Tanco, Grid sign deal for cesium drilling in southeast MB

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This article was published 19/02/2025 (200 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two months after signing an option deal with Teck Resources at its nickel exploration property in Manitoba, Toronto-based Grid Metals Corp. has signed one with next-door neighbour Tantalum Mining Corp. of Canada Ltd. (Tanco) — seeking cesium at another of Grid’s Manitoba properties.

The deal calls for Tanco to fund at least $300,000 and up to $1.2 million for a much more aggressive cesium drilling campaign than Grid would have conducted on its own at its Donner Property.

If the drilling process proves productive, Tanco will have the right to purchase 10,000 tonnes of cesium-bearing material from Grid at predetermined prices that go up as the alkali metal concentration of the ore goes up.

“This would be a game-changer for us,” said Robin Dunbar, CEO of Grid Metals. “A deal like this helps; the Teck deal helps. We are trying to get to the point where we can make some money and stop having to go to the market.”

Grid has been talking to Tanco for some time, but most previous discussions had been about Grid’s potential lithium finds, officials said.

But with the price of lithium depressed because of slower than expected electric vehicle battery production and aggressive lithium exploration and production around the world, discussions shifted to cesium. (Tanco also has lithium concentrator facilities.)

Tanco, which is owned by Sinomine (Hong Kong) Rare Metals Resources Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of publicly traded Sinomine Resource Group (which the company makes sure to note is a non-government-owned entity), is one of the world’s largest producers of cesium.

No one from Tanco was available for interview Wednesday, but Dunbar said its cesium processing facilities at Tanco’s site near Lac du Bonnet has excess capacity.

“They made it clear they would welcome the tonnage to put through their cesium processing,” he said. “They said they are willing to put up some money to get us going. We are sympatico here. If we find it (cesium at good concentrations), they can keep their mill running and we can makes some money.”

The fact Grid’s exploration property is right next to Tanco’s means there would be minimal cost of transportation.

Tanco’s facility near Lac du Bonnet is the only place in the western world where cesium formate, a high-density brine used as a drilling fluid in deep-sea oil wells, is produced.

Dunbar believes in addition to Power Metals’ Case Lake property east of Cochrane, Ont., near the Quebec border, Grid’s Donner Property is likely the only other project in North America exploring for cesium.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca