AN acquisition in March by Perth-based OD6 Metals highlighted the power of placing the initials ‘USA’ on a public announcement.
Shares in the mining company had been bouncing between five and 10 cents on the ASX since February 2024 as an Australia-focused rare earths explorer.
Upon announcing it would buy the Quinn Fluorspar project in Nevada from private vendors, OD6 Metals’ share price doubled to 11 cents and reached a three-year high of 21 cents by April.
That transaction was completed in August this year.
“We had been looking at fluorspar since late last year, trying to identify stuff, and the US just stood out,” OD6 managing director Brett Hazelden told Business News.
“We looked at the US, Canada, and Africa as well for fluorspar at the time.
“The US has the right thematic at the moment … trying to get its own supply of fluorspar and has actually got a downstream process already in place, unlike rare earths, which is still trying to be built out.”
Two weeks after the announcement, former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop signed on to OD6 as an adviser.
The case for investment in US projects has been compelling enough to encourage 31 acquisitions by ASX-listed junior resources companies since 2022, according to research by Business News and Subiaco-based executive recruitment agency Acacia.
About 26 of them have occurred since Donald Trump was elected president for a second time, in November 2024.
The 47th president of the US had been a factor, but not the whole story, according to American Tungsten and Antimony executive chairman Tim Morrison.
Previously known as Trigg Minerals, American Tungsten secured tungsten projects and a processing plant this year in the US.
Mr Morrison has liked what he has seen from the US government in recent years.
“I think what you can see in the US, notwithstanding what is really a superficial divergence between the two parties, is a bilateral position [for a] once-in-a generation reindustrialisation of the American base,” he said.
“So much of the US industrial base was exported in the 1980s and 1990s through broadly neoliberal views, and many of those capabilities … were exported to what is a non-benign third-party.
“The US across the political spectrum recognises that was a mistake in economic and industrial policy, and so the changes ... now are changes that will persist for a long time across party lines.”
The decision to put ‘America’ in the company name was a deliberate one, Mr Morrison said.
OD6's Brett Hazelden and Tim Morrison from American Tungsten and Antimony. Photo: Tom Zaunmayr
Major policies in recent years such as the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act have steered development of domestic access to products for US industry.
That proximity to purchasers, as well as cheap power and direct government investment, made the US an attractive market, Mr Morrison said.
“We have received approval for an investment directly from the Department of Energy,” he said.
“I think our market cap doubled the day that we announced that, which validates the project in a way that me standing on a pedestal saying something will never achieve.
“That direct government engagement as a funding partner in the refining part of our business is an endorsement that has driven a lot of value for shareholders.”
Mr Hazelden said Australia had tried to follow suit, but with less success to date.
He pointed to the nickel industry’s collapse and closure of aluminium smelters as prime examples.
In the US, Mr Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” mantra and the FAST-41 approvals streamlining policy were attractive to resources companies.
“I used to go over to the US a fair bit for a previous role, and they were never interested in critical minerals 10 years ago,” Mr Hazelden told Business News.
“It was hard to get anyone to talk to you half the time from the investment point of view.
“But now, critical minerals is a thing, and Trump talks about it, and people want to invest in it.”
While the support has been welcome, the projects still need to stack up on their own merits.
“If you don’t have a good asset, there’s no point being there,” Mr Hazelden said.
People demand
Demand for acquisitions has naturally led to demand for people.
Acacia’s US workload in the 2024-25 financial year was non-existent.
Two years later, the US is occupying about one-third of the company’s recruitment searches.
Acacia director Lauren Grierson said the prospect of getting projects out of the ground was alluring to the emerging crop of Australia resources company executives.
“There’s a lot of investment, commitment, momentum and interest from the talent to be working in a jurisdiction where they feel there is actually the ability to then push something forward,” she said.
“There is a real view that in the US, if you do the right thing, you can operate and you are capable, then you’ve got a good platform to actually be a part of something that’s developed.”
Acacia ran talent searches for OD6 and American Tungsten, with both attracting a mix of interest from existing executives and those seeking to advance their career from major mining companies and small caps.
That talent applied from Australia and the US.
“One of the reasons why the level of talent was so high on the shortlist was that they were America-based American candidates, but they wanted to be connected to an Australian company bringing that credibility and operational experience into country,” Ms Grierson said.
“They talk about coming to Perth, the mining capital of the planet. That connection was part of the draw for them.”
Mr Morrison agreed.
He said the US’s resources discovery industry had eroded during the past three decades, while Australia had grown to lead the sector.
“Australians are very good at discovering projects,” Mr Morrison said.
“The US stopped a lot of resource discovery work for a long period of time, so I think these projects benefit from the injection of the Australian talent base.
“There is another level of expertise the US has an abundance of and excellence in, and that is around capital markets and corporate activity.”
There is interest globally in competition for critical minerals investment, including in Australia.
But the US was the jurisdiction providing the most stable and lucrative offering and holding the most interesting potential, Mr Morrison said.
“When you see the response from the current administration, but also the previous administrations in terms of policy settings and direct investments, that creates a jurisdiction that has a premium to it,” he said.
“Unlike parts of West Africa for gold, and the Pilbara [for iron ore], there are still gems to be found in the US.
“If you can get up to the bottom of the big end of town in the US, the access to the capital markets there is phenomenal.”
That last point works both ways: Australian companies tend to be minnows compared to their US counterparts.
Mining for good
Public rhetoric around the Trump administration has pointed to the erosion of environmental standards.
There is now a strong understanding within US government departments that red tape should not get in the way of resources projects that deliver on Trump’s mandate for domestic production.
Mr Morrison said environmental recklessness was not something he had experienced on the ground.
“The processes around permitting and approvals are still very robust processes put in place by people who are committed to good, safe, environmentally responsible practice,” he said.
“It is not like you’re walking into the wild west when you go down to Utah or Nevada.”
Mr Hazelden pointed out mine approvals in the US still took many years, regardless of policies to speed them up.
Lauren Grierson and Abbi Lee. Photo: Tom Zaunmayr
Acacia director Abbi Lee said strong social licence was important for recruiters.
“We have got a wave of new talent coming into the mining sector who want to have a bit more purpose in what they do,” she said.
“That thematic of the lithium and critical minerals making the world a better place certainly ties in well with where people are now wanting to move their career into.
“I was blown away by the talent that was interested in the opportunity to work in the US, and that was people from very big companies all the way down to people in operating businesses in the US now.”
Ms Grierson said additional skills in finding markets and building supply chains made critical minerals attractive to aspiring executives.
“There is that level of complexity beyond just ... mining,” she said.
Acacia has hired a staff member in Toronto to cater to demand in the Americas. American Tungsten is expecting to list on the Nasdaq as early as this year.
