8 www.resourceworld.com
D E C E M B E R / J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 7
Michael Labach, Investor Relations, Toll Free: 1 866 486 8673
www.eagleplains.com
EPL:TSX-V
A Vertically Integrated
Project Generator
Exploring Western Canada
• Over 35 projects
• Operating over 20 years
• Never rolled back
• Revenue generator
• 3 Spin-outs
• Well financed & debt-free
money heaven and doing so in an industry that describes itself as
undercapitalized."
In addition, some juniors were seemingly engaged in explo-
ration to reaffirm market capitalization or to mollify investor
expectations, but without the necessary focus needed to advance
projects in meaningful ways. Worse still, a few even dusted off
old projects that had faltered in previous cycles, attempting to use
them as vehicles to reignite investor interest.
By contrast, the best juniors not only created value for them-
selves and their investors but added legitimacy and lustre to the
sector. "I'm impressed by the quality of exploration work done
by some of the juniors, and I'm impressed by the fact that the
industry is coming up with projects, including Tier-one projects,
in the face of much reduced exploration budgets," Rule said.
As if there were not enough pitfalls, the market also fell in love
with lithium. The interest was provoked by advances in electric
vehicles (EV) and debates about how much new lithium supply
will be needed to satisfy future demand from the EV lithium-ion
battery market. The upward march of lithium prices appeared to
confirm bullish narratives and headstrong investors dove in, appar-
ently happy to back any company with a lithium play to its name.
The dangers this represented were discussed by several news-
letter writers at PDAC and beyond, with warnings that a nuanced
understanding of the lithium sector was required, something
many investors failed to appreciate. "I've stayed away from lith-
ium stories in general," Kaiser said. "The capacity of big lithium
producers to expand output to accommodate demand is [already]
there. It's also questionable whether lithium will be the long-term
battery of choice for EVs because there are other technologies
being worked on, like Toyota's magnesium-based battery."
