Tivan Advances Speewah Fluorite Project in WA toward Full Debt and Equity Financing

Tivan (ASX: TVN) has progressed its Speewah fluorite project in Western Australia’s far north to the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility’s (NAIF) due diligence phase of financing following a non-binding and conditional letter of support from Export Finance Australia (EFA).

Due diligence comes after NAIF completed the strategic assessment phase of its investment process for the project, which reviews early-stage strategic alignment, preliminary project feasibility, indigenous engagement and the broader economic benefit.

Tivan will now prepare a formal investment proposal for consideration by NAIF.

Infrastructure Development

NAIF is a Commonwealth government financier that provides concessional loans for the development of infrastructure projects in northern Australia.

In 2023, the agency earmarked $500 million to help fund the development of new critical minerals projects.

Tivan’s EFA letter and NAIF due diligence complement other conditional equity funding arrangements and represent material steps towards securing full debt and equity financing for Speewah’s development.

Strong Alignment

Tivan executive chair Grant Wilson said the company had made “timely progress” with EFA and NAIF.

“From our perspective, this reflects a strong alignment of Speewah with Australia’s critical minerals strategy, our partnership with Sumitomo Corporation and our northern location,” he said.

“We look forward to collaborating closely in maturing the debt finance pathway in support of building a new, critical export sector for Australia and making a durable economic contribution to the East Kimberley region.”

Speewah Joint Venture

Tivan is advancing Speewah via an unincorporated joint venture with Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corporation and government administrative agency Japan Organisation for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC).

Sumitomo and JOGMEC’s special purpose subsidiary Japan Fluorite Corporation have made an initial $5.3 million equity investment to fund a feasibility study on a mining and processing operation to produce acid-grade fluorspar (higher than 97% calcium fluorite) for export to global markets.

Fluorite ore is used to produce commercial-grade fluorspar products used in semiconductor manufacturing, EV batteries, refrigerants, aluminium fluxing and uranium enrichment.

The Australian government recognised fluorine as a critical mineral in December 2023 and awarded Speewah major project status the following year, in recognition of its national significance and alignment with the government’s critical minerals and national battery strategies.

Copper Exploration

Elsewhere, Tivan has identified three new areas of outcropping copper mineralisation during Stage 1 exploration at its Turiscai project in Timor-Leste.

Tivan discovered the Beremana, Haru River and Matorec sites in geological mapping and sampling activities aimed at defining anomalies to inform future exploration targets.

Turiscai comprises seven licences across the Manufahi, Ainaro and Manatuto municipalities that Tivan believes are analogous to large copper-gold deposits such as Grasberg in Indonesia and Ok Tedi, Wafi-Golpu and Panguna in Papua New Guinea.

Tivan commenced an extensive field work program in June to assess the copper-gold potential of Turiscai and the surrounding area.