JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Shares in ASX-listed Novo Litio fell 15% on Monday as the company announced an update to its European lithium strategy.
The company said its focus would shift to generating new lithium drill targets on its landholding in the northern Portugal lithium belt, although it would continue to pursue legal action over the disputed Sepeda project.
Novo Litio turned to the courts in Portugal in July to confirm its legal standing on the licences making up the Sepeda project. The company believes it has a binding agreement to acquire 100% of the granted licence and licence applications held by Lusorecursos ARG and Lusorecursos LDA.
The firm also recently released a scoping study for the Sepeda project, which showed that a larger global resource would be required to justify the construction of a battery-grade lithium carbonate plant in Portugal.
Novo Litio said that it was awaiting the granting of several tenements in Portugal that were not overlapped by other companies. This should bolster its footprint in the highly prospective northern belt.
“Desktop studies have already been completed on these applications and field crews are ready to commence work the day the tenements are granted.”
Elsewhere in Europe, Novo Litio said it was granted a drilling permit for the Spodumenberget lithium project, in Sweden, and that it planned to start drilling in the first quarter of next year.
The company also said that it was assessing potential acquisition targets in Portugal and other European countries to bolster its lithium development strategy.
Shares in Novo Litio traded at 5c a share, from the previous day’s closing price of 6c a share.