The geologist now heads up a company that has been focused on lithium and the even more niche germanium and gallium since recapitalising around 18 months ago.
Not surprisingly, he has faith in the company’s two flagship projects: Falcon Lake in Canada and Bleiberg in Australia.
The former is focused on an emerging lithium province in Ontario, targeting on a metal that’s out of favour with investors, while the latter is targeting two less-understood elements that are vital to modern technologies.
On the lithium front, Broomham is convinced the lull in the market is not a long-term trend.
“I believe the depressed pricing over the past 12-18 months is just suppressing capital from flowing to the next producer, developer and discovery,” he told the Resources Rising Stars conference in Queensland this week.
“As someone who was involved at Pilgangoora, I know it is no walk in the park, but ultimately, this will result in higher prices – and some of us will be surprised when that turn happens.
“Despite rumours, EV sales are continuing to grow and were up 20% on the first half of last year, and Canada and the US are growing. The price point in the US has caught up with China and it is now cheaper to buy and EV than a car with an internal combustion engine.”
Broomham also pointed to Benchmark’s forecasts of a lithium supply shortage next year.
Battery Age started drilling in June 2023, targeting areas at Falcon Lake first identified in the 1950s, and immediately encountered thick mineralised pegmatites from surface. That success led to some 30 new targets being defined that it started drilling last month, with the early results in from a new area called Falcon Lake Extended.
First-pass drilling returned headline downhole results such as 28.25m at 1.3% lithium from 55m, including 5.45m at 2.03%, and 18.4m at 1.88% from 55m, including 5m at 2.44%.
The thicker intercepts were among the lowest-grade hits, such as 41m at 0.49% from 122m, including 7.5m at 1.58%, but confirm the pegmatites are mineralised at depth.
Broomham said the results were “exceptional” and demonstrated the potential of the 5km-long corridor defined so far.
“We’ve only scratched the surface,” he said.
The proximity of the Trans-Canada rail line providing access to the Thunder Bay deepwater port, and the build-out of battery plants across the North American east coast, could also give Battery Age an edge if it gets to development.
On the critical minerals front, Broomham said Battery Age had “the best exposure to the strategic minerals gallium and germanium on the ASX”.
Admittedly, that is a small cohort.
As evidence for his claim, Broomham pointed to the company’s ownership of the Bleiberg project in Australia, host to a mine that produced lead, zinc and germanium for around 700 years until base metal prices saw it shut down in the 1990s.
While not produced historically, gallium mineralisation has also been identified in the workings, with grades ranging between 90-110 grams per tonne.
Germanium is used for high-performance logic chips, while gallium is used for semiconductors, and both are classed as critical minerals by the US, European Union, Japan, India, and Australia.
“We have recently seen the value of germanium absolutely skyrocket for a couple of reasons,” Broomham said.
“First, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has forecast increased use, and second is the growing geopolitical rift between the US and China with the US threatening not to share their new microchip technologies and China putting further export restrictions on germanium and gallium”.
Germanium has risen 57% since the beginning of 2023 to US$3800/kg, while gallium is up 42% to $909/kg.
Records show that Bleiberg was the sixth-largest global germanium producer in its day, and with gallium grades higher than those in China, it represents a unique opportunity for Battery Age.
The company has reviewed 100 years of data, using it to peg additional areas to the west where there could be a repeat of the main system.
The historical mine terminated at a fault, but the records show the prospective horizon continues and there are records of historical underground mining.
The explorer has generated 6km of targets to test that are being assessed by its in-country team ahead of drilling.
Battery Age has around A$1.8 million cash and remaining stock in Equinox Resources worth around $9.5 million following a recent sale to net $1 million.
