2023-07-03 08:29:20
• An announcement from the Australian company Red Rock Resources
• In the area of its gold exploration license in Banfora
• An opportunity and questions
Lithium is classified as a High teak metal. It is much better known for its presence in rechargeable cells and batteries. This metal forges our daily lives, allowing the proper functioning of our smartphones, computers, bicycles or electric cars.
It all started with a press release published on June 15, 2023, by the Australian company Red Rock Resources Plc, relayed by the information service of the London Stock Exchange (RNS). 3 major pieces of information are contained therein. The first announces the end of the process of transferring the Boulon gold exploration permit, bought in January 2022, to Faso Green Resources. The process was initiated in January 2022. Located in Banfora, the mining permit covers an area of 164.28 km². Red Rock paid 17.5 million FCFA to the sellers at the start of the procedure and according to the terms of the contract, a similar amount will be disbursed at the end of the regulatory transfer formalities and the issuance of the order. The repurchase of the permit will have cost roughly 35 million FCFA to the new buyer.
The second information contained in the press release relates to traces of lithium on the new license acquired. “A leucogranite channel containing lithium has been identified and crosses one of our gold mining permits. The center of this mapped channel, which contains some of the highest lithium anomalies, is under our license,” the statement read. Thus, there would be lithium in the Banfora area and specifically on the Boulon permit. The information, however, is not new in itself. Already in 2011, the Bureau of Geological and Mining Research and the Bureau of Mines and Geology of Burkina Faso carried out a regional geochemical study on sediments in the South-West (Gaoua) and Cascades (Banfora), as well as the southern fringe of Hauts-Bassins (Bobo-Dioulasso). The results showed potentially mineralized zones.
Called the “Mining Sector Development Support Project” and funded by the World Bank, these surveys identified “200 geochemical anomalies”. Among these, “76 caught the attention because of their intensity, their signature and their litho-geochemical context. 56 relate to gold and the other 20 to various substances such as zinc, tungsten, tin, lithium, rare earths…”, one can read in the document on the BRGM website.
Lithium, what is it?
It is classified in high tech metals. If it has been used for a long time in medicine for certain treatments once morest bipolarity, or by the glass and ceramics industry, lithium is much better known for its presence in rechargeable cells and batteries.
For the past ten years, this metal has shaped our daily lives, allowing our smartphones, computers, bicycles and electric cars to work properly. Australia is the largest lithium producer (55%) in the world, followed by Chile (26%), China (14%) and Argentina (6%).
With a world production of 100,000 tons of lithium in 2021, these four countries share 82% of the world’s identified reserves, and 95% of mining production.
In January 2022, with the explosion in demand, lithium carbonate – the price of which serves as a benchmark in the battery industry – was selling for around 45,000 euros per tonne, compared to 6,430 euros a year earlier, in January 2021 A price multiplied by 5 in twelve months, and continues to increase. On the African side, Zimbabwe is the largest producer of Lithium.
It is in this country where Red Rock Resources has obtained the green light for the production and sale of lithium. And this is the third information that the company confirmed in the same press release published on June 15th. Andrew Bell, President of Red Rock, comments: “Now that we have obtained environmental clearance, mining can begin at the site. We are able to start shipping products immediately and will make announcements as we go through the different stages.”
Note that Zimbabwe is one of the top ten producers of lithium and is renowned for the high quality of its products.
“This is an important milestone for Red Rock, and we are evaluating the financial implications as we test hardware and further delineate pegmatites within our licenses,” the statement continued. An expertise that Red Rock Resources might sell to Burkina, if ever the channel of leucogranites containing lithium offers potential.
NK
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#Mining #resources #lithium #Burkina
