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Vancouver, BC, April 16, 2025 – TheNewswire – Sponsored content disseminated on behalf of Premium Resources. On April 10, 2025, Premium Resources (TSXV: PREM) (OTC Pink: PRMLF) outlined a six-month plan to advance its two permitted, previously producing copper, nickel and cobalt mines in Botswana, a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction in Africa, known for its diamond mines.
Last month, a consortium of institutional investors made sizable early bets on the future of Premium’s Botswana assets. A March 2025, $46 million non-brokered equity financing included the participation of the Fiore Management and Advisory Corporation, headed by Frank Giustra.
The underground Selebi Mines were in production between 1980 and 2016. Both Selebi and Selebi North mines, having produced 40 million tonnes of ore, were put into Care & Maintenance due to low metal prices and a failure of the on-site smelter. The underground Selkirk Mine operated between 1989 and 2002 and produced 1 million tonnes of high-grade ore.
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“The mining laws in Botswana are similar to those in Canada,” Morgan Lekstrom told Guy Bennett, CEO of Global Stocks News (GSN). “It’s a positive environment for Canadian mining corporations to operate. Botswana follows the same environmental and regulatory rules that we are accustomed to.”
Currently, diamonds account for around 80% of Botswana’s exports, one-third of fiscal revenues, and one-quarter of GDP. The country is the world’s largest diamond producer by value.
“I’ve had the privilege of meeting President Duma Boko,” Lekstrom continued. “He is a Harvard Law School graduate, a passionate politician and a sharp businessman. Boko wants to expand Botswana’s extraction industry beyond diamonds. It’s a smart move. They have the commodities, a skilled workforce and the capacity for ample solar power generation.”
Recent interest in the Selebi and Selkirk Mines has been catalysed by a surge in demand for critical metals required for the green energy transformation (Solar, EVs). In the last five years, as demand drivers intensify, the price of copper has increased 92% - from USD $2.36/lb to $4.50/lb.
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Premium Resource’s 6-month targeted milestones:
Exploration and Development
Selebi Main Surface Drilling Program to Target a Potential 3rd Horizon – An initial surface exploration drill program is extending historic drill holes, targeting a large Borehole Electromagnetic (BHEM) plate that could represent a new mineralized horizon 150 metres beneath the Selebi Main resource.
“BHEM results correlate directly with massive sulphides,” Lekstrom told GSN. “It can help identify and locate conductive ore bodies.”
Hinge Drilling Between Selebi Mine Deposits - Surface drilling program targeting BHEM plates in the untested 2-kilometre-long area between the Selebi North and Selebi Main deposits referred to as the hinge. These BHEM targets potentially represent additional mineralization between the two deposits.
Selebi North Underground Resource Expansion Drilling - Exploring along strike, down-dip and down-plunge of the Mineral Resource Estimate footprint, targeting resource expansion and focusing on areas with strong BHEM response from the N3, N2 and South Limbs.
Selebi Mine Underground Development - Development of a dual-purpose exploration drift from Selebi North is set to commence soon. This will permit both in-fill drilling and exploration drilling at Selebi North.
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Selkirk - Surface drilling program for resource expansion and metallurgical test work samples for flowsheet development. The drill core from this program will also be used for preliminary XRT pre-concentration studies.
Advancing Project Economics
Metallurgical Sampling and Testing - Selebi flotation studies ongoing.
Evaluating XRT ("X-ray Transmission") ore sorting - potential to have a significant impact on waste rock removal, which positively impacts the head feed grade to the concentrate flowsheet, with potential application at both Selebi and Selkirk.
Evaluating IDEON Technologies for applying Muon Tomography to create 3D density maps of subsurface mineralization at Selebi and Selkirk.
"We are embarking on an accelerated growth curve that will not only highlight the scale of Selebi and the significance of the hinge zone, but also address key metallurgical questions,” stated Lekstrom in the April 10, 2025 press release.
“The high-grade poly-metallic nature of Selebi, its substantial size, our upcoming drilling and the planned metallurgical work are the critical and simultaneous steps in the larger vision of potentially building a world-class, generational critical metals project,” added Lekstrom.
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“China has suspended exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets, threatening to choke off supplies of components central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world,” reported the New York Times (NYT) on April 13, 2025.
“Shipments have been halted at many Chinese ports while the Chinese government drafts a new regulatory system,” added the NYT. “Once in place, the new system could permanently prevent supplies from reaching certain companies, including American military contractors.”
“The official crackdown is part of China’s retaliation for President Trump’s sharp increase in tariffs that started on April 2, 2025,” added the NYT.
Concurrent with the March 18, 2025 $46 million financing, PREM announced that the Cymbria Corporation, an affiliate of PREM’s largest shareholder, EdgePoint Investment Group, converted $20.8 million of debt into shares. EdgePoint manages about $40 billion in global assets.
The $67 million total recapitalization of PREM is a validation of the premise that Selebi and Selkirk can play a role in helping the Western world to decouple from China’s critical mineral supply chains.
The technical information presented in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Sharon Taylor, Vice President Exploration, who is the Qualified Person for technical disclosure at Premium Resources, as defined by NI 43-101 “Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects”.
Contact: guy.bennett@globalstocksnews.com
Disclaimer: Premium Resources paid Global Stocks News (GSN) $1,750 for the research, writing and dissemination of this content.
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