Resource World Magazine

F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 1 9 www.resourceworld.com 7 Editor's Comments Ellsworth Dickson Ellsworth Dickson, Editor-in-Chief Email: editor@resourceworld.com T: 604 484 3800 | 1 877 484 3800 The Alpala deposit mineral resource estimate (MRE*) reports 2.05 billion tons at 0.60% copper equivalent ("CuEq") (8.4 Mt Cu, 19.4 Moz Au) Indicated (with a cut-off grade of 0.2% CuEq), plus 900 Mt @ 0.35% CuEq (2.5 Mt Cu, 3.8 Moz Au) Inferred (at 0.2% CuEq cut-off), including a high-grade core of 400 Mt @ 1.49% CuEq (3.6 Mt Cu, 11.9 Moz Au) Indicated 15% of the Cascabel Cu-Au Project in Ecuador financed to completion of a feasibility study plus 9.22% of the shares of JV partner SolGold Plc (total ~23% direct and indirect interest in Cascabel) 2 projects being funded by partners (Bramaderos in Ecuador with Sunstone, & Miocene in Chile with Newcrest); 2 more available for option/joint venture Strategic Exploration Alliance Agreement with Ecuadorian State Mining Co. ENAMI EP – 9 concessions near Cascabel * See Nov. 20, 2018 news release and Technical Report filed Jan. 3, 2019 at www.sedar.com. Mr. Martin Pittuck, MSc, CEng., MIMMM, is responsible for the updated MRE and is an "independent qualified person" as defined in NI 43-101. "CHINESE DEMAND for mineral and metal commodities equals or exceeds the remainder of the world combined." This is a direct quote from a new book entitled Groundbreaking – America's New Quest for Mineral Independence and is an example of why the United States may want to consider stopping being overly reli - ant on China – and Russia, too – for strategic metals needed for national defense, industry and consumer goods. Written by geologist Dr. Ned Mamula and rare earths author Ann Bridges, the book details how America has set aside vast amounts of land, now off limits for mining, while at the same time, has sold off or used up its stockpiles of strategic met - als. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, America is 100% dependent on imports of dozens of critical minerals and metals, including industrial metals, base metals, lithium, indium, tellu- rium, cobalt and 15 rare earths. The US imports 78% of its rare earths needs from China. The rare earth neodymium is used by the military and by almost every consumer for the magnets in their cars, TV and stereo speakers. The authors note that US mining peaked 30-40 years ago due to misguided policies and reliance on non-politicized global trade, not because minerals were depleted. Besides being the world's largest minerals exporter, due to its gigantic population rising towards the middle class, China is now the world's hungriest country for resources as it works towards its goal of control of the global minerals trade. Indeed, China is the world's leading importer of copper, iron ore, chromium, nickel, titanium, manga - nese, cobalt, tantalum, niobium, PGMs, and lithium. The question that US leaders may want to consider is: What will the US do if China won't sell to America the strategic metals it needs due to its own increasing needs or some kind of politi- cal retaliation? This happened before, in 2010, when China cut off exporting rare earths to Japan. Many readers may remember the OPEC oil embargo of 1973. Foreign nations place their own geopolitical (and industrial) needs first. On top of that, major for- eign suppliers of critical minerals and metals are able to unfairly manipulate prices and supplies. The authors of Groundbreaking quote General John Adams, U.S. Army (ret) who, in his book Remaking American Security-Supply Chain Vulnerabilities & National Security Risks Across the U.S. Defense Industrial Base, commented that the present situation of the over-reliance on critical mineral imports and the reduction in domestic mining output are first-order national security issues. As Groundbreaking points out, "Wealthy, powerful, increas - ingly radical environmental pressure groups exacerbate these vulnerabilities, by employing excessive laws and regulations, land withdrawals, and costly and interminable environmental reviews and permitting processes to impose severe constraints on US viability and sustainability." Already 71% of US federal lands are off limits for mineral exploration when, in fact, the National Mining Associations estimates that over $6 trillion in mineral resources exists beneath American soil. So what can be done about this potentially dangerous situation? It involves more than just US exploration, development and min - ing. "The Trump administration is committed to improved mineral policy stewardship, shorter permitting time, forming US supply chains of technology metals, and increasing mining-related GDP, taxes, and jobs for domestic mining," Groundbreaking reported. n Groundbreaking is available at Amazon Books. Is America's over-reliance on China for strategic metals foolhardy?

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