Currently, much of the world’s monazite is shipped to China, where it is processed into REEs. That too, though, is changing. In August 2020, the Saskatchewan Research Council and the provincial government announced plans to build a first-of-its-kind REE processing facility in Saskatoon, which is expected to be up and running in late 2022. On the agenda for Appia is a property-wide airborne magnetic, electromagnetic and radiometric geophysical survey, followed by additional surveying and geological mapping to track known mineralization trends and investigate any newly discovered radiometric anomalies. From there, the company plans a diamond drilling program of at least 5,000 metres to explore for more high-grade REO occurrences. In terms of how big this could get, Drivas points to two established REE producers: MP Materials and Lynas Rare Earths. They have market values of US$6.2 billion and US$4.5 billion, respectively. Appia’s is US$41.6 million. “They’re the two main rare earth producers outside of China, but our grade is much better with what we’ve seen so far,” Drivas says. It’s important to note that there is some diversification to the Appia story as well. The company has three uranium exploration projects over a total of 48,024 hectares in Saskatchewan: Loranger, Eastside and North Wollaston.
There’s lots of interest from the Western world to get to a position where they have the supply of critical materials to have the economy start moving and create jobs. — Drivas
The CSE’s Mark Francis chats with James Sykes, VP of Exploration and Development at Appia Energy – episode available on youtube.com/CSETV
Chief Executive Officer
Company
Appia Energy Corp.
CSE Symbol API
Listing date June 19, 2014
Website
appiaenergy.ca
At Loranger, for instance, six of seven drillholes intersected uranium mineralization in the company’s first drill campaign. A second drill season was completed in 2019 and discovered a near-surface uranium zone that extends more than 900 metres. Elsewhere, Appia has a 13,000-hectare uranium and REE property at Elliot Lake in Ontario. The Elliot Lake camp has produced more than 300 million pounds (136 million kilograms) of uranium and is the only mining camp in Canada with significant historical commercial rare earth element production. Back at Alces Lake, the company seems to have the best of both worlds when it comes to where it finds its rare earths. Much of the high-grade material discovered to date is close to the surface, suggesting relatively easy extraction were a decision eventually made to put the project into production. In addition, a recent news release discusses that REE mineralization occurs within multiple sub-parallel trends of the system over 875 metres of strike length and down to 340 metres in vertical depth. With the mineralization hosted in monazite, it could be just what North American supply chains are looking for. “If we can prove in the next few years that we’ve got a viable deposit here, there’s a lot of upside for Appia and the industry,” concludes Drivas.
Andrew Kessel covers technology, cannabis and other market sectors for Proactive out of its office in New York. He previously worked as a fact-checker for both PolitiFact and Guideposts, covered higher education for the Columbia Missourian and interned at Rolling Stone magazine. Andrew earned his Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri in 2017.
PUBLIC ENTREPRENEUR ISSUE 1•2021 | 31
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Tom Drivas