PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Altura Mining and fellow-listed Kairos Minerals have reached an agreement giving Altura exclusive rights to explore for lithium at the Wodgina East project, in Western Australia.
Kairos’s Wodgina East project is located some 15 km from Altura’s own Pilgangoora lithium project.
Under the terms of the agreement, Altura could explore for lithium on Wodgina East over a five-year period, in exchange for an up-front cash payment of A$100 000.
The company also has the option to acquire a 75% interest in the project area by spending a total of A$1.25-million on exploration over the five-year period, or at any time in that five-year period, by paying A$1.25-million less the costs of any exploration or mining undertaken on the tenements.
If the option is exercised, Kairos will retain a 25% free carried interest on the tenements.
Altura told shareholders on Monday that with the company’s Pilgangoora project progressing, the company had begun looking to expand its lithium portfolio, both around the Pilgangoora area and further afield.
The company said that the agreement with Kairos allowed Altura to explore the prospectivity of the Wodgina East project, with a small initial capital investment, and the cooperation of a similarly focused partner in the region.
Kairos acquired the Wodgina East project earlier this year as part of an extensive lithium portfolio, which it established following the acquisition of the Mt York project.
The project remains essentially underexplored for lithium owing to an historical focus on tantalum mining.