PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Latin Resources has increased its shareholding in fellow listed Solis Minerals.

The company on Thursday reported that its shareholding in Solis would increase by 4.66% to 17.79%, with Latin committing to invest A$3-million in Solis’ A$8-million capital raise. Latin has subscribed for 5.45-million shares in Solis, at a price of 55c each.

The participation in the placement will be funded from existing cash reserves, Latin told shareholders.

“Latin has a very focused approach in developing its 100% owned Salinas lithium project. However, we are delighted to provide support to Solis by way of this cornerstone investment to fund exploration at its recently acquired Jaguar lithium project in Brazil,” said Latin MD Chris Gale.

“Furthermore, we are pleased to be in a position to provide exploration guidance and country experience to support the team at Solis.

“The opportunity for hard rock lithium in Brazil is significant, and the early mapping of the extensive pegmatite body at Jaguar shows that Bahia State has potential to become a new lithium province. We have great confidence that the Solis team will progress this project to potentially become a Latin 2.0.

“This investment also presents an exciting opportunity for Latin to continue to support the growth of the lithium industry in Brazil, which we believe is on track to be one of the top lithium-producing countries in the coming years.”

Solis share prices rose by more than 35% on Thursday after the company announced it had received firm commitments for its A$8.1-million capital raise, under which it would issue more than 14.82-million shares in two tranches.

The first tranche will consist of more than 5.5-million shares, raising A$3.05-million under the company’s existing placement capacity, while the second tranche would consist of more than 9.2-million shares, raising A$5.1-million, subject to shareholder approval.

Solis would use the capital raised to fund exploration work at the recently acquired Jaguar project.

The company’s share price closed at 80c a share on Thursday.