Volta Metals Ltd. (CSE: VLTA) (FSE: D0W) (OTC Pink: VOLMF) is a critical mineral exploration company focused on rare earths, gallium, lithium, cesium, and tantalum. It owns, has optioned and is currently exploring a portfolio of projects in Ontario, one of the world’s most prolific emerging hard-rock critical-mineral districts.
“Day one on the floor of PDAC,” said InvestorNews.com host Tracy Hughes. “I have Kerem Usenmez from Volta Metals.” Hughes congratulated the company after the Springer rare earth deposit expanded far beyond expectations. “Your resource is now 10 times what you expected it to be.”
“Yes, it’s very exciting,” said Kerem Usenmez, President, CEO and Director of Volta Metals. “It came out to be larger than we anticipated, to be honest. What’s also exciting is that it’s still open in all directions. That’s why we’re drilling right now. I expect it to get even larger.”
The Springer rare earth deposit near Sturgeon Falls, Ontario has expanded to 176 million tonnes of mineralization, including 56.6 million tonnes in the Indicated category and 119.5 million tonnes in the Inferred category, placing the project among the ten largest rare earth deposits in North America while remaining open for expansion.
“Right now we’re in the top 10,” Usenmez said. “In fact, it’s the seventh-largest in North America with this resource, and we’re on our way to being in the top five.”
Hughes noted that Volta’s infrastructure distinguishes the project. “One of the largest and most compelling competitive elements for Volta, of course, is your infrastructure and where you’re located.”
“Yes, it’s really unbelievable what we have,” Usenmez said. “We have a paved road going right through the property. We have power lines through the property, two hydropower dams right outside of our claims, and a town just nearby. It’s just outside of Sudbury—about a 50-minute drive. We’re located near Sturgeon Falls, right off the Trans-Canada Highway.”
“For those of you unfamiliar with Sturgeon Falls, they’re in Ontario, Canada,” Hughes said.
Usenmez emphasized the accessibility of the site. “Yes, we can order pizza,” he said. “We can get Tim Hortons right outside there. What’s exciting about this property, apart from all the infrastructure we mentioned, is that the mineralization is on surface. As soon as you hit the ground with a shovel, you’re making money based on the economics we have to date.”
Hughes turned to the composition of the deposit. “The Springer project has the core four rare earth elements.”
“The periodic table has 17 rare earth elements,” Usenmez said. “We have 15 of them. Some are more valuable than others because of their prices and because of their importance to modern life in the western world—for defense, technology, and healthcare.”
“There are what I call the ‘big four.’ Out of the light and heavy rare earths, the ones you want are neodymium, praseodymium, terbium, and dysprosium. We have all four of them. Our economics are based on these four only, so having all four is very exciting.”
Usenmez added that the project also contains another critical metal. “Apart from that, we also have something that isn’t a rare earth element—gallium. We have significant gallium, and I’m expecting to have a gallium resource in the next update as well.”
“For those of you who may not be familiar with gallium, the Chinese are no longer exporting gallium, and it’s on everyone’s critical minerals hot list,” Hughes said.
“We’re still receiving results and continuing to drill,” Usenmez replied. “When we conduct the technical studies later this year, we’ll have an updated resource, and I anticipate it will include a gallium resource as well. One of the key elements is demonstrating the recoverable aspect—we need to show that it can be recovered economically. That work is underway, and I expect those results sometime in March.”
“The drilling results should come in by around June,” he said. “So in the second half of the year we’ll have the technical study, an updated resource, and potentially a standalone gallium resource as well.”
Hughes asked what shareholders should expect next.
“Yes, it’s better than we expected, having a resource that’s ten times larger,” Usenmez said. “But literally we’re just scratching the surface. There’s a lot more to come that should make the project better and better.”
“The recoveries, the gallium resource, the updated resource, and the technical studies will map out the economics in more detail. Currently, from the resource data, our cutoff cost is C$43, and the revenue based on those four elements averages about US$159—close to US$200. That’s the in-situ economics we’re seeing. We’ll see what the recoveries say, and we’ll know more by the summer.”
“It’s just going to get better from here on,” he said.
Hughes then asked about the convention itself.
“We’re very excited,” Usenmez said. “The energy is fantastic. Everyone is saying this is going to be the best year ever. We don’t like to give numbers at this stage—we usually release the numbers on the last day of PDAC—but I do think we’re going to surpass previous attendance levels.”
“We’re seeing a lot more interest this year, no doubt about that. There’s a lot more international presence as well. Many U.S. funds are coming—more than ever before. It’s a pretty exciting time. This is my 20th year attending PDAC.”
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