Resources Top 5: US critical minerals funding lifts ASX ressies up the charts

Element 25’s manganese dreams backed with US$166m DoE grant, while American Rare Earths bags a US funding windfall.

A manganese dream gets closer to reality as antimony and REE stocks rise. Pic: Getty Images.

• Element 25 makes >80% gains on back of US$166m DoE grant for its manganese project

• American Rare Earths receives LoI for US$456m for its 2.34 BILLION tonne Cowboy State Mine REE project

• West Cobar Metals hits 190m-long antimony-copper intercept at Bulla Park

Here are the biggest small cap resources winners in morning trade, Tuesday, September 24. Prices accurate at time of writing.

Element 25 (ASX:E25)

In a massive windfall for the junior, E25 has snapped up a US$166m grant from the US Department of Energy (DoE) for the construction of its battery-grade, high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) facility in Louisiana.

The awarding of the grant comes on the back of US$115m already committed by automaker offtake partners General Motors and Stellantis.

In mid-2023, E25 secured a US$85 million loan with GM, whereby E25 will supply up to 32,500t of manganese sulphate annually for GM’s Ultium battery plant requirements.

From Stellantis, it’s signed take-or-pay offtake commitments for 45ktpa of HPMSM over five years and U$30 million of project funding.

Feedstock for the US plant will come from E25’s world-class 260Mt Butcherbird manganese mine in south of Newman in WA.

The grant application was submitted under the DoE’s Battery Materials Processing Grant Programme of the Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, which is funded by the US Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Shares in the $83m market-capped junior have risen >80% to swap for 39c at time of writing.

American Rare Earths (ASX:ARR)

After receiving a $10.7m exploration grant in June for its Cowboy State Mine rare earths project in Wyoming – touted as potentially one of the largest REE deposits on the planet – ARR has been backed by the US govt’s Export-Import Bank (EXIM) to the tune of up to US$456m.

The Cowboy State Mine has an enormous 2.34 BILLION tonne JORC resource, with 7.48Mt total rare earth oxides (TREO) with a basketful of high-priced magnet metals such as neodymium and praseodymium.

In a letter of intent from EXIM, the outlined debt-funding package will go towards the construction and execution of the project’s mining area at Halleck Creek and covers all initial capex that was outlined in a scoping study earlier this year.

EXIM Bank made the offer based on the preliminary information submitted regarding expected US exports and US jobs to be created through the CSM project and indicated a repayment tenor of 15 years under EXIM’s Make More In America Initiative.

ARR CEO Chris Gibbs says the letter of Interest from EXIM Bank is a significant milestone, highlighting the US Government’s commitment to securing a robust domestic rare earth supply chain.

The Halleck Creek project is set to become a key, multi-generational resource for the US, and we are proud to be at the forefront of this transformative initiative.

“The potential funding also paves the way to accelerate offtake agreements and attract strategic investors for our subsidiary, Wyoming Rare (USA) Inc.”

Shares in the REE hunter skyrocketed on the news, up 17.7% to trade for 30c.

West Cobar Metals (ASX:WC1)

A 190m-long antimony intercept has WC1 shares flying today as diamond drilling confirms a thick zone of antimony-copper mineralisation at Bulla Park with structural control from a major WSW trending fault.

The explorer says the find provides further confidence of a large antimony-copper system with strong economics, with antimony up around the US$22,700/t mark and red metal prices recovering up to ~US$9,300/t.

Additional drilling is being planned to prove up a maiden antimony copper mineral resource estimate at Bulla Park.

Shares in the explorer are up 11% to trade at 3c.

Sunrise Energy Metals (ASX:SRL)

(Up on no news)

There's no news out since SRL, (formerly CleanTeq Holdings), released an annual report late last month, although earlier today Stockhead highlighted the explorer's latest movements around its scandium endowment in NSW (see link below).

SRL is going back to its Syerston project to conduct a reassessment of a planned stand-alone, fully integrated scandium mining, processing and refining facility near Dubbo in NSW.

The junior’s looking to update a 2016 PFS of the advanced Syerston project, recently contracting GR Engineering to reassess key economic and project parameters back in July.

The explorer is also investing in scandium alloy development programs – material innovations that are pegged to service the aerospace and automotive industries in the near future.

READ MORE: Is scandium ready to pop, too? Here are some ASX juniors rising on deposits of the stuff

Shares are up almost 17% to trade for 49c.

Lotus Resources (ASX:LOT)

(Up on no news)

A scoping study for LOT's Letlhakane yellowcake project in Botswana has confirmed its potential to support an economically viable long-life operation under a variety of uranium price scenarios.

The study shows Letlhakane can support ~3Mlbpa over a minimum 15 year mine life for a total 42Mlb.

Lotus is developing Letlhakane in parallel with planning for the restart of production at the Kayelekera uranium project in Malawi in 2025 and aims to become a globally significant U3O8 producer when combining both assets.

Shares in the junior got a boost today, up >14% to trade at 27.5c.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

Originally published as Resources Top 5: US critical minerals funding lifts ASX ressies up the charts