We are pleased to start 2020 with the addition of Dave Peck to the management team. Dave is a highly experienced and qualified geoscientist with an area of expertise in platinum group metals ( PGM ) and magmatic nickel copper deposits. Dave has worked around the world for majors, mid tiers and junior companies for over 30 years. He knows our properties and will be a huge addition to the team.
Palladium prices have continued to surge in response to market deficits and increased usage in autocatalysts to fight harmful tailpipe emissions. As such we have a great opportunity to focus on drilling our East Bull Lake Property for palladium Dr. Peck has observed strong similarities between East Bull and the Lac des Isle palladium deposit – which hosts Canada’s only palladium mine. The Company that owned Lac des Isles was recently sold for $1 billion in a takeout. We think a new discovery of palladium near Sudbury would be a great development for Grid shareholders.
We have made some strides on the Makwa Mayville Nickel Copper PGM project in Manitoba. At the end of the year our consulting engineers are integrating the changes in metallurgical recoveries into the financial model along with other factors such as changes in capital and operating cost estimates. The result of the work will give us a better sense of where the project is. We have based the project on US $8.50 pound in the past so the metal price ( currently around US$6.50 pound ) has a ways to go. However looking around the world there are very few nickel sulfide projects that can produce concentrates that meet the specifications for sale to smelters and have reasonable capital costs. As a result we continue to prudently bring this project along to be ready when the price of nickel rises. We believe that a nickel price rise is quite likely due to the additional requirements for nickel in electric vehicles in the coming years.
We believe Grid Metals offers great value to potential investors and will work diligently to get the story out to the market as the year progresses. Thanks to all our shareholders and business partners for their continued support.
Robin Dunbar - President and CEO
