Australia-based Atlantic Lithium expects to begin production at what would be Ghana’s first lithium mine by the second half of 2024, the company’s interim chief executive told Reuters.
Lennard Kolff said in an interview that a recent scoping study showed revenue could reach nearly $5 billion over the mine’s lifetime.
The Africa-focused exploration and development firm commenced trading shares on the Australian Securities Exchange on Monday, four years after discovering Ghana’s first commercially viable lithium deposit less than a kilometre off its national highway.
“This is really an exceptional project, not only from an economics point of view, but a social one as well,” said Kolff, lead geologist, who took the reigns as interim CEO after the sudden passing of founder Vincent Mascolo last March.
“We have a chance here to make Ghana a forerunner in the global decarbonisation race by building what could be West Africa’s first hard rock lithium project,” he added.
Lithium prices have soared above $70,000 per tonne this year, as automakers keen to shift to electric models scramble to secure supply to make batteries.
Ghana, historically one of Africa’s top gold and cocoa producers, has long sought to diversify its exports, with large swings in gross domestic product often accompanying shifts in gold or oil revenue.
A pre-feasibility study of the project, released last week, projected up to $4.84 billion in revenue over the site’s 12.5year lifespan, with an initial rate of return of 224% and payback in less than five months. An updated assessment will be published early next year.
