Ferro-alloys.com：Silver Elephant, listed in Toronto, has high expectations and ambitions for its new Minago project in Manitoba, which can meet the "never satisfied" demand of the electric vehicle industry for Category 1 nickel.

The company announced on Friday that it has reached a binding agreement with Victory Nickel to acquire a project located in the Thompson Nickel Belt for US$11.68 million, including US$6.88 million in credit to repay the secured debt owed to Silver Elephant and $5 million in stock.

"The acquisition of Minago immediately pushed Silver Elephant to the forefront of the nickel sulfite mining space, providing the much-needed Type 1 nickel (80% nickel, 10% manganese, 10% nickel) for the long-range, high-strength, fast-charging NMC 811 %Cobalt) Silver Elephant's vice president and head of the Canadian business unit Dan Osterman said in a statement: "The cathode standard of lithium batteries can promote the popularization of Volkswagen electric vehicles. "

Ken Hoffman of McKinsey & Company cited research reports that by 2030, the penetration rate of electric vehicles will reach 22% to 30%, and the annual production of 30 million electric vehicles will require about 2 billion pounds of grade 1 nickel.

Global nickel production is approximately 5 billion pounds per year, and currently includes an equal distribution between Type 1 high-purity nickel from sulfide deposits and Type 2 nickel from laterite deposits. However, "Silver Elephant" reported that due to the scarcity of sulfide minerals, nickel production is declining.

"Silver Elephant's value proposition is to expand Minago’s nickel sulfide resources to a regional scale, and finally put the Minago project into production with industry partners to meet the explosive level 1 nickel that electric vehicles cannot meet. demand."

The Minago project is located in the southern part of the Thompson Nickel Belt, covering an area of ??197 square kilometers, and is considered to be the fifth largest nickel-bearing geological belt in the world. Famous mines in the Thompson Nickel Belt area include the T1, T3 and Birchtree mines, all within a range of 225 kilometers from the Minago project.

Vale’s current annual production in the Thompson Nickel Belt is approximately 33 million pounds.

The Minago project contains a nickel sulfide deposit (Nose deposit), which has been advanced to the feasibility stage by the open-pit mine.

"Osterman... His career started at Eagle Bridge and International Nickel Corporation, and helped to drill the Thompson T3 deposit not far from Minago. Silver Elephant has a high degree of great expansion of Minago resources. With expectations and ambitions, Dan is the ideal candidate to unveil this great project and fully realize the potential of Minago," said Chairman John Lee.

If the nickel price exceeds $10 per pound for 30 consecutive working days by the end of 2023, Silver Elephant will also issue 2 million Canadian dollars in stock to Victory Nickel. In addition, Silver Elephant will subscribe for 40 million shares of Victory Nickel for 1 million Canadian dollars.

• [Editor:zhaozihao]