Empire Metals Ltd (AIM:EEE, OTCQX:EPMLF) this week updated investors on the advancement of its Pitfield titanium project in Western Australia, highlighting new strategic hires and partnerships aimed at commercial readiness.
The company said it had appointed Michael Tamlin as marketing manager and extended its collaboration with US-based titanium consultancy TiPMC. It noted that Tamlin has over 30 years of experience in commodity marketing and a strong network across both trading and chemical sectors.
Managing director Shaun Bunn joined the Proactive studio to give us further insights. Here, we take a closer look at what was said.
Proactive: Shaun, very good to speak with you this morning. You've announced that you've appointed Michael Tamlin as marketing manager, and you've also extended the TiPMC partnership. How do these moves accelerate Pitfield’s path to market?
Shaun Bunn: Yeah, these are really important progress steps. I mean, I guess what you have to first think about is why do you bring a marketing manager on when we're still an exploration company moving into building a Mineral Resource Estimate? I think it's a really critical step for us at this point in time.
If you reflect over the last six to twelve months, we've got a handle on the geology, we've done the mineralogical work that we set out to do. We understand what we have in the ground. We've done the processing test work. We still have work to do to optimise that, but we are now—well, we put out an announcement a few weeks ago—achieving high recoveries, getting all the way through to a 99% TiO₂ product.
So the processing is coming along really well. And it really became obvious to me that the next phase has to be: what are the markets? What's happening in the markets? Who are we going to sell products to? What do they want? Where are the opportunities? Let's start working on that now, and we can tailor some of the final product development to suit those markets.
Michael is incredibly experienced—30 years in marketing across multiple commodities. He's got a massive network across retail traders, commodity groups like Traxys and Wogen. He understands the chemical industry really well—big chemical companies like BASF in Europe and others. He's worked on product innovation, tailoring products, and getting deals done.
So yeah, I'm super happy to have Michael come on board. I have been chasing him for well over 12 months, and it was an opportunity that came up about a month ago that was just too good to pass up.
Quickly on to TiPMC: these guys are based out of Nashville in the US and are basically titanium experts. These are the guys who understand the detail of the titanium industry to a great degree. We're not going to be able to take people on and put them into our office on a permanent basis with that narrow but very high degree of understanding of the industry. Having a strategic relationship with them is really giving us high-value, high-powered insight into how those titanium sales and markets work.
So it's a combination, if you like, of having in-house strategy and almost surgical precision supplied by the guys over in the US.
Proactive: So it looks like you're making good progress with Pitfield at this stage, but we have seen some volatility in your share price and a recent drop off. Any reasons for that?
Shaun Bunn: Look, there were no obvious reasons from the project or the company. I think we were taken a bit by surprise by the severity of the drop off and the speed at which it came at us, because there's been no fundamental change in either the company’s situation, financial position or strength.
There's been absolutely no setbacks or changes in the way the Pitfield project is coming together. We're constantly demonstrating what a better alternative it represents as a titanium producer coming on in a period of time when the Western world is desperately seeking a secure supply of high-value, high-premium, lower-cost supply of titanium.
So we're incredibly well positioned — tier one location, Western Australia, the world's largest titanium discovery. And to circle back, we've just added another great team member to what is already a fabulous team here in Australia to get this project through to feasibility and into a financial decision to move forward with mining.
So marketing manager, we’ve got a study manager Adam Rubio, and only a month or so ago, a hydrogen metallurgist joined the team. That builds on the geological, environmental and processing people that we’ve recruited over the last 12 to 18 months.
So Pitfield is going very well — it's an incredibly rapid pace that we’re setting and no sign of letting up. The next critical milestone is the Mineral Resource Estimate, which is due to come out in the next few weeks — it’ll be released in October.
Proactive: So what should we be watching out for as you move towards that MRE next month, Shaun?
Shaun Bunn: Well, the normal progress that we're making. I mean, we could constantly be putting out process updates, and when we have something of substance to report, we'll keep the market informed.
I think the real critical thing for us is it's business as usual here in the office. We're focused on getting the MRE out. The database and everything we needed to provide to the independent geologist is handed over. They're building the resource model. The sign-off from the competent person will come.
So—no delays, no surprises. Everything's falling into place. I don’t know what the answer is going to be yet, obviously, but I have great expectations of putting out a stamp that says the biggest titanium discovery in the world is just going to deliver a high-quality, very significant resource base.
Proactive: Shaun, I hope you'll continue to keep us updated with your progress. Thank you very much for speaking with us today.