Cheque book out; giant Chinese battery tech firm backs Chariot

In a sign that the lithium market is on its way back in a hurry, Chariot Resources has pulled a big China-based battery materials group onto its share register, signing a binding agreement to issue 9.5m shares at 15 cents a share, representing a slight premium to the market price of 14.5c a share. 

The deal, which will deliver $1.425m into Chariot’s coffers, will see Jiangsu Greatpower NexEnergy Technology, an affiliate of Shanghai Greatpower Nickel and Cobalt Materials, also pick up 19 million free-attaching unlisted options in Chariot exercisable at 30 cents for two years. Completion is subject to Chinese government sign-off and will take place within five business days of that approval, with a long stop date of 15 April 2026.

Notably, it would appear the equity cheque is just the opening salvo with Chariot management confirming it is already in advanced discussions with Greatpower on a project-level financing and offtake framework for the company’s Nigerian lithium portfolio. Those discussions potentially include offtake prepayment funding for early small-scale mining and broader exploration funding across the portfolio.

Chariot Resources executive chairman Shanthar Pathmanathan said: “We are delighted to welcome Greatpower onto our register and look forward to them increasing their stake as the relationship develops. We see this as a powerful alignment with a globally connected battery materials group.”

The proposed framework under discussion could also contemplate exclusive offtake rights over early small-scale mining production, options for Greatpower to fund exploration and development across the portfolio in Nigeria and potential cooperation on electrified mining equipment. 

The new relationship plugs into a strategy Chariot has been building since mid-2025, when it struck a deal to acquire a 66.667 per cent interest in a four-cluster Nigerian hard-rock lithium portfolio held through a joint venture entity, C&C Minerals, alongside local partner Continental Lithium.

Field work has already provided the sort of early proof-points that tend to get buyers focused. Verification rock chip sampling at Chariot’s Fonlo and Iganna projects in southwest Nigeria returned lithium oxide grades ranging from 2.66 per cent up to an impressive 6.59 per cent, with up to 0.15 per cent tantalum pentoxide and one sample returning caesium above the laboratory’s upper detection limit. The company has flagged mineralogical work and metallurgical testing as part of a staged plan designed to move from artisanal workings into more formalised small-scale mining.

Chariot has also outlined an initial 2,000 to 4,000-metre diamond-drilling program at Fonlo and Iganna, proposed to kick off after completion of the Nigerian portfolio acquisition. The company has described Fonlo as hosting a near-vertical dyke swarm with more than six kilometres of strike, while Iganna is interpreted as a stack of shallow-dipping pegmatite sills that could add real scale if drilling confirms continuity.

The acquisition itself remains a key gating item. In December, Chariot varied the original share sale agreement, tightening exclusivity and non-circumvention provisions and extending the end date for conditions precedent to 5 May 2026. Chariot also agreed to finance licence transfers and closing costs by advancing US$379,195 to C&C Minerals via a convertible shareholder loan, backed by a corporate guarantee from Continental.

The market tends to treat offtake-linked project funding as the adult supervision of the battery metals world. If the Greatpower discussions graduate from framework talk to signed project finance and offtake agreements, there is every chance the company’s small-scale mining pathway at Fonlo, Iganna, Gbugbu and Saki will start to look less like a concept and more like a schedule…….and with lithium on the up and up again, Chariot’s - and Greatpower’s - timing just might be spot on. In any case, it will no doubt be fun to drill out some of those areas with surface expressions going 5 to 6 per cent lithium oxide. Watch this space. 

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au