Chariot Resources has officially shifted into high gear in West Africa, revealing that it has now secured half of the mining titles required to finalise its acquisition of a massive Nigerian lithium portfolio.
The Nigerian Mining Cadastre Office has endorsed and reissued five of the ten targeted licences into the name of C&C Minerals, the joint-venture vehicle 66.667 per cent controlled by Chariot.
The reissue of only five of the ten licences so far has prompted Chariot and its partner, Continental Lithium, to push the acquisition deadline out to August 5th this year. The extended timeline should give enough breathing room for the remaining five licence transfers to be finalised and all outstanding conditions precedent satisfied, paving the way for Chariot to complete settlement of its stake in the Nigerian portfolio.
Chariot’s Nigerian portfolio is split into four distinct project clusters dubbed Fonlo, Gbugbu, Iganna and Saki. The company says the move to consolidate such a hefty footprint in a known lithium-bearing region is a key part of its strategy to become a meaningful contributor to the global battery metals supply chain.
The five recently reissued titles include three exploration licences and two small-scale mining leases. Specifically, the Fonlo Main and Secondary licences, along with the Gbugbu Main licence, are now safely in the bag. Down in the Saki cluster, two mining leases have also been officially reissued and stamped with a "Full Transfer" notation.
Whilst the paperwork continues to churn through the regulatory system, the geology is already starting to talk the talk. Recently, laboratory analysis of field samples from the Fonlo and Iganna clusters confirmed the presence of spodumene-bearing pegmatites.
Independent quantitative mineralogical analysis, completed by the University of British Columbia, identified easily processable spodumene, accounting for between 28.4 per cent and a whopping 75.3 per cent of the overall weight in crystalline phases.
The six samples also returned impressive lithium oxide grades ranging from 2.66 per cent to 5.96 per cent.
Beyond the Nigerian frontier, Chariot maintains a diversified stable of assets in the United States. Its core American projects include the Black Mountain hard-rock lithium project in Wyoming and the Resurgent claystone lithium project, which straddles the border of Nevada and Oregon.
The company also has a further foot in the US door with two hard rock lithium projects, Copper Mountain and Tin Cup, in Wyoming, ensuring it has additional high-quality targets in one of the world’s most mining-friendly jurisdictions.
Looking ahead, Chariot has a busy run sheet taking shape, with its top priority being to work closely with Nigerian authorities to lock in the transfer of the remaining five licences. Additionally, field reconnaissance, including fresh sampling, is also slated for the Saki and Gbugbu clusters in the coming weeks. Once the deal officially settles, Chariot expects to hit the ground running with an aggressive exploration program across its entire Nigerian portfolio.
With spodumene already confirmed on the ground and the government paperwork moving in the right direction, Chariot could be in the box seat to unlock a significant new lithium province.
It is a big-scale play in a fast-moving market. Punters are likely to be keeping an eye out for those final licence transfers to land as the August deadline nears.
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By Murray Ward
