The leading public affairs firm will advise the company on public policy and regulatory issues which shape the global rare earths supply chain with a focus on long-term value creation.
Ballard will also support Energy Transition Minerals’ (ASX:ETM) role as a responsible commercial participant in critical minerals markets by leveraging its extensive experience advising critical minerals clients on how to protect and advise their strategic interests.
This will help advance the company’s engagement with US investors and strengthen its international position as a commercial entity.
It follows the recent appointment of Cohen & Company Capital Markets as its exclusive US financial advisors to start the process of seeking a Nasdaq listing.
Shares in the company have rocketed more than 100% to 20c since the beginning of this year after US President Donald Trump reiterated his interest in annexing Greenland, where ETM owns the Kvanefjeld project.
That has lifted hopes from investors that stalled critical minerals projects could get off the ground.
“As we look to expand our engagement with US stakeholders and explore ways to list on Nasdaq, it is essential that we have leading specialists to guide us through the unique challenges of this market,” managing director Daniel Mamadou said.
“Appointing local public affairs experts will help ensure that we have the right support to navigate regulatory and investor relationships, accelerating our North American engagement and furthering our international strategy.”
ETM also holds the Solo and Good Setting lithium projects in Canada’s James Bay region and in October secured approval for the acquisition of the Penouta tin, tantalum and niobium mine in Spain’s Galicia region.
But its main focus is the giant Kvanefjeld rare earths project in Greenland, which has a resource of more than 1 billion tonnes containing 11.1Mt of REEs and 593Mlb of uranium.
This is hosted in massive, mostly outcropping bulk mineral resources that translate to low mining costs.
It benefits from access to year-round shipping, which could offer significant cost advantages to potential European customers.
ETM’s plans for the project consisted of a mine, a concentrator and refinery, producing a mineral concentrate containing 20-25% rare earth oxide that would be upgraded to high-purity intermediate rare earth products in the refinery.
The project had previously been stymied by the company’s exploitation licence being denied, a move it described as “unlawful”.
However, the last months have seen the company score several legal victories with the Arbitral Tribunal finding that it lacked jurisdiction to rule on the question of the right to an exploitation licence for Kvanefjeld, while the Copenhagen City Court ruled that Greenlandic authorities shall not be parties to the Danish proceedings.
These moves eliminate the last procedural obstacle and will enable the case to be argued substantively after years of delays.
In November 2025, it requested the High Court of Greenland remove Denmark as a party to the case, clearing the way for the claim against the Greenlandic government to proceed on its merits.
