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obligation to know not only how far Gon- going to play a major role in.
neville goes under that area but what other “So, it is partly about educating the mar-
deposits are there.” ket that we have a high degree of diversity
Complicating matters is Alcoa Inc’s at Gonneville and we are not beholden to
state agreement which allows it to mine in one type of technology.”
the southern portion of the state forest. The evolution of the EV market has led
“The community is still sensitive to baux- to a global hunt for secure supply of both
ite exploration and mining, but the major- lithium-ion and hydrogen-related com-
ity of people are very pragmatic about modities, a hunt which has been disrupted
our project and see the net environmental by the west’s reliance on China (for lithium,
benefits of mining these metals. We have cobalt and rare earths) and Russia (for pal-
a high degree of community support.” ladium and nickel) for raw materials.
The newly found “green” nature of met- “I think the geopolitical tensions highlight
als such as nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum the strategic significance of our discovery,”
and palladium gives miners some advan- Dorsch said. “Australia has not been on
tages in shedding the industry’s traditional the map for PGMs but it is now grabbing
anti-conservation tag, but Dorsch believes investors’ and governments’ attention.”
there is a false dichotomy at the heart of However large it becomes, Gonneville
those assumptions anyway. will never satisfy the entirety of global nick-
“There is a broader perception that there el-PGM demand but if the Chalice explora-
will have to be a trade-off between local tion team is right, the surrounding regions
biodiversity and mining
metals for the energy
transition,” he said. “Our
belief is there are lots of
Chalice will now venture into the Julimar scenarios for mining in
State Forest after gaining approvals those areas which pro-
tect and improve bio-
and complexities, not just drilling holes, but diversity and the State
technical studies, engagement with stake- Government is behind
holders and approvals to get ready for,” that.”
Dorsch said. Dorsch’s mention
“We are building out the team and ca- of “energy transition”
pabilities to be ready for all that, and the brings the Julimar story
big 6-9 months ahead of us. We have a back to the metals mar-
resource update due which will lead into kets. While prices shift
the scoping study for the initial stage of de- dramatically thanks to a
velopment and the start of the regulatory host of economic and geopolitical pres- may go close.
procedure.” sures, the longer-term outlook for nickel, As well as Julimar, Chalice has its foot
Permitting and approvals have hung copper, cobalt, platinum and palladium are on four other nickel-PGM prospective ar-
over Julimar as a potential disrupter since all strong thanks to their links to the EV eas on the western fringe of the Yilgarn
its discovery given it straddles a state for- revolution. Craton, with work recently undertaken on
est and is in the middle of semi-rural com- While Australian investors have devel- the South-West project south of Julimar
munity on the fringes of Perth. oped a keen awareness of lithium, nickel and Barrabarra further north.
Dorsch said the recent drilling approval and cobalt demand, Dorsch has found “We are excited because we see dozens
was proof both government and commu- himself explaining the PGMs market more of opportunities like Gonneville coming up
nity were behind the project. regularly. and this is a very lucrative, prospective
“There is a strong level of support from “I think it is hard for the local markets to province,” Dorsch said. “It is a very exten-
government to say drilling in the state for- understand PGMs,” he said. “They are so sive system – we are seeing mineralisation
est would happen,” he said. “As far back as rare and obscure that people don’t under- 50km away from Gonneville on the Caspin
the 1990s, Parliament made a decision to stand the function they play in the energy [Resources Ltd] ground. That tells us it is a
not progress with the area’s conservation transition. I hear investors say: ‘If petrol province in the making, and the work just
status until the mineral potential was un- cars go away does that mean PGM de- needs to be done.”
derstood. It’s frustrating that the approval mand goes away because they are only – Dominic Piper
has taken this long but we think the State used in catalytic convertors?’ The answer
Government has been incredibly prag- is no, because firstly the transition will take
matic about where mining occurs. The decades and secondly there is the emerg-
approval is important because there is an ing hydrogen economy in which PGMs are

aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT JULY 2022 Page 59