As Biden Administration policy changes commence being rolled out, lithium developer Anson Resources (ASX: ASN) has declared plans to capitalise on their resources in Utah by accelerating test work, seeking to confirm their lithium meets the requirements for electric vehicle batteries while manufacturers are scrambling to secure American supply.
The test work, which is expected to be completed within 4-5 months, has been brought upon by President Biden’s pledge to transition the entire US Federal Government’s fleet of 645,000 vehicles to electric.
In order to facilitate the transition, the Administration has further pledged to build 500,000 EV charging stations around the nation which will further accelerate public adoption through ease of access to charging stations which are currently very limited.
“We are encouraged by the recent policy changes in the US supporting the growing global shift towards electric vehicles,” said Anson Executive Chairman, Bruce Richardson.
“A large volume of US Government purchase orders for EVs would drive further significant investment in battery technology and key commodities such as cobalt, lithium, nickel, graphite and vanadium.
“Our portfolio is strongly geared towards the battery metals sector, and we believe we are very well positioned, from both a geographical and commodity perspective, to capitalise on the uptick in demand for EVs globally.”
At present, Anson’s primary resource is their Paradox Brine Project in Utah which is located within 680 miles of Tesla’s Nevada gigafactory and within 1000m miles of their Texas gigafactory.
Over the past 12 months, Tesla has been shoring up supply for battery minerals with a focus on American supply. This is expected to further accelerate under Biden’s administration where the President has issued an executive order to American companies to “Buy American”.
Alongside test work of their lithium resources, Anson has engaged Millcreek Mining Group to conduct a revised Preliminary Economic Assessment of Paradox for the proposed 15,000tpa NaBr plant.
As has been the case among other resource companies with US resources, any commitment to purchase US-produced battery minerals would likely result in funding to accelerate projects to production rapidly.
Anson conducted an initial PEA study of Paradox last year which concluded the project has a Net Present Value of USD $416 million. The company intends to use results generated from its lithium-ion battery cell testing to further discussions with potential offtake partners.
Alfred Chan is an Analyst at Emerald Financial, specialising in ASX-listed small cap companies.
Latest posts by Alfred Chan (see all)
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.