Emerging WA lithium player Riversgold has doubled its landholding in the Pilbara as global majors take an increasing interest in battery metals juniors.
WA is the hottest lithium producing province in the world, supplying around half of the booming electric vehicle market’s lithium raw materials.
But quality resources and growth opportunities for lithium miners are limited, placing a premium on junior companies who have consolidated some of the best ground in the resource-rich State.
Riversgold (ASX:RGL) has lodged applications for an additional eight tenements and acquired a granted exploration licence, adding 151.7km2 of tenure to its existing 150.4km2 Pilbara landholding.
That includes the 99km2 Tambourah project where it has encountered success in its early on-ground lithium exploration efforts.
With 302km2 RGL’s landholding will have doubled once the tenements are granted, with its Pilbara ground also prospective for gold and copper mineralisation.
It comes after lithium giants SQM, Tianqi and IGO made plays to invest in junior exploration companies to gain a stronger foothold in WA’s lithium scene.
“The addition of this new Pilbara ground is another example of Riversgold’s ability to expand its Western Australian battery metals portfolio cheaply and sensibly with a view to building value through targeted exploration,” RGL CEO Julian Ford said.
“With recent developments including Tianqi’s $136 million bid for Essential Metals and SQM’s recent $20 million investment in Azure Minerals highlighting the growing appetite for raw materials from safe jurisdictions such as WA, we believe the strategy we are pursuing will deliver significant reward for shareholders over time.”
RGL’s new ground has doubled its package to the south of the Pilgangoora and Wodgina mines. Pic: RGL
Two fronts
The addition of the ground, which includes a ‘nil consideration’ purchase of E45/5983 from previous vendor Mining Equities Pty Ltd, adds a swag of prospective tenements to the south of the Pilgangoora and Wodgina Lithium Mines, two of the world’s largest hard rock producers.
It continues RGL’s efforts to build its portfolio on two fronts in the vicinity of the world’s best lithium projects.
“The Pilbara and Southern Cross – Mt Holland regions are our focus area for increasing our tenement holdings and conducting on ground exploration to move each project to drilling,” Ford said.
“Lithium and rare earth elements are key to the growth of the burgeoning green economy and Western Australia is garnering strong international and domestic investment in these sectors. RGL is well funded to achieve its objectives for 2023.”
This article was developed in collaboration with Riversgold, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.