1 July 2024

Golden Metal Resources plc

("Golden Metal" or the "Company")

Nuclear Fusion Collaboration Agreement

Golden Metal Resources plc* (LON:GMET, OTCQB:GMTLF), a strategic development and mineral exploration company focused on Nevada, USA, is pleased to announce an update on its Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU")[1] with Oxford Sigma Limited ("Oxford Sigma"), a nuclear fusion technology company based in Oxfordshire, UK.

*Golden Metal is to change its name to Guardian Metal Resources plc. Formal papers have been submitted and the name change confirmation is awaited from Companies House. The Company will confirm when this process is complete. The stock codes will remain as LON:GMET and OTXQB:GMTLF.

HIGHLIGHTS:

§ Further to the MOU announced by the Company on 24 July 2023, Golden Metal and Oxford Sigma have agreed to co-fund a research project titled "Materials Selection for Fusion Breeder Blankets" (the "Project") which forms part of Oxford Sigma's collaboration with the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), which is also providing partial funding for the Project.

 

§ The main goal of the Project is to quantify the use of tungsten and other critical metals within the fusion process. It is expected that results from the Project will highlight the extraordinary future demand the development of nuclear fusion would create for tungsten.

 

§ The anticipated demand for tungsten in nuclear fusion, added to the growing requirements of the defence and industrial sectors, would add a further dramatic step change in the significance of tungsten for all industry participants and notably benefit Golden Metal as 100% owners of the Pilot Mountain Project, which is believed to be the largest undeveloped tungsten project on US soil.

Oliver Friesen, CEO of Golden Metal, commented: 

"Golden Metal continues to lead critical minerals development in the London market with its objective to become a leading provider of critical metal resources in the USA.

"Alongside the significant amount of exploration and development work that is currently ongoing across our Pilot Mountain and Garfield projects, it is important that we continue to broaden our understanding as to what the major future demand drivers for tungsten will be.

"While tungsten usage within the defence space is currently at the forefront given the current global geopolitical situation, we have been working with Oxford Sigma since the signing of our MOU to better understand the importance of tungsten within what is likely to be one, if not the, most important future energy technologies currently being developed.

"While initial indications are that the future demand requirements for tungsten within fusion are considerable, to date no one has done the work to quantify this. The Project represents the first time this work is being undertaken and we are very excited to be involved.

"Almost all tungsten stakeholders with whom I have engaged over the years are well aware of the use of tungsten within nuclear fusion, however, there exists a knowledge gap due to no one having previously quantified future outcomes.

"With the results of the Project in hand, and the expected publication of the Project outcomes, we will be much better equipped as a company as we look to be a leader in the nuclear fusion metal supply space."

FURTHER INFORMATION

Golden Metal is co-sponsoring an internship fusion engineer from Oxford Sigma to complete a fusion energy research project overseen by Oxford Sigma and based within the world-leading academic ecosystem in Oxford.

The Project will develop a detailed scoring matrix for fusion-relevant materials in breeder blankets, with a relative score given for their independent tolerance to each of the challenging fusion characteristics; thermal, magnetic, radiation and corrosion.

Due to its unique metallurgical properties, tungsten is expected to be the lead candidate for first-wall and shielding components within the nuclear fusion process.

The results of the Project will be submitted to a peer reviewed leading academic journal.

The findings will be used to generate a more accurate value of tungsten consumption required for commercial fusion power plants, which will feed directly into Golden Metal's future supply dynamics and ongoing conversations.  They will also position Golden Metal and Oxford Sigma as industry leaders in understanding the supply needs for tungsten in the fusion industry and enable capacity and timescale strategy planning to develop further.

The results are also expected to highlight future fusion demand for tungsten globally, with consequent upward movements in its commodity price, which will encourage and underpin the future development of the Company's Pilot Mountain project.

Initial results from the Project are expected in approximately the next 2-3 months.

 

Forward Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements relating to expected or anticipated future events and anticipated results that are forward-looking in nature and, as a result, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, such as general economic, market and business conditions, competition for qualified staff, the regulatory process and actions, technical issues, new legislation, uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans, uncertainties resulting from working in a new political jurisdiction, uncertainties regarding the results of exploration, uncertainties regarding the timing and granting of prospecting rights, uncertainties regarding the timing and granting of regulatory and other third party consents and approvals, uncertainties regarding the Company's or any third party's ability to execute and implement future plans, and the occurrence of unexpected events. 

Actual results achieved may vary from the information provided herein as a result of numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors.

For further information visit www.goldenmetalresources.com or contact the following:

Golden Metal Resources plc Oliver Friesen (CEO)	Tel: +44 (0) 20 7583 8304
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP Nominated Adviser Sandy Jamieson/Jo Turner/Louise O'Driscoll	Tel: +44 20 7213 0880
Shard Capital Partners LLP Lead Broker Damon Heath/Erik Woolgar	Tel: +44 (0) 20 7186 9000
First Equity Limited Broker Jonathan Brown/Jason Robertson	Tel: +44 20 7374 2212

 

THE PROJECTS

Pilot Mountain Project

The Pilot Mountain project is an advanced exploration and mineral resource definition stage project located in Mineral County in western Nevada. The project covers an area of 14.80 km² (3,904.1 acres) and is located 200km southeast of Reno and 18km east of Mina, Nevada. It is well situated for the supply of power, water and skilled labour and proximity to transport infrastructure in Mineral County and is centred around four existing mineral deposits: Garnet; Good Hope; Gunmetal and Desert Scheelite, all of which possess significant skarn-style tungsten-copper-silver-zinc mineralisation. The Pilot Mountain project consists of 176 active lode mining claims and 4 filed mill site claims. The four mill site claims filed at the former Dunham mill site have secure access to groundwater supply sufficient for the proposed project.

Garfield Project

The Garfield Project is an exciting copper-gold-silver prospect consisting of 65 lode mining claims covering 5.4 km² (1,338 acres) located in Mineral County, Nevada, approximately 14km due east of the town of Hawthorne and 120km due west-northwest of Tonopah. Exploration to date has included detailed geochemical sampling and follow up analysis which highlighted the presence of both porphyry and skarn-type mineralisation and alteration at the 'High-Grade Zone'. Further to this, mapping, prospecting and rock sampling was recently completed with results confirming presence of high-grade copper, silver and gold mineralisation as well as leading to the bedrock discovery of the Pamlico Au Zone with individual rock samples up to 18.35g/t Au, 1,225g/t Ag & 1.89% Cu. Following this, geochemical analysis of the full suite of data confirmed the strong presence of porphyry style mineralisation across the Project, as well as potentially overprinting epithermal style mineralisation leading to increased gold-silver prospectivity.

Kibby Basin Lithium Project

The Kibby Basin Project covers two claim packages which are prospective for lithium brine mineralisation. The southern claim package is less than 250m from a 2022 drillhole which returned a significant interval (169m) of lithium brine mineralisation which was determined to be open in all directions. The Project is less than 5km to the southeast of the Company's flagship Pilot Mountain Project.

Golconda Summit Project

Golden Metal is the operator of the Golconda Summit project, which is held under an earn-in right to acquire up to 100 per cent. of the project from the mineral claim owner pursuant to an option agreement. The Golconda Summit project is an exploration stage gold and silver project located in Humboldt County and situated at the confluence of the Getchell and Battle Mountain - Eureka metallogenic trends, and consists of 44 lode mining claims, covering a total area of approximately 3.22 km² (795.4 acres) located approximately 27km east of Winnemucca.

Stonewall Project

The Stonewall project is an exploration stage gold-silver property prospective for epithermal gold-silver mineralisation. The property consists of 19 lode mining claims covering 1.59 km² (392.5 acres) located on the northern flank of Stonewall Mountain, on the western edge of the Nellis Airforce Range Restricted Access Area, in Nye County, Nevada, approximately 24km south-east of the historic gold mining town of Goldfield and 60km due south of Tonopah.