosted in three drill confirmed black shale formations partly exposed in 10’s kilometers of valley walls, namely: the 20m‑40m thick Second White Speckled Shale Formation, the 10m‑110m thick Labiche Shale Formation overlying it, and the 80m-150m Shaftesbury Shale beneath it. The shales occur as flat mineralized “blankets” across the Property whose stratigraphic continuity is confirmed over at least one third of the  Property, and the broader Birch Mountains surrounding it, by 100’s of oil/gas wells.

Although the Shaftesbury Shale is similarly mineralized as the two shales above it, and with better Lithium and Scandium grades per prior drilling, it has not been captured into historic mineral resources as all prior work has focused on the two shales above it considering that significance of the Shaftesbury was recognized late in the exploration history of the Property. 

The Alberta black shales are typical metals enriched polymetallic black shales known worldwide to carry low concentrations of a long list of metals, of which no single metal occurs in sufficient concentration to support mining operations by itself, but if collectively recovered in a single circuit, they offer enticing low cost bulk mining opportunities capable of supplying the metals for many decades. 

The shales at the Property are exposed at the surface and have been shown to be well suited for bulk mining and, based on considerable prior bioleaching R&D work, are also amenable to the collective recovery of all of the metals by bio-heap-leaching relying on naturally occurring bio-organisms for recovery of the metals. Bioleaching relies on the collective recovery of metals from the shales in heaped crushed shale irrigated with a solution containing the naturally occurring bio-organism Thiobacilii which needs to consume Sulfur for energy and CO2 for replenishing its biomass.

Though, due to their size, flat geometry  and shallow mineability. the metals enriched black shales are often suggested to represent an oil sands “story” but for metals instead, unlike oil sands operations which consume considerable water and hydro, which produce much waste Sulfur, immense tonnages of CO2 and considerable toxic tailings, the metal mining operations envisaged for extraction of critical metals from the black shales will recycle water, will produce excess hydro, will consume Sulfur and CO2, and their “spent shale” tailings can be expected to be inert sulfates such as gypsum to be backfilled into the mining excavations. As such, these projects offer a unique opportunity to showcase Alberta as a "green" mining innovator and a reliable long term global supplier of critical metals for decades to come, while also serving to clean up unwanted wastes from adjacent oil sands mining to benefit of surrounding communities. 

Three Mineralized Zones have been discovered over the north half of the Property extending over ~18-32 square kms each, with potential to contain 3BB-7BB tonnes of mineralized shale each. All three Zones have been extensively sampled, partly drill tested, and two contain historic Mineral Resources with an aggregate tonnage of 1BB-1.1BB tonnes. All Zones are open into surrounding areas beneath geochemical, geophysical and subsurface anomalies, and are exposed in valleys. Though partly drill tested, these areas have not yet been systematically drilled to be classified as Mineral Resources under NI-43-101, and six additional areas have also been identified over south half of the Property which have not yet been sampled but which might host similar mineralized zones as those already discovered.

One of the Mineral Resources previously discovered at the Property is a portion of a historic Mineral Resource which advanced through a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment Study in 2014 reclassifying it as a Deposit - the 4.5BB tonne historic Buckton Deposit. The foregoing Study provides an excellent template for what can be achieved for other mineralized volumes at the Property, and offers valuable guidelines to their ultimate development toward production. The foregoing relies on demonstrated uniformity of grades of the shales over the Property, the similarity of geometry and their excellent geological continuity over many 10’s square kms, and the demonstrated amenability of mineralization discovered to metals recovery by bioleaching processes as formulated for the historic Buckton Deposit. The PEA further concluded that 96% of mineral resources underlying the Deposit are mineable as captured into its optimized pit shell models. 

In addition to engineering and hydrometallurgical flowsheets, the historic 2014 PEA, together with its post-PEA scoping iterations, also offers economic guidelines for the 4.5B tonne Buckton Deposit, suggesting that any similar mineralized tonnage at the Property would be capable of producing base and critical metals, and REEs per the PEA’s base case scenario for a 64 year minelife at a 72MM tonne annual mining rate, at $8/tonne Opex and a $3.4BB Capex with a 6 year payback. The PEA also concluded that the operations will circulate water usage, will produce excess hydro to be fed back into the local grid and, relying on a x1.1 USD:CDN exchange rate and metals prices as at 2014, it estimated an NPV6% of $4.2BB for the Deposit from mining feed valued at $16.5/t in-situ, despite omission of Lithium and Scandium from projected metals output given their uncertain markets at the time. 

The 2014 PEA identified many operational as well as economic enhancements, and based on economic criteria alone characterized the historic Buckton Deposit as substantially a Rare Earths Deposit dominated by heavy REEs capable of generating some $19 billion in pre-tax revenues during its lifetime after contributing $3 billion in Alberta Provincial Mineral royalties. The foregoing econometrics have not yet been updated to reflect current metals prices nor enhanced current USD:CDN exchange rate, nor yet updated to capture other enhancements identified in post-PEA scoping work. All of the foregoing will be updated to be incorporated into future economic assessments, especially when considering that the three similarly sized zones hold potential to triple the foregoing economic benefits.

A similar type of multi-metal deposit is currently being mined at the Talvivaara deposit by Terrafame, Finland’s state owned mining group, which provides an excellent template to guide development of the Alberta shales toward production. Talvivaara's history early in its discovery phase in the 1990's by Outokumpu is similar to discovery of metal enrichment zones in the Alberta shales at the Property, and its eco footprint as a metal mining operating at one third of the Carbon footprint of other comparable metal producers offers guidelines to what might be achieved in Alberta. Terrafame is currently building a battery plant onsite, and the Talvivaara mining operation aims to halve its Carbon footprint by 2030 toward achieving net-zero by 2050. 

The three known Mineralized Zones at the Property are summarized below. More detailed information is available from historic Alberta assessment reports previously filed all of which are publicly available parts of which are posted on this website for convenience.

• An estimated 6BB-7BB tonnes in a Mineralized Zone over 28 square kms, including a 470MM-570MM tonne historic Inferred Resource over 2 square kms, being the southern tip of the historic Buckton Deposit Mineral  Resource.

• An estimated 4BB-6BB tonnes in a Mineralized Zone over 22-33 square kms, including the 497MM tonne historic Buckton South Maiden Inferred Resource which extends over 3.3 square kms.

• An estimated 3BB-4BB tonnes in a Mineralized Zone extending for 24 square kms over north half of the Asphalt Zone. A Resource Study is pending for this Zone, relying on historic drilling, targeting a 700MM-900MM tonne Maiden Resource.  A similar sized area over south half of this area has been identified with known prospective targets which have not yet been drilled.

In addition to the Property’s merits as a valuable source to much sought after critical metals, the bioleaching metals recovery processes formulated per prior work have identified significant environmentally beneficial opportunities which will help consume considerable hazardous wastes from adjacent oil sands operations. This includes capacity for consuming all waste Sulfur waste from adjacent oils ands mining operations, in addition to consuming CO2 and H2S. Other collateral environmentally beneficial opportunities identified include capacity for creating excess hydro to be fed back into the local grid, in addition to several CO2e opportunities identified which have to date been only partly quantified.

Development of metal mining operations envisaged, accordingly, offer innovative and transformative opportunities serving as yet another link in the sustainability chain to net-zero through symbiotic collaborations between metals mining and adjacent oilsands mining operations to economic benefit, and the benefit of surrounding communities. The foregoing projects as envisaged represent outstanding opportunities showcasing Industrial Symbiotics toward a Circular Economy for Alberta.

The Company is in the process of formulating a Sustainability Statement document to outline its ESG commitments as a pro-active exercise to regulations which will likely become mandatory as early as next year, to better organize its development plans early on from the ground up. This document will be released once finalized. 

Additional details relating to eco footprint and ESG summarized in ESG section of this website.