IronRidge Resources’ share price jumps 11 per cent on Ghana lithium licence
Shares in Aim-listed mineral exploration company IronRidge Resources rose 11 per cent today after the group announced it has secured a "highly prospective" lithium licence in Ghana.
The 76 square km licence is adjacent to the company's existing lithium project portfolio, located within 100km of the capital city Accra.
The licence has excellent infrastructure, logistics and services support for potential rapid development, IronRidge said. It has multiple untested pegmatite occurrences identified, including lithium, tin, tantalum and niobium targets throughout the new licence area.
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Lithium prices have boomed over the last few months, adding around 25 per cent between April and June.
It has been dubbed "white petroleum" by the boss of one of the world's biggest lithium mines, Peter Secker of Bacanora, who has also singled out 2020 as a "magical" upcoming year for the material.
At the time of writing, IronRidge's share price was up 11 per cent to 12.62p per share.
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Chief executive Vincent Mascolo said:
This acquisition further consolidates our West African lithium portfolio and strategy. We see enormous potential in supplying the growing energy industry with lithium. Securing the remaining area of interest directly complements our recent acquisition activity in this space in Ghana.
The asset presents a strategic opportunity that consolidates and covers resource scale potential, simple mineralogy and proximity to infrastructure in a mining-friendly jurisdiction of Ghana. We believe this endorses the potential for the project(s) success as a first quartile cost producer, with low capital expenditure requirements and a simple mining and treatment process.