Investor Insight
A diversified critical minerals exploration company backed by a significant partnership with Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) paving the way for strategic exploration of both uranium and lithium, Saga Metals offers a compelling investment opportunity in the global green energy transition.
Overview
Saga Metals is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and exploration of mineral assets in Canada. It explores for uranium, lithium, titanium-vanadium and high purity iron ore deposits. The company completed its initial public offering on September 23, 2024 with a subsequent listing on the TSX Venture Exchange.
Saga Metals has five fully owned exploration assets in top-tier mining jurisdictions in Canada. Its primary projects, Double Mer and Legacy are prospective for uranium and lithium, respectively. Its secondary assets are Radar (titanium-vanadium) and North Wind (iron ore).
Uranium ore from the Double Mer uranium project
The Legacy lithium project in James Bay, Quebec, is the subject of a CAD $44M joint venture option agreement with Rio Tinto Exploration Canada, signed in June 2024. Under the agreement, Rio Tinto will act as a project manager for the exploration of Legacy, with the option to acquire an initial 51 percent interest in Legacy over a period of four years.
This JV allows Saga Metals to focus on its other primary asset, the Double Mer Uranium project, a 25,600-hectare property located 90km Northeast of Goose Bay in Labrador.
Company Highlights
- Saga Metals is an exploration company with a diversified portfolio of critical minerals assets in top-tier mining jurisdictions in North America consisting of uranium, lithium, titanium-vanadium and iron ore projects.
- Saga Metals’ flagship asset is the Double Mer Uranium Property with an 18km trend verified with high-resolution magnetic survey, uranium count radiometrics, consistent counts-per-second (cps) readings and rock sample assay results of up to 4,280ppm U3O8. With numerous targets validated in the 2024 summer exploration program the company is planning for its maiden drill program this winter.
- The company recently entered a CAD$44M joint venture with Rio Tinto to advance the exploration of the Legacy Lithium project in James Bay, Quebec.
- The Legacy Lithium property is dedicated to expanding North America’s newest lithium district in the prolific James Bay region.
Key Projects
Double Mer Uranium Project
The Double Mer uranium project is a 1,024 claim spanning 25,600 hectares in eastern central Labrador, 90 km north east of Happy Valley, Goose Bay. The property lies between Lake Melville and Double Mer, both inlets off the Labrador Sea. The project has seen millions of dollars worth of exploration from 1970 to 2008, and features a 10-person winterized camp. A detailed geophysical and radiometric survey, which was supported by field work, demonstrates the Double Mer property extends beyond 14 km of strike, with elevated uranium samples and CPS readings. Longer term plans include developing the project for the potential takeover by a major, similar to the recent acquisition of Fission Uranium by Paladin Energy for $1.2 billion.
Legacy Lithium
The Legacy lithium property is dedicated to expanding North America’s newest lithium district in the prolific James Bay region of Quebec. The property is subject to the Rio Tinto partnership and the Amirault lithium property acquisition. The projects span over 65,849 hectares and hosts the same geological setting along strike from Rio Tinto, Winsome Resources, Azimut Exploration, and Loyal Lithium in the La Grande sub-province. James Bay is within Quebec’s Plan Du Nord, which earmarks millions of dollars for development of Quebec’s northern infrastructure.
Legacy is the subject of a joint option agreement between Saga Metals and Rio Tinto, under which Rio Tinto will act as project manager during the first and second option period. The optioned property contains 663 claims spanning 34,243 hectares hosting 100 km of striking paragneiss.
Saga Metals CEO Mike Stier cited the agreement as a “significant milestone in the company’s development,” providing the necessary capital for the exploration of the Legacy lithium project.
Radar
Saga Metals owns 100 percent of this 17,250 hectare land package with road access, only 10 km away from the coastal city of Cartwright, Labrador. The Radar project is prospective for titanium and vanadium, both critical minerals. Saga Metals is planning a $172,500 work program this field season to increase confidence in the identified mineralized zone as well as explore new prospective areas of the property.
North Wind
Located in west central Labrador, 16 km southwest of Schefferville, Quebec within the Labrador Trough, the North Wind iron project consists of 255 claim blocks under a single license. The mineral license comprises 6,375 hectares and contains eight historical drill holes which formed part of New Millennium Iron’s resource estimate 43-101 in 2013. The average grade of the drill holes, which now sit within the North Wind Iron property, was 21 percent iron over the complete eight drill holes that totaled 590 meters. Saga Metals is conducting a small boots-on-the-ground program, which it plans to progress into a drill program after confirmation of structural measurements of a prospective deposit.
Management Team
Michael Stier – Chief Executive Officer and Director
Educated in business management and finance, Michael Stier has spent the past 15 years focused on and building expertise in capital markets. Experienced in corporate structure, finance, business development, IPOs, M&A and wealth management, Stier served as a CIBC IIROC licensed senior financial advisor, senior analyst for a private equity company and more recently holds executive and directorship roles with private companies and publicly listed issuers. He has consulted in industries including mining, oil & gas, fintech, VR, eSports, health, life sciences and biotech. In addition to Saga, Stier has acted for several public entities and currently sits on the board of Rektron Group Inc, LaFleur Minerals Inc, GoldHaven Resources Corp.
Terence Lee – Chief Financial Officer
Terence Lee is a CPA with over nine years of finance experience in reporting under International Financial Reporting Standards. Lee has worked in financial planning, analysis and reporting for companies across various industries including mining, technology, real estate, life sciences, education and private healthcare. Lee graduated with a BA from Simon Fraser University, a Diploma of Accounting from UBC’s Sauder School of Business and articled with BDO LLP. Lee is CFO of various private and publicly listed companies.
Michael Garagan – Chief Geological Officer
With a Bachelor of Science in Geology, Michael Garagan has 15 years of experience in the exploration industry with projects across the world including Africa, Asia, North and South America. He encountered a diverse experience of deposit styles from gold to base metals in porphyry, orogenic, epithermal and VMS deposits to uranium and lithium pegmatites. Notable projects include B2 Gold’s Otjikoto project in Namibia, Night Hawk’s Colomac project in NWT, Unigold’s Neita project in the Dominican Republic, as well as Hudbay’s Lalor Mine in Snowlake, Manitoba.
Michael Waldkirch – Independent Director
Michael Waldkirch is a CPA and CGA with over 25 years of professional experience. Since 1998, he has led the accounting firm of Michael Waldkirch & Company, specializing in accounting, tax and business consultancy services to a wide variety of public and private companies. He has represented a wide variety of public corporations including mining, oil and gas and technology companies listed on the TSX, TSXV, NYSE-American, NASDAQ and OTC-BB. He has served as CFO of numerous Canadian and US publicly listed companies, including Gold Standard Ventures and Barksdale Resources and is currently an independent board member of US Gold Corp. (NASDAQ:USAU).
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