Eye on Lithium: India opens the floodgates to foreign investment for its net-zero goals

All your lithium news, August 9.

Just like Moses from the Bible, India has a vision to part the red-taped waters and allow foreign investment to burgeon its lithium production as it strives for net-zero targets.

India is attempting to cement itself as a top-tier lithium producer after its government passed a law to auction off deposits and let private entities mine lithium reserves in its Jammu and Kashmir provinces discovered earlier this year, as it targets becoming carbon neutral by 2070.

Under the law, lithium – along with other critical minerals – was removed from a list of “atomic minerals” which had previously prevented it from being auctioned off and mined by private companies.

And just a couple of months ago, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) announced that its Rajasthan province contains more lithium reserves than first thought and could supply 80% of India’s internal demand for the raw material.

This could open the floodgates for all types of mining companies, from ASX juniors right up to mining heavyweights looking to become a part of the critical mineral supply chain for the most populous country in the world.

Here’s how Aussie lithium stocks are tracking:

WHO’S GOT NEWS OUT?

IRIS METALS (ASX:IR1)

Returning from a trading halt today, the Simon Lill-backed Iris has uncovered multiple, wide, high-grade and shallow lithium intersections at its 100%-owned Beecher project in South Dakota.

The Beecher pegmatite trend was mined sporadically between the 1920s and 1950s for lithium, beryllium, tantalum, mica and feldspar – and is now red hot again.

Assays from the first six drill holes of a 38-hole RC program are significant and show the project’s high potential, Iris says.

Additional assays from 32 holes are pending and are expected to be received in the coming weeks.

A highlight intersection was 60m @ 1.21% Li₂O (true width) from 16m in hole BDH-23-001, including 40m @ 1.40% Li₂O from 36m; and 22m @ 1.90% Li₂O from 46m.

PERPETUAL RESOURCES (ASX:PEC)

Brazil’s Minas Gerais lithium valley is popping at the moment, with exploration permits being snapped up left right and centre in one of the most exciting new hard rock lithium precincts in the world.

PEC acquired tenements in mid-July, and this expansion adds another 5,000ha so the project which is just 20km down the road from Canadian miner Sigma Lithium’s Grota do Cirilo lithium project.

Latin Resources Limited (ASX:LRS) Colina project is nearby too – as is Solis Minerals (ASX:SLM) Jaguar project, of which LRS has a sizeable ~18% stake in.     

PEC MD Robert Benussi PEC said the company has moved quickly and decisively “to build a commanding land position in what has become the premier spodumene area in Brazil, which boasts several Tier 1 deposits either adjacent or on trend from the tenements we have secured”.

“We also are forging a close working relationship with the permit vendor group and several other in-country specialists, which gives Perpetual significant capacity to quickly assess these compelling exploration ground positions and ultimately quickly add value through exploration activities.”

SNAPSHOT

Lithium hunter Balkan Mining and Minerals (ASX:BMM) has received an exploration permit for the Gorge Lithium Project in the Georgia Lake pegmatite district of northern Ontario, Canada.

The exploration permit, granted by the Ontario Ministry of Mines, is effective for a period of three years and allows the company to begin siteworks for an extensive drill program.

And Red Mountain Mining (ASX:RMX) increasing its tenement hold at its Mustang lithium project after staking an additional 88 mining claims to the north of the project area.

The increase is ~7.35km2 and is prospective for claystone-hosted lithium the Monte Cristo Valley in Esmeralda County, Nevada.

The land increase follows a Phase 1 drilling campaign where mineralisation is currently along strike for a whopping 1.5km and is awaiting assay results.

The additional land-hold ups the total to 228 claims for almost 20km2.