Atlantic Lithium Limited (AIM: ALL, ASX: A11, OTCQX: ALLIF, “Atlantic Lithium” or the “Company”), the African-focused lithium exploration and development company targeting to deliver Ghana’s first lithium mine, is pleased to announce an increase to the JORC (2012) compliant Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE” or “Resource”) at the Company’s flagship Ewoyaa Lithium Project (”Ewoyaa” or the “Project”) in Ghana, West Africa.
Highlights:
Total Mineral Resource Estimate for the Company’s flagship Ewoyaa Lithium Project increased to 36.8Mt at 1.24% Li2O, reported in accordance with the JORC Code (2012).81% of the Total Resource now in the higher confidence Measured and Indicated categories (3.7Mt at 1.37% in the Measured category, 26.1Mt at 1.24% in the Indicated category and 7.0Mt @ 1.15% Li₂O in the Inferred category).MRE increase follows targeted drilling programme, undertaken in 2023 and H1 2024, comprising sterilisation drilling to support the plant and haul road design and resource conversion drilling, converting Inferred resources to Indicated and Measured resources, to provide mine plan optionality; new Dog-Leg target identified through this process.Drilling subsequently undertaken on the Dog-Leg target, where the Company has identified a shallow-dipping, near-surface mineralised pegmatite body with true thickness up to 35m, which contributed 890,892 tonnes of the Resource increase to 36.8Mt at 1.24% Li2O.Potential to grow the Resource further; step-out drilling planned at five priority deposits and one new exploration target identified for initial reverse circulation (“RC”) evaluation.
Commenting, Neil Herbert, Executive Chairman of Atlantic Lithium, said:
“We are pleased to report an increase in the Mineral Resource for the Ewoyaa Lithium Project to 36.8Mt at 1.24% Li2O, which reaffirms Ewoyaa’s status as one of the leading hard rock lithium projects.
“The increase follows the limited drilling programme completed recently, which was focused on supporting our mine planning activities rather than expanding the resource base, but through which we identified the Dog-Leg target, which has added near-surface tonnes to the Ewoyaa Resource. We are pleased to see this lucky strike at Dog- Leg contributing an additional circa 891,000 tonnes to the enlarged 36.8Mt at 1.24% Li2O Resource.
“While our current focus remains firmly on advancing Ewoyaa towards shovel-readiness, we recognise the significant potential across our exploration portfolio to increase the Resource further.”
Mineral Resource Estimate Upgrade
An upgraded MRE of 36.8Mt at 1.24% Li2O was completed for the Ewoyaa deposit and surrounding pegmatites; collectively termed the “Ewoyaa Lithium Project”.
The MRE increase follows a targeted drilling programme aimed at supporting the mine build activities at the Project. This comprised sterilisation drilling to support the plant and haul road design and resource conversion drilling, aimed at converting Inferred resources to Indicated and Measured, to provide mine plan optionality. The drilling programme resulted in the combined Measured and Indicated resource increasing to 81% of the Total Mineral Resource (to 29.8 Mt at 1.26% Li2O).
During drilling programme, the Dog-Leg target was identified, with prioritised drilling subsequently undertaken, which returned multiple broad and high-grade intersections, from which the Company has identified a shallow-dipping, near- surface mineralised pegmatite body with true thickness up to 35m. The Dog-Leg target contributed 890,892 tonnes, comprising 332,100 tonnes at 1.01% Li2O Indicated and 558,792 tonnes at 1.13% Li2O Inferred, of the increase in resources to 36.8Mt at 1.24% Li2O.
The Mineral Resource is based on 168,015m of drilling completed at the Project to date, inclusive of infill and extensional drilling undertaken since the February 2023 MRE reported by the Company, comprising 148,865m of reverse circulation (“RC”), 12,639m of diamond core (“DD”), 5,311m of reverse circulation with diamond tail (“RCD”) and 1,200m of reverse circulation hydrology holes (“RCH”).
The MRE includes a total of 3.7Mt at 1.37% Li2O in the Measured category, 26.1Mt at 1.24% Li2O in the Indicated category and 7.0Mt at 1.15% Li2O in the Inferred category (refer Table 1). The independent MRE for Ewoyaa was completed by Ashmore Advisory Pty Ltd (“Ashmore”) of Perth, Western Australia, with results tabulated in the Statement of Mineral Resources in Table 1. The Statement of Mineral Resources is reported in line with requirements of the JORC Code (2012) and is therefore suitable for public reporting. High-level Whittle optimisation was completed and demonstrates reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction.
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