Mali Lithium strengthen its grip on regional gold
Mali Lithium Limited has announced the signing of an agreement to acquire, subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions, an 80% interest in the Morila Gold Mine (Morila) in south-west Mali from Barrick Gold Corporation (Barrick) and AngloGold Ashanti (AngloGold).
The acquisition of the Morila Mine will instantly transform MLL into a cash generating gold producer. The mine is forecast to produce approximately 26,350 ounces of gold from November 2020 to the second quarter of 2021 and there is excellent potential for near term growth in production and mine life.
Morila is a world class, cash generating asset that has produced over 7.4 million ounces of gold to the end of 2019. Past production is from AngloGold, Randgold Resources (Randgold) and Barrick public disclosure from 2000 to the present day and from Morila SA records.
The Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate is beneath and around the Morila main pit alone. It is 32 million tonnes at 1.26 g/t gold for 1.30 million ounces of contained gold a lower cut-off grade of0.5g/t gold, is constrained by a US$1250/ounce pit optimisation and above a lower cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t gold2. This would underpin a substantial, long term gold operation.
Executive Chairman of the Company, Dr Alistair Cowden commented:“Morila is one of West Africa’s great gold mines and we are excited and privileged to acquire a mine of Morila’s calibre with its past production plus Mineral Resources (gold endowment) of 8.7 million ounces of gold. This is truly a transformative transaction for the Company as we become a gold producer.
“We have a unique advantage as the newest gold producer on ASX as Morila has all the infrastructure required of an operating remote gold mine as well as the expertise of the operating team. We will benefit from the substantial sunk capital invested by the previous owners over the last twenty years.”
“We plan to use the cashflow from the current tailings retreatment at Morila to ramp up the operations through recommencing open pit mining as soon as practicable. We are already working on defining larger resources and reserves that may support a long mine life at higher rates of gold production through a restart of mining.
“Our current intention is that all employees at the mine will retained and it is our hope that we can support the local community through additional employment opportunities as operations scale up.
“We have a second world class asset in the Goulamina Lithium Project (Goulamina), however, Morila and Goulamina will benefit from a sharp individual focus. We will soon complete the Definitive Feasibility Study for Goulamina and then we will undertake a strategic review to investigate the optimum path to maximisethe value of Goulamina.”
WHO IS MALI LITHIUM ?
Mali Lithium Limited, formerly Birimian Limited, is a lithium company focused on the development of the Goulamina Lithium Project in Mali. Mali Lithium is developing the world class Goulamina Lithium Project in Mali, West Africa. Goulamina is fully permitted and is one of the world’s largest uncommitted hard rock Lithium Reserves. The company is currently completing its Definitive Feasibility Study and has released the results of its Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) on the project.
The Pre-Feasibility Study outlines a large high-grade reserve with a minimum 16-year mine life for the project, producing 362,000 tonnes per annum of 6% Li2O in spodumene concentrate at attractive costs.
Goulamina is the largest uncommitted hard rock lithium mineral reserve in the world, with 31.2 million tonnes at 1.56% lithium oxide (Li2O) of probable reserves and the project is on track for the completion of the Definitive Feasibility Study, followed by a Final Investment Decision in the second half of next year.
While its current focus is on advancing the world-class Goulamina Lithium Project to production, the Company also holds the Massigui Gold Project and the prospective Dankassa Gold Project, all situated in southern Mali.
