Resource Triples to 805Mt & PEA Next Year | Stillwater Critical Minerals
Summary
Stillwater Critical Minerals tripled inferred resources at Stillwater West to 805Mt at 0.34% NiTEq, adding a first 29.4Mt of indicated tonnes at 0.38% NiTEq.
Management is targeting a 2027 PEA after further flotation testwork, noting a PEA does not require indicated resources but a PFS does.
The polymetallic system lists 10 critical minerals, with 6.6 billion pounds of inferred chromium left without recovery or economic assumptions pending metallurgy.
Three rigs are turning in Montana with C$15M in treasury, while the company engages Glencore's technical team and US government officials on the deposit.
Management benchmarks Stillwater West against Sibanye-Stillwater's loss-making US PGM operations and Platreef's roughly $599 per 4oz AISC as a cost target.
Key points on Newmont
- Cited as a recent precedent where a major divested non-core assets, with Newmont's divestments to Discovery Silver and Great Gold offered as a comparable playbook for what Sibanye-Stillwater might do
Key points on Discovery Silver Corp
- Held up as a recent beneficiary of Newmont's divestment of non-core assets, alongside Great Gold; both end up with mines and are 'off to the races' per the speaker
Key points on Sibanye-Stillwater
- Sibanye-Stillwater's East Boulder mine sits roughly half a kilometer underground from Stillwater Critical's Chrome Mountain deposits and shares the same Stillwater Complex reef geology
- Sibanye-Stillwater's US PGE AISC is around $1,300 per 2 oz and the company is losing money at current prices, targeting $1,000 per 2 oz via more mechanized mining and union talks
- Sibanye-Stillwater's East Boulder Mill is two miles north in the valley and the company already produces nickel-copper at Columbus, giving the Stillwater Critical project nearby infrastructure to leverage
- Rowley describes Sibanye-Stillwater as a conservative, late-stage investor; conversations are getting longer as Stillwater Critical matures, and Sibanye-Stillwater's own recent call flagged that 'anything is possible' if the US cost reset fails
Key points on Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp
- Their third MRE tripled the resource on the Montana project to 805 Mt including a first indicated category, on what Rowley calls the third-largest layered magmatic system globally
- Four deposits sit across a 10 km core within a 33 km total land package on the lower Stillwater complex; the CZ and Central zones are now merged and HDR is expected to be added in a future update
- Gross-value scenarios range from $130/t at the 0.5% subset (the 83 Mt at 0.71%) down to $60/t at 0.2%, and Rowley says a dual-track PEA (higher-grade starter plus bulk-tonnage option) is being considered internally
- A PEA is targeted for next year once metallurgy is complete; a PEA does not require indicated resources, only a PFS does, per Rowley
- Three rigs are turning on the Montana focus with $15 million in cash after a $17 million raise late last year, more rigs are expected next year, and the inferred category holds 6.6 billion pounds of chromium