Welcome to a roundup of some of our financing, exploration, and development stories on Theassay.com over the last week. To keep up to date with all the latest headlines, subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Financing and M&A
Over the previous week, Atlantic Lithium Limited (AIM: ALL | ASX: A11 | OTCQX: ALLIF) has agreed non-binding heads of terms with the Minerals Income Investment Fund of Ghana to invest a total of US$32.9M in the company and its Ghanaian subsidiaries. MIIF’s proposed investment will support the development of the company’s flagship Ewoyaa Lithium Project and the broader Cape Coast Lithium portfolio in Ghana towards production.
Commenting, Neil Herbert, executive chairman of Atlantic Lithium, said “At this important stage in the Project’s development, as we advance towards first production, we are delighted that the Minerals Income Investment Fund of Ghana has agreed to invest US$32.9M in the company to support of Atlantic Lithium’s flagship Ewoyaa Lithium Project and broader lithium portfolio in Ghana. We strongly welcome MIIF’s ongoing support as a key shareholder.”
New exploration and development
St George Mining Limited (ASX: SGQ) has announced the commencement of a multi-faceted exploration programme at its Woolgangie project located in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. Prospects include targets for lithium, rare earths, and copper.
St George’s first-ever field programme at Woolgangie – acquired earlier this year – will include aircore drilling, an airborne magnetic survey, a ground based electromagnetic survey, and soil surveys.
The project tenure comprises a dominant landholding of 3,350km2 in an underexplored region of the Coolgardie Mineral Field and takes in +90km of the Ida Fault – a major crustal boundary that controls multiple major minerals deposits within Western Australia.
Also, Mink Ventures Corporation (TSXV: MINK) has acquired a 100% interest in eight mining claims located adjacent to the north boundary of the 14 Warren patents, as well as a 0.5% net smelter returns royalty on the Warren patents from Mr. Douglas Lalonde, effective 6 September 2023. Total consideration for the 0.5% NSR and the eight claims is 225,000 common shares of the company.
Further, the company staked an additional 34 claims adjacent to the eastern boundary of the Warren patents. The combined Warren property now covers 1,010ha of land, located in Whitesides Township, approximately 35km west of Timmins, Ontario.
Drilling results
Cerrado Gold Inc. (TSXV: CERT | OTCQX: CRDOF) has confirmed the highest-grade gold intercept ever reported at its Minera Don Nicolas (MDN) project, Santa Cruz, Argentina.
Mark Brennan, CEO, and chairman, commented, “Exceptional results like this validate the teams view that MDN is still in the discovery stage, and like other projects in the Deseado Massif, we see substantial potential to grow resources at depth and unlock additional high-grade ounces as exploration continues. We are also pleased with the ongoing development of the various projects at MDN, as this supports our longer-term goal of unlocking the full potential at MDN.”
RC Hole PA_RC23-123 intercepted 109m of 12m at 122.2 g/t gold, including 3m at 429.1g/t from 109m. This intercept represents the highest metal content in the project’s exploration drilling results to date.
Meanwhile, Roscan Gold Corporation (TSXV: ROS | FSE:2OJ | OTCQB: RCGCF) has identified a new high-grade zone of gold mineralization at Mankouke West as a result of its systematic regional exploration activities.
Discovery holes include RCMAW23-0009 with 3.44g/t over 31m, including 9.23g/t over 3m, 8.46g/t over 3m, 3.75g/t over 7m, RCMAW23-0001 with 1.72g/t over 28m, including 5.28g/t over 6m and RCMAW23-0017 with 1.14g/t over 50m including 4.08g/t over 2m.
The new discovery is located 2km northwest from the company’s Mankouke South deposit, close to the area which holds over two thirds of Roscan’s maiden resource. This new zone has been traced over an area with a strike length of 450m, 50m wide, and 125m vertical depth, and it is open toward NE and SW and at depth. This gold occurrence lies in a large footprint of about 2km long and 500m wide outlined by saprolite geochemistry with arsenic and antimony pathfinders providing expectation for substantial extensions.
Other company news
Newcore Gold (TSXV: NCAU) has appointed Branden Fraser as vice president, projects, effective from 8 September 2023. Fraser, a registered professional engineer with over 10 years of experience in mining and processing roles, will play an integral role in the development of the company’s Enchi Gold Project in Ghana. The project is Newcore’s flagship development project and currently hosts an indicated mineral resource of 743,500oz of gold and an inferred mineral resource of 972,000oz of gold.
Concurrently, Newcore has engaged an independent engineering firm to prepare an updated PEA study for the project. The PEA will incorporate the company’s updated mineral resource estimate, which was announced earlier this year, along with the significant metallurgical test work that has been completed on the project since the last economic study in 2021.
Finally, Century Lithium Corp. (TSXV: LCE |OTCQX: CYDVF | Frankfurt: C1Z) has obtained a provisional patent with the US Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Commerce, titled System and Method for Extracting Lithium from Clay and Other Materials in a Chloride Solution Using Individualized Pretreatments.
The patent pending process encompasses the company’s flowsheet, as developed at its lithium extraction facility in Amargosa Valley, Nevada, US, and protects the company’s intellectual property (IP) pertaining to the handling of solutions derived from the treatment of solid materials including clays from the company’s Clayton Valley Lithium Project, Nevada.
Bill Willoughby, president, and CEO, said, “Through the excellent work of Century Lithium’s team, we have developed a system for lithium extraction which is proprietary to the company. Our system incorporates innovations made during our team’s work at the pilot plant. The provisional patent provides protection of our system and its IP as we move forward with our feasibility study.”
