St George Mining Ltd has received a further vote of confidence in its critical minerals strategy centred on hard-rock lithium projects in Western Australian exploration hotspots with a leading global battery materials player making a further $3 million investment.
The investment by Shanghai Jayson New Energy Materials Co., Ltd, a globally significant supplier to the clean energy sector, at $0.038 per share resulted in Jayson becoming St George’s largest shareholder with an 11.73% holding.
Jayson, the world’s leading producer of cathode precursor materials for lithium-ion batteries, and St George have entered into a Subscription Agreement whereby Jayson, through subsidiary Hong Kong Jayson Holding Co., Limited, will acquire 78,947,368 fully paid ordinary shares.
“Demonstration of faith”
St George Mining’s executive chairman John Prineas said: “Jayson is a globally significant supplier to the clean energy sector and the world’s leading producer of cathode precursor materials for lithium-ion batteries.
"This is a group with deep financial capacity and technical capabilities in lithium-ion battery technologies, mining, chemical engineering and battery materials manufacturing.
“St George is delighted at this additional investment – a clear demonstration of Jayson’s faith in the potential of the company’s lithium projects that builds on its initial investment in St George a year ago.
"We welcome Jayson as St George’s largest shareholder as we work together to accelerate the development of the company’s critical minerals business.
“Jayson has a long-term investment focus with a history of successful global partnerships across the battery sector supply chain, including upstream mining assets."
Offtake potential
As part of this additional investment, Jayson has the right to acquire 25% of any lithium products from St George’s projects, subject to finalisation of offtake agreements once a JORC-compliant resource is defined and any applicable regulatory requirements, and to appoint one director to the board of St George, so long as at least 10% of the total issued shares are held.
This investment follows significant recent interest in St George from major operators in the battery and critical metals sectors including ATL’s $3 million equity investment in the company’s Lithium Star subsidiary.
$2 million placement
In a further boost, St George has also received commitments from sophisticated investors for the placement of an additional 52,631,578 fully paid ordinary shares at $0.038 per share to raise $2 million.
Proceeds from these placements will be applied towards the flagship Mt Alexander Lithium Project, the company’s other prospective lithium projects in Western Australia and working capital.
Jayson is focused on contributing to the global trend for clean energy by manufacturing battery materials and developing mineral assets that can deliver large-scale decarbonisation strategies.
Jayson has established itself as the world’s leading producer of cathode precursor materials for lithium-ion batteries with operations in four countries that include multiple production bases, R&D centres and trade centres.
In addition to precursor manufacturing operations, Jayson has substantial mining, smelting and processing units for copper, cobalt and nickel. It also has technology for recycling lithium-ion batteries.
Mt Alexander flagship
“Our Mt Alexander Lithium Project represents a dominant landholding in the emerging Mt Ida
Lithium Province, where we control more than 16 kilometres of a prospective pegmatite corridor parallel to the Copperfield Granite,” Prineas said.
“Drilling at Mt Alexander has confirmed widespread high‐grade lithium within fractionated pegmatites and has intersected a flat-lying pegmatite up to 121 metres thick, demonstrating potential for large volume mineralised pegmatites.
“We believe there is excellent potential for further exploration and drilling to discover significant lithium mineralisation.”
Next exploration phase
The next phase of exploration at Mt Alexander is underway, with a focus on testing several new lithium targets across a project area that comprises seven contiguous Exploration Licences and one Prospecting Licence – all owned 100% by St George except for E29/638 (75% St George: 25% IGO).
St George’s holding has extensive exposure of the contact between the Mt Alexander greenstone sequence and the Copperfield Granite – part of a large, regional LCT corridor that hosts the lithium discovery by Delta Lithium at its nearby Mt Ida Project (14.6 million tonnes at 1.2% Li2O).
Active lithium exploration in this emerging lithium province is also underway at the neighbouring Mt Bevan Project – a JV between Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd, Legacy Iron Ore Ltd and Hawthorn Resources Ltd – a project that abuts Mt Alexander.
The current fieldwork at Mt Alexander is focused on soil sampling, pegmatite field mapping and outcrop sampling.
“Well-positioned”
“Our strategic relationship with Jayson will strengthen our capacity to advance Mt Alexander and unlock the full potential of our large landholding in this lithium province where major mining companies like Hancock, Mineral Resources and IGO continue to make substantial investments,” Prineas added.
“Together with the recent investment by global battery company Amperex Technology Limited (ATL) in our Lithium Star group of projects, St George is exceptionally well-positioned to deliver lithium exploration success in Western Australia – the world’s best hard-rock lithium address.”