According to an announcement from the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) of Ghana, the fund is currently in negotiations to invest up to $30 million in Atlantic Lithium Ltd, a mining and exploration firm based in Australia that is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).
Atlantic Lithium has discovered commercially significant amounts of lithium in Ghana, and is set to become West Africa’s first producing mine. The Ewoyaa discovery in the central region has a substantial amount of lithium spodumene located on the Cape Coast lithium belt. The company recently updated their Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE” or “Resource”) for the Ewoyaa Project to 35.3Mt at 1.25% Li2O. With current developments in the Lithium industry, the mineral resource has an indicated life mine of revenues exceeding $4.8 billion.
MIIF intends to take an equity stake in this fully funded company that focuses on Africa, and which has a 50% offtake agreement from Piedmont Lithium, a US-based developer of lithium resources that will use the lithium produced in Ghana. Piedmont Lithium has also secured a 50% offtake agreement with Tesla Inc., an American company that specializes in automotive, artificial intelligence, and clean energy and owns Tesla Motors.
The MIIF Lithium Plan
The Chief Executive Officer of MIIF, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng said, “Investing in Atlantic Lithium speaks to President Nana Akufo Addo’s vision of ensuring that mining provides sustainable long term value for Ghanaians.
According to Mr. Koranteng, “Electric vehicles represent a US$7 trillion market opportunity between 2023 and 2030 and US$46 trillion between 2023 and 2050. This represents opportunities for Ghana which can be leveraged by the current automobile development plan that has seen six car assembly plants already established in Ghana. The by-products of lithium such as feldspar also provide a new stratum of opportunity. Feldspar is the main mineral resource needed to produce ceramics and MIIF is positioned to support the development of the use of the feldspar”. “MIIF’s strategy is to not only be active in the lithium value chain but to help develop the capital markets. In this vein an initial condition of Atlantic Lithium listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange has been accepted by the company. This will give all Ghanaians the chance to acquire shares in the resource. We are excited that Ghana can play in the green energy boom which is crucial for the decarbonization efforts of the country.” Koranteng said.
