Brazilian Critical Minerals lines pre-development path with $4m from oversubscribed placement

• Strongly supported and oversubscribed two-tranche share placement to professional and institutional investors
• Funding to drive bankable feasibility study and complete pilot trials for in-situ recovery at Ema rare earths project in Brazil

Special Report: Binding commitments to raise $4 million in an oversubscribed placement empower Brazilian Critical Minerals in the transition to formal project de-risking and pre-development at Ema rare earths project in Brazil.

Brazilian Critical Minerals (ASX:BCM) will use the funds to begin a bankable feasibility study for the project, evolving from early-stage technical validation toward commercial readiness.

BCM will also advance environmental permitting and strengthen its working capital position to enable pre-development activities.

The placement was offered at 0.8c per share in two tranches: the first consists of just under 250m shares, to be issued under existing placement capacity, while the second tranche with the remaining shares will be subject to shareholder approval.

“We are thrilled with the overwhelming support for the placement, which validates our strategy and highlights growing investor confidence in BCM’s path to production,” BCM executive director Andrew Reid said. 

“The capital raised will allow us to aggressively advance the Ema project through feasibility and permitting, and positions us strongly to unlock the full value of our world-class REE resource.”

Globally strategic ionic clay REE project

BCM’s flagship Ema rare earths project hosts one of the world’s largest ionic clay rare earth deposits, host to a mineral resource of 943Mt at 716 parts per million total rare earth oxides.

That resource includes a starter zone of 341Mt with high-value magnet rare earths, used to make permanent magnets for advanced technology like electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines and particle accelerators.

The project is one of the few fully in-situ recovery rare earth projects outside of south-east Asia.

ISR involves dissolving mineral deposits while still underground using chemical solutions, that are then pumped to surface to be processed into mineral products.

This method of mining tends to be kinder on the local environment while also offering lower costs.

In March, BCM produced a scoping study that outlined a post-tax net present value of US$498 million for the Ema project, with an internal rate of return of 55% and a payback period of about 2 years.

BCM estimates the initial capital expenditure to bring the project online will require about US$55 million in funding.

This article was developed in collaboration with Brazilian Critical Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing. 

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.