Resource Mining Corporation confirms high-grade lithium in Finland

Resource Mining Corporation Ltd has moved swiftly to acquire three highly prospective lithium and base metal projects in Finland after fieldwork returned high-grade results including nickel and copper.

The fieldwork formed part of due diligence to acquire Element92 Pte Ltd, which owns Element92 Suomi Oy, the Finland-incorporated company that holds the exploration reservations for the Ruossakero Nickel Project in northern Finland, Kola Lithium Project in central Finland and Hirvikallio Lithium Project in southern Finland.

A share swap agreement has been executed between RMC and ROPA Investments (Gibraltar) Ltd, the shareholder of Element92, involving the issuance of 40 million RMC shares.

Meantime, mining veteran Andrew Nesbitt will commence his new role as chief executive officer for RMC on January 16.

“Extremely pleased”

Resource Mining Corporation’s executive chairman Asimwe Kabunga said: “We are extremely pleased with the results from this initial fieldwork undertaken as part of our due diligence and now that we have executed the share swap agreement, we look forward to the next phases of exploration.

“We believe the three projects have shown there is the potential to discover economic resources of lithium and base metals, and we are working on the conversion of the reservation permits to exploration licences so we can commence drilling and other exploration activities across the projects.”

Showing potential

Skapto Consulting collected 179 samples from various parts of the projects and forwarded them to ALS Finland Oy for analysis.

Notably, the Kola project returned up to 2.4% Li2O, with glacial movement modelling indicating a large area of potential pegmatite within the central portion of the reservation.

Other highlights included 3.9% Li2O from rock chip samples taken at Hirvikallio, with numerous other pegmatites within the reservation containing anomalous lithium values up to 0.9% Li2O, which is higher than those recorded during previous exploration works.

At the Ruossakero project, a series of anomalous nickel-copper grades were recorded from grab samples taken within a small portion of this reservation, identifying significant areas of similar geology to the known Ruossakero nickel occurrence.

Highly experienced

Incoming CEO Nesbitt is a qualified mining engineer and holds a BSc (Eng) Mining and an MBA, and has more than 25 years of experience in the natural resources sector.

He has held various production and technical roles with De Beers and Goldfields and has carried out a number of feasibility studies across the world with the leading technical consulting group SRK.

Nesbitt is also an experienced investor who previously worked as a partner and portfolio manager for Craton Capital Pty Ltd, a global precious metals fund with in excess of US$400 million of assets under management.

He brings to RMC a rich set of experiences to progress exploration and enhance the value of the company’s project portfolio covering Tanzania and Finland, as well as managing funding programs and overseeing the listed company.

In progress

The Finnish projects are covered by two-year ‘exploration reservations’, valid till May 2024.

These reservations allow completion of initial, non-invasive prospecting work, including mapping, outcrop sampling, soil sampling and geophysics.

RMC has commenced the process to convert the exploration reservations to exploration licences, Pro Active Investors reports.

Resource Mining Corporation acquires highly prospective nickel and lithium tenements in Finland

“We are already in early-stage discussions with potential strategic partners for the development of these projects and I look forward to completing this acquisition and finalising those negotiations which will add significant further value to our shareholders”, said executive chair Asimwe Kabunga.

Resource Mining Corporation Ltd (ASX:RMI) has executed a binding term sheet to acquire Element92 Pte Ltd, the owner of three projects in Finland: the Ruossakero Nickel Project in Northern Finland, the Kola Lithium Project in Central Finland, and the Hirvikallio Lithium Project in Southern Finland.

The company completed extensive due diligence activities on the target projects, including acquiring a large volume of historical data on the projects and the commissioning of an external review by Skapto.

Resource Mining Corporation’s executive chair and consultants then confirmed the review’s findings with a site visit that generated new prospective lithium targets on the tenure.

RMI negotiated all-scrip acquisition terms to the tune of 40 million RMI shares at $0.10 per share. The agreement is now subject to execution of formal documentation.

Search begins for strategic partners

“We are excited to have secured agreement to acquire this portfolio of highly prospective nickel and lithium projects in Finland following an extensive due diligence process”, Resource Mining Corporation executive chair Asimwe Kabunga said.

“We are already in early-stage discussions with potential strategic partners for the development of these projects and I look forward to completing this acquisition and finalising those negotiations which will add significant further value to our shareholders.”

The projects sit near other companies’ lithium projects, and are host to historical mines and known lithium pegmatite occurrences, giving RMI confidence in the tenements’ prospectivity, Proactive Investors reports.

Resource Mining Corporation advances due diligence at Finnish nickel and lithium projects

The company has identified numerous exploration targets from what it recognises as an “extremely prospective tenement package”.

Resource Mining Corporation Ltd is progressing due diligence at Ruossakero Nickel Project in Northern Finland, Kola Lithium Project in Central Finland and Hirvikallio Lithium Project in Southern Finland.

Upon review of exploration data, the company has identified numerous exploration targets from what it recognises as an “extremely prospective tenement package”.

In order to further assess the target projects, RMC proposes to conduct field exploration guided by results of a report from Skapto, specialists in geology and geophysics who conducted the review.

“Extremely prospective regions”

RMC executive chairman Asimwe Kabunga said: “Guided by the Skapto Report into the Target Projects, we are excited to now be preparing the initial field exploration program to further our due diligence activities.

“The findings from the Skapto Report and broader due diligence data review have confirmed the extensive presence of lithium and nickel targets within each tenement and we are excited to continue our due diligence exploration works within these extremely prospective region”

Data review summary

In July 2022, the full exploration data file for all Finland projects was purchased from the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK), and the review of this data is now complete.

The data has been analysed by Skapto and from this information, numerous exploration targets have been identified within this extremely prospective tenement package.

At Hirvikallio, high-grade lithium values were confirmed through the review and new targets near the Hirvikallio occurrence have been defined.

The extensive nature of the anomalies within the Hirvikallio and Kola tenements has meant that 18 targets have been defined and located within these lithium-enriched regions.

At Ruossakero, the company has confirmed numerous drilled and sampled nickel-copper-cobalt anomalies within the project and has defined 10 targets.

Forward plan

RMC’s fieldwork has commenced to geologically map, sample and test within all of the targets identified by this review.

What’s more, the vendor agreed to an extension of the option period to exclusively conduct due diligence and finalise negotiations, Pro Active Investors writes.