Opportunity to invest in antimony – a critical metal with robust demand and price support

Antimony is a quiet achiever among metals. While the public is aware of gold, silver, copper and other base metals, antimony tends to fly under the radar. Antimony is versatile and is used as a fire retardant in textiles and plastics, as a hardener in metal alloys, as well as in lead acid batteries, in PET plastic production, and as a clarifying element in glass bottles.

The domination of global production by China accounting for around 85% of the world’s mined antimony, combined with increased demand, has seen the antimony price surge from below US$2,000/t when Artemis’ project was discovered, to around US$10,000/t. This is a significant premium over the current copper price of approximately US$7,000/t.

ASX listed Artemis Resources Limited (ASX: ARV) is excited by the prospect of its upcoming drill program at the rejuvenated Eastern Hills Antimony Project, located in the Ashburton district of Western Australia. This historical deposit was identified by Artemis as a high priority in January this year following a review of the project and the recent surge in the antimony market.

Approvals were recently received to commence drilling and the program was subsequently awarded a significant economic boost by securing co-funding as part of the WA Government Exploration Incentive Scheme. Under this agreement, Artemis will receive up to $140,000 from the WA Government to cover up to 50% of drilling costs.

To co-fund the upcoming drilling program and follow-on initiatives, Artemis is currently raising $1.2 million additional capital via a 2 for 5 Rights Issue to shareholders at 0.6c per share, an attractive 40% discount to the share price leading up to the announcement. The new shares also include 2 attaching options:

1)  a Short Dated Option at 1.2c expiring 31 March 2014; and

2)  a Long Dated Option at 2.0c expiring 31 August 2016.

The Rights Issue is partially underwritten by major shareholder Patersons Securities Ltd for $730,000. Interested investors may apply for an allocation in the event of a  Rights Issue Shortfall by obtaining a copy of the prospectus from the Artemis website (www.artemisresources.com.au) and requesting an application form from the Company on 02 9078 7670, or by email at [email protected].

Recent Antimony Transactions and Takeovers

Over the past two years significant commercial deals highlighting the strategic appeal of the antimony sector have been undertaken including:

• May 2011 –  A takeover by China Shandong Jinshunda Group Co Ltd of ASX-listed Anchor Resources for AU$15.5M to secure ownership of the Bielsdown antimony deposit in NSW, Australia (1,060,000t @ 1.77% Sb and 0.23 g/t Au)^[1]

• March 2013 – Bracken Resources Pty Ltd acquired the Hillgrove gold-antimony deposit (6,349,000t@ 1.59% Sb and 4.3 g/t Au) for $30M from ASX-listed Straits Resources Ltd^[2]

• May 2013 – AIM-listed Tri-Star Resources PLC acquires the Bald Hill antimony deposit from Canadian explorer Portage Minerals Inc (exploration target of 725,000 – 1,000,000t range grading 4.11% to 5.32% Sb) in a deal worth £3.5M^[3]

The Artemis Drilling Program

Historical Eastern Hills drilling information from 1996-97 allowed Artemis to estimate an initial exploration target in the range of 410kt-1.25Mt @ 1.5-1.9% Sb & 2.1-2.7% Pb[4]. The deposit is a vein hosted, massive sulphide deposit that also has gold and silver credits. Eastern Hills remains under-explored with the mineralisation open along strike and down dip.

Artemis is on the verge of conducting its first drill program at Eastern Hills with a a drill contractor appointed and the RC rig is expected on site before the end of August to undertake a 16 hole, 3,000m program. The focuses of the program are to:

• Confirm historical drill results and interpretation;
• Obtain a maiden JORC compliant resource;
• Expand known mineralisation, both down dip and along strike; and
• Test an adjoining zone of anomalous gold mineralisation coincident with a newly identified EM conductor zone.

Artemis is also encouraged by the latest sampling results and geophysical modelling at Eastern Hills. Rockchip sampling at Eastern Hills from earlier this year returned results as high as 7.5% antimony, 17% lead, 115 grams per tonne silver and 0.7 grams per tonne gold.Recent re-modelling of electromagnetic (EM) data at Eastern Hills confirmed a strong linear conductor plate confirming the known main lode zone, however the study also identified  a new conductor located immediately north of the main lode zone. This “Northern Conductor” has the potential to host additional mineralisation to add to the Eastern Hills antimony inventory.Other projects within the Artemis portfolio include the Mt Clement Gold Project (adjacent to Eastern Hills), the Yandal Gold Project and the West Pilbara base and precious metal Project. However the attractiveness of the antimony market and obvious upside for the Eastern Hills Antimony Project has elevated this project to priority status. For further details see www.artemisresources.com.au.

Guy Robertson – Executive Director, Artemis Resources
T: +61 02 9078 7670
F: +61 02 9078 7661
E:[email protected]
W:www.artemisresources.com.au

[1] Anchor Resources Ltd (ASX: AHR) June 2011 Quarterly Report released to the ASX 29thJuly 2011
[2] Straits Resources Ltd (ASX: SRQ) announcement released to the ASX 11th March 2013
[3] Tri-Star Resources PLC (AIM: TSTR) announcement released to AIM 2nd May 2013
[4] See ASX announcements dated 16 and 18 January 2013