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Lithium pioneer Biddle pitches his next cutting-edge mineral to investors

Plus, imminent PFS could spark re-rating for Kingston and sold-down Rumble offers punters several leveraged exploration plays

20th November 2020
Barry FitzGerald
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It hasn’t taken long for Neil Biddle to get some pep into the share price of the formerly sleepy Greenvale Mining (GRV).
Greenvale got a mention here back on September 10 when it was a 4.2c stock. It has since marched to 10.5c for a market cap of $35 million.
There are two forces at work.
There are those punters getting behind Biddle after following him at Pilbara Minerals (PLS), which he turned from a stock going nowhere to one of the biggest hard rock lithium-tantalum producers in the world.
And then there are those investors who have taken to Biddle’s planning for near-term production from Greenvale’s long-held Alpha torbanite project in central Queensland, and Greenvale’s newly acquired position in one of the last frontier’s for big-time copper-gold discoveries in the Northern Territory.
COVID has delayed approvals to get on the ground in NT, making it a story for next year. Meanwhile, Biddle has got his followers excited about the Alpha project, a project that has sat on Greenvale’s books for 40 years.
Biddle reckons Alpha’s time has arrived.
Just like he was one of the first to educate this market about how a thing called the electric revolution and how demand would grow for lithium from Pilbara’s Pilgangoora project, Biddle has been busy bringing the punters up to speed on why he is excited about Alpha’s torbanite, most recently at the Resources Rising Stars Gold Coast conference.
Biddle explained that torbanite is not a shale oil or a coal. It is a mineral in its own right and that Alpha is the only “commercial” deposit left in Australia.
Torbanite’s usefulness comes from its ability to contain up to 650 litres of hydrocarbons per tonne, split into 60% bitumen and 40% light hydrocarbons.
And from that make-up, three high-value products can be produced - bitumen, light crude (a precursor to diesel) and activated carbon.
It turns out all of Australia’s bitumen needs of some 800,000tpa are now imported as oil refineries have been closing on a regular basis.
“We already have customers lined up for bitumen. In fact one of the customers is providing lab services for our bulk sampling program which will commence shortly,” Biddle said.
But the real kicker in the product mix is the activated carbon, a $US5 billion market growing at 10% a year. It is the front-line choice for emissions and water purification, all of which is a now a global obsession.
Alpha could produce high quality activated carbon as its porosity soars after the hydrocarbons are extracted. The alternative in the activated carbon stakes is to grow a lot more coconuts which does meet the sustainability agenda.
A relatively low-cost Alpha development would require a retort which would heat the torbanite to 600 degrees using technology that is well known.
Biddle plans to get a PFS out by mid-2021 and follow up with offtake and a final feasibility study by the end of 2021. It is a tight schedule but as Biddle noted, Alpha has been waiting for its day in the sun for 40 years.
It wasn’t lost on those at the conference that Biddle’s lithium work at Pilbara was about providing one of the key battery materials to power EV’s along the world’s roads. Now he is talking about providing the bitumen underneath, along with diesel for ICE engines, and activated carbon to keep our air and water clean.