Australia, renowned for its vast reserves of critical minerals, is at the forefront of the global transition towards cleaner energy.
The nation possesses some of the largest recoverable reserves of critical minerals globally, encompassing high-grade cobalt, lithium, manganese, rare earth elements, tungsten and vanadium.
These minerals are crucial for fulfilling the supply chain demands in sectors such as low-carbon vehicles, renewable energy and battery storage technologies, all vital to Australia's economic stability and national security.
The drive is further bolstered by the Australian Critical Minerals Strategy 2023-2030.
This strategic framework is designed to enhance Australia's capabilities in mining, processing and supply chain management of critical minerals, marking a significant step in the country's sustainable and secure energy future.
Caspin's critical minerals play
Aligning with the country's goals is Caspin Resources Ltd (ASX:CPN), a mineral exploration outfit based in Perth that is investigating lithium and PGE potential at its Yarawindah Brook Project and rare earth potential at Mount Squires Project, both in Western Australia.
Notably, Yarawindah Brook has drawn comparison with Talison's Greenbushes Mine – the world’s largest lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatite deposit at 360 million tonnes at 1.5% lithium oxide.
In addition, Caspin has also delivered high-grade platinum group element (PGE) hits at multiple instances at Yarawindah Brook.
At Mt Squires, assays point to a large deposit of rare earth mineralisation in a region that has never seen systematic rare earths exploration.
Aside from critical minerals, both Yarawindah Brook and Mt Squires have also demonstrated potential for copper and nickel – two key elements with a potential to be on the critical minerals list.
Greenbushes comparison
Caspin is investigating the lithium potential at its Yarawindah Brook Project given it sits within Western Australia’s southwest Yilgarn craton, in the same geological terrane as the Talison Lithium's Greenbushes mine.
The potential for lithium-bearing pegmatites adds to the strategic value of Yarawindah Brook where Caspin is working to discover high-grade PGE-nickel-copper deposits.
Securing partners to accelerate REE exploration
Caspin’s discovery of rare earth mineralisation has provided another pathway to value creation in parallel with its nickel and copper exploration activities.
Given the potentially large and highly valuable heavy REE scale of Mount Squires, Caspin intends to secure partners to accelerate the exploration, while it retains 100% of the project’s base and precious metals exposure.
Mount Squires Project, which has progressed significantly over the past 18 months, will continue to be a priority for Caspin, given the prospectivity of the region for large-scale deposits of nickel and copper and its operational advantage and experience in the region.
BHP’s development of the $1.7 billion Nebo-Babel deposits — only 10 kilometres Caspin’s project boundary — provides confidence that new discoveries of nickel and copper can be developed in the region.