Australian miner EQ Resources announced on Tuesday that it will take a 10% stake in a joint venture with Nasdaq-listed Elmet Group and Canada-based Blue Moon Metals (Nasdaq: BMM) to restart the Springer tungsten project in Nevada. Under the agreement structure, Elmet will hold a 70% stake and serve as operator of the project, while Blue Moon Metals will own 20% and EQ Resources will own 10% respectively. The joint venture aims to restart the Springer ammonium paratungstate (APT) plant in Nevada with an initial processing capacity of approximately 4,000 tonnes per year.
Elmet will fund the first $75 million of restart costs for the plant, with backing from financing provided by the U.S. Department of Defense. For costs between $75 million and $100 million, Elmet and EQ Resources will jointly fund in proportion to their ownership stakes, with EQ Resources' contribution capped at $3.125 million.
Any costs exceeding $100 million will be shared by all partners on a pro rata basis. Under an eight-year offtake arrangement, EQ Resources will supply 4,000 tonnes of tungsten concentrate to the joint venture. The agreement also grants EQ Resources access to up to 1,000 tonnes per year of APT processing capacity at the plant during the first five years of operations.
The transaction marks a significant strategic move to bolster domestic tungsten processing capacity in the United States, a critical mineral used in industrial applications ranging from aerospace to defense manufacturing.
Source: asianmetal.com