What attracted you to Winsome Resources?

I was introduced to Chris Evans by a mutual friend, and I was very interested in the lithium assets being
spun out of MetalsTech Ltd.

I have been involved in listed entities for more than 30 years and have also worked in several foreign jurisdictions.  As a Chartered Accountant I have the necessary skill set to assist in both the IPO process and the ongoing corporate
governance of the Company. My recent involvement with First Graphene saw it develop the world’s largest graphene production facility in Henderson.

The lithium market is growing in efforts to de-carbonise global economies making it a very exciting industry to be part of. Winsome’s projects have considerable exploration and development potential and are in a good mining jurisdiction – Quebec, close to potential growth markets.

Current trends show that 7 to 9 times more lithium is needed by 2030 to meet global demand for battery manufacturing – but why is lithium in such high demand?

As I mentioned, there is a strong movement to de-carbonise the economy and that goes a lot further than just electric vehicles. This has significantly increased the demand for lithium, leading to another ‘boom’ that
is now being experienced in 2021, with a global supply deficit expected within the next two years.

The global supply of lithium can be broadly broken down into two sources; hard rock lithium which is mined in a conventional, typically open pit manner and lithium from brine lakes. The supply is roughly split in half between the two sources, with most hard rock lithium mines located in Australia and the majority of brine lakes in Chile and Argentina.

Quebec is a very good mining jurisdiction based on geologic attractiveness and government policies. It is very supportive of establishing a downstream battery industry, with lithium on the critical minerals list for
both Canada and North America.

In addition to this, 99 per cent of all power in Quebec is produced by hydro-electricity which, when used in the manufacture of lithium products, further adds to the de-carbonisation story.

What are the target milestones for Winsome Resources over the next 12 months?

We are sitting at the earlier stages of the exploration and development spectrum. However, a considerable amount of geophysical surveys, field work and drilling has been done across the project portfolio giving us an excellent base for our exploration program. 

Two of our primary goals are to establish a maiden JORC resource on our Cancet Project and then scoping and feasibility studies to advance towards production.

Cancet is a standout – the drilling and metallurgical test work show it’s a very coarse grain spodumene, which means that its amenable to dense media separation.

How far away are we from a world where electric vehicles dominate (and where does Australia sit in that mix)?

The European Commission has proposed that by 2030 car makers must reduce emissions of new cars by 55 per cent, rising to 100 per cent in 2035.

Cars are responsible for 12 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. Switching sales from polluting engines to fully electric is a crucial step to reaching net-zero emissions by mid-century. As of December 2020, only 1 per cent of the European cars were plug-in electric vehicles and just 0.3 per cent of light commercial vehicles, so the growth potential in the next decade is enormous.

Australia is lagging in the adoption of EVs, but one could expect this to change over the next five years as pressure mounts on the federal government of whichever political persuasion is in power.