For those who are aware , I had been invested in CRR in its 2021 - 2022 and its initial rise and rise , and have again run my rule over this stock with a recent re-entry.
I have elected to sit back mostly in contributing to the conversations until the time was right to add my views. And no better time than the turn of the Financial Year to wade into the conversation.
Apologies for the length of this post , but I would prefer to get through as much and as many as the ideas and themes as possible.
And we'll start with the asx announcement which was dropped late on Friday.
It is interesting this rather timely release after market on the 30th June and the last day of the financial year to on the one hand clear the decks on what could be considered a Biggs ' Legacy ' endeavor . On the flip side though , there are plenty other ZINC hopefuls who have less grades and first tonnages who are already sporting market values anywhere from A$12 million to upwards of over A$80 million , with plenty more way above that as well. Australian spec end of the market mining has always seemingly had this ' Love affair ' with ZINC mining - even before the days of Pasminco....... Now we all know the history of this story with Zinifex becoming Oxiana who then becomes Oz Minerals ....who then ends up in the hands of the BIG Australian BHP.
And so with respect , ZINC too had at one point increase almost 40% since 2020 to 2023 with Australia ranking 3rd in production to the USA's 5th ranked position , and like many of the battery metals , China sitting in No. 1 spot despite some of the worlds Biggest miners like Glencore , Teck , and BHP having considerable exposure to this much needed industrial metal. So we know now that BHP has grabbed OZ and Glencore Teck. So this is ALWAYS a good sign for the small & midcap players when you have this TOP down consolidation and jostling playing out for a particular set of commodities
So without getting too involved in delving into the mechanics of the ZINC market , let's stick with the angle of concluding some of Biggs's earlier legacy projects.
I say ' Earlier ' , because not only did Bigg's embark and establish the Mavis lake project staking , he also was integral in staking the vast underexplored ground at Graphic Lake as was he in ' strategically ' and by no mistake staking the 4,500 hectares of claims of the ' Plaid & Whiteloon Projects ' which are only 5.5 kilometres along strike with Frontier's PAK , Spark , & Bolt projects in the highly sought after ' Electric Avenue ' Ontario lithium district.
And he ( Biggs ) did this after only 6 weeks from staking the claims at Mavis lake , 6 weeks 5 weeks from acquiring , consolidating , and finalising the Graphic Lake package , and only 4 weeks after confirming assays containing the presence of ' rare element ' enrichment suggesting those flavor of the moment LCT pegmatite systems.
So in fact it would seem that Bigg's was way ahead of his time here - because it wasn't until 9 months or so later that the Canadian Government gave 3 Chinese companies their divestiture marching orders to let go of at least 2 of these on account of their potential high Cesium potential.
So I reckon lots of things in the Mining community happen for good reasons. And a lot of these ' things ' happen behind the scenes and as a result of heads up agreements between parties who already have a relationship of sorts.
So in CRR's case as that time , Bigg's not only saw the potential early on with respects to the ' C ' element in the LCT preferred strategy , he also commenced the collection of key and ' connected ' expertise which Cheeseman would seem to have inherited before going on to expand further under his own current tenure. ie - with the likes of Anthony Tse etc....
![sneaky.png](https://hotcopper.com.au/images/smilies/sneaky.png)
With Bigg's , this compilation would appear to have begun on On March 30th 2022 with the appointment of CRR's exploration Managertrt Troy Gallik. This was then followed by the promotion to CFO of Mr Milan Bogunovic on 8th April 2022 . And then of course Alex Bigg's leaves in July 2022 with Alex Cheesman being appointed the NEW MD in September 2022 after already being a non-executive director since January 2022.
But it is the connections to our Canadian Exploration Manager Troy Gallik which fascinates me the most. Because for those who aren't aware , just back in May 2023 Sprott Capital Partners who was well known to have one of the " broadest " investment teams covering the mining industry undertook a Management BUYOUT led by its long standing CEO Peter Crosskopf in the creation of the rebranded SCP Resource Finance.
And its interesting at the time because not only did CRR's Troy Gallik immediately like this announcement by Sprott's Peter Crosskopf , this recent ' Management Buyout ' deal can also can also be seen to be liked by Troy by the 3rd party congratulations extended to a long standing colleague from his Gold Corp mining days with Brandon Caspar by the renown battery metals industry stalwart in Global Energy Metals Corp President & CEO Mitchell Smith.
Interesting that Mitchell is ALSO a Director of the BOD of Battery Metals Assoc of Canada , non-executive Director of NeoLithca Ltd with its alleged unmatched lithium extraction and refining technologies as well as among many other current directorships , a director of US Battery Metals Corporation . Here are some other interesting point of ' connectivity ' in relation to Mitchell Smith that are worth mentioning :-
- Through his network of strong international relationships, Mitchell was responsible for establishing off- take and EPC contracts with leading specialized lithium-ion battery cathode material companies that are suppliers to some of the world’s largest battery manufacturers.
- Mitchell ranked fourth globally in 2020 as the top ten most influential people and companies in the battery minerals sector on social media.
- Mitchell has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Bloomberg, Reuters and other notable news sources where he provided insight to the critical role that cobalt and battery materials play in the global shift towards a lower-carbon economy.
- Mitchell ranked fourth globally in 2020 as the top ten most influential people and companies in the battery minerals sector on social media.
As mentioned above , he ( Mitchell ) was recently appointed as a member of the board of the Battery Metal Association of Canada, a non-profit organization dedicated to building a strong and enduring battery metals industry in Canada.
So fast forward to events subsequent to Alex Cheesman coming onboard as CRR's Managing Director but in the SAME theme as some of the earlier ' Nearology ' work by Biggs. So following Canada's decision to force the divestiture of 3 Chinese aspiring lithium company's . It should be a well known fact that one of those Chinese companies in Sinomine Resources Group had ALREADY been and still is the owner of the often referred giant TANCO mine located 160 klm's northeast of Winnipeg . It should also be known that the Tanco mines had been a supplier of Tantalum to the US defense for years and so was part of the reason that the Canadian Authorities requested that Sinomine divest its further interests in Power Metals ' Cas Lake ' LCT project.
But its interesting because NOT only did Power Metals have the fast developing Case Lake project , it had the luxurious position of holding at least the next 5 LCT emerging projects in Ontario which included the Gullwing-Tot Lakes property which it dvested to CRR following Winsome's INITIAL key stake in the Power Metals was acquired on 2nd December 2022. So then less than 3 weeks later on the 20th , CRR is HANDED one of Power Metals OTHER 5 ' Cesium ' prospective lithium- tantalum projects.
So it's interesting to review back the history of this property before electing to perhaps ' Move it on ' under an Australian ' Mates' agreement with Winsome's CEO Chris Evans ( former COO of Altura Mining ) , and CRR's Alex Cheesman ( Former CEO of Morella - Marketing & Commercial Mgr for Altura ) .
So Gullwing-Tot lakes was agreed to be acquired by Power Metals Corp in 2017 with a cash deal with Exiro Minerals ( the same mob who was involved with the Sayona Tansim / Lac Simard claims package in Quebec ) .
So some very detailed historical evaluations were conducted by Power Metals in 2018 , and then in 2020 , they decided to take up its remaining option on the property in exchange for around 920,00 common shares to Exiro as agreed in lieu of cash.
Here's a bit of an extract of what they said about this package back in 2018 :-
" Pegmatites in the Gullwing-Tot Lake Group are found within an E-NE trending cluster that has anapproximate size of 0.8-2.2 km by 15 km. These pegmatites are typically hosted in highly deformedamphibolite facies mafic metavolcanic rocks and are less commonly found in clastic metasedimentaryrocks. The Gullwing-Tot Lake Pegmatite Group contains 2 key known Li-Cs-Rb-Be-Ta bearing pegmatites;the namesake Gullwing Lake and Tot Lake pegmatites. "
" The Gullwing Lake pegmatite, also known as the Sleeping Giant Pegmatite is located on the western edgeof the Gullwing-Tot Lake Property, ranges in width from 25-80 m, is 412 m long and has Li-Nb ±Ta-BeMo with local REE enrichment. "
" The Tot Lake Pegmatite is the most fractionated granitic pegmatite body in the Dryden Pegmatite Field andis among the most fractionated granitic pegmatite bodies in Ontario, as evidenced by the presence of thecesium ore mineral pollucite, which is only found in 4 other pegmatites in Ontario including Power Metal’sowned Marko’s pegmatite on the Paterson Lake Property and the West Joe Dyke on the Case Lake Property.The chemical fractionation index of the Tot Lake Pegmatite is comparable to the world-class TancoPegmatite. "
Note : Cs Minerals: Cesium-rich minerals only occur in the most extremely fractionated pegmatites.
And s per Resource World article 3 years ago :-
" Cesium is incredibly valuable as there are only three cesium mines in the world and Power Metals owns three of the five cesium occurrences in Ontario "
Assay highlights from grab samples from Tot Lake pegmatite included:
• 4.58 % Li2O from quartz – spodumene core, sample 159056
• 2.62 % Li2O from quartz – spodumene core, sample 159057
• 1.68 % Li2O and 233 ppm Ta from pink spodumene zone, sample 1590235
• 498 ppm Ta from albitized K-feldspar zone, sample 159238
Also in 2018 Power Metals stated :-
" Mapping on Tot Lake pegmatite revealed eye-popping lithium and tantalum mineralization with pale green megacrystic spodumene blades up to 75 cm long and 15 cm wide identified next to megacrystic K-feldspar crystals in historical trench 3 (Power Metals Corp, press release dated July 11, 2018). The Ta-oxide crystals are up to 1 by 2 cm in size and are some of the largest Ta-oxide crystals in pegmatites in the province of Ontario. Typically, Ta-oxide minerals are 1 to 2 mm in size. In addition to lithium and tantalum mineralization, the cesium mineralization is also impressive at Tot Lake. Pollucite (Cs ore mineral) at Tot Lake is concentrated in a 1 by 5 m pod near the southwestern end of the pegmatite dyke where it comprises 32 vol% of the pod (Breaks et al., 2014). Pollucite is rare in nature and is only known at four other pegmatite localities in Ontario (Breaks et al., 2014). Pollucite is an indicator mineral for extreme chemical fractionation. "
" Dr. Selway, VP of Exploration, stated .....The summer mapping program at Gullwing-Tot Lakes Property confirmed the presence of high-grade spodumene and tantalum on both pegmatite dykes. The Property has been historically underexplored, but the property is now drill ready. I look forward to a drill program on the pegmatites in the near future.”
Also in July 2018 Power Metals Corp reported these comments :-
" Spodumene is present throughout the Tot Lake pegmatite, which has an abundance of impressive megacrystic spodumene blades. Pale green megacrystic spodumene blades up to 75 cm long and 15 cm wide were identified next to megacrystic K-feldspar crystals in historical trench 3.
The Ta-oxide crystals are up to 1 by 2 cm in size and are some of the largest Ta-oxide crystals in pegmatites in the province of Ontario. Typically, Ta-oxide minerals are 1 to 2 mm in size. The Ta-oxides at Tot Lake occur along the outer margins of blocky albitized K-feldspar megacrysts. "
" Dr. Selway, VP of Exploration, stated “Every day that the geological mapping team work on Tot Lake pegmatite, they send me eye-popping pictures of incredible pegmatite mineralization. There is a lot of potential at Tot Lake for more mineralization to be found by drilling in the future as it has only been intersected by three drill holes in 1978 by Tantalum Mining Corporation (Tanco) and four drill holes by Canol Metals in 1964.”
So obviously Cheesman has been cognizant and relevant to these NEW emerging LCT acquisition and development with respect to the Gullwing-Tot Lakes package - However if we stick with the theme of the ' Relationships ' , and that these things happen and come together for a reason , then if we revisit the accomplishments and foundations that Biggs set up , it becomes even more interesting with respects to the intentions and possible tie-in's to the ground which parallels Frontier's PAK , SPARK & Bolt prospects in Ontario.
And some posters talking about Mavis' Lake's 8 MT resource as being ' uneconomical ' , but I remember the same discussions being held over on the ADV threads with one particular poster who is still there commenting today that the Seymour Lake was all but a ' Sand Pit ' and NOT worth anything. And yet ADV received in excess of $18.5 million for its combined Seymour Lake , Root Lake , and Wisa Lake lithium project when it sold them o Green Technology Metals.
And look at them now. With only a JORC of around 10MT's confirmed , and they are valued at A$155 million. So they've ( Green Tech's ) got a bit of ' Nearology ' on top of that. But so too does Critical Resources as well.
In fact , I don't reckon there has been many posts on this forum which have sighted , identified , or confirmed this obvious connection to Biggs's move on the Plaid & Whiteloon Projects ' nearology to Frontier and the even deeper connections to his FIRST play for Mavis Lake.
And so people want to ask where is the extensions to Mavis going to come from and how might they actually prove up and define much more than the current 8 MT of inferred.
So if you actually look into the history , you will find that some of the extensions actually emanate directly from the west with the source rock having even been discussed as coming from the Ghost Lake batholith located to the North West and West. In fact you can see from some of the historical Maps , the trend and how it correlates with the Area A. & B. which they speak of in the reviews of this area .
" A pegmatite field related to the GhostLake batholith traverses the claim group and ranges from beryl-type (True North Gems)to the west of the property to albite-type (Mavis Lake) lying to the east of the property.The rare metal potential of the property is the primary focus of Houston Lake. "
" Sample results did not produce significant results for gold and base metals. However, raremetal results are anomalous for tourmaline-bearing granites and tourmaline-bearingpegmatites along the base line to 7+20S. Values up to 105ppm Li, 48.8ppm Cs. and1170ppm Rb are indicative of rare metal enrichment in these areas. Key zones atLocality A and B remain as yet unsampled and are worthy of follow up. "
8.0 Recommendations
1. Preliminary sampling of Locality A and B should be undertaken. This is bestaccomplished by a plugger or channel saw. Stripping of the 100m by 50m area atLocality A may be necessary to fully expose and document the pegmatite zonation.
![https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396250-b04b5f487d685f74017d979d5bb86fa2.jpg](https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396250-b04b5f487d685f74017d979d5bb86fa2.jpg)
![https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396220-8216f4bce4c79f9d628640ffd320c3ac.jpg](https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396220-8216f4bce4c79f9d628640ffd320c3ac.jpg)
![https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396223-f47ccb599819578774847c400d8d0a83.jpg](https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396223-f47ccb599819578774847c400d8d0a83.jpg)
![https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396224-113518556290683c19fedf13d3b403f3.jpg](https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396224-113518556290683c19fedf13d3b403f3.jpg)
![https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396227-60ab0425ca6c19d8e904314e1a8c6f19.jpg](https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396227-60ab0425ca6c19d8e904314e1a8c6f19.jpg)
![https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396234-fe12c38e7e10b8ac51b8bdeb5120d8bc.jpg](https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396234-fe12c38e7e10b8ac51b8bdeb5120d8bc.jpg)
![https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396236-6db1cbcc60797aeee8e4b11a51bb3328.jpg](https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396236-6db1cbcc60797aeee8e4b11a51bb3328.jpg)
So we can look at some of the supporting historical excerpts ( below ) which explain and depict some of the geological trends and the type of ' Adjoining ' potential pegmatites.
![https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396239-02d22b0ec1caee1bc5af36f2117a065e.jpg](https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396239-02d22b0ec1caee1bc5af36f2117a065e.jpg)
![https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396245-441dbda3ec1704f10bb9e6bda1dc35cb.jpg](https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396245-441dbda3ec1704f10bb9e6bda1dc35cb.jpg)
![https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396249-a20839ffcf054b7917ce02d82bfa0a35.jpg](https://hotcopper.com.au/data/attachments/5396/5396249-a20839ffcf054b7917ce02d82bfa0a35.jpg)
However the BEST part of the analysis which ties back to the ' Relationships ' between other current operators .....and whether it is still the case , is the fact that this package of 5 tenements directly to the West s the fact that the Ghost Lake Property was ' optioned ' by a Sudbury prospector named John Brady who optioned them to a mining Company named Houston Lake Mining Inc.
Well guess who Houston Lake Mining then became........ Well that was Frontier Mining of course...... ![sneaky.png](https://hotcopper.com.au/images/smilies/sneaky.png)
So I'm not sure if they Frontier still own this package as I can't find much that says they disposed , moved it on , or if it lapsed back to Brady. Irrespective , if it didn't , maybe Biggs was aiming for a bit of ' leverage ' with a potential tie-up with Frontier when he set about grabbing those TWO Plaid & Whiteloon Projects with their Frontier nearology.
In either case , I'm pretty sure we will ultimately hear a bit more about those tenements directly to Mavis Lake's western boundary . Especially since Patriot had also recently acquired a tenements package at Ghost Lake which is directly North of the Houston Lake package.