Aim-listed Kodal Minerals has been granted two new three-year exploration licences for the Fariedele and Sogola Nord prospects near its Bougouni lithium project, in Mali.
The licences replace the former Madina licence area which was due for a final extension.
The licences cover an area of 150 km2 and can be extended for up to seven years.
They cover all the areas that the company had defined in its mineral resource estimate, as well as areas that were identified for exploration in the original Madina licence.
Kodal’s subsidiary in the country has started preparing its application for a mining licence and finalising Bougouni’s mining and processing development plan.
Kodal CEO Bernard Aylward in a statement on Thursday confirmed that the mining licence application would be lodged after the company receives environmental and social impact approvals, which still required final Ministerial sign-off.
Meanwhile, the company confirmed that a bulk sample, which was shipped to the Qingdao port, in China, had cleared customs and had been transported to Ruifu Chemical’s lithium concentrator plant.
The sample was being treated to help inform Kodal’s processing development plan.