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LINCOLN MINERALS (LML) - Charting the Future of Battery Minerals: Lincoln Minerals' CEO Jonathon Trewartha on the Kookaburra Gully Graphite Project and Industry Disruption

• Andrew Musgrave

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Prepare to be enlightened as Jonathon Trewartha, the visionary CEO of Lincoln Minerals, joins us for an engaging discussion that will transform your understanding of the mineral exploration industry. The spotlight shines on the Kookaburra Gully graphite project, a groundbreaking venture set to disrupt the battery minerals market with its high-grade surface core. Jonathon takes us behind the scenes, revealing the crucial role this project plays in Australia's critical minerals landscape and its potential ripple effects across the burgeoning electric vehicle sector. We traverse the terrain of Lincoln Minerals' diversified projects in magnetite and uranium, illuminating their strategic approach to shareholder value and the exciting partnership opportunities on the horizon.

The journey with Jonathon doesn't stop at exploration; we navigate the intricate roadmap from pre-feasibility studies to the thrill of nearing a 'dig ready' status by 2025. We unpack the layers of environmental approvals and the art of securing sales, providing a rare glimpse into the lifeblood of mineral ventures. Throughout our conversation, Jonathan's expertise shines, offering listeners a treasure trove of insights into Lincoln Minerals' strategy for carving out a niche in the future of resources. As we bid farewell, the anticipation for what's next on the Australian Securities Exchange builds. Keep your finger on the pulse of the industry's evolution by joining us for this episode, and don't miss out on the wealth of knowledge that awaits. Subscribe for more episodes that promise to keep you at the forefront of the resource sector's most compelling developments.

Andrew Musgrave:

Welcome to another episode of ASX Briefs. Today we are joined by Jonathon Trewartha, the CEO of Lincoln Minerals, a company that is actively exploring and developing a diverse range of mineral properties, including graphite, uranium and magnetite. We'll dive into their exciting Kookaburra Gully graphite project, recent financial initiatives and their ambitious plans for the future. Jonathon, thanks for joining us today and welcome to the ASX Briefs podcast.

Jonathon Trewartha:

Thank you very much. A pleasure to be here.

Andrew Musgrave:

Now there's plenty of activity at the company at the moment, a lot of positive announcements. So if you can just take us through a quick overview of Lincoln and also the strategic vision behind your diverse exploration projects across Australia.

Jonathon Trewartha:

So with Lincoln, we're a graphite, uranium and magnetite projects focused on around Eyre Peninsula and we're basically our flagship and core is the Kookaburra Gully graphite Project. It is got it's effectively, was stalled in 2017, and we've revitalised it. We've doubled the resource. We're increasing the high-grade core that's at surface and that's one of our major competitive advantages, and we've also demonstrated scalability through our exploration targets, development and we're targeting to have that developed big ready by 2025, the end of and we're looking at the pre-feas ending the end of the year. Then we've also got our Magnetite, which, when I joined six months ago, we basically did a deep dive, discovered that we had magnetite projects that were inherited from Centrix and in 2018, just as the company was, Lincoln was stalled. It picked up the magnet, most of the magnetite. Wisco and Baotao, two Chinese steel manufacturers, had invested nearly $100 million into these projects and they're at basically DFS and approval level. So we're but that's a huge project, so it's going straight to partnering and then also in uranium portfolio. So we've got.

Jonathon Trewartha:

In 2007, Lincoln IPO'd on a uranium and iron exploration focus. It explored from 2007 to 2011, and we're going back and just reviewing all that work and, yeah, so it's good. Portfolios. We just as you know, announced our first cab off the rank there In terms of strategy. We've got three companies in one. You can't do everything as a small company so we've decided our core is the graphite and we can touch on that later why and then we've got the uranium is we'll just maximize shareholder value. There's some really low-hanging fruit which we'll pluck and then we'll stop, review and work out what we're going to do with that asset. And, as I said, with the magnetite, it's so big, it's 600 million to 1.6 billion capex, so that's not for us, so we'll just look for a partner there.

Andrew Musgrave:

And I think, if we touch on the graphite project, because that's where a lot of activity is at the moment the Australian government well, it's on the critical minerals list because obviously graphite is such a huge component of the EV battery. So if we just look at that Kookaburra Gully project, it's been identified as the second largest graphite resource in Australia in a primary graphite area in South Australia. So what are the next steps for this project and how do you need to capitalise on that asset?

Jonathon Trewartha:

Okay. So it is the second largest on the Eyre Peninsula not Australia, but in terms of over 60% of Australian graphite is on the Eyre Peninsula, and so we've got. So the next steps are we've just finished doubling the resource, we're moving into some business analysis, we're going to double or triple the production rate and then that will flow quickly into doing our pre-feas. As I said, that's for the end of the year, and then we swap over to feasibility and approvals. The mining lease is already granted. The PEPR was effectively done, I've been told, except for two water bore monitoring holes, and I've had a look and it looks pretty good. But with regulations there's always a little bit of a creep on. They've always got to do more somehow. So there will be a little bit more work that we'll have to do for the PEPR, which is our environmental approvals, and once that's done we can mine. And also we've got to get the sales. So that's the other thing is to do the marketing for the sales of the material.

Andrew Musgrave:

Okay, and there's obviously going to be an expansion into the Battery Anode Material project. So, with the evolving demand for battery minerals, how are you positioning the company in this market and especially considering the potential downstream BAM project?

Jonathon Trewartha:

Yep, so we've got. We're lucky enough our first bucket's going to be 20% grade and that's what we've got on surface, so we're lucky enough where we can probably just do a straight concentrate and be in the bottom quartile. I'm hoping for the operating cost, but we're also lucky that in 2018, and these are the things that you discover in going to a store project they're a lot more advanced metallurgically than I'd thought In 2018, they sent 39 tonne of graphite to China for a processing plant, for a pilot processing plant. It ticked all the grey. It ticked 95% concentrate. Bright flake size acid showed that it got 99.9% purity. And then they sent the product to 300 kilograms of concentrate to Canada and they micronized that. So, which is once it's micronized, Then there's the purification, which is putting some acid, and then there's sphericization, which is coating the graphite. which is quite exciting and we're looking at what strategy will approach that soon.

Andrew Musgrave:

All right, and you touched on the magnetite and the uranium projects and obviously you've had a good announcement come out this morning in relation to the uranium deposits. You've got there. What are some of the key milestones investors should look forward to in those projects?

Jonathon Trewartha:

Yeah, yeah, so with the uranium, we'll be just working through it. We've got four project areas. We'll work through them. We're pulling in data from government sources, our own sources and since that 2011-12, there was a lot of copper and iron ore exploration in our areas. So we've got a whole lot of other company data that we can stitch up. So we'll develop the targets there and we will do some exploration. But, as I said, once we've done the low-cost hanging fruit, then we have to sit back and say we can't do everything. So what are we going to do with the uranium asset?

Andrew Musgrave:

Okay, and I think sorry, and I was just going to say, with any of these mining projects you come across challenges, obviously. So how are you navigating some of those hurdles?

Jonathon Trewartha:

Yeah, well, the biggest challenge is actually we've got three assets. Is actually we've got three assets, and so it's making sure that we've focused on the graphite and increasing the value of the other assets, but not losing sight of achieving that dig ready by the end of the year. So end of two years. So it is actually. And the other yeah. The other one is that we're we are because we had five years of hibernation. We've got a low capex, so try and find a strategic partner or get those government grants are the other challenges that we look forward to tackling.

Andrew Musgrave:

Okay, and you're going to be attending the EU trade mission in early June. What are you hoping to achieve from that?

Jonathon Trewartha:

Well trying to find a strategic partner. There's gigafactories over there in Europe. There's the car manufacturers who in my time at Worley they were coming down and looking at trying to secure supply. So it's really looking for a good strategic partner that can help us develop the project.

Andrew Musgrave:

All right, I think. Lastly, just to wrap things up, if you just want to give us a bit of an overview of what that next, some of the key milestones you're hoping to hit in the next, say, 12 to 18 months, and what can shareholders look forward to in that period of time?

Jonathon Trewartha:

Okay, well, because we've got three commodities, we've actually got a strong news flow. So, in terms of the graphite, it's basically we'll be looking at trying to get a strategic partner and government grants. We'll be doing our PFS, which is due by the end of the year, then move into the PEPR approval and the feasibility and having it dig ready and finding a buyer in that period and then in the uranium, it's just highlighting and showing our prospectivity and then once again working out what we're going to do with that. And then with the magnetite, we're setting up our data room at the moment and I'll be actively engaging with potential buyers or partners with that as well.

Andrew Musgrave:

All right yeah, certainly is and plenty of activity, which is fantastic for the company. So, Jonathon, thanks for your time today. It's been great to chat and we look forward to future updates from Lincoln Minerals in the coming months.

Jonathon Trewartha:

Yeah, and thank you for inviting me onto your show, much appreciated.

Andrew Musgrave:

No problem, Great to have you. Thanks, Jonathon. Thank you. That concludes this episode of ASX Briefs. Don't forget to subscribe and we look forward to catching you on our next episode.