Listing today, exploring tomorrow: Lightning Minerals isn’t wasting time at its Dundas lithium play

The FMG-backed IPO is listing today with its flagship Dundas South project in Norseman
The company is searching for critical minerals and lithium near Liontown Resources’ Buldania deposit
Former Critical Resources boss Alex Biggs plans to kick off exploration tomorrow

It’s unheard of to list one day and start exploration the next – but that’s what today’s fresh listee and critical minerals explorer Lightning Minerals (ASX:L1M) wants to do.

The company has four project areas in WA, but that standout are its Dundas licences in the hot new lithium province of Norseman, which it picked up from Fortescue (ASX:FMG), which holds about 3% in the company.

Dundas South actually surrounds Liontown Resources’ (ASX:LTR) Buldania/Anna lithium project.

It’s also just down the road from Alliance Mineral Assets’ (ASX:A40) Bald Hill lithium and tantalum project, Global Lithium’s (ASX:GL1) Manna project, Essential Metals (ASX:ESS) Pioneer Dome project, and Mineral Resources (AX:MIN) Mt Marion project.

“We’re going to start work on the day after listing. No companies do that,” MD Alex Biggs says.

You might recall Biggs from his days as MD and CEO at Critical Resources (ASX:CRR) when it acquired the Mavis Lake lithium project in Canada – and he says it’s that project which built his reputation for getting on with the job.

“People know me from Critical, they know what I’m like, they know how aggressive I am in approaching our projects,” he said.

“I don’t sit around. I don’t let our guys sit around. We’re out there, we’re doing the work, we’re generating exciting news.”

L1M Dundas Lithium — Pic: Some big-name neighbours around Lightning’s landholding.

Kicking off work tomorrow

The company IPOd at $7m at $0.20 and Biggs said it had interest for $40m because the lithium thematic is really generating investor attention right now.

“We’re in a highly prospective region, Dundas is red hot right now, it really is,” he said.

“And if your neighbours are doing well, that reflects on you – but of course you still have to do the work too.”

The plan is to hit the ground running tomorrow with soil sampling and geochem work, surface mapping, looking at outcrops and reviewing extensive historical data to delineate some drill targets.

“Probably towards the end of the first quarter next year, we’ll be looking at doing some drilling,” he said.

The focus will be on both critical minerals and lithium, as historically there were never multi-element essays completed on the projects.

“It was always just gold and nickel, and now we’ve seen the emergence of lithium there as a hot commodity – just look at the projects around us,” Biggs said.

“We see continuing lithologies and geologies into our leases, so our focus will be the critical minerals and the lithium thematic, and that Dundas region as a whole is certainly emerging as a lithium province.”