KNI presents in front of Norwegian Parliament

We don’t think we’ve ever seen this before.

Our Nordic-focussed critical minerals Investment, Kuniko (ASX: KNI) presented in front of Norway’s Parliament.

Below is a snap of KNI Chief Operating Officer Mona Schanche and KNI’s new Stellantis nominated board member Bruno Piranda:

(Click here to read the full KNI announcement)

We think this development is probably unprecedented for a small cap like KNI - the company presented to an array of representatives from the Norwegian parliament as well as key industry leaders.

We also think this kind of access to a country’s key decision makers is great evidence of the type of reach KNI has within Norway, as it looks to advance its nickel project in the country.

For a company that is currently capped at just $21.6M - there are some heavy hitters on the board such as Gavin Rezos (of Vulcan Energy - one of our best ever Investments) and the newly appointed Mona Schanche who brings deep experience in Norwegian mining.

Our view is that this type of specialised experience across the board means KNI is well positioned to evolve into a major Nordic critical minerals development and ultimately production company over time.

This could have been a major contributing factor in a decision by the world’s fourth largest carmaker (Stellantis) to take a large equity stake in KNI back in July of last year.

KNI has projects in Norway as well as the wider Nordic region now - including its recent pick up of a 70% interest in a Swedish lithium project.

It will be a busy year for KNI - with plenty of focus to be placed on big nickel discoveries.

KNI’s goal now is to make “district scale” nickel discoveries in Norway to feed a nickel hungry European EV market.

Nickel has been labelled a critical raw material by the EU and European nickel production has been in decline over the past two decades.

And yet, by one estimate, €1.2 billion of nickel was imported into Europe from Russia in the first half of this year, with Russia making up 90% of Europe’s nickel imports. (Source)

Luckily, Norway has introduced fast tracked mine permitting, meaning KNI is in a good spot to help reverse the trend of declining nickel production in Europe and the continent’s ongoing reliance on Russia.

We’re hoping that this week's meeting with the Norwegian parliament further accelerates positive momentum for critical minerals projects in Norway, and KNI can continue cementing its leadership role in helping address the EU’s critical minerals goals in the Nordic region.

With high hopes for KNI, this is our Big Bet for KNI:

Our KNI ‘Big Bet’:

“To develop a sustainable battery metals mine within European borders that is of strategic importance - and hence highly valuable as an acquisition target.”

NOTE: our “Big Bet” is what we HOPE the ultimate success scenario looks like for this particular Investment over the long term (3+ years). There is a lot of work to be done, many risks involved, and it will require a significant amount of luck. There is no guarantee that it will ever come true. Some of these risks we list in our KNI Investment Memo.

What’s next for KNI?

KNI will be drilling at its nickel project in Norway (Ertelien) in Q1 2024, getting a JORC resource together (hopefully a solid improvement on existing resource), running a geophysics survey over the larger Ringerike region and then likely drilling again for further discoveries.

🔃JORC resource at Ertelien nickel project

🔃New drilling in Q1 2024

🔲Upgrade nickel resource

🔲Run geophysics surveys over the rest of its larger nickel project area

🔲Drill out other targets on the rest of the nickel project