New ASX-lister Infini Resources (ASX:I88) will hit the boards on Monday 15th January, one of few contenders with enough conviction to list early in the new year.
Infini will kick off its first day on the ASX already flush with tenements prospective for two critical minerals, right when the world needs a lot more of them.
As for the success of its IPO, interest in the company from early investors is self-explanatory.
Infini’s landholdings cover both uranium and lithium plays, the two commodities currently at the forefront of modern decarbonisation and renewables thematic.
Describing the explorer’s portfolio as ‘flush with tenements’ could even be charged as understatement.
Infini has eight separate projects under its belt, spanning between tax-treaty-buddies Australia and Canada. Here’s a project portfolio speed run:
- Portland Creek: Canada – uranium, known mineralisation
- Tinco: Saskatchewan, Canada– uranium, prospective for mineralisation, also prospective for niobium
- Des Herbiers: Quebec, Canada– uranium, confirmed deposit
- Yeelirrie: Western Australia– uranium, prospective for mineralisation
- Paterson Lake – lithium, confirmed mineralisation
- Valor: Quebec, Canada – lithium, prospective for mineralisation
- Pegasus: Western Australia – lithium, prospective for mineralisation
- Parna: Western Australia – lithium, prospective for mineralisation
Spearheaded by experienced exploration geologist Charles Armstrong as CEO, the Company is listing after successfully completing a $5.3 million raise at 20-cents per share.
Interlinked thematic
Lithium has been the hottest commodity on the market for most of the 2020s to date. But, after uranium prices hit pre-Fukushima levels last year, the nuclear energy feedstock has been having a bona fide bull run.
It looks like uranium could be “the next lithium” – or that the market might be getting interested in a new opportunity. It’s no question why, given uranium is the feedstock of all currently viable nuclear energy technologies.
For Infini, which boasts four uranium plays, the potential benefits are obvious.
Its lithium holdings are also likely to attract interest, despite a softening of lithium prices and increase in global supply. The famous battery metal is still attracting investor confidence – just look at Kali Metals’ (ASX:KM1) impressive debut this week.
Concerning Canberra and uranium
With lithium well-established as a crucial mineral for the global decarbonisation trajectory in Australia, it’s worth noting every OECD country except for this one has committed to encourage development of nuclear power in the coming years.
Strong resistance to nuclear energy has long dominated the popular political Australian psyche and consistently proves to be one of the most reliably passionate topics for Aussie voters everywhere.
While many espouse the risks of waste management, Australia’s lack of nuclear infrastructure probably helps keep conceptions of pre-21st Century technology alive.
Second generation and much safer small reactors are becoming more popular, and this already addressable market will only continue to grow.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, nuclear reactor development is fastest growing in the country with the most resources and least regulatory hesitation – China.
More everyday Australians think of nuclear power as dirty than not, but we risk being left behind. Over the world, that viewpoint isn’t held everywhere.
At a pub test in Australia, you might get scoffed at if you call nuclear fuel a green technology. But in many other parts of the world, it’s viewed that way without a hint of cynicism.
One should also note Fukushima was not actually due to internal plant failures but an environmental disaster and if you take away Fukushima, we haven’t seen any major nuclear reactor incidents in a human generation.
It might just be the case that Australia is too sunny to ignore solar, or maybe, things in the future could change.
But with a uranium sector by now comfortable to disagree with Canberra and with Australia, the fact of us not having reactors here doesn’t really matter a whole lot.
In case anyone has forgotten, Australia is already the world’s third largest supplier of uranium. Interesting times for Infini.