Canadian explorer Power Metals (TSX-V:PWM) has created a Cesium Advisory Committee in response to “an extreme level of interest with various major global chemical specialists”.
This interest is in the cesium at the company’s Case Lake Project in Ontario, where 14 known pegmatite bearing domes are hosted across the 10km by 9.5km property, which has been subjected to over 19,600m of drilling between 2017 and 2024.
Cesium is found in association with lithium and tantalum, with all three metals declared critical by the US Government, and most commercial production of cesium is as a byproduct of lithium production.
According to Power Metals, there are only three pegmatite mines globally that produce cesium and these are in Zimbabwe, Western Australia and Manitoba.
While the most common use for cesium is in drilling fluid, it is also used to make optical glass, as a catalyst promoter, in vacuum tubes, in radiation monitoring equipment and in the ‘atomic clocks’ crucial to internet and mobile phone networks.
Power Metals’ newly formed Cesium Advisory Committee will be headed by Dr Nigel Brand, who Power Metals says was pivotal in the development of the Sinclair Cesium Mine in Western Australia and will evaluate the company’s West Joe Cesium Project.
Chairman Johnathan More says the new committee is tasked with maximising value and the development of the project.
Brand has been a geochemist in the global mineral exploration industry for over 34 years for companies including Western Mining Corporation (now BHP) and Anglo American (LSE:AAL), and for the last 16 years as a consultant with Geochemical Services.
Also appointed to the committee are Power Metals CEO Haydn Daxter, More and Director Chris Evans, who is also the Managing Director of Winsome Resources (ASX:WR1).
Dexter says Brand’s appointment comes as Power Metals continues to advance discussions with various global cesium chemical specialists.
Power Metals will also receive up to C$200,000 ($216,421) in funding from the Ontario Government to cover up to 50% of the eligible exploration costs incurred between 1 April 2024 and 28 February 2025.
The funding is being granted under the Ontario Junior Exploration Program.
“This will enable further test work and exploration activities on the property as we continue to develop our cesium deposit at West Joe,” Dexter says.
The Main zone at West Joe hosts staked pegmatites up to 26m thick @ 1.94% lithium and 324 parts per million tantalum.
Power Metals, which has a market capitalisation of C$59.2 million, says Case Lake displays high-grade lithium within the Main and East zones, along with high-grade cesium in pollucite of up to 22% at West Joe.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Power Metals
