Friedland-backed Sunrise raises another $21.5M for scandium project
Sunrise Energy Metals (ASX: SRL), the Australian scandium miner backed by Robert Friedland, has raised another A$32.5 million ($21.5 million) to fund pre-construction of its flagship Syerston project in New South Wales.
In a press release on Tuesday, the company said it has received investor commitment to buy 5 million shares at A$6.50 per share. The issue price represents a small discount to the stock’s closing price of A$6.65 in Sydney last week.
This represents the third placement that Sunrise announced over the past month. On November 17, it raised A$46 million through issuing new shares priced at A$4.25 apiece, followed by another A$18.86 million by issuing shares at A$4.90 each.
Together with its April financing round, Sunrise has now raised approximately A$105 million to accelerate work on its Syerston scandium project. Of that amount, A$59 million remains subject to approval at a shareholders’ meeting next month.
In addition to private placements, the scandium developer formerly known as Clean TeQ may also gain access to a $67 million loan, as announced by the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) in September.
“The additional funds raised over the past two months, combined with potential proceeds from the exercise of options and export credit agency funding support, allow us to commit to pre-construction activities and target on-site construction by mid-2026,” Sunrise CEO Sam Riggall said in a statement.
Shares of Sunrise rallied to start the week, closing Tuesday’s session at A$7.38 apiece with a market capitalization of A$977.8 million ($649.3 million).
High-grade scandium deposit
Located about 450 km west of Sydney, the Syerston project represents one of the world’s largest and highest-grade deposits of scandium. A recent resource update showed it has nearly 46 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 414 parts per million scandium.
Categorized as a critical mineral by many Western nations, scandium is a vital building block for semiconductors that power mobile communications, aerospace and automotive applications. The US accounts for about 90% of overall demand, but rival China controls most of the supply.
Amid trade uncertainties, the US is looking to establish alternative supply sources through allied nations like Canada and Australia and to develop future domestic sources. In October, defense manufacturer Lockheed Martin announced its intention to buy about a quarter of Syerston’s annual scandium output as part of the new Australia-US critical minerals pact.
According to Sunrise’s estimates, the Syerston project is capable of producing approximately 60 tonnes of scandium a year over a 32-year mine life, based on the latest ore reserve update.
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2 Comments
David R. Hammond, PHD
Total world consumption currently estimated at 25 to 30-40 metric tons per year. So this project will produce 2X global demand. Yes, such will indeed grow but the US$3,500/kg price will have to come down substantially to do that, perhaps well under US$1,000/mt. Is the 60 mt/yr mine still economic at $500-1000/kg? Just asking folks to use their heads abit.
Dr Jonathan Hall
No demand is not $40tons, its estimated to be close to 100tons by 2027 when Sunrise will go into production and no the price will not have to drop, the US Defence Department has entered a contract to by 40 tons of Scandium Oxide over 5 years at wait for it $6,000 a kilo. And no Sunrise is not limited to 60 tons production it can produce up to 180 tons per year max with autoclave augmentation. Demand will accelerate exponentially because all 6 g devices require Scandium, solid fuel cells need Scandium (i.e Bloom energy and data centres) and Scandium alloys are increasingly being demanded in aerospace, cars and other transport applications because of the massive improvements in weight that occur and hence rapidly growing power to weight ratios. Sunrise will be the only mine in production in the western world for at least five years, it will have a monopoly because China will not supply Scandium to the West. Kiril Sokoloff the best mate of the American Treasurer and founder of 13D, plus just this week the Barron fund, run by the billionaire are substantial holders of Sunrise Shares with Kiril Sokoloff owning more than 8%. It will be name your price time when production commences that is why Sunrise has raised all the construction funds required from large investors and the EXIM bank.