Drills Turning at Lithium & Boron Explorer's Nevada Flagship Project

Source: Streetwise Reports 04/24/2024

Canter Resources Corp. CNRCF has started a drilling program at its Columbus lithium-boron project in Nevada. Find out why one asset manager is excited to see the results.

Canter Resources Corp. announced it has started a 10-hole Geoprobe drilling program at its Columbus lithium-boron project in Nevada, which it recently expanded from 23,000 acres to almost 30,000 acres through staking.

The drilling will focus on a substantial subsurface 5-kilometer-by-10-kilometer brine target identified through geophysical data and 3D modeling.

"The low-impact and low-cost Geoprobe drilling, ideal for near-surface analysis, has been designed to collect both sediment and water samples from surface to depths exceeding 30 meters" the company noted in a release. "Data from this initial program are expected to provide additional stratigraphic and geochemical data that will further inform the company's geological model while targeting lithium, boron, and potassium concentrations from the shallowest brine generation layer within the primary target area."

The program is expected to take about ten days to complete, Canter said.

Geoprobe drilling, which utilizes a specialized hydraulic percussion/probing machine, is becoming increasingly popular for soil and groundwater exploration as it is non-invasive, cost-efficient, and reliable.

"This program offers significant advantages over traditional drilling methods for shallow subsurface testing, including faster data collection and the ability to perform a variety of sampling techniques" Canter said. "The company's primary goal of this program is to obtain a range of water samples within the upper 30 m (meter) interval; however, sediment samples will also be collected as part of the campaign."

Jeff Clark of thegoldadvisor.com noted the company's large land package and numerous targets are "prospective."

Canter Chief Executive Officer Joness Lang said the Geoprobe will test a shallow subset of favorable stratigraphic units at Columbus.

"We are keen to see results from this highly conductive layer of the basin in an area that has very limited geochemical results to date" Lang said.

Jeff Clark of thegoldadvisor.com noted the company's large land package and numerous targets are "prospective."

"I don't know if the bottom is in or not (for the stock price), but the company is moving along as planned and is now in a position to find out what exists beneath the surface at Columbus" Clark wrote. "I'm holding on to my investment and suggest the same if you're a shareholder."

Chen Lin is the author of What Is Chen Buying? What Is Chen Selling? The asset manager said he expected to see impressive results from the company's exploration this year.

"They have a huge expansion of their target" Chen noted. "We should see some very exciting high-grade lithium."

Company Is 'On to Something Here'

Columbus is the junior lithium and critical metals exploration company's flagship project. It's in a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction (Nevada) that is deemed the world's best by the Fraser Institute in 2022. The property is the largest land holding in the Columbus salt marsh, after which it is named.

Canter also fully owns the Beaver Creek lithium property, covering a 1.3 km long by 0.3 km wide bed of lithium-rich outcrop near Lincoln, Montana. There, 99 surface samples returned lithium grades up to 1,500 (parts per million) ppm and averaging 500 ppm.

The Columbus project is only a three-hour drive from Tesla Inc.'s gigafactory in Nevada, which supplies lithium-ion batteries and components for Tesla's electric vehicles.

"They have a huge expansion of their target" Chen noted. "We should see some very exciting high-grade lithium."

Since November 2023, the company has raised CA$4.4 million in equity, submitted and received all necessary permits from the BLM and NDOM, acquired third-party data, reinterpreted geophysics and created a new 3D model, secured the same technical team that worked with the property vendor on large-scale lithium projects in the region, and secured a dirt-work contractor for site preparation and a contractor for the Geoprobe drilling.

"The evidence is strong that Canter is on to something here" wrote Clark in a March 20 newsletter. "The geophysics here definitely suggests brine fluids are present, with the million-dollar question [being] what kind of lithium concentrations exist in those brines. It appears that answer is potentially very exciting."

Global Analyst Adrian Day wrote in December that Canter had caught his eye "because of its management, technical expertise, location, strong cash balance, and favorable conditions."

The Catalyst: Lithium, Boron, and the Energy Transition

Both lithium and boron are growing sectors. Lithium-ion batteries power remote controls, cellphones, and electric vehicles (EVs), according to Eco Lithium. Other applications include digital cameras, pacemakers, laptops, watches, power packs, mobility scooters, alarm systems, backup power systems, golf carts, and energy storage.

The primary driver of lithium demand is the EV industry. The lithium market is projected to expand at a 20.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to US$6.4 billion (US$6.4B) by 2028 from US$2.5B in 2023, according to Markets and Markets.

Boron is also essential to the energy transition, but the element only makes up about 0.001% of our planet's weight.

"Boron is present everywhere in the environment, but substantial deposits of borates are relatively rare" noted Rio Tinto on its website. The company operates the Rio Tinto Boron Mine in Boron, California, the largest borax mine in the world, producing nearly half of the world's borates.

Rio Tinto and Turkish state-owned Eti Maden together supply the world with about 85% of the rare element.

Boron is used in heat-resistant glass for smartphones, making clearer and stronger glass, and in solar panels and solar water heating systems. It's also important to plant growth and is used in abrasives, cleaning products, insecticides, insulation, ceramics, and semiconductors.

According to Maximize Market Research, the market for Boron is expected to grow from US$2.15 billion in 2024 to US$2.89 billion by 2030. [OWNERSHIP_CHART-10988]

Ownership and Share Structure

As for ownership, according to Reuters, four insiders own 5.32% of Canter Resources. From most to least shares owned, these individuals are CEO and Director Joness Lang with 3.32%, Chief Financial Officer Alnesh Mohan with 0.98%, Director and Technical Adviser Eric Saderholm with 0.59%, and Director Brian Goss with 0.49% or 0.25M shares.

Retail and institutional investors own the remaining 94.68%, including Palos Asset Management, EarthLabs Inc., Clarus Securities Inc., and Echelon Partners.

Regarding share structure, according to the company, it has 50.99M outstanding shares, 580,000 options, and 3.66M warrants, for a total of 55.23M fully diluted shares.

Canter's market cap is CA$11.86 million, and it trades in a 52-week range of CA$0.07-0.99 per share.

Important Disclosures:

1. Canter Resources Corp. is a billboard sponsor of Streetwise Reports and pays SWR a monthly sponsorship fee between US$4,000 and US$5,000.
2. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Canter Resources Corp.
3. Steve Sobek wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee.
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