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Overview
A lot can change in two years — just look at Brazil.
Best described as a bit player in the lithium space only two years ago, the country has since become one of the premier destinations for lithium exploration and development. It all started with the runaway success of Sigma Lithium (NASDAQ:SGML, TSXV:SGML). Since then, multiple high-profile mining companies have established themselves in the country.
This growth is unlikely to stop anytime soon, particularly in light of recent investments into Brazil’s battery manufacturing sector by companies including BorgWarner and Inventus Power. Within the next several years, Brazil could become a major global supplier. That’s good news for the lithium market, as we are rapidly approaching the point at which demand will greatly outstrip supply.
Oceana Lithium (ASX:OCN) is well-positioned to get us past that point — and to tap into Brazil’s fast-growing lithium mining industry. An early-stage exploration company with significant opportunity for discovery across its three lithium projects, Oceana’s flagship Solonópole project displays considerable promise. The company also maintains highly prospective projects in both Australia and Brazil.
Oceana’s acquisitions were no accident. The company’s well-informed exploration strategy stems from veteran geologists and mining professionals with decades of experience between them. It’s already identified multiple exploration targets across all three projects, all of which are highly prospective and known to contain lithium.
Company Highlights
Oceana Lithium is an early-stage exploration company with significant discovery opportunities.The company maintains three strategic and highly prospective lithium projects in Australia, Canada and Brazil — all tier-one mining jurisdictions.Brazil in particular is an emerging international destination for lithium, with multiple promising discoveries in recent years.Recent investments in battery manufacturing within the country also present a huge opportunity for lithium exploration.Oceana’s well-informed exploration strategy is helmed by geologists with considerable experience, including James Abson, Uwe Naeher, and Renato Braz Sue.The company has committed to embracing Indigenous peoples and values within its project areas with the goal of sustainable critical minerals development that honours the lives, memories, sacred sites, traditions and hopes of landowners.Investors can expect strong newsflow over the coming months, as drilling is underway in Brazil and on-ground exploration has commenced in Canada.
Key Assets
Solonópole Lithium Project
Located three hours by sealed road from the major port of Fortaleza, Oceana’s Solonópole project consists of eight permits covering 114 square kilometers of highly prospective ground. Detailed field mapping by Oceana’s Brazilian subsidiary Ceara Litio has identified a significant mineralized pegmatite corridor within the company’s claim. The permits also cover several historic artisanal mining sites previously tapped for lithium, tantalum, niobium and tin.
Highlights:
A Historic Artisanal Hotbed: Oceana has identified more than twenty small-scale artisanal mines during field exploration. Mining at these sites only reached depths of a maximum of 10 meters due to the need to blast hard rock material.Mineralisation: Oceana has a body of data that suggests high-grade mineralization at Solonópole, including:A regional geological review completed in 2012 by the government Geological Survey DNPN confirmed spodumene, lepidolite, and amblygonite as the main lithium-containing minerals.A regional reconnaissance program completed by a previous explorer which collected 246 grab samples in 2016 and 2017 containing:Lithium oxide (Li2O): 9 percent.Tantalum (Ta): 1 percent.Niobium (Nb): 1 percent.Tin (Sn): 1,000 ppm.Beryllium (Be): 2.5 percent.First-pass soil geochemistry results highlighting the presence of residual soil anomalies.An Ideal Location: Solonópole is situated in one of Brazil’s two historic lithium mining regions, giving Oceana access to experienced labour and extensive pre-existing infrastructure. The project is also well-suited for exploration activities, as it is arid and sparsely-populated farmland.Experienced In-country Team: Oceana has invested heavily in developing an in-house exploration team headed by experienced resident geologist Renato Braz Sue and a strong corporate and legal management team based in Belo Horizonte headed by Cintia Maia and Carolina Carvalho who are both fluent in English.
Map showing completed RC scout drill holes at Bom Jesus de Baixo Prospect
Napperby Lithium Project
A large-scale lithium project situated in Australia’s Northern Territory, Napperby covers 1,160 square kilometers. The 100 percent owned project is also located within the Northern Arunta pegmatite province, expected to soon become a hotbed of mining and exploration. It displays similar geology to the Pine Creek pegmatite province, which is itself the site of the Finniss Project, owned by Core Lithium (ASX:CXO).
Early-stage fieldwork at Napperby is ongoing.
Highlights:
Confirmed Pegmatites: Historical exploration of the region identified multiple pegmatite dykes with both tin and tantalum mineral occurrence. Additionally, a 2005 analysis by the Northern Territory Geological Survey confirmed these as LCT pegmatites.Oceana has completed a hyperspectral survey to acquire high-quality data over the project area.Soil geochemical program completed reveals several large linear lithium anomalies, some of which are on the strike extension of pegmatite outcrop.Significant Mineral Potential: Napperby has the potential to host several other rare and valuable resources alongside lithium, including rare earth elements, tantalum and uranium.
Management Team
Caue Araujo – Chief Executive Officer
Caue Araujo is a qualified Australian-Brazilian geologist and an experienced mining industry professional. Following his early training with Vale in Brazil, his subsequent roles have included general manager of SRK Consulting Brazil, regional director of investment and business planning at Hatch for Australia and Asia, and more recently, global general manager – mine finance with mining industry advisory group Palaris Australia. He has a strong aptitude for the technical and economic evaluation of mineral resource projects, having been involved in the development of numerous projects during his career working with finance providers and equity investors including emerging lithium miners and mine gate concentrate producers.
Caue is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy and the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He has an MBA (project management, business and finance) from Ibmec University, Brazil. Through his diverse experience, Caue has refined his abilities to lead and manage multi-disciplinary teams. He is well acquainted with key chemical companies, battery producers and EV manufacturers in the supply chain and their requirements to secure environmentally responsible long-term sources of lithium supply.
James Abson – Senior Exploration Manager
James Abson is a geologist with over 28 years of experience in multi-commodity mining and mineral exploration and has held various positions from public company vice-president of exploration to CEO. Abson has been involved in the exploration and technical and financial assessment of various lithium pegmatite projects globally, including the Arcadia lithium project in Zimbabwe (later sold in April 2022 to Chinese interests for an underlying value in excess of $530 million). His most recent position was chief geologist and exploration manager for Bikita Minerals’ lithium mine in Zimbabwe, where his primary responsibility was hard-rock resource exploration (spodumene, lepidolite, petalite, pollucite and tantalum) and in-pit reserve expansion.
Abson provides technical and strategic input to the company’s board of directors and technical oversight and leadership to the exploration team to establish and guide exploration targeting, program execution, project development strategy and evaluation and assessment of new project opportunities.
Renato Braz Sue – Exploration Manager, Brazil
Renato Braz Sue is a veteran geologist with over 25 years of exploration and project development experience in his native Brazil and internationally, having worked in numerous terranes and commodities including LCT minerals, copper-lead-zinc in VMS-style environments, gold, nickel, quartz and manganese. His experience includes planning and execution of exploration programs from early to advanced stage and mine expansion projects and providing technical leadership for project feasibility studies and evaluation.
Braz Sue has worked in senior roles in various states in Brazil for junior, mid-tier and major national and international partner companies including Yamana Gold, AngloGold Ashanti, Horizonte Minerals, CVRD/Phelps Dodge, Xstrata/Jaguar Mining, Eldorado Gold Corp and Cougar, Brazil. He brings to the Company deep local knowledge and established relationships with professional service providers as well as local landowners.
Uwe Naeher – Exploration Manager, Canada
Uwe Naeher has over 30 years’ experience in a wide range of terrains and deposit types in all aspects of exploration. He is an expert in granite-hosted ore deposits and mineralization in pegmatites, having worked for the past 15 years in the African Great Lakes region in the DRC, Rwanda and Burundi.
Dr. Qingtao Zeng – Non-executive Chairman
Doctor Qingtao Zeng has been extensively involved in the lithium exploration and development sector and is well-connected with potential off-take partners having acted as intermediary for the supply or purchase of spodumene concentrate for a number of producers. He has been engaged as a consulting geologist in a range of geological and commercial environments.
Dr. Zeng completed a PhD in geology at the Centre of Exploration Targeting (CET) of University of Western Australia in 2013. He has published several academic papers on structure control orogenic gold systems in different geological scales, and is a member of AUSIMM and Society of Economic Geologists (SEG). He is currently Managing Director of Australasian Metals Ltd, and a non-executive Director of Kodal Minerals plc, MetalsTech Ltd and Winsome Resources Ltd.
Dan Smith – Non-executive Director
Dan Smith has more than 15 years’ experience in financial markets, including 10 years experience with ASX Listing Rules compliance and corporate governance.
Smith is a fellow member of the Governance Institute of Australia and holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Curtin University. He acts as company secretary for numerous ASX, AIM and NSX-listed companies and is non-executive chairman of rare earths explorer DY6 Metals Ltd (ASX: DY6).
Chen Chik (Nicholas) Ong – Non-executive Director
Chen Chik Ong brings 19 years of experience in IPO, listing rules compliance and corporate governance. He is experienced in mining project finance, mining and milling contract negotiations, mine capex and opex management, and toll treatment gold reconciliation. Ong is a fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia and holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Western Australia. He is currently a director and/or company secretary of several ASX listed companies.
Aidan Platel – Non-executive Director
Aidan Platel is an experienced geologist and mining executive with over 25 years’ experience in the minerals industry. He has a broad skill set covering exploration, study execution, project development, mining, mineral processing and corporate financing within the minerals and mining service sectors. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree (Honours in Geology) from UWA and has a Master of Business Administration from the Curtin Graduate School of Business.
Platel has held numerous executive and non-executive director roles in ASX listed exploration companies over his career. He has a proven track record of exploration success, having helped discover and develop several major deposits including the world-class Santa Rita Nickel deposit (>1Mt contained Ni metal) in Brazil. Platel is currently managing director and chief executive officer of Charger Metals NL and non-executive director of Olympio Metals.
Mike Sousa – Exploration Manager and Competent Person, Brazil
Mike Sousa is a passionate and results driven geoscientist with over seventeen years exploration and project development experience, in his native Brazil and internationally, in battery minerals, gold, phosphates, niobium and rare earth elements. His experience includes planning and execution of exploration programs from early to advanced stage and mine expansion projects. Sousa has worked in senior roles in various states in Brazil for junior, mid-tier and major national and international companies including Equinox Gold, Lithium Ionic, OZ Minerals, Anglo American, Vale and Glencore. He brings to Oceana profound local knowledge and established relationships with professional service providers as well as local stakeholders. Sousa is a member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy – MAusIMM (CP).
Cintia Maia – Company Administrator, Brazil
Cintia Maia is manager, corporate and director of the company’s Brazilian operating subsidiary, Ceará Litio Mineração Ltda. She is an experienced corporate manager and administrator and a qualified accountant with over 20 years’ experience.
Maia is familiar with reporting requirements for Australian public companies, having previously worked as CFO for GRD Minproc, AMEC Canada and a number of other mining and industrial companies. She brings a wealth of practical experience to her role as the Company’s senior corporate officer in Brazil.
Carolina Carvalho – Manager Corporate Affairs, Brazil
Carolina Carvalho is an experienced corporate lawyer, having spent more than 15 years working with medium and large multinationals operating in Brazil. She has worked in mergers and acquisitions, tax planning and strategic business development across a number of industries including mining.