Shares in Chariot Resources soared as much as 55 per cent to a high of 15 cents in early trade after the government approved the transfer of six licences into a joint venture with local partners, clearing a significant regulatory hurdle for its Nigerian lithium portfolio.
The approvals cover four exploration licences and two small-scale mining leases previously held by Continental Lithium, which will now be incorporated into a new company called C&C Minerals.
The company says that only routine administrative steps now remain to finalise the transfers, which will allow Chariot and its partner to move straight into active field programs at the projects.
Chariot will hold 66.66 per cent of C&C Minerals, with local partners Continental Lithium retaining a 33.33 per cent stake.
Chariot says it will now move swiftly to systematically validate drill targets in the field so it can get the rods turning across the largely undrilled ground as soon as possible.
The company says the ground already carries a documented history of artisanal production and represents the first time an ASX-listed pure-play lithium company will ever drill for lithium in Nigeria.
Chariot Resources executive chairman and managing director Shanthar Pathmanathan said: “These approvals move us from transaction execution to field execution. We will now fast‑track modern exploration to generate technical data and drill targets across an undrilled portfolio that already shows promise through documented artisanal production activity.”
The joint venture’s 254-square-kilometre portfolio spans four project clusters dubbed Fonlo, Gbugbu, Iganna and Saki in the Nigerian states of Oyo and Kwara.
Historical small-scale mining activity is evident on parts of the ground; however, the company is keen to emphasise that while hand-sorting spodumene by local miners is one thing, proving a proper resource or reserve is quite another - artisanal pits do not equal economic-scale ore bodies.
The licence approvals sit neatly with Chariot’s dual-track strategy of fast-tracking modern exploration, while keeping a pathway open to early small-scale production funded by offtake partners.
The company says it is also advancing its projects in the United States. Initial survey results have indicated high-grade lithium mineralisation at surface at its hard-rock Black Mountain project in Wyoming and the claystone-hosted Resurgent project in Nevada.
With the regulatory path now open, fieldwork about to begin and offtake and funding discussions already underway, the Nigerian assets are set to move quickly from paperwork to the drill bit, marking the first-ever lithium exploration by an ASX-listed company in the African nation.
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By Andrew Todd
