Overview
Regardless of its lengthy mining historical past, beneficial regulatory local weather and steady political backdrop, Ghana stays largely ignored as an funding jurisdiction for battery metals. Located on the West African coast, the nation boasts a powerful strategic location and abundance of mineral wealth.
In 2023, the nation reclaimed its title as Africa’s primary producer of gold. And gold is not the one valuable steel to be discovered within the nation. Ghana can also be residence to important lithium reserves, with c. 180,000 tonnes of estimated assets.
Situated between Europe, the US and China, Ghana is completely positioned to function an essential hub for the worldwide provide of the battery steel.
Australian lithium exploration and improvement firm Atlantic Lithium (ASX:A11, AIM:ALL, OTCQX:ALLIF) intends to leverage this chance by way of its flagship Ewoyaa undertaking, set to grow to be Ghana’s first lithium-producing mine. Atlantic intends to provide spodumene focus able to conversion to lithium hydroxide and carbonate to be used in electrical automobile batteries, serving to drive the transition to decarbonisation.
A definitive feasibility examine (DFS) launched in June 2023 reveals that, contemplating its present 35.3 million tons (Mt) @ 1.22 % lithium oxide JORC Mineral Useful resource Estimate and conservative life-of-mine focus pricing of US$1,587/t, FOB Ghana Port, Ewoyaa has demonstrable financial viability, low capital depth and glorious profitability. By way of easy open-pit mining, three-stage crushing and standard Dense Media Separation (DMS) processing, the DFS outlines the manufacturing of three.6 Mt of spodumene focus over a 12-year mine life, delivering US$6.6 billion life-of-mine revenues, a post-tax NPV8 of US$1.5 billion and an inner fee of return of 105 %.
Atlantic Lithium intends to deploy a Modular DMS plant forward of commencing operations on the large-scale fundamental plant to generate early income, which can scale back the height funding requirement of the principle plant. The undertaking is anticipated to ship first spodumene manufacturing as early as April 2025.
The event of the undertaking is co-funded underneath an settlement with NASDAQ and ASX-listed Piedmont Lithium (ASX:PLL), with Piedmont anticipated to fund c. 70 % of the US$185 million complete capex. In accordance with the settlement, Piedmont is funding US$17 million in direction of research and exploration and an preliminary US$70 million in direction of the overall capex. Prices are break up equally between Atlantic Lithium and Piedmont thereafter.
In return, Piedmont will obtain 50 % of the spodumene focus produced at Ewoyaa, offering a path to shoppers by way of a number of main battery producers, together with Tesla. With 50 % of its offtake nonetheless accessible, Atlantic Lithium is one in all only a few near-term spodumene focus producers with uncommitted offtake.
Already the most important taxpayer and employer in Ghana’s Central Area, Atlantic Lithium is anticipated to offer direct employment to roughly 800 personnel at Ewoyaa and, by way of its neighborhood improvement fund whereby 1 % of retained earnings shall be allotted to native initiatives, will ship long-lasting advantages to the area and to Ghana.
Atlantic Lithium additionally has the potential to capitalise upon appreciable extra upside throughout its in depth exploration portfolio — potential it intends to leverage to the fullest because it turns into an early mover in West African lithium manufacturing.
Set to be Ghana’s first lithium-producing mine, Atlantic Lithium’s flagship Ewoyaa Mission is located inside 110 kilometres of Takoradi Port and 100 kilometres of Accra, with entry to glorious infrastructure and a talented native workforce. A definitive feasibility examine (DFS) launched in June 2023 confirmed the undertaking’s financial viability and profitability potential, indicating a 3.6-Mt spodumene focus manufacturing over the mine’s 12-year projected life.
Atlantic Lithium is presently within the means of securing a mining lease for the undertaking, which can allow the graduation of the allowing course of. By way of the deployment of a Modular DMS plant, which can course of 450,000 tons of ore as the principle 2.7-Mt processing plant is being constructed, the mine is anticipated to ship first manufacturing in 2025.
Atlantic Lithium presently has two functions pending for an space of roughly 774 sq. kilometres within the West African nation of Côte d’Ivoire. The underexplored but extremely potential area is understood to be underlain by prolific birimian greenstone belts, characterised by fractionated granitic intrusive centres with lithium and colombite-tantalum occurrences and outcropping pegmatites. The realm can also be extremely well-served, with in depth street infrastructure, well-established mobile community and high-voltage transmission line inside roughly 100 kilometres of the nation’s capital, Abidjan.
Administration Group
Neil Herbert – Govt Chairman
Neil Herbert is a fellow of the Affiliation of Chartered Licensed Accountants and has over 30 years of expertise in finance. He has been concerned in rising mining and oil and gasoline firms each as an govt and as an investor for over 25 years. Till Might 2013, he was co-chairman and managing director of AIM-quoted Polo Sources, a pure assets funding firm.
Previous to this, Herbert was a director of useful resource funding firm Galahad Gold, after which he turned finance director of its most profitable funding, the start-up uranium firm UraMin, from 2005 to 2007. Throughout this era, he labored to drift the corporate on AIM and the Toronto Inventory Alternate in 2006, increase US$400 million in fairness financing and negotiate the sale of the group for US$2.5 billion.
Herbert has held board positions at numerous useful resource firms the place he has been concerned in managing quite a few acquisitions, disposals, inventory market listings and fundraisings. He holds a joint honours diploma in economics and financial historical past from the College of Leicester.
Keith Muller – Chief Govt Officer
Keith Muller is a mining engineer with over 20 years of operational and management expertise throughout home and worldwide mining, together with within the lithium sector. He has a powerful operational background in onerous rock lithium mining and processing, notably in DMS spodumene processing. Earlier than becoming a member of Atlantic Lithium, he held roles as each a enterprise chief and normal supervisor at Allkem, the place he labored on the Mt Cattlin lithium mine in Western Australia.
Previous to that, Muller served as operations supervisor and senior mining engineer at Simec. He holds a Grasp of Mining Engineering from the College of New South Wales and a Bachelor of Engineering from the College of Pretoria. He’s additionally a member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, the Board of Skilled Engineers of Queensland, and the Engineering Council of South Africa.
Amanda Harsas – Finance Director and Firm Secretary
Amanda Harsas is a senior finance govt with a demonstrable observe document and over 25 years’ expertise in strategic finance, enterprise transformation, industrial finance, buyer and provider negotiations and capital administration. Previous to becoming a member of Atlantic Lithium, she labored throughout a number of sectors together with healthcare, insurance coverage, retail {and professional} companies. Harsas is a chartered accountant, holds a Bachelor of Enterprise and has worldwide expertise in Asia, Europe and the US.
Len Kolff – Head of Enterprise Improvement and Chief Geologist
Len Kolff has over 25 years of mining business expertise within the main and junior assets sector. With a confirmed observe document in deposit discovery and a selected give attention to Africa, Kolff most lately labored in West Africa and was instrumental within the discovery and analysis of the corporate’s Ewoyaa Lithium Mission in Ghana, in addition to the invention and analysis of the Mofe Creek iron ore undertaking in Liberia. Previous to this, he labored at Rio Tinto with a give attention to Africa, together with the Simandou iron ore undertaking in Guinea and the Northparkes Copper-Gold mine in Australia.
Kolff holds a Grasp of Financial Geology from CODES, College of Tasmania and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) diploma from the Royal College of Mines, Imperial Faculty, London.
Patrick Brindle – Non-executive Director
Patrick Brindle presently serves as govt vice-president and chief working officer at Piedmont Lithium. He joined Piedmont in January 2018. Previous to this, he held roles as vice-president of undertaking administration and subsequently as chief improvement officer.
Brindle has greater than 20 years’ expertise in senior administration and engineering roles and has accomplished EPC tasks in various jurisdictions together with the US, Canada, China, Mongolia, Australia and Brazil. Earlier than becoming a member of Piedmont, he was vice-president of engineering for DRA Taggart, a subsidiary of DRA World, an engineering agency specialising in undertaking supply of mining and mineral processing tasks globally.
Kieran Daly – Non-executive Director
Kieran Daly is the manager of development and strategic improvement at Assore. He holds a BSc Mining Engineering from Camborne College of Mines (1991) and an MBA from Wits Enterprise College (2001) and labored in funding banking/fairness analysis for greater than 10 years at UBS, Macquarie and Investec previous to becoming a member of Assore in 2018.
Daly spent the primary 15 years of his mining profession at Anglo American’s coal division (Anglo Coal) in numerous worldwide roles together with operations, gross sales and advertising, technique and enterprise improvement. Amongst his key roles had been main and creating Anglo Coal’s advertising efforts in Asia and to metal business clients globally. He was additionally the worldwide head of technique for Anglo Coal instantly previous to leaving Anglo in 2007.
Christelle Van Der Merwe – Non-executive Director
Christelle Van Der Merwe is a mining geologist liable for the mining-related geology and assets of Assore’s subsidiary firms (comprising the pyrophyllite and chromite mines) and can also be involved with the corporate’s iron and manganese mines. She has been the Assore group geologist since 2013 and concerned with strategic and useful resource funding selections of the corporate. Van Der Merwe is a member of SACNASP and the GSSA.
Aaron Maurer – Head of Operational Readiness
Aaron Maurer is a senior-level enterprise govt with over 25 years’ worldwide multi-commodity mining expertise, overseeing strategic, operational and monetary efficiency. Over his profession, he has held a number of engineering, manufacturing, operational and senior govt roles. Earlier than becoming a member of Atlantic Lithium, he served as govt normal supervisor – operations at Minerals Sources, the place he oversaw the Mt Marion Lithium mine and three iron ore mines in Western Australia. He was beforehand the managing director and CEO of PVW Sources and normal supervisor (website senior govt) at Peabody Vitality Australia.
His important experience spans the event and implementation of security and cost-saving initiatives, change administration, strategic planning, enterprise improvement and worker improvement. Maurer holds a Grasp in Company Finance and a Bachelor of Engineering (Mining).
Roux Terblanche – Mission Supervisor
Roux Terblanche is a mineral useful resource undertaking supply specialist with confirmed African and Australian expertise working for house owners, EPCMs, consultants and contractors. He has a variety of commodity experiences, together with lithium, gold, copper, diamonds and platinum. He has confirmed so as to add worth and ship tasks safely, on time and inside finances.
Terblanche has labored within the UAE and throughout Africa, together with Ghana, the DRC, Burkina Faso, Zambia, Rwanda, Botswana and Senegal. He was instrumental in rising the working footprint of a world building firm throughout Africa and was integral to the constructing of the Akyem, Tarkwa Section 4 and Chirano mines in Ghana.
Terblanche holds a nationwide diploma in mechanical engineering, a diploma in undertaking administration and a Bachelor of Commerce from the College of South Africa.
Iwan Williams – Exploration Supervisor
Iwan Williams is an exploration geologist with over 20 years’ expertise throughout a broad vary of commodities, principally iron ore, manganese, gold, copper (porphyry and sed. hosted), PGE’s, nickel and different base metals, in addition to chromitite, phosphates, coal and diamond.
Williams has in depth southern and west African expertise and has labored in Central and South America. His expertise contains all elements of exploration administration, undertaking technology, alternative evaluations, due diligence and mine geology. He has in depth research expertise having participated within the supply of a number of undertaking research together with useful resource, mine design standards, baseline environmental and social research and metallurgical test-work programmes. He’s very conversant in working in Africa having spent 23 years of his 28-year geological profession in Africa. Williams is a graduate of the College of Liverpool.
Abdul Razak – Nation Supervisor
Abdul Razak has in depth exploration, useful resource analysis and undertaking administration expertise all through West Africa with a powerful give attention to data-rich environments. He has in depth gold expertise having labored all through Ghana with AngloGold Ashanti, Goldfields Ghana, Perseus and Golden Star, in addition to worldwide exploration and useful resource analysis expertise in Burkina Faso, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Guinea.
Razak is an integral member of the workforce, managing all website actions together with drilling, laboratory, native groups, geotech and hydro, neighborhood consultations and stakeholder engagements and was instrumental in institution of the present improvement workforce and defining Ghana’s maiden lithium useful resource estimate. He’s based mostly on the undertaking website in Ghana.
