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FPX Nickel Initiates Steps Advancing Baptiste Nickel Project with CEO Martin Turenne · Financial Survival Network

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The great thing about having money is now we've got the funding, we need
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to have our heads down here and to continue to de risk our and advance
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our project. You know, with Baptist we completed a preliminary feasability study and
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in the third quarter of last year we're now into the early stages of trade
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off studies bass of a peaceability study. You know, when I summarize what
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we're up to twenty twenty four on advancing that piece, there's three areas at
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advancing engineering work through those trade off studies to further refine and optimize the project.
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The second e being the environmental work that we're doing, so the environmental
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and cultural baseline studies, the data that we're gathering that will position us enter
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the permitting process. And the third piece is our engagement, specifically our engagement
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with communities and more specifically with first nations. The Financial Survival Network now more
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than network, the Financial Survival Network. Ben Welcome, This is Financial Survival
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Network. I'm your host, Carrie Lutz, and we're just at the beginning
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of April and we wanted to get an update from our sponsor FPX Nicols CEO
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Martin Turin, and Martin it's great to have you back on the show.
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Here, Will as busy as twenty twenty three was for you. It looks
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like twenty twenty four is really getting off quite well. Looking at the company's
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financial statements, I see that last year, end of twenty twenty three,
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you had thirty million on hand, and I would have expected that number to
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go down, but it's actually gone up to forty five million. Yeah,
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thanks for having us on again, Carrie. Yeah, we are certainly probably
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one of the better funded junior mining companies out there. Current cash balance here
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early April twenty twenty four is just undred forty five million dollars as a result
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of really three transformational strategic investments that we've done with new large corporate investors over
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the last eighteen months. So it really sets us up in a great place.
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We see that there's you know, more interest coming into the junior mining
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space. Goal price is doing well, copper price is doing well. That's
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creating better conditions for our for our industry. But unlike most of our peers,
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we don't have to think about raising money. We're well funded really for
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at least the next two years. Yeah, it's kind of an embarrassment.
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Of riches here. So Sumaitomo, major mining concern, biggest miner Japan,
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made a strategic investment, and that caused your other two strategic investors to up
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their investments as well. Yeah. So, as I mentioned, really we've
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had these three sort of transformational investors or investments coming into the company from three
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different sources over the last eighteen months. The most recent of those is Sumatomo
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Metal Mining. So in January, this here just a couple of months ago.
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Now we invested, rather, we announced that Suetmo is taking at nine
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point nine percent interest in fpx's shares via private placement. That placement was done
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at forty eight cents per share. That represented at seventy two percent premium to
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our market price at the time, so a significant premium, really showing the
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keenness that Sumintomo has for fpxit for the project, and also really demonstrating the
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fact that this was a competitive sort of process where we had multiple parties interesting
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interested rather in taking a position. Sumatomo is the largest mining and metal processing
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company in Japan. They're one of the world's largest nickel producers, and this
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type of investment taking an equity position in a junior is unlike anything they've ever
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done. Sue Matmo typically only would like to take positions directly in joint ventures
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asset level. Taking this investment at the equity level as really reflects fpx's desires.
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We don't want to joint venture our project. We do want to make
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sure that we're taking that investment at the top company level that allows FPX to
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coll to retain control of one hundred percent of our projects, most specifically our
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flagship Baptiste Nico project in British Columbia, and really allows us to make sure
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that we control all of the cards with respect to the development of the project
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and the ultimate strategy around potential M and A, which which we view as
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the ultimate sort of liquidity opportunity for shareholders. Sure. Sure, and now
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with Sumatoma the largest miner coming on board at JOGMC, which is Toyota,
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the largest car company, So this is a major commitment from the Japanese mining
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and industrial companies into FPX. Yeah, it's been an interesting journey for us.
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We're definitely have two point really having several major touch points with different aspects
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of the Japanese ecosystem. It really started with our joint venture announced about a
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year ago now with jog Mech, which is a Japanese government agency. It's
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most focused on mineral expiration, and so we are doing a joint venture expiration
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alliance with them, where jog Mech is funding one hundred percent of our work
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by our geologists go out and find other nickel deposits that are similar to our
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flagship BAP piece project. Jog Mech's interest there is really to try to secure
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mineral title, or at least partial ownership of mineral title in the next generation
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of nickel deposits, specifically for the ev battery supply chain. You know,
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the Japanese, Japanese industry, the Japanese government, Japanese society, it's very
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focused on its auto industry, and you know, I make the point very
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often that the carmakers will only be able to make a successful transition to EBS
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if they can secure raw materials. So this joint venture we have with the
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Japanese government really represents the first step that they are taking to try to secure
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the next generation of disruptive nickel deposits of the type that we as a company
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at FPX are focused on. So that was the first sort of elopment.
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Then in September of last year, we announced an m o U strategic collaboration
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agreement with a company called Prime Planet Energy and Solutions. That's Toyota's battery company.
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It's a joint venture company they at with panas on It, which is
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another large Japanese company that specializes in EP batteries. That is that that framework
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agreement or that MoU provides a basis for us to be discussing potential commercial opportunities
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for integration with Toyota's battery company and potential investment by that company in the future
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to allow us to continue to move our project forward. And it finally,
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you know, are the new investment with sum Atomo, the largest mining company.
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So between the mining companies, the auto industry, and then the government
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itself, we've really become kind of en meshed within the Japanese ecosystem. Yeah,
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and I would think that with Sumatomo's investment that was kind of the final
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validation of the whole concept of the type of mining that FPX is doing here.
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Yeah, it's an excellent point, Kerrie. We are doing something new,
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We're doing something disruptive here and innovative in nickel mining. Our Baptist project
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is not a sulfi deposit, which is what's typically found in places like Canada
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and Russia. It's not a later ate deposit, which the geology typical in
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places like Indonesia and the Philippines. The network here has hosted in a novel
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mineral called aeroweight, and the market has often kind of looked at this with
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skepticism. You know, we often say in the mining industry it's the race
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to be second, not the race to be first. Well, we are
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doing something new and different here and where we can proudly own that now that
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we're proud to innovators in that regard, and that innovation has now been sort
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of validated and really verified through extensive due diligence by Sumatomo in making their investment,
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by the Toyota Battery Company, by jug Mech, but also by our
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other strategic investors. Last year we took on a strategic investment from Otacumpu,
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which is Europe's larges stay in the steel company, and prior to that,
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we had an announcement about another major strategic investor, another large company. We're
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not in a position to identify the name of that company, but suffice to
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say, at this point, between that group, A, CUMPU and Sumatomo,
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we've got three very large public companies, all with nine point nine percent
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ownership interests in FPX, all working independently at each other, all having done
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extensive due diligence and having really put their money to work to get involved in
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what they I think are also starting to understand is a disrupt a new source
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of nickel for the market. Now. One question one of my FSN audience
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had about FPX I got recently said, with all the additional strategic investors you've
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taken on recently, are you limited to taking on new ones? Are you
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currently looking for them or are you happy with what you have and you're just
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moving ahead from here. We're very happy with who we have. We have
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the money, as I said earlier that I'll fund our work for at least
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the next two years, so we're not looking for new investors. But at
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the same time, there's nothing limiting us and taking non new strategic investors in
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the future if that's the right thing to do. And I can further tell
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you that there's no shortage of interests. We continue to get a lot of
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inbound interests from large auto companies, large battery companies, and large mining companies
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who are interested in this project. You know, the more validation we get
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via the investments from out A, Cinmatoma and the others, it only care
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create more Fomo, let's say, around other companies in this space to want
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to get involved in this. So we're in the luxurious position of having a
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lot of options in that regard, but not really need to move on any
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of them. And I guess that's quite to state to what our share price
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performance has been, where it's been very muted. We still continue to trade
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at a significant discount where we just raised money with the Japanese and with those
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other strategic investors. So that's the disconnect that we really want the market to
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understand. The huge opportunity here to look at u PX at a price level
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that is significantly below almost fifty percent actually more than fifty percent below where Sumintomo
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just invested just a couple months ago. Yeah, I find it interesting,
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you know, the financial risk because of all the investment that has flowed into
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the treasury, that just isn't really financial risk. What you're faced with is
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process. You're faced with time filling out forms, doing studies, getting approvals.
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That's your biggest challenge right now. How are you how are you preparing?
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How are you handling that challenge? Yeah, I mean the great thing
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about having money is now we've got the funding. We need to have our
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heads down here and to continue to de risk our and advance our project.
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You know, with Baptist we completed a preliminary feasibility study in the third quarter
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of last year. We're now into the early stages of trade off studies bass
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of a feasibility study. But I'd say, you know, when I summarize
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what we're up to in twenty twenty four on advancing BA piece, there's three
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areas that sort of the three ease as I call them, advancing engineering work
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through those trade off studies to further refine and optimize the project. The second
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e being the environmental work that we're doing, so the environmental cultural baseline studies
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the data that we're gathering that will position us enter the permitting process. And
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the third piece is our engagement, specifically our engagement with communities and more specifically
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with First Nations communities and rights holders. And that's an area I think we're
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very focused this year on laying the groundwork to have a collaborative decision making framework.
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That is where we work on a collaborative basis, not just consulting with
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nations, but actually collaborating with them as we go to enter the environmental assessment
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process in the first quarter of twenty twenty five. That's an innovative new approach
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to how to do environmental assessments and permits for my projects, where we go
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beyond the obligation to consult and actually commit to collaborating with these communities. And
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we're seeing a lot of great momentum in our relationships with multiple nations that are
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going to be ultimately impacted by this project and which may benefit from the project
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if one day it does become a mind That's an important distinction. There's a
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big difference between just telling somebody, hey, we're going to do this and
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actually talking to them and planning it out in concert. And that is a
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big step forward. It is it's the right way to do things. It's
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a twenty first century approach to project development, mind development, industrial development,
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where you know, communities are not just used as stakeholders, they are rights
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holders. They have real rights and interests in the areas where these mind projects
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are developed. And so the best way to success both in the short,
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the medium and the long term to reserve that social license in the long term
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is from the start to ensure that that is a collaborative decision making process.
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That's what we're committed to. That's what we're discussing right now with our various
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First Nations partners, and there are multiple groups involved here, and all of
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that is really I think laying the groundwork setting the table for a constructive,
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collaborative decision making us with these nations as we enter the former regulatory process in
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twenty twenty five. Well, this project seems to be a win for everybody
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concern for the provincial government, for obviously the the central government, and for
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all the various groups that are there that it's going to lead to a huge
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windfall for the for the various First Nations and others, you know, communities
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in the vicinity there. Yeah, we obviously there's this is a project that
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can deliver big economic benefits, but beyond that, we think it's a project
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that used to really leverage other benefits that are that are more central concerns for
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communities. For example, there are things that we can do around certain environmental
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sensitive these key habitats for for for plants or for animals. How can we
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use the project as a lever and leverage the investment in the project to actually
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improve and hats habitat for key species like caribou for example. How can we
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lever the project to ensure that important cultural sites and cultural ceremonies can occur out
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on the land base, And how can we support those activities and preserve those
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important cultural touchstones. And yeah, beyond that, sure, there are economic
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potential economicits that are profound. This is a project that have a thirty year
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mind life. A lot of these communities have been exposed to the impacts of
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the logging industry. Well. With logging forestry companies that come into a territory,
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they take out all the trees. That creates jobs for a certain period
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of time, but when the trees have been felled, that goes away.
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At jobs are not long term. When we think about a thirty year mind
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life project, we think about something that is not just providing jobs, but
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rather it provides careers over multiple decades and allows these communities to actually build businesses
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that are going to be meaningful economic participants. So there you know, the
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benefits of the project going far beyond the economic the financial aspect, but that
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is certainly important piece of it. So Pig talking about the nickel, Nickel
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price is right around seven eighty pound copper. As of today, it was
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four fourteen. The ratio is a little out of kilter here. Yeah,
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we do often talk about that ratio perry of the sort of the copper or
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rather the nickel to copper price, which typically historically has been in that range
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and sort of two and a half to one or so, and today we
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find that that through that ratio is below two to one. Copper price has
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had a nice lift here just over the last few weeks, as I think,
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you know, you've seen some challenges on the supply side and stronger than
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expect to demand coming out of many countries, including China. With nickel,
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we've certainly come off the bottom. You know, the nickel price had declined
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about fifty percent last year and that has had a huge impact I think on
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nickel companies and on equity valuations. Nickel price got down to as close realy
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close to seven dollars a pound. At that level, you had about fifty
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percent or so of current nickel production losing money at that level. So seven
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dollars a pound is just unsustainably low. We're now bumping up close to eight
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dollars a pound. There's still a significant amount of production that loses money at
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that level. So you know, all in all, that tells you that
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the nickel price probably needs to be hire to preserve a lot of that existing
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production. And so we see the kind of the move, the positive movie
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you've had in gold, positive move you've had in copper in past cycles,
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we've seen that that has become a bit of a leading indicator of potential positive
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movement in the nickel price and just in general generally increasing the interest in speculators
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and investors in the junior mining industry. So I think that's something that that
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FBX could certainly fit from here going forward. You know, I first met
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you six years ago in p DAK and you were doing one to one interviews
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at the show, and I remember sitting down with you and so you really
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had a vision. But here we are six years later, the amount of
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progress that you made did. I think you always knew it was going to
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happen, but it just really caught on recently. Yeah, I mean I
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think you know again. I've been the CEO of FX for just over eight
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years now, and when I took that role on the nickel price was below
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four dollars a pound. Nicol was a four letter word. No one wanted
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to hear about it. But we knew. I knew that we had a
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big deposit here, one that that could be economic at a relatively low nickel
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price and generate a strong way to return and that but that patience was going
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to be required. Fast forward eight years later, we're still in a position
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where we feel like we haven't been rewarded by the market. But in terms
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of the technical progress of the project now, looking at getting into permitting next
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year, getting into a feasibility study, and having had the validation of all
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these various large corporate strategic investors, all of that's very gratifying. The piece
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that's not gratifying yet is the kind of the share price and the returns for
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our investors, where we still see that there's a huge opportunity to look at
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at the stock today to see an outcome in years to come that could that
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could hopefully be rewarding to our loyal shareholder base, I allheartedly agree. Hey,
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we didn't even touch upon van and the prospectivity there, which is enormous
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in its own right. But enough for today. Just go over to the
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company website FPX Nickel dot com. Sign up for notifications, picker symbols on
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the OTC f p o c F on the TSX, it's f p X,
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and Martin, well, we'll be looking looking forward to more developments.
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I'm watching your newsfeed and we'll talk with you again soon. Thanks a lot,
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Kerrie, always good to chat. The Financial Survival Network