JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – A joint venture (JV) earn-in agreement between Aim-listed IronRidge Resources and Côte d'Ivoire-based Enchi Proci for the Adzope licence application has become unconditional.

This provided IronRidge with exclusive rights to a prospective lithium licence portfolio covering 1 177 km² in Côte d'Ivoire, complementing its advanced and exciting 314 km² high-grade lithium exploration portfolio in neighbouring Ghana.

“The company and its JV partner will now lobby the Ministry of Mines to accelerate the conversion of application areas to granted mineral exploration licences prior to commencement of field programmes,” said IronRidge CEO Vincent Mascolo in an update to shareholders on Friday.

Last year, IronRidge entered into an agreement with Enchi to acquire up to 100% of its projects through staged earn-in arrangements and expenditure for a feasibility study within a four-year period.

Enchi will retain a net smelter return royalty of 2% capped at $2-million, with IronRidge retaining the right to acquire the royalty prior to the feasibility study for $1.5-million.

A technical due diligence programme, comprising reconnaissance field mapping and submission of 54 rock chip samples, was completed.

The programme returned low level lithium anomalism with results up to 67 parts per million lithium; however, despite this, IronRidge noted that experience from surface rock-chip sampling in Ghana and associated low-level lithium anomalism with inadequate sample size collected in tropical weathering climates, besides other factors, provided sufficient confidence to explore the portfolio further.

“Upon grant of the licences, reconnaissance mapping and bulk surface rock-chip sampling will be carried out to define key target areas and, pending results, a high-resolution airborne magnetics and radiometrics survey may be flown,” IronRidge concluded.