The world’s path to net-zero emissions hinges on batteries, their underlying technologies and our ability to secure adequate supplies of the critical metals they need to run, including copper for conductivity, nickel for energy density and cobalt for thermal stability.
This article is disseminated in partnership with Coniagas Battery Metals. It is intended to inform investors and should not be taken as a recommendation or financial advice.
First and foremost, let’s start with the facts. The global energy industry represents over 75 per cent of annual global emissions, making it the top contributor to the climate crisis, with electricity/heat and transportation representing about 30 per cent and 14 per cent of that figure, respectively.
The need for reliable renewable energy to decarbonize how we get around, power our homes and stay warm in the winter, is then a pressing one, though it’s being fulfilled at an accelerating pace thanks to electric vehicles, wind power, solar power and the batteries that allow them to store and deploy clean energy. Here’s a breakdown:
- According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, an EV releases less than half of the greenhouse gases over its lifetime compared to its combustion-based counterpart, with EV sales expected to hit 25 per cent of total global vehicle sales in 2025 and 40 per cent by 2030.
- Wind and solar, for their part, can cut emissions to virtually zero compared to oil and gas, while representing the most affordable energy option in nearly 70 per cent of the world.
With over 40 per cent of global emissions at stake, it’s not hard to see that batteries and the metals they’re made of offer us the highest probability of eliminating our dependence on fossil fuels and reducing emissions to sustainable levels.
This is why battery metals demand is rising fast and expected to grow exponentially through 2040, placing a premium on high-quality resources with the potential to deliver long-term supply and usher the green energy transition into full force.
Introducing Coniagas Battery Metals
A company uniquely positioned to capitalize on each link in the battery metals value chain is Coniagas Battery Metals (TSXV:COS), market capitalization C$853,830, a junior miner in Quebec whose stock has given back 75 per cent year-over-year, despite owning what management estimates to be billions of dollars in critical metals in the ground, in addition to proprietary metals extraction and purification technology positioning the company for near-term production, increased upstream and downstream deal flow and a potential stock price re-rating of exponential proportions.
The Graal property
Coniagas’ flagship 6,113-hectare Graal project near Saguenay, Quebec, is a 100-per-cent owned asset with evidence of a significant deposit at depth, in addition to an open-pit, near-surface deposit along a 6-kilometre (km) strike length featuring high-grade nickel and copper, as well as lower concentrations of cobalt, platinum and palladium. Nearby operators, as detailed in slide 11 of Coniagas’ investor deck, set expectations in terms of prospectivity, including:
- EV Nickel, market cap C$20.02 million, whose Shaw Dome project houses estimated measured and indicated plus inferred resources of more than 43,000 tons of nickel, 3,000 tons of copper and 700,000 lbs of cobalt, representing about US$700 million in metals in the ground at prices as of June 23.
- Power Metallic Mines, market cap C$264.82 million, whose NISK project houses over 41,000 tons of nickel, 22,000 tons of copper, 2,600 tons of cobalt and 196,000 ounces of palladium measured, indicated and inferred, representing approximately US$1.5 billion in metals in the ground.
Coniagas and previous owners have spent more than C$6 million on drilling and geophysics at Graal, proving out its value with the discovery of numerous high-grade zones – mostly between 50-100 metres deep – suggestive of its neighbours’ large-scale, billion-dollar potential. Highlights from Coniagas’ 16,000 metres of drilling in 2021 and 2022, most of which intercepted massive sulphides, include:
- 0.73 per cent nickel, 0.41 per cent copper and 0.09 per cent cobalt over 28.9 metres at the MHY zone.
- 0.84 per cent nickel, 0.59 per cent copper and 0.09 per cent cobalt over 5.7 metres at the Discovery zone.
- 0.68 per cent nickel, 0.55 per cent copper and 0.08 per cent cobalt over 8.4 metres at the Gravity zone.
Backed by year-round accessibility, a nearby power station and a skilled workforce in the industrial hub of Lac Saint-Jean, Coniagas is focused on adding to these highly prospective intercepts with an aggressive drilling and metallurgical testing program in 2025. The company will be looking to raise C$4 million for the program to support Graal’s maiden resource estimate, generate positive news flow and increase investor awareness of its tangible potential as a meaningful player in the battery metals supply chain.
What Coniagas investors should expect in 2025
As part of its 2025 exploration program, Coniagas intends to conduct a property-wide airborne magnetic and electromagnetic (EM) survey at Graal with three particular focuses geared towards mineral expansion. They are:
- The area between the high-grade Discovery and MHY zones.
- A previously identified geophysical anomaly delineated by time-domain EM surveys on the MHY zone indicating a large conductive layer measuring 1.7 km long and a minimum of 850 metres deep.
- Several borehole electromagnetic surveys made during the 2021-2022 drilling campaign showing numerous other conductors yet to be tested.
Learnings from this survey will help to determine in-fill and step-out drill targets, which the company is working out with the help of Laurentia Exploration, a knowledgeable partner in the region, well-equipped to optimize Coniagas’ chances of expanding mineralization and enhancing Graal’s economics.
Drilling – estimated at 9,500 metres across 58 holes – will focus on near-surface mineralization, strategic EM anomalies and the most value-accretive results from Discovery, MHY and Gravity, in addition to 1,775 metres to confirm historic intercepts peripheral to these zones.
As substantiated in drillhole GRL-22-61 – yielding 0.53 per cent nickel, 0.56 per cent copper and 0.08 per cent cobalt over 15.9 metres – management sees the potential for a low-grade, large-volume, open-pit mining operation complemented by smaller but thicker and higher-grade lenses prospective for underground mining.
“The Graal property has already delivered exceptional near-surface copper and nickel values. With this next phase of drilling, we are confident that additional holes will add lateral and vertical extent, enabling known zones to be connected, all while building upon the results within known mineralized zones,” Frank Basa, Coniagas’ president and chief executive officer (CEO), said in a statement. “The shallow-depth deposit compresses development timelines by years. This benefit is amplified by our existing infrastructure and local skilled workforce.”
Looking further ahead
As Coniagas prepares for 2025 drilling at Graal, the company is also paving the way for long-term exploration through a prospecting program in search of near-surface mineralization in the southern end of the property, which was logged approximately 15 years ago and hosts the electromagnetic conductor shared by the main MHY, Gravity and Discovery zones in the north.
The Coniagas team is employing a beep mat on surface and sampling outcrops to test known EM anomaly trends, as well as airborne geophysics data, with eyes on substantiating an initial drilling program later in 2025. Contingent on results, the company will proceed to test mineralization at depth with further drilling.
Coniagas’ drilling inventory will serve to feed a planned metals extraction plant on the St. Lawrence seaway in partnership with SGS, the world’s top name in testing, inspection and certification. The plant will commercialize Coniagas’ proprietary Re-2Ox hydrometallurgical technology, which has been shown to generate customizable, high-purity cathode active materials and precursor materials for the battery market with zero discharge while recovering all by-products. The partners are currently ramping up towards a C$12 million pilot plant amid numerous ongoing funding discussions, including with Investissement Québec, which has provided Coniagas with land and power, as well as with a private multi-billion-dollar Canadian metals trader interested in an offtake agreement.
Re-2Ox’s commercialization could lead to potentially significant reductions in operational costs for battery manufacturers – see slide 14 of Coniagas’ investor deck – opening the door for tens of millions in revenue from recycled batteries, tailings material and primary ore, including a series of feedstock deals progressing through the company’s pipeline.
Coniagas is in the process of securing 29 million tons in feedstock from the Congo averaging 1.5 per cent copper and 0.5 per cent cobalt, in addition to 200 to 500 tons of cobalt-copper concentrates from Europe, setting a strong initial pace towards becoming a long-term supplier to the rapidly growing EV market.
A leadership team built for strategic growth
Coniagas’ path to resource development and battery metals production benefits from a well-rounded team in the driver’s seat, aligned with shareholders with 10 per cent insider ownership, assembled to ensure that long-term growth is vetted from executive, technical, legal, accounting and community relations perspectives. Let’s meet them now:
- Frank Basa, Coniagas’ president and CEO, is a metallurgical engineer with four decades in the industry, including battery metals experience through property acquisitions in Ontario and Quebec, as well as a refinery manager and environmental coordinator at Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX:AEM). Besides inventing, refining and developing Coniagas’ Re-2Ox process, Basa is also currently CEO of Granada Gold Mine (TSXV:GGM) and Nord Precious Metals Mining (TSXV:NTH), the latter being Coniagas’ largest investor at 35 per cent of shares outstanding.
- Aurelian Basa, director, brings nearly a decade of natural resources experience to the table. He is directly responsible for securing feed sources for the Re-2Ox process. Relatedly, he is currently advancing Resource Active Media, a digital content agency tailored to publicly-traded mining companies, and Metals-as-a-Service, a platform for commodity traders to access responsible critical metals from European metal traders and Asian battery manufacturers.
- Daniel Barrette, independent director, is a mining industry veteran of more than 15 years with a focus on management and restructuring. Career highlights include leading the restructuring of SearchGold Resources from 2011 to 2013, resulting in a reverse takeover by Ubika and C$54 million in financing, as well as building an extensive network and track record acquiring properties in the Congo, the latter granting Coniagas an edge towards expanding its footprint in the mining-friendly country. Barrette previously served as chief operating officer of Gilla and held leadership roles at Affinor Resources, and is currently consultant and director of Nord Precious Metals Mining.
- Yannick Benoit, independent director, is a corporate lawyer with established connections in Northern Ontario’s mining, forestry and construction sectors, affording Coniagas an advantage in the pursuit of new business opportunities with First Nations, government entities and synergistic industries.
- Heidi Gutte, director, CPA, CGA, has built a nearly 15-year career with public mining companies specializing in corporate finance, financial reporting, auditing, taxes and corporate compliance.
Driven by leadership with a multi-faceted, mining-centric skillset, Coniagas’ Graal and Re-2Ox technology combine into a high-conviction thesis, one where 2025 exploration upside, followed by a ramp up to commercial battery materials production, result in operational leverage above the prices of the company’s target commodities and the harvesting of meaningful shareholder value.
In the final section, we’ll examine the broader market’s failure to capitalize on this thesis, given Coniagas’ currently depressed share price, and size up the opportunity for retail investors.
A deep-value stock brimming with upside catalysts
Coniagas’ operations from the field to the C-suite are fundamentally attractive, but have been met with a stock that hast lost three quarters of its value year-over-year, begging the question of what’s motivating the decline. A handful of factors merit a mention, each of which benefits the contrarian investor who can see the company’s reasonable case for a potentially exponential turnaround:
- The first factor has to do with the junior mining asset class as a whole, which is only recently beginning to attract broader investor interest thanks to gold roughly doubling in price since 2020 to about US$3,400 per ounce, shining a light on natural resources and related stocks and their ability to both hedge against inflation and contribute to portfolio returns.
- The second factor is tied to small, micro and nano-cap stocks, and their propensity to trade off the radar from analysts and the broader investing public, causing wide dislocations between price and value, as we’ve established with Coniagas in this article.
- The third factor is macroeconomic sentiment, which is decidedly risk-off at the moment, driven by an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, and U.S. president Trump’s use of tariffs to destabilize global trade, all of which is incentivizing investors to seek refuge in safe-haven assets and disregard high-reward opportunities such as Coniagas, despite their outsized upside.
While Coniagas’ stock chart tells a worrying story on the surface, a little due diligence shows us that investors are being excessively pessimistic, dragging shares down because of broader market trends that ignore the underlying company’s multiple catalysts towards value creation. As a refresher, these include:
- 2025 prospecting and drilling to further demonstrate economical copper, nickel and cobalt mineralization.
- Near-term battery materials production from Graal and third-party sources, with a high-profile partner in tow, differentiating the company from junior miners’ predominantly pre-revenue operations.
- The accelerating battery metals tailwind as EVs and other green technologies grow more essential to the energy transition with each passing year.
- We can also add Coniagas’ prudent 24.4 million shares outstanding, allowing for strategic fundraising while minimizing shareholder dilution.
If the battery metals sleeve of your portfolio has an open spot, and you benefit from a multi-year time horizon, Coniagas offers high-conviction, deep-value exposure to all the elements of what could be a transformational investment outcome.
Readers are best advised to run the junior miner through their due diligence processes without delay, before what is set up to be positive news flow turns momentum around, and with it the stock, up and to the right.
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*Data as of June 27, 2025.