Tin was in the headlines this week after AIM-listed Cornish Metals raised £56 million to advance its South Crofty tin project in the UK to a final investment decision.
Notably, the company is backed by 26% shareholder Vision Blue Resources, the investment vehicle of former Xstrata boss Sir Mick Davis, which participated in this week’s raising to maintain its stake.
The UK’s National Wealth Fund also invested £28.75 million in the placement.
South Crofty is one of the world’s few advanced tin projects, with the options in Australia even slimmer.
Demand for tin is tipped to rise due to its use in all electronics, including electric vehicles, renewable energy and artificial intelligence.
Like a lot of other critical minerals, supply is dominated by China, with Indonesia, Peru and Myanmar other major sources.
Indonesian and Myanmar production have been disrupted in recent years, highlighting the need for diversification of supply.
Melbourne-based fund Datt Capital held an investor webinar this week, which highlighted increasing demand for commodities associated with electrification.
While founder Emmanuel Datt said he was neutral overall on commodities, he singled out tin as a metal of interest due to its scarcity.
“However, a small increase in demand could have very positive ramifications for the price of the commodity going forward,” he said.
Tin was the best-performing base metal of 2024, rising by around 15% over the year.
Tallebung
Tin market conditions bode well for the small group of hopefuls, which includes Sky.
Tallebung, near Orange, is a brownfields site which was mined from the 1890s into the 1980s, though the hard rock tin source remains intact.
Sky has defined an inferred and indicated resource of 15.6 million tonnes at 0.15% tin for 23,000 tonnes of contained tin.
Tallebung also has an exploration target of 23-32Mt at 0.14-0.17% tin.
Test work using TOMRA ore-sorting has indicated the resource grade can be upgraded by 500% to 0.7% tin, which would equate to 2.7 grams per tonne gold or 2.4% copper.
A week ago, Sky reported that trenching results had identified four zones suitable for bulk samples to be used for further test work via a pilot-scale plant, which should help Sky optimise the flow sheet.
All six trenches excavated late last year intersected tin mineralisation, paving the way for the excavation of bulk samples, which will mimic the proposed mining process.
The production of a tin concentrate will assist the company with marketing and engagement with potential customers.
This week, Sky reported it had intersected shallow visible tin mineralisation in the first diamond hole of the current program.
The hole has expanded the deposit to the east and confirmed that mineralisation remains open in all directions.
Sky managing director Oliver Davies said the early results were exciting.
“It looks like we’ve intersected some very high-grade tin veins here and it also looks like we’re opening up a new zone of the deposit and expanding what is already a very large footprint and discovering an entirely new zone of the deposit, which is exceptional,” he said.
A further four holes are planned in the program, with the second hole to target another eastern extension, following up a previous reverse circulation hole which intersected 10m at 0.69% tin from 23m.
The results of the program, which will be followed by a large-scale, multi-rig RC program, will be used to update the Tallebung resource ahead of mining studies later this year.
Sky is also advancing environmental studies as part of the early stages of the permitting process.
Strong support
Sky is chaired by Sydney-based mining entrepreneur Norman Seckold.
Seckold has been involved in a large number of mining companies, including Bolnisi Gold, Timberline Minerals, Perseverance Corporation, Valdora Minerals, Palmarejo Silver, Kings Minerals, Mogul Mining, Gold Corp, Santana Minerals and Alpha HPA.
His most recent success has been with Nickel Industries, the Indonesia-focused ASX 200 producer he has chaired since its inception.
Nickel Industries is up 170% since listing in 2018 and is now the biggest pure-play nickel producer on the ASX.
Sky closed 2024 with just under A$6.4 million cash after raising A$6 million in the December quarter.
Seckold’s participation in the placement increased his stake in Sky from 5.75% to just under 6.2%.
