REG - Atlantic Lithium Ltd - Grant of Highly Prospective Licences for Lithium

Atlantic LithiumAnnouncement

14/11/2023 07:15

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RNS Number : 3651T  Atlantic Lithium Limited  14 November 2023

 

14 November 2023

Grant of Highly Prospective Licences for Lithium

Atlantic Lithium granted new licence for lithium adjacent to

historic Egyasimanku Hill spodumene pegmatite occurrence

Atlantic Lithium Limited (AIM: ALL, ASX: A11, OTCQX: ALLIF, "Atlantic Lithium"
or the "Company"), the African-focused lithium exploration and development
company targeting to deliver Ghana's first lithium mine, is pleased to
announce that the Company's wholly-owned Ghanaian subsidiary Green Metals
Resources Limited ("GMR") has been granted the Bewadze and Senya Beraku
prospecting licences in the eastern portion of the Company's Cape Coast
Lithium Portfolio in Ghana ("CCLP"), which holds the flagship Ewoyaa Lithium
Project ("Ewoyaa" or the "Project").

The award of the Bewadze and Senya Beraku prospecting licences provides the
Company exclusive access to explore new, undrilled tenure, offering
significant potential to further enhance the Project and demonstrating the
Government of Ghana's desire to support the Company in its exploration efforts
to deliver successful, long-term lithium production in Ghana following the
recent grant of the Mining Lease for the Project.

Highlights

-      Bewadze and Senya Beraku prospecting licences, covering 6.93km(2)
and 82.11km(2), respectively, granted to the Company's wholly-owned Ghanaian
subsidiary Green Metals Resources Limited ("GMR").

 

-       Licences situated within the Company's Cape Coast Lithium Portfolio
in Ghana ("CCLP"), with Bewadze along strike and within 300m of the historic
Egyasimanku Hill occurrence, where spodumene pegmatites have been observed.

 

-       Little/no modern exploration completed across the newly-granted
licence areas, offering significant exploration potential.

 

-       Extensive work programmes planned to evaluate the potential for
lithium and associated minerals at the newly-granted tenure.

 

-       Licences crossed by high-voltage transmission lines and located
adjacent to the N1 Accra-Takoradi highway; Bewadze within 48km and Senya
Beraku within 70km from the Ewoyaa Project footprint.

 

-      No previous exploration completed at Senya Beraku, where younger
north-east-trending biotite granodiorites intrude biotite gneisses and schists
in a similar orientation as the Egyasimanku Hill spodumene pegmatite
occurrence 20km to the west.

 

-       The grant of the Bewadze and Senya Beraku licences follows the
award of the Mining Lease for the Ewoyaa Lithium Project, representing the
Government's support of the Company's efforts to grow its lithium resources in
Ghana.

 

Commenting, Neil Herbert, Executive Chairman of Atlantic Lithium, said:

"The grant of the Bewadze and Senya Beraku prospecting licences offers
Atlantic Lithium the opportunity to apply its proven exploration strategy over
a new significantly underexplored tenure package within its Cape Coast Lithium
Portfolio in Ghana. Since we initiated exploration activities in Ghana, we
have always bookmarked Bewadze, in particular, to be highly prospective for
lithium discovery.

"The licence sits along strike and within only 300m of the historic
Egyasimanku Hill occurrence where spodumene pegmatites have been observed.
This, when considered alongside the radiometrics anomaly that runs into the
licence, offers encouraging potential for mineralisation. With little modern
exploration carried out across the licence to date, we are eager to get on the
ground and commence an extensive work programme.

"Both Bewadze and Senya Beraku also benefit from exceptional existing
infrastructure, including operational high-voltage transmission lines and the
adjacent N1 highway, providing direct access to the Company's Ewoyaa Lithium
Project.

"No previous exploration has been completed at Senya Beraku, where north-east
trending younger granitoids intrude gneisses and biotite schists in a similar
orientation to the Egyasimanku Hill spodumene pegmatite occurrence, located
within 20km of the licence.

"Subject to the success of our exploration efforts, we hope that we will be
able to incorporate the licences into the Project footprint to further enhance
the economics of the Project.

"We believe that the grant of the licences serves as the latest indication of
the Government's strong underlying support for the Ewoyaa Project and for the
Company as its partner of choice in its ambitions of delivering long-term
lithium production in Ghana. We have a number of licences still under
application and hope that we see these granted in the near term, which will
further assist us as we look to grow the current Resource at Ewoyaa.

"We look forward to providing further updates in due course."

 

Figure 1:   Newly-granted Bewadze and Senya Beraku licences in relation to
Cape Coast Lithium Portfolio and Ewoyaa Project with geology background and
rubidium in soils geochemistry anomalism images.

Bewadze Licence

The Company's wholly-owned Ghanaian subsidiary Green Metals Resources Limited
("GMR") has been granted the Bewadze prospecting licence, providing the
Company with exclusive access to explore 9.93km(2) of highly prospective
tenure for a period of three years.

The licence is located 5km as the crow flies from the town of Winneba in
Ghana's Central Region, directly adjacent to the Egyasimanku Hill occurrence,
held by the Obotan Minerals JV within the Mankwadzi licence application, where
coarse spodumene pegmatites have been observed and where historic trenching
and drilling was completed by the Ghana Geological Survey during the 1970s
(refer Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4 and announcement of 14 June
2017).

No modern-day exploration has been carried out across the Bewadze licence to
date, offering significant potential exploration upside within a favourable
geological setting of mafic schists in contact with granitoids and known
spodumene pegmatites 300m along strike to the west.

Previously completed soil geochemistry and airborne radiometrics by the
Company over the Apam East licence and Mankwadzi application directly to the
west, highlight a coincident north-east trending rubidium in soils with
potassium radiometrics anomaly that is indicative of fractionated granitoids
and/or pegmatite trends. The radiometrics anomaly continues onto the
newly-granted Bewadze licence which, along with the spodumene pegmatites
observed at Egyasimanku Hill and soil sampling that terminates at the licence
boundary, indicate the highly prospective nature of the Bewadze licence.

Additionally, the flat terrain that extends across the Bewadze licence moving
north-eastward is interpreted as thin cover which could subdue the
radiometrics response and, therefore, is prospective for potential extensions
of the Egyasimanku Hill pegmatites in this area (refer Figure 2).

Figure 2: Newly granted Bewadze licence in relation to Egyasimanku Hill
occurrence and prospective pegmatite trend defined in coincident rubidium in
soils and airborne potassium radiometrics anomalies.

Figure 3:  View standing on the Egyasimanku Hill spodumene pegmatite mineral
occurrence looking north-east towards the Bewadze licence and flat planes in
the distance; insert close-up of spodumene pegmatite outcrop at Egyasimanku
Hill.

NOTE: Visual estimates of mineral abundance should never be considered a proxy
or substitute for laboratory analyses where concentrations or grades are the
factor of principal economic interest. Visual estimates also potentially
provide no information regarding impurities or deleterious physical properties
relevant to valuations.

 

The Egyasimanku Hill spodumene pegmatite mineral occurrence occurs as
disseminated sub-parallel 1cm to 15cm long spodumene crystals perpendicular to
apparent banding within a flat lying pegmatite body where observed in outcrop.
The Egyasimanku Hill spodumene pegmatite mineral occurrence is located
directly along the south-west boundary of the recently granted Bewadze
licence. The estimated visual percentages of spodumene in outcrops shown in
Figure 3 and Figure 4 are detailed in Table 1. The Company does not anticipate
releasing any assay results for the Egyasimanku Hill pegmatite occurrence
until the Mankwadzi application, which hosts the Egyasimanku Hill pegmatite
occurrence, is granted.

 

Table 1: Estimated visual % spodumene modal abundance in outcrop at
Egyasimanku Hill

 Outcrop           Estimated visual % modal abundance spodumene
 Figure 3 outcrop  8-10%
 Figure 4 outcrop  10-12%

 

 

Figure 4:  Spodumene-rich pegmatite outcrop on Egyasimanku Hill with
spodumene crystals (green) evident parallel to the direction of hammer handle
throughout the outcrop.

NOTE: Visual estimates of mineral abundance should never be considered a proxy
or substitute for laboratory analyses where concentrations or grades are the
factor of principal economic interest. Visual estimates also potentially
provide no information regarding impurities or deleterious physical properties
relevant to valuations.

 Exploration History

During the 1950s and 1960s, the Ghana Geological Survey ("GGS") mapped and
evaluated the Winneba area in the search for industrial minerals, with the
focus on tantalum, cassiterite, columbite and beryl, as well as clay and
feldspar feedstock for the ceramic industries.

A map on the evaluation of the Egyasimanku pegmatite occurrence, which is
located c. 100-500m SW of the newly-granted Bedwadze licence, outlines the
surficial extent of spodumene pegmatite mineralisation in trenching over a
790m x 340m area, in addition to the location of historic drill holes
completed over the area.

Subsequent to the work completed by the GGS and the demarcation of the Yenku
Forest Reserve over the Egyasimanku Hill occurrence (refer Figures 1 and
Figure 2), much of the follow-up groundwork was undertaken on the pegmatite
intrusive swarms to the west of Egyasimanku Hill by Newmont Ghana and Leo
Shield with a focus on tin, niobium and tantalum, with little evidence of
detailed geological groundwork in the area of the newly-granted licence.

Senya Beraku

The Senya Beraku licence covers 82.11km(2) and is within 20km of the Bewadze
licence. No previous exploration has been completed at Senya Beraku, where
younger biotite granitoids intrude biotite gneisses and schists in a
north-easterly orientation. Given the proximity and similar orientation of the
granitoids to the Egyasimanku Hill spodumene pegmatite occurrence, without any
previous exploration, the Company sees value in assessing the grassroots
potential of the licence area.

Proposed Work Programmes

The Company intends to systematically evaluate the lithium and associated
minerals potential of the Bewadze prospecting licence, with particular
emphasis on the potential for spodumene pegmatite extensions of the
Egyasimanku Hill occurrence directly to the south-west of the licence
boundary. Minerals associated with pegmatites and reported within the area
inclusive of tantalum, niobium and tin, in addition to minerals commonly used
in the ceramics industry, such as clays and feldspar, will also be evaluated.

The Company plans to extend the soil sampling programme on a 100m x 100m grid
over the licence area and after careful consideration of the regolith profile.
Field mapping will take place during the soil sampling programme, with further
detailed mapping over high priority areas. On review of these preliminary
results, and where warranted, an auger drilling programme may be initiated to
test higher priority targets and define potential pegmatite footprints.
Pending these results, the Company would look to RC drill test potential
targets for mineralisation potential below the weathering profile.

At the Senya Beraku licence, the Company will initially complete
reconnaissance field mapping and rock chip sampling to define gross
lithological domains and identify potential pegmatites. Pending results, the
Company will design a 100m x 100m soil sampling grid over the areas of
interest ahead of determining the next steps.

Pending Licence Applications

Through its Ghanaian subsidiaries, the Company awaits the grant of various
other licences which remain under application. The Company believes that,
following the award of the Mining Lease for the Project, the Government is
showing its support for the growth of the Company's lithium resources within
its Cape Coast Lithium Portfolio, with the aim of further enhancing the
economics of the Project.

With the grant of the new licences and revision from the original application
submissions for said licences, the Company's CCLP portfolio in Ghana,
including pending applications, now stands at a total of 509km(2).

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law
by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is
disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of
MAR.

 

For any further information, please contact:
Atlantic Lithium Limited

Neil Herbert (Executive Chairman)

Amanda Harsas (Finance Director and Company Secretary)

                   www.atlanticlithium.com.au
                   IR@atlanticlithium.com.au
                   Tel: +61 2 8072 0640
 SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP      Yellow Jersey PR Limited      Canaccord Genuity Limited

 Nominated Adviser                   Charles Goodwin               Financial Adviser:

 Jeff Keating                        Bessie Elliot                 Raj Khatri (UK) /

                                   atlantic@yellowjerseypr.com

 Charlie Bouverat
                             Duncan St John, Christian Calabrese (Australia)

                                   Tel: +44 (0)20 3004 9512

 Tel: +44 (0)20 3470 0470

                                                                   Corporate Broking:

                                                                   James Asensio

                                                                   Tel: +44 (0) 20 7523 4500

 

Notes to Editors:

 

About Atlantic Lithium

www.atlanticlithium.com.au (http://www.atlanticlithium.com.au/)

Atlantic Lithium is an AIM and ASX-listed lithium company advancing a
portfolio of lithium projects in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire through to
production.

The Company's flagship project, the Ewoyaa Project in Ghana, is a significant
lithium spodumene pegmatite discovery on track to become Ghana's first
lithium-producing mine.

The Definitive Feasibility Study for the Project indicates the production of
3.6Mt of spodumene concentrate over a 12-year mine life, making it one of the
top 10 largest spodumene concentrate mines in the world.

The Project, which was awarded a Mining Lease in October 2023, is being
developed under a funding agreement with Piedmont Lithium Inc.

Atlantic Lithium holds 509km(2) and 774km(2) of tenure across Ghana and Côte
d'Ivoire respectively, comprising significantly under-explored, highly
prospective licences.

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