US-based Piedmont Lithium has announced it will sell a portion of shares it holds in Aim- and ASX-listed Atlantic Lithium to Atlantic’s biggest shareholder, Assore International.
The Nasdaq- and ASX-listed company will sell 24.3 million shares of Atlantic at £0.25 apiece, putting about $ 7.8 million in its coffers.
“We have always viewed our Atlantic shares as a potential source of capital and are pleased to further bolster our cash balance through this agreement,” said Piedmont Lithium President and CEO Keith Phillips.
The sale represents about 3.8% of Atlantic’s outstanding shares and will reduce Piedmont’s shareholding in the owner of the Ewoyaa project, in Ghana, to about 5.2%.
Assore, which previously sought to buy Atlantic, now owns about 28.4% of Atlantic. The sale of these shares has no impact on Piedmont’s joint venture, earn-in, or offtake position with Atlantic or the Ewoyaa project.
“We remain confident about the potential of Ewoyaa as a logistically advantaged, low-cost producer of spodumene concentrate, but are taking a disciplined approach to deploying capital in the current lithium price environment and positioning ourselves for the recovery we anticipate in the lithium market,” said Phillips.
Piedmont’s goal is to become one of the biggest lithium hydroxide producers in North America by processing spodumene concentrate produced from assets where it holds an economic interest. Its projects include our Carolina Lithium and Tennessee Lithium projects in the US and partnerships in Quebec with Sayona Mining, and in Ghana with Atlantic Lithium.
The First Lithium-Producing Mine In Ghana
The Ewoyaa lithium project being developed by Atlantic Lithium is expected to be the first lithium-producing mine in Ghana, West Africa. The company is a lithium exploration and development company based in Australia.
The project is focused on exploiting the Ewoyaa, Abonko and Kaampakrom lithium spodumene pegmatite deposits in western Ghana. First production of lithium concentrate from the mine is expected in the second quarter of 2025.
Atlantic Lithium completed a pre-feasibility study (PFS) for the project in September 2022. The definitive feasibility study (DFS) for the project was announced in June 2023, which outlined a 2.7 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) spodumene mining operation over 12 years of mine life.
The Ewoyaa lithium project is located approximately 100km south-west of Ghana’s capital city Accra. The project area covers two contiguous licences, namely Mankessim (RL 3/55) and Mankessim South (PL3/109).
The Mankessim licence area lies within the Birimian Supergroup, a Proterozoic volcano-sedimentary basin in western Ghana.
The project’s spodumene-bearing lithium mineralisation occurs as sub-vertical bodies within two dominant pegmatite trends, namely Ewoyaa and Abonko.
The Ewoyaa lithium project is estimated to hold 25.6 million tonnes (mt) of probable ore grading 1.22% lithium oxide (Li₂O), as of June 2023.
The lithium project will utilise conventional open-pit mining methods involving drill, blast, load and haul operations due to the shallow nature of the ore body. Mining operations will be contract-based and supervised by the Atlantic Lithium management team.
Mining will be performed at eight main deposits, including Ewoyaa, Okwesi, Anokyi, Grasscutter, Abonko, Kaampakrom, Sill and Bypass, which are located 4km apart. Drilling and blasting operations will be performed on 5m to 10m high benches.
The mining equipment is expected to comprise 100t to 200t hydraulic excavators and 90t to 150t off-highway dump trucks. The fleet will be supported by standard open-cut drilling and auxiliary equipment.
The proposed ore processing design for the project envisages a 2.7mtpa conventional dense media separation (DMS) processing facility.
In the first nine months starting from Q2 2025, approximately 450,000t of ore will be processed in an early production processing plant. The main 2.7mtpa processing facility will commence operations from Q1 2026 for 11 years.
READ ALSO: Prof. Kwesi Aning Calls For Depoliticization of Bawku Crisis Resolution Mechanisms
