Overview
Marquee Resources (ASX:MQR) is a fully funded junior exploration company focused on its battery metals assets in Western Australia and the United States. Its diversified portfolio includes assets containing lithium, copper and rare earth elements - essential metals for battery manufacturing - as well as gold.
Global demand for battery metals is projected to reach $20.5 billion by 2027, growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 8.2 percent from 2020 to 2027, according to Allied Market Research, This growth is attributed to the exponential growth of the electric vehicle (EV) market, with two million EVs sold worldwide just in the first quarter of 2022, up 75 percent compared to the same period in 2021, along with continued market demand for consumer electronic devices.
Many of Marquee Resources’ assets are in advanced exploration stages, with highly encouraging exploration results.
The company’s flagship project is the West Spargoville Lithium Project, located in the prolific Southern Yilgarn Lithium Belt in Western Australia, and contains hard-rock lithium deposits. Marquee Resources has partnered with Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) to explore and develop the project. Mineral Resources has extensive experience operating hard-rock lithium mines and brings technical and operational expertise to the project. The West Spargoville Lithium Project has already yielded encouraging exploration results.
Marquee’s other encouraging lithium assets include Clayton Valley Lithium and Kibby Basin Lithium projects, both containing lithium brine and building additional excitement for lithium potential. Results from the 2022 drill program at Kibby Basin have returned high levels of lithium-bearing sediments along with dissolved lithium in the groundwater, with up to 924 parts per million (ppm) lithium from the two exploration boreholes (KB 22-01 and KB 22- 02) that were completed.
The company’s additional projects target other critical battery metals such as rare earth elements and copper. Its Lone Star Copper-Gold project is currently undergoing a 6,000-meter diamond drilling program. Marquee’s 2022 drill campaign at Lone Star intersected a wide mineralised envelope of up to 150 meters at 0.5 percent copper, with high-grade mineralised zones up to 19.8 meters at 2 percent copper. As many zones in the deposit remain open and untested, there is significant potential for additional mineralization, combined with historical diamond and percussion drill hills indicating high-grade deposits of copper and gold.
In October 2022, Marquee announced its maiden mineral resource estimate for the Lone Star Copper-Gold Project containing indicated mineral resource of 9.7 Mt at 0.45 percent copper and 0.24 g/t gold, and inferred mineral resource of 3.5 Mt at 0.31 percent copper and 0.20 g/t gold.
Marquee Resources is led by strong management with experience in natural resources and corporate administration. Charles Thomas, executive chairman, has over 15 years of experience in capital markets and structuring corporate transactions. Dr. James Warren, chief technical officer, has worked in leadership roles managing technical operations. George Henderson, non-executive director, has extensive experience in equity capital markets dating back to 2004. Anna Mackintosh, company secretary, has 26 years of commercial experience in compliance and finance roles for natural resource companies.
Company Highlights
- Marquee Resources is an Australian fully funded exploration company targeting battery metals with multiple assets in advanced exploration stages.
- The company’s flagship project is the West Spargoville Lithium Project, which has already yielded encouraging exploration results.
- Marquee Resources is in partnership with Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) to explore and develop the West Spargoville Lithium Project, and the companies have accelerated this farm-In agreement with MinRes acquiring an initial 25 percent interest in the lithium rights at WSP by funding $4.8 million on exploration activities at the project in less than 12 months.
- The company’s Kibby Basin project is located near the only producing lithium mine in the United States and contains encouraging geologic properties that indicate the presence of lithium brine.
- The company has additional projects that target lithium and other battery metals, such as copper, gold, and rare earth elements. Historical and current exploration assays indicate high-grade deposits of target metals.
- A management team leads Marquee Resources with directly relevant experience in natural resource markets, corporate administration and corporate finance.
Key Projects
West Spargoville Lithium
The Western Australian flagship project is located in the prolific Southern Yilgarn Lithium Belt. The asset is near multiple producing lithium mines, including the Bald Hill Mine and Mt. Cattlin Mine. Historical exploration data indicates a 2.4 kilometer long anomaly rich in lithium deposits. The project has slated non-stop exploration drilling until the end of 2022.
Project Highlights:
- Encouraging Exploration Results: Deep ground penetrating radar results indicated significant potential for lithium-bearing pegmatites. Interpretation of these has helped identify targets for follow-up drill testing.
- Auger Program Awaiting Lab Results: An auger geochemistry drilling campaign consisting of approximately 3,200 holes was recently completed.
- 2022 Drill Campaign: A drilling campaign was conducted in 2022, with 122 holes of reverse circulation (RC) drilling completed for 18,687 meters, and 391 aircore drills (AC) for 19,156 meters. Assays are currently pending results. Drilling will recommence in early 2023, following up on anomalous intercepts.
- Near World-Class Lithium Deposit: The Earl Grey deposit is located west of the deposit and contains similar geological formations as the primary West Spargoville project area.
In 2022, Marquee Resources entered into a binding term sheet with Mineral Resources Limited (ASX:MIN) to explore and develop lithium deposits in a joint venture across the West Spargoville project. The companies have agreed to accelerate the farm-In agreement with MinRes acquiring an initial 25 percent interest in the lithium rights at WSP by funding $4.8 million on exploration activities at the project in less than 12 months. MinRes also funded $500,000 to exercise the Fyfehill option. MinRes can also earn an additional 26 percent interest (MQR 49 percent/MinRes 51 percent) in the lithium rights at the project by funding the project until the development, construction and commissioning of a mine and related facilities for the conduct of mining operations on the project within five years.
Lone Star Copper & Gold
The company's copper and gold project is located in Washington State and contains a 3-kilometer-long mineralization trend of copper-gold deposits. The project has multiple past-producing mines and previous exploratory drill holes. Following the completion of the approximately 6,000-meter Phase 1 diamond drill program, Marquee Resources announced maiden mineral resource estimate for the Lone Star Copper-Gold Project containing indicated mineral resource of 9.7 Mt at 0.45 percent copper and 0.24 g/t gold, and inferred mineral resource of 3.5 Mt at 0.31 percent copper and 0.20 g/t gold.
Project Highlights:
- Robust Infrastructure: The project has road access and water access and is located only minutes away from a community.
- Exiting Mill Being Refurbished: A mill located 11 kilometers away is undergoing refurbishment before commencing operations.
- Encouraging Historical Data: Previous exploration data indicates copper deposits up to 2.4% from 19 meters and 1.4 g/t gold at 7.6 meters.
- 2022 Drill Program: Intersected a wide mineralised envelope of up to 150 meters at 0.5 percent copper, with high-grade mineralised zones up to 19.8 meters at 2 percent copper.
Kibby Basin Lithium
Kibby Basin is located in Nevada, 60 kilometers north of Ablemarle's operating lithium mine. The project covers 2,560 acres, and Marquee has full water extraction permits necessary for lithium-brine extraction. The project is in advanced exploration stages and has a drill rig carrying out 24/7 exploration currently.
Project Highlights:
- Geological Structure Indicative of Lithium Brine Deposits: Kibby Basin contains a 7.4 kilometer long structure with a similar geological structure as Ablermarle’s prolific lithium mine.
- Basin May Contain Layers: Early exploration results indicated an extensive enough basin to potentially contain multiple layers of aquifers, which is favorable for high-grade lithium brine. Additionally, the project has substantial water resources available.
- Fully Permitted and Exploration Underway: The project has received all necessary permits, and the company is currently carrying out a robust drilling program. The company suspects that this project will complement its nearby Clayton Valley Lithium Project.
- 2022 Drill Program Results: High levels of lithium-bearing sediments along with dissolved lithium in the groundwater, with up to 924 parts per million (ppm) lithium from the two exploration boreholes (KB 22-01 and KB 22- 02) that were completed.
Clayton Valley Lithium
Clayton Valley covers 12 square kilometers in Nevada and contains both lithium brine and clay. Like Kibby Basin, Clayton Valley is near Albemarle’s productive lithium mine. Kangari Consulting LLC completed a comprehensive review of the project and surrounding area, prompting Marquee to commence a two-phase exploration project. Marquee will commence a two-phase exploration program in the first half of 2023, consisting of detailed geological mapping and drilling.
Project Highlights:
- Cater to U.S. Lithium Consumption: The asset is located in a great location to service the U.S. domestic market with scalable, staged development that can be developed to cater to increasing demand.
- Near Tesla’s Gigafactory: Clayton Valley is 3.5 hours away from Tesla’s Gigafactory Number 1, a significant producer of lithium-ion batteries.
- Encouraging Exploration Results: Existing data indicates the presence of high-grade lithium ranging from 2.9 mg/l at 10 feet to 11.6 mg/l at 110 feet. Additionally, the project has substantial water resources to support lithium extraction and processing.
Redlings Rare Earths
The Redlings Project is located in Western Australia, 150 kilometers away from Lynas’ (ASX:LYC) Mount Weld Project. The 100-percent-owned project covers an area of approximately 108 square kilometres of tenure with historical samples of up to 7.8 percent TREO.
Auger sampling recently completed identified additional rare earth element bearing dykes. According to executive chairman Charles Thomas, "There is a very good potential to identify a part of the system that hosts an economic deposit."
Exploration drilling is set to restart in the first quarter of 2023, to follow up on targets generated by the successful 2022 auger program.
Project Highlights:
- Historic sampling results: Rock-chip samples up to 7.8 percent TREO.
- Location: In proximity to Lynas’ Mount Weld Mine where a new exploration program has been established after samples returned high grade REE assays.
- Promising exploration strategy: Recent drilling identified structures on the location of known REE-bearing carbonatitic dykes; drilling intersected a 25km structural zone of pink, frenetic, alteration intruded by multiple carbonatitic dykes.
Mt Clement Gold & Antimony Project
The Mt Clement Project is located 30 kilometers southwest of Black Cats (ASX:BC8) Paulsens gold mine, at the western end of the Ashburton Basin in the northern Capricorn Orogen of Western Australia. The project represents a genuine greenfield opportunity in one of Australia’s most underexplored regions.
Project Highlights:
- Underexplored Region: Consists of 360 square kilometers of tenure prospective for syngenetic gold antimony mineralisation, a poorly understood and underexplored mineralisation style in Ashburton Basic, Western Australia.
- Geological team recently completed a field mapping and reconnaissance expedition with a more extensive exploration program planned for 2023.
Management Team
Charles Thomas - Executive Chairman
Charles Thomas is the founding director of Marquee Resources and was the managing director of the company until 2019, when he then assumed the role of executive chairman. Thomas is also an executive director and founding partner of GTT Ventures, a leading boutique corporate advisory firm based in Australia. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from UWA majoring in corporate finance. Thomas has worked in the financial service industry for more than 15 years and has extensive experience in capital markets as well as the structuring of corporate transactions. Thomas has sat on numerous ASX boards spanning the mining, resources and technology space. His previous directorships include, among others, AVZ Minerals Ltd (ASX:AVZ), Force Commodities Ltd (ASX:4CE) and Liberty Resources Ltd (ASX:LBY), where he was responsible for the sourcing and funding of numerous projects. Thomas is currently the non-executive chairman of Viking Mines Ltd (ASX:VKA), non-executive chairman of High Tech Metals Ltd (ASX:HTM) and non-executive director of Chase Mining Corporation Ltd (ASX:CML).
Dr. James Warren - Chief Technical Officer
Dr. James Warren is a geologist with extensive experience in the mineral resources sector and has held a variety of technical, operational and leadership roles spanning from greenfield target generation to production. Warren commenced his career in the Eastern Goldfields working at Gold Fields’ ST Ives operation in exploration and underground positions. He then completed his PhD, focusing on Kunanalling and Zulieska shear zones, while working at Phoenix Gold Limited (previously ASX: PXG). Warren was a key member of their exploration team until their takeover by Evolution Mining Limited. Warren then worked in the Mineral and Hydrothermal Geochemistry team at the CSIRO, when he was appointed as exploration manager of Echo Resources Ltd (Echo). At Echo, Warren oversaw the exploration strategy and growth of Echo’s resource base to over 1.8 Moz and was involved in the development of their corporate strategy and promotion.
George Henderson - Non-Executive Director
George Henderson is a corporate lawyer and founding partner of AGH Law. Henderson primarily acts for clients in relation to capital raisings (including IPOs, back door listings and secondary offerings), mergers and acquisitions (including takeovers and private share or asset sales), and ASIC and ASX compliance. He has particular experience in the resources and technology sectors, for both local and international clients. Henderson graduated from the University of Western Australia with degrees in law and commerce (corporate finance and financial accounting). Since graduating, Henderson has also obtained a graduate certificate in applied finance at Kaplan Higher Education.
Daniel Moore - Non-Executive Director
Daniel Moore (BEcon/LLB) was formally the CEO of Centenario Lithium. He has extensive experience in equity capital markets since 2004, previously with Wilson HTM and Morgan Stanley, focused on emerging companies. He has held non-executive director roles at iCollege (ASX:ICT), Coronado Resources during its RTO with Race Oncology (ASX:RAC), and Stratum Metals during its RTO with Locality Planning Energy (ASX:LPE).
Anna Mackintosh - Company Secretary
Anna Mackintosh, B.Com (UWA) CPA, also serves as company secretary of TAO Commodities Ltd (ASX:TAO) and Global Vanadium Ltd (ASX:GLV). Mackintosh has over 26 years of commercial experience including 11 years with BHP, 10 years with AFSL holder Kirke Securities Ltd as compliance manager, finance manager and responsible executive. Mackintosh was previously the company secretary/CFO of Kalia Limited (ASX:KLH) (2009 -2018 formerly GB Energy Limited) and Applabs Technologies Ltd, and financial controller at Force Commodities Ltd.
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