JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Triton Minerals on Monday said it had started due diligence on the Western Australia lithium assets and royalties that it planned to acquire from Westgold Resources.
The Australian company in December entered into an option agreement with Westgold for a package of lithium assets in the Eastern goldfields in what was deemed to be an opportunity to build Triton into a multi-commodity and multi-geographic, midtier resources company.
The opportunity provided access to cash flow from potential royalty streams and access to properties surrounding the Mt Marion lithium mine, which would enhance Triton’s access to the fast-growing lithium-ion battery and battery storage markets.
The technical due diligence, being led by CSA Global, started with site visits planned over the next week.
The deal comprised a royalty over lithium production from a 30 ha portion of Location 53, in the northern part of the Mt Marion lithium project; the right to explore lithium exploration properties immediately north and to the west of Mt Marion with identified pegmatite targets ready for drilling; and royalty over lithium production from the Buldania lithium project.
However, while the potential acquisition offered a strategically diversified approach, Triton assured that its core focus remained on the development of its flagship Ancuabe graphite project, in Mozambique, where the company had just completed a definitive feasibility study (DFS).
“Looking ahead, the DFS provides a stable platform for the company to maintain momentum and its endeavours to secure an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor, binding offtake agreements and financing. The anticipated date of first processing of concentrate in the third quarter of 2019 remains firmly on track,” said MD Peter Canterbury.
The company is currently undertaking several activities to support the targeted development timeframe, including the progression of financing discussions and conversion of the non-binding offtake memorandums of understandings into binding agreements.
Two prospective EPC contractors, Sinosteel and MCC, will also be travelling to Mozambique over the next two weeks as part of the final stages of EPC contractor due diligence, while a pilot plant is under way, processing 12 t of ore samples from T12 and T16 for distribution to potential customers.
Further, Knight Piésold had been appointed for the raw water dam front-end engineering design.