Critical Minerals Project Breaks Ground on Pilot Plant Work in Morocco

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1. Ownership and Share Structure Information

The information listed above was updated on the date this article was published and was compiled from information from the company and various other data providers.

Steadright Critical Minerals Inc. (SCM:CSE) reported that preparatory infrastructure work had begun for the pilot plant construction phase at the TitanBeach Titanium Project in Morocco, following the establishment of a carried interest in the project and the signing of a cooperation framework involving a state-owned enterprise.

NSM Capital SARL, the Moroccan entity in which Steadright holds a 76.5% interest, secured a 32% fully carried interest in the TitanBeach Project through Shan Tang Mining. According to the company, the interest applies to future exploration and potential production scenarios and requires no further financial contribution from NSM Capital or dilution of that interest.

Steadright's economic exposure to TitanBeach is held indirectly through its 76.5% equity interest in NSM Capital and NSM Capital's 32% carried interest in the Shan Tang Mining special purpose vehicle. The company reported that this represents an approximately 24.5% effective attributable interest for Steadright. Under a shareholders' agreement with Critical Foundation Metals Inc., Steadright can obtain an additional 3.5% interest in NSM Capital, which would increase its ownership to 80%.

Shan Tang Mining started preparatory infrastructure work at Beach One, where a mining license had recently been approved. Under the Framework Cooperation Agreement with the state-owned enterprise partner, the SOE is covering costs for planning, design, permanent works, operations, and maintenance. The work also includes a base camp for employees working at the pilot plant.

The SOE partner is providing mining technology, equipment, and project-operation systems for the heavy mineral sands development and will install beneficiation processing equipment. A long-term mining development strategy will be subject to the results of the pilot plant.

L. Jouak, CEO of NSM Capital, said work at Beach One was focused on preparing the site for the next phase.

"We are currently focused on the necessary preparatory infrastructure work at the Beach One site, including preparing and establishing designated areas for the employee accommodation containers, as well as other minor infrastructure and preparatory work at the project site," Jouak said.

Steadright CEO Matt Lewis said the company had been impressed by the pace of the preparatory work.

"We at Steadright are very impressed with the speed with which NSM, Shan Tang, and the SOE are moving things forward," Lewis said. "From my perspective, that is an extremely quick breaking of ground for preparatory work."

Separately, Steadright's board approved the granting of 3,840,000 stock options to members of the board of directors and certain consultants and service providers under the company's amended stock option plan. The options have an exercise price of 0.25 cents in Canadian currency and a five-year term ending April 17, 2031, subject to required regulatory approvals.

Global Critical Minerals Supply Chains Remained a Strategic Focus

According to the International Energy Agency's Global Critical Minerals Outlook published July 16, critical minerals had "rapidly moved to the heart of global discussions on energy and economic security." The IEA said the minerals played an indispensable role across energy technologies as well as high-tech manufacturing, artificial intelligence and digital systems, aerospace and defense.

The IEA's outlook assessed global market, investment, and technology trends and their implications for critical mineral security. It also examined medium- and long-term supply and demand for key energy minerals and placed additional focus on strategic minor minerals with applications beyond energy, nuclear supply chains, and Latin America's role in global mineral supply chains. The agency said these uses had "underlined the need to enhance the resilience and diversity of their supply chains."

The IEA also examined the economics of diversifying global critical mineral supply chains. It reported that critical minerals accounted for around one-quarter of battery cell costs but approximately 3% of the price of an average electric vehicle. Rare earths represented about 40% of permanent magnet costs but less than 1% of a vehicle's value. According to the agency, "These results show that downstream users may be able to absorb higher material costs, providing scope for diversified sourcing without materially affecting end-product prices."

The agency identified processing and refining as an important component of supply-chain diversification. "The concentration of critical mineral processing and refining and end-use component manufacturing capacity has emerged as one of the most significant vulnerabilities in global supply chains," the IEA wrote. It said mineral resources were often geographically diverse, while intermediate processing and refining needed to produce materials meeting industry specifications remained highly concentrated.

In an August 10 column for VoxEU, Christopher Adam, Rabah Arezki, and Frederick van der Ploeg described critical minerals as central to the energy and digital transitions, as well as changing defense and aerospace industries. "The world is in the midst of a new scramble for natural resources, this time not for fossil fuels but for the minerals that sit at the heart of the energy transition, the digital transition, and the rapidly transforming defense and aerospace industries," the authors wrote.

The VoxEU authors described global critical mineral supply chains as having geographically dispersed extraction alongside concentrated processing and refining. They wrote that "the interaction of this dispersed primary production and concentrated refining" had generated geopolitical tensions around upstream and downstream supply.

Adam, Arezki, and van der Ploeg also identified beneficiation among the priorities for developing-country mineral exporters. They wrote that those priorities were "primarily concerned with mapping and discovery, the security of property rights, beneficiation and taxation." The authors said that, compared with hydrocarbons, rents in the critical-minerals sector were migrating downstream "from the mine to the plant" and toward proprietary technologies and integrated digital platforms.

The authors also identified supply-chain resilience as a central consideration for advanced economies and cited procurement standards, recycling, demand management, strategic reserves, trusted-partner agreements, processing-capacity guarantees, offtake agreements, and tax and customs policies among the relevant policy areas. They added that "contract design is central" across both advanced and developing economies, citing elevated technological and geopolitical uncertainty in the critical minerals sector.

Analysts Raise TitanBeach Valuation to US$17M, Maintain CA$0.50 Target

In an August 18 research note, Atrium Research analysts Riley Venton, P.Eng., and Ben Pirie maintained their "BUY" rating on Steadright Critical Minerals Inc. and a CA$0.50 per-share target price. Based on the CA$0.135 share price cited in the report, Atrium calculated a 270% return to its target. The analysts wrote that the recent TitanBeach developments "materially de-risk the project" by combining a permitted concession with a partner carrying the cost and execution of development.

Venton and Pirie described the TitanBeach One mining license as "a key milestone for the company." They said the license converted a 16-square-kilometer portion of the 192-square-kilometer claim package into a permitted mining concession held through NSM Capital. The analysts also noted that the associated environmental permit had passed the public process stage and was awaiting signature.

The analysts also addressed NSM Capital's 32% carried interest in TitanBeach and Steadright's resulting effective attributable interest of approximately 24.5%. They wrote that "the interest is fully carried and de-risked, with the state-owned partner funding and executing development." According to the report, NSM's interest required no further contribution toward exploration or production costs.

Atrium's assessment stated that the developments "materially de-risk TitanBeach and strengthen the investment case for SCM." Venton and Pirie said the 24.5% attributable carried interest allowed Steadright "to preserve cash and avoid shareholder dilution while retaining exposure to the project's upside."

The analysts raised their valuation of Steadright's TitanBeach interest to US$17.0 million from US$15.2 million despite the lower attributable ownership percentage. They wrote, "In our view, this de-risking and the removal of all future funding requirements more than offset the reduced ownership, supporting a higher attributable value." Atrium calculated total asset value of US$37.1 million and total equity value of CA$43.7 million after corporate adjustments, while maintaining its CA$0.50 target price.

Multiple Project Work Streams Remain on the Schedule

Steadright's August 2026 investor presentation identifies work programs and planned activities across the TitanBeach, Goundafa, Copper Valley, and SilverLine projects in Morocco. The presentation describes the company's portfolio as including the fully permitted historic Goundafa polymetallic mine, the Copper Valley copper-lead-silver project, SilverLine Mining Sarl under a letter of intent, and the TitanBeach heavy mineral sands project.

For TitanBeach, the presentation lists operations as expected in the third quarter of 2026. It describes the project as heavy mineral sands ground along Morocco's Atlantic coast and states that NSM Sarl holds 12 exploration licenses totaling 192 square kilometers and is exploring for TiO2 in the heavy mineral sands.
At the historic Goundafa polymetallic mine, the presentation identifies both stockpile commercialization and exploration work. It states that a binding agreement with MoResCo Sarl covers the processing and sale of historic Goundafa mineralized stockpiles, beginning with 14,400 tonnes. The presentation describes the associated cash flow as intended to fund exploration.

The presentation also lists drilling at Goundafa as planned. Historical information presented for the project describes approximately 1.7 million tonnes as "Directly Accessible" through historic multi-level workings. It also presents an exploration target range of 4.5 million to 9.0 million tonnes while cautioning that the estimates are historical and non-NI 43-101 compliant and that a qualified person has not completed sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current estimates.
Copper Valley represents another planned work stream. The presentation identifies the property as a historic copper-lead-silver project and states that a planned work program will follow.

The presentation also identifies SilverLine Mining Sarl as the subject of a letter of intent that provides a first right of refusal to acquire up to 60% of the Moroccan company. SilverLine has a binding memorandum of understanding covering a licensed mineral claim located in the Eastern High Atlas Mountains in the regional mining area of Errachidia.

Steadright separately lists drilling for SilverLine as planned. The presentation identifies an exploration permit for the project alongside the planned drilling program.

Together, the schedules contained in the presentation identify ongoing or planned work across all four assets, including TitanBeach operations, Goundafa stockpile commercialization, and previously scheduled drilling, a planned Copper Valley work program, and previously scheduled SilverLine drilling.

Ownership and Share Structure¹

1.74% of Steadright is held by management and insiders. 

Steadright Critical Minerals has  66,335,060 outstanding shares, a market cap of CA$16.1 million, and a 52-week range of CA$0.07- CA$0.38.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Steadright Critical Minerals Inc.?

Steadright Critical Minerals Inc. is focused on mineral assets in Morocco. Its portfolio includes the historic Goundafa polymetallic mine, the Copper Valley copper-lead-silver project, an interest in SilverLine Mining Sarl, and the TitanBeach heavy mineral sands project.

What is the latest news from Steadright Critical Minerals?

Steadright announced that preparatory infrastructure work had begun for the pilot plant construction phase at the TitanBeach Titanium Project's Beach One site in Morocco. The work followed the establishment of NSM Capital SARL's 32% fully carried interest in the project through Shan Tang Mining and a Framework Cooperation Agreement with a state-owned enterprise partner.

What is the TitanBeach Titanium Project in Morocco?

TitanBeach is a heavy mineral sands project in Morocco. Steadright's August investor presentation stated that NSM Sarl held 12 exploration licenses totaling 192 square kilometers and was exploring for TiO2 in the heavy mineral sands.

What work has started at the TitanBeach Titanium Project?

Shan Tang Mining started preparatory infrastructure work for the pilot plant construction phase at Beach One. The work included preparing designated areas for employee accommodation containers and other infrastructure and site preparations.

Does the TitanBeach Project have a mining license?

Yes. Steadright announced on August 12 that the Beach One area had received approval for a mining license.

Who is paying for the TitanBeach pilot plant work?

Under the Framework Cooperation Agreement, the state-owned enterprise partner is covering costs for planning, design, permanent works, operations, and maintenance. This also includes a base camp for employees working at the pilot plant.

What processing equipment is planned for the TitanBeach pilot plant?

The state-owned enterprise partner is expected to install beneficiation processing equipment. It is also providing mining technology, equipment, and project-operation systems for the heavy mineral sands development.

What interest does Steadright Critical Minerals have in TitanBeach?

Steadright held a 76.5% equity interest in NSM Capital, while NSM Capital secured a 32% fully carried interest in the Shan Tang Mining SPV and TitanBeach. Steadright reported that this represented an approximately 24.5% effective attributable share of NSM Capital's carried interest. Under a shareholders' agreement with Critical Foundation Metals Inc., Steadright could obtain an additional 3.5% interest in NSM Capital, bringing its ownership to 80%.

What does the 32% carried interest in TitanBeach mean for NSM Capital?

According to Steadright, NSM Capital's 32% interest was fully carried for future exploration and potential production scenarios, requiring no further financial contribution and carrying no dilution risk.

What did Steadright's investor presentation say about TitanBeach timing?

Steadright's August investor presentation listed TitanBeach operations as expected in the third quarter. The company's August 20 announcement said a long-term mining development strategy would be subject to pilot plant results.

What other projects does Steadright Critical Minerals have in Morocco?

The company's portfolio also included the historic Goundafa polymetallic mine, the Copper Valley copper-lead-silver project, and SilverLine Mining Sarl under a letter of intent.

What are the upcoming milestones for Steadright Critical Minerals?

The company's materials identified work across its Moroccan portfolio, including the TitanBeach pilot plant and operations, Goundafa stockpile commercialization and drilling, a planned work program at Copper Valley, and planned drilling associated with SilverLine.