Mike Rowley

Stillwater Critical Minerals: Neighbor on Strike. The PEA Will Stand Alone

• Top takeaway Rowley's core argument: the new resource is big enough to stop growing, and the next step is a substantive, buildable PEA in about a year that stands on its own without government support.
• On the neighbor's troubles, he confirms the strike at Sibanye-Stillwater's operations, notes its $1,000 cost target versus over $1,300 currently, and says his earlier-stage company could help — while stressing there are no discussions between the two.
• He says government support is not a requirement, citing deep engagement with Senator Tim Sheehy and Congressman Troy Downing and a government push to accelerate projects like his.
• He argues the bigger challenge is downstream — finding domestic buyers for a high-sulphide flotation product — ideally by expanding nickel carbonate output already underway in Columbus, with the current operator or in parallel.
• He expects near-term drill results, a 'QX' listing effort, metallurgy results feeding the PEA, and likely the company's biggest drill program ever in the new year (forward-looking statements as of the interview).

Sibanye-Stillwater faces a labor strike at its Montana mines and Columbus plant while running costs above $1,300 an ounce against a stated $1,000 target. Stillwater Critical Minerals confirms no talks with its neighbor, though analysts model its future feed through Sibanye's two underused sulfide mills and smelter-refinery. A 29.4-million-tonne indicated and 805-million-tonne inferred resource underpins a standalone PEA (preliminary economic assessment — a first-pass economics study) in about a year. Shareholder Glencore wants a bigger US footprint and joined Project Vault, the new US critical-minerals stockpile program. Near-term news flow includes drill results, an OTCQX listing, metallurgy work, and plans for the company's largest drill program in 2027.

Stillwater Critical Minerals-Visual Update Of The 2026 Exploration Strategy & Upcoming Key Catalysts

• Top takeaway Argues the company is mineralized across the full 10-kilometer trend it holds — 33 kilometers of the lower Stillwater Complex versus Ivanhoe's roughly 4 kilometers of Platreef.
• Says the $17 million raise in late December leaves the company fully funded, with three rigs coring on site as of the July 2026 visit and a core-shed expansion already forced by core volume.

Stillwater Critical Minerals expects a geologic-model-based mineral resource update in Q3, adding 14 holes from its 2023 and 2025 drilling. A fully funded three-rig 2026 campaign targets the gaps between Chrome Mountain and Iron Mountain, which are shaping up as two deposits. Management applies South African Bushveld and Platreef-style geology in Montana, arguing magmatic layering controls thick, near-surface, polymetallic mineralization. Glencore keeps backing the company through repeated financings, while $6 million in federal grants and chromium's strategic status support the critical minerals case. Pending assays and machine-learning geophysics aim to sharpen drill targeting before metallurgical studies and preliminary economic assessment (PEA) work begin.