On the cusp of construction for Capital Metals PLC
“…Markets are good, prices are good, we’ve got infrastructure and Capital Metals can see a very clear path and that’s what excites us…”
Michael Frayne’s matter of fact Western Australian accent belies the full extent to which he is excited about The Eastern Minerals Project in Sri Lanka.
The mineral sands project being overseen by Frayne’s Capital Metals currently has a JORC Resource of 17.2Mt with an average grade of 17.6% Total Heavy Minerals making it one of the highest-grade deposits in the global peer group.
After five years of private investment and the bulk of technical work completed it’s on the cusp of construction.
The steps remaining are few. There’s the finalisation of the EIA process, further meetings with the government in April and then Frayne is confident Capital gets its mining licence with a view to starting construction later this year. And here Frayne becomes animated because the start of construction is: “when we can take the current off take discussions to another level.”
And there’s an additional level to the corporate strategy because Frayne and his board’s vision is to do more exploration this year. “We know there’s more…and if things go very well we could find a lot more resources and be there for decades.”
Currently the mine life is nine to ten years and is what Frayne describes as a “fairly simple open sand mining operation,” with an initial capex of a modest $35 million.
Listen to Michael tell Sarah Lowther why this investment gives exposure to a very solid, well established business that will develop into a very high margin mine very efficiently that will move quickly into generating cash flow. His conclusion is impactful and gives a nod to successful peers. “If you see other companies like ours in this stage, they’ve performed very well in recent times.”
Watch Michael tell Proactive’s Andrew Scott the company’s in a strong position to secure final permitting approvals for its minerals sands project. He says, all going well, that will lead to the grant of a mining licence as well as discussions with potential offtake partners ahead of first production in 12-18 months.
Follow Capital Metals on twitter @MetalsCapital
The author was remunerated but does not hold shares in the company
