Metals One (MET1) , a battery metals explorer with projects in Northern Europe, said it has raised £895k via a placing of 89.5m new shares at 1p to support the development of its flagship Black Schist Ni-Zn-Cu-Co project in Finland.

Metals One said the proceeds would allow for the termination of its farm-in agreement with Gunsynd (GUN)  and provide MET1 with the option to regain full ownership of the Black Schist project. Proceeds would also provide additional working capital to accelerate exploration work at Black Schist's R1 and P5 targets in the Rautavaara and Paltamo areas respectively.

MET1's Black Schist comprises several licences across the highly prospective Kainuu Schist Belt which also hosts the Talvivaara mine, one of Europe's largest nickel-zinc-copper-cobalt producers. Black Schist currently has an Inferred resource of 28.1 Mt of Talvivaara-type mineralised material at grades of 0.19% nickel (53,800t), 0.10% copper (27,900t), 0.01% cobalt (3,400t) and 0.38% zinc (180,000t) at the R1 target in the Rautavaara area.

MET1 is also targeting 16-24 Mt at the P5 target in the Paltamo area. MET1 is aiming to rapidly convert the P5 target to a Mineral Resource, followed by an expansion programme with an ambition to realise, in the longer term, a global resource of c. 200 Mt to underpin a long-term producing asset.

 

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Metals One's move to raise money directly for Black Schist's development and terminate the farm-in agreement with Gunsynd will allow it to reacquire full ownership and control of the project. The fundraise underpins the company's and investors' confidence in the highly prospective asset, which holds significant upside as a potential 200 Mt resource producer of critical battery metals, strongly supported by EU legislation.

For background, in July 2023 MET1 entered a farm-in agreement with Gunsynd whereby the former agreed to acquire 25% of MET1's Finnish subsidiary at an aggregate price of £1.0m over 4 tranches of £250k. In November 2023, GUN subscribed for the initial 6.25% tranche for £250k. Along with today's placing, MET1 has terminated the farm-in with GUN. As part of the termination agreement, MET1 has a 3-year option to reacquire the 6.25% of MET1 Finland that GUN now owns.

The funds raised in the placing will allow MET1 to advance its abovementioned resource upgrade programme at Black Schist, targeting a significant increase from the current 28.1 Mt of Talvivaara-type mineralisation. MET1 is expected to share its interpretation and updated resource this quarter (Q2 2024), to be followed by a scoping study in H2 2024 - a key value inflection point and milestone in the project's transition from exploration to development.

Metals One recently announced plans to expand its footprint in the Kainuu Schist Belt with new assets within the resource-rich region that hosts the Black Schist project as well as Europe's largest nickel mine at Talvivaara. Overall, MET1's strategy for Black Schist promises to unlock significant resources of high-quality critical metals. Nickel, copper, and cobalt are main ingredients in most Li-ion battery chemistries, demand for which continues to climb amid increasing orders for EVs and grid storage solutions.

The European market is seeking to secure such critical metals from within the security of its borders, and at the lowest economic and environmental cost. Recent European legislation enhances these considerations, such as the Critical Raw Materials Act, which pursues indigenous supply, and the Battery Regulation, a directive requiring passports for large batteries, stating their material provenance and carbon footprint.

 

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