Jervois Mining is a quaint, 50 year old mining company that owns an ultra high grade, ready-to-mine scandium deposit with big exploration upside at Flemington, right next to Cleantech Metals (ASX:CLQ) Syerston deposit in NSW.
Check out JRV's scandium resource... the deposit could singlehandedly supply the world's scandium requirements for over 40 years.
The JORC compliant section grades over half a kilogram of scandium per tonne - around 30% higher than any other deposit in New South Wales, including CLQ's Syerston, and Scandium International's Nyngan.
Part of this ultra high grade JORC resource even outcrops at surface, so it's ready to mine, as is.
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There is also exploration upside, with strongly mineralised scout holes outside the main deposit.
At the mid range value to $3 million per tonne, JRV's current scandium resource has an in-ground-value of US$213000000... that's almost $3 billion Aussie dollars.
JRV plans to commence pilot production of around 5 tonnes per annum, as soon as an offtake agreement is signed.
And that's not the only asset JRV has in its scandium arsenal... JRV also retains a substantial royalty over one of the most prized scandium deposits in the world - the Nyngan deposit, also in NSW, now owned by Scandium International.
JRV will be paid 1.7% of all scandium sales, and all other metal sales, for 12 years from the date of first production.
JRV has the royalty because JRV is the company that sold Nyngan to Scandium International... JRV is a major player in the global scandium game; a stature belied by its market cap of just $5.9 million.
John Kaiser, the famed resource analyst and investor, considers Nyngan to be a game changing development which will cause the price of scandium to "go ballistic", in his words.
Does Robert Friedland Plan to Corner Global Scandium Supply?
John Kaiser knows a thing or two about scandium, and a lot about Robert Friedland. Most will know who Robert Friedland is by now so we won't bother going into that.
John Kaiser believes scandium prices are set to multiply, and he believes that Robert Friedland plans to capitalise on this by "taking ownership of scandium", which we take to mean acquiring the majority of global scandium deposits:
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http://scandiuminvestingnews.com/11...ational-nyngan-new-south-wales-australia.html
With JRV owning a higher grade deposit than CLQ's new trophy, and that deposit being literally next door, and with Friedland's clear appetite for scandium, it's easy to see Friedland, via Ivanhoe or CLQ or another investment vehicle, lobbing a takeover bid at the $5.9 million capped JRV... or at least offering to buy JRV's scandium deposit.
Raining Gold
In addition to its wholly owned scandium project and scandium royalties to come from Nyngan, JRV is entitled to many times it entire market capitalisation in gold royalties.
Norton Goldfields holds a 2.4 million ounce gold resource its Bullabulling project near Kalgoorlie, WA.
Jervois is entitled to $30 per ounce mined for the first 400,000 ounces, and $20 for every ounce mined thereafter... that's $12 million owed to JRV from the initial 400,000 ounces alone.
Then there is another $68 million coming to JRV from the remaining 3.4 million ounces, once mined, assuming the entire mineral resource is eventually extracted.
Even if just half the gold resource at Bullabulling is mined, JRV will have received $46 million in cash, risk and cost free.
So once this royalty starts flowing in, JRV will be fully self-funded for many years to come... and Bullabulling is an advanced project that looks certain to be in production sooner rather than later:
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In addition to the Bullabulling royalty, JRV also holds a 1.5% net smelter royalty over Newcrest's Forest Reefs gold project near the Cadia copper-gold mine.
Free Nickel, Cobalt, Uranium and Thorium
As a bonus, on Friday 2oth Feb, JRV commenced a fresh drilling campaign at its Summerville nickel-cobalt project in New South Wales.
Results from the last round of drilling included 11m at 1.02% nickel and 0.035% cobalt; 13 metres at 1.41% nickel and 0.083% cobalt; 32m at 0.61% nickel and 0.029% cobalt; and 15m at 0.91% nickel and 0.039% cobalt.
The cost of mining this deposit would also be offset by the unusually high iron content that comes with the nickel-cobalt. Intersections from the last drilling included 6m at 45% iron; 32m at 31% iron; 10 metres at 49% iron, and 11 metres at 48% iron, along with narrower assays of over 60%.
JRV's existing, known nickel-cobalt deposits should yield 100 million tonnes of nickel and 100,000 tonnes of cobalt if mined.
In addition, JRV is 100% owner of the Nalbarra uranium-thorium project in WA, where it plans to drill test a very promising anomaly in around 3 months, drilling permit permitting.
Director Buying
It's always nice to see management backing their company, and JRV probably holds the ASX record for recent "Change of Director's Interest Notices" with no less than 16 on market purchases in just the last 9 months:
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MD Duncan Purcell's most recent purchase was just last week on 18th Feb, and now holds over 6 million JRV shares, or 10% of the company. In fact he has been buying the whole way through, even back in 1997 when JRV was trading at around $3:
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Bendy Spoons
The wildcard in JRV's deck is gallium, a valuable specialty metal. It's the only metal on earth that is non-toxic as well as being a liquid at near-room temperature.
The other 5 metals that are liquid at or near room temperature - mercury, rubidium, bromine, francium, and cesium - are all toxic and/or radioactive.
Gallium is used in semiconductors, where it can be used as a substitute for silicon, and in LEDs due to its amazing ability to convert electricity to light.
It is also used in place of mercury in medical thermometers, and where very high temperatures need to be recorded, because of its 2230 degree celsius boiling point.
And if you are bullish magicians, invest in gallium... if you ever wondered how they make those spoons bend with their "mind", it's because magician's spoons are generally made from 75% gallium.
It's a solid at 20 degrees celsius, but hold it between your fingers for a few seconds and voila - BENDY SPOON. Gallium is amazing stuff, and along with scandium and cobalt, it's pretty much the best metal ever:
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A bit off topic, but if you want your very own lump of gallium to melt in you hand, you can buy some below... but it's not cheap at around $1400 per kg:
www.galliumaustralia.com.au/shop/4580007895
Gallium will be a by-product of JRV's scandium production, with assays of around 50 grams per tonne, but a potentially valuable one.
JRV the Tech Stock
On top of all the above, JRV is involved in a metals technology research project with Victoria University, which could add material value in its own right:
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So...
JRV has a high grade, ready-to-mine scandium deposit right next to CLQ's Synerston; future royalties from the Nyngan scandium project; gold royalties from Bullabulling worth multiples of its market cap; a paltry 65 million shares on issue; an MD that just keeps buying; a fresh nickel-cobalt drilling campaign underway; near term plans to drill a large uranium-thorium anomaly; is one of just 3 ASX small-caps with material gallium assays; and a metals technology project, all within a $5.9 million market cap.
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