PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior Calidus Resources has formed a lithium exploration joint venture (JV) with Haoma Mining.

The exploration company, which will be known as Pirra Lithium, will be assigned tenements and lithium rights across the most prospective lithium ground in the Calidus and Haoma portfolios. These tenements and lithium rights cover 1 063 km² in Western Australia.

Calidus MD Dave Reeves said the formation of the JV with Haoma gives Calidus a low-cost opportunity to gain exposure to an increased area of ground that has been targeted for its lithium potential.

“Pirra Lithium creates a highly-leveraged exploration opportunity for our shareholders. There is clearly potential to unlock substantial value by exploring what is highly prospective lithium ground in one of the world’s best lithium provinces.

“We can capitalise on this opportunity without it having any impact on our core asset at Warrawoona, where we are on track to pour first gold in the coming quarter.

“As part of this strategy to create additional value for our shareholders while maintaining our sharp focus on Warrawoona, we are establishing a separate dedicated team to pursue this lithium opportunity.”

The various tenements will be initially ranked for their lithium potential. For the highest priority target areas, field mapping will be carried out immediately to determine the distribution, size, orientation and mineralogy of the pegmatites. Particular attention will be paid to the nature of any lithium-bearing minerals, Calidus said.

Calidus will contribute the first A$1-million of funding for exploration and manage the exploration using existing infrastructure in the area. At that point, both parties will contribute equally to the funding of the JV. Calidus will also issue A$1-million in scrip at an issue price equal to the five-day volume weighted average share price to Haoma as compensation for previous exploration.

Completion of the transaction is conditional on the parties agreeing to a formal mineral rights sharing agreement to govern the grant of the lithium rights to Pirra Lithium.