Atlantic Lithium kicks off drilling at Ghana's Ewoyaa Project

Atlantic Lithium announced the start of drilling at the Ewoyaa Lithium Project in Ghana on Thursday, where it had a defined mineral resource estimate of 21.3 million tonnes at 1.31% lithium oxide.

The AIM-traded firm said a reverse circulation (RC) drill rig had arrived on site and begun drilling, with ppproximately 12,000 metres of exploration, 6,000 metres of resource extension and 960 metres of geotechnical drilling planned.

It said the exploration RC drilling was designed to test several new targets defined in auger drilling within the Ewoyaa pegmatite corridor, to the north and south of the current mineral resource estimate.

The resource extension RC drilling, meanwhile, was designed to test depth and strike extensions of known mineralisation, while the geotechnical diamond core drilling was designed to test the proposed mine pit wall ground conditions for detailed engineering design.

An airborne geophysical survey contract had been awarded to NRG for a regional magnetics and radiometrics survey over the Cape Coast licence, the company added, with regional exploration auger drilling also ongoing over Mankessim and Saltpond licences, while a 100 metre-by-100 metre soil survey had started over Cape Coast.

“Since commencing exploration earlier this year, we have identified six new target areas for RC drill testing - all within 3.5 kilometres of the current resource footprint,” said chief operating officer Len Kolff.

“We have also identified extensions within the current mineral resource estimate, where mineralisation remains open along strike and at depth for RC drill testing.

“To date, only a small area of approximately 28square kilometres has been auger tested, with an even smaller 13 square kilometre area drill tested within our broader 560 square kilometre lithium portfolio in Ghana.”

Kolff said the exploration potential was “clear”, with the company seeing “significant” resource growth potential.

“Not only do we believe that project metrics will improve significantly beyond the current defined mine life, but we also see further potential for economic improvement due to the recent increases in spodumene concentrate pricing which have far exceeded our initial price modelling parameters.

“These fundamentals continue to demonstrate Ewoyaa as an industry-leading asset; with the company ideally positioned to benefit from the growing lithium demand.”

At 1609 GMT, shares in Atlantic Lithium were up 2.55% at 36.2p.