PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Ardiden has entered into an option agreement for a second Canadian lithium project.
The company announced on Wednesday that it had signed an option agreement to acquire the Root Lake lithium project, in Ontario, to complement its recent option over the Seymour Lake lithium/beryllium/tantalum project in the same region.
A maiden drilling programme at Seymour Lake was expected to start shortly.
Under the terms of the Root Lake transaction, Ardiden would pay an exclusivity deposit of C$50 000 on the signing of an agreement, to allow for a 150-day option and due diligence period.
A further C$150 000 in cash and C$150 000 in Ardiden shares would be payable at the end of this due diligence period, if Ardiden exercised its option over the project area.
Should Ardiden exercise the option, the vendor would retain a 3% net smelter royalty, while Ardiden would retain the option to purchase or buy back a 1.5% net smelter royalty for C$1-million.
Ardiden told shareholders that the option agreement over the Root Lake project would open a second front for lithium exploration in Ontario, giving Ardiden the opportunity to acquire and develop a project that was highly leveraged to the forecast growth in the lithium ion battery sector.
The Root Lake project comprised 33 patent claims and three staked mining claims over 1 013 ha. The project included the McCombe spodumene-bearing pegmatite and the Root Lake spodomene-bearing pregmatite, which were over 2 km apart along strike, and had the potential to be connected, subject to further drilling and due diligence.
During the due diligence period, Ardiden would now review the historical data on the Root Lake project as well as conduct further geological exploration.