Atlantic Lithium Ltd (AIM:ALL, OTCQX:ALLIF, ASX:A11) announced on Tuesday that its funding partner Piedmont Lithium (ASX:NASDAQ:PLL, OTC:PLLTL) is merging with Aussie-listed Sayona Mining
After the merger is closed, the new entity will be in charge of US$70 million in funding towards the development expenditure of Atlantic’s flagship Ewoyya project in Ghana.
The proposed merger, according to Atlantic, “will not only significantly de-risk the funding of the project towards production, but also extend the project's exposure globally, notably in North America and Australia, including to potential offtakers”.
It follows a recent $10 million funding round through a share subscription backed by major shareholder Assore to help move the project towards a Final Investment Decision.
In October, Atlantic celebrated receiving a Mine Operating Permit from the Minerals Commission of Ghana, which is now awaiting ratification from the Ghanaian government.
Atlantic’s executive chairman Neil Herbert told Proactive that the project has support from the traditional Chiefs of the area.
“Ghana is a very traditional society, so the Chiefs have an enormous amount of influence,” said Herbert. “One of the things that was got right on this project from the very beginning was the support of the Paramount and Divisional Chiefs, basically because we had a local employment-first policy.
"The project also has a substantial benefit in terms of money coming back to the community for community development as well, which is great. "
Herbert said the parliamentary process has taken longer than Atlantic has hoped, but hopes are high that ratification will pass in the first half of 2025.
At this point in time, Atlantic is the only notable company with a lithium project on the ground in Ghana.
He continued: “The project currently has 35 million tonnes in resource, but “we think we can expand that over time.
“We've always felt there's potential to grow. We've actually worked on a small corner of our overall licence area, just where we made the initial discovery.
“We're not doing that much exploration work, because it's not worth it at this point in time, because we have enough for the for the mine plan, but as we come into production, we will increase the pace of extra expiration so we continually ad resource and extend the mine life.”
With funding in order and licences nearly rubber stamped, Atlantic could potentially break ground in the middle of 2025, followed by an 18-month build time.
In the meantime, company shares are priced at 13.07p each with a £94 million market capitalisation.