Chariot Corporation has made a play to secure West Australian strategic lithium and gold assets by obtaining seven tenements in the State’s highly prospective Southern Cross greenstone belt, a region known for world-class lithium and gold deposits.
Chariot swooped on the tenements after they were relinquished by other gold and lithium explorers over the past two years, taking advantage of countercyclical opportunities. The company says it has successfully leveraged the strategy elsewhere.
Chariot remains firmly focused on advancing its flagship Black Mountain lithium project in Wyoming, in the United States, while taking a counter-cyclical position with its WA expansion into a leading hard-rock lithium jurisdiction in anticipation of the State’s next lithium exploration cycle.
Southern Cross greenstones are no stranger to large-scale mining success, with their rich history of gold production alongside a growing reputation for lithium-rich pegmatite systems. Chariot’s new tenements cover structural corridors with known lithium-bearing pegmatites and are close to some of WA’s most significant gold systems.
The company’s new applications sit in a prime location, between Covalent Lithium’s 189-million-tonne Earl Grey lithium mine in the south, to the multi-million-ounce Marvel Loch gold centre that is just 20km north.
Chariot first forayed into WA lithium in 2023 and successfully sold 14 exploration licences to St George Mining, securing royalty and milestone payment interests in the process. The company is intent on replicating the low-cost, high-reward strategy.
Chariot will waste no time advancing exploration across its new assets, with an initial works program planned to include geological mapping and surface sampling, geochemical surveys and drilling to unlock the tenements’ full potential.
At its flagship Black Mountain project in Wyoming, Chariot has discovered near-surface spodumene-rich lithium mineralisation. The project’s open pit amenable resource will now be fast-tracked towards a small-scale mining operation intended to supply the US electric vehicle market. It could put Chariot in a box seat given US President Donald Trump’s trade war, which has placed tariffs on Chinese imports, will likely force the country’s EV market to shift to critical minerals sourced in-country.
The project could also leverage a helpful wrinkle in Wyoming’s favourable small-mine permitting system, which Chariot says looks handmade for Black Mountain.
Wyoming’s regulatory framework allows a streamlined approval process for mining by imposing a 10-acre (4-hectare) surface disturbance limit without restricting the volume of mineralised material extracted.
This would allow Chariot to swiftly bring the pilot mine online and target the US market, where supply chain disruptions and a reliance on foreign lithium supplies have highlighted the need for domestic production.
Chariot believes its multi-pronged strategy hedges against short-term lithium price volatility while ensuring it is well-positioned for near-term cash flow and long-term resource growth should the long-bemoaned lithium price finally decide to rear its head.
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By Andrew Todd
