Kodal Minerals, a mineral exploration and development firm specialising in gold and lithium assets in West Africa, has revised the JORC Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the Bougouni lithium project in southern Mali to 31.9 million tonnes (Mt) at 1.06% lithium oxide (Li2O).
This represents a more than 40% increase compared to the MRE estimate that was finalised in 2019.
The substantial surge is unique to the Ngoualana and Boumou deposits, where drilling operations concluded at the beginning of 2023.
It said the revised assessment of mineral resources was formulated in accordance with the development strategies for Bougouni.
“The significant increase in Bougouni's lithium endowment is a further step towards becoming a West African spodumene producer of substance and scale,” said company chief executive Bernard Aylward. “With the results from the latest drilling campaign delivering over 10 Mt of resource, we are looking forward to bringing Bougouni into production at the end of 2024, as well as ramping up the drilling programme to include infill and extension definition drilling, and uncovering additional discoveries within our extensive mining licence.”
As previously disclosed, the company intends to implement a two-stage development approach.
The first stages will see ore from the Ngoualana deposit being processed via a dense media separation facility, while ore will be processed via a flotation facility from the Boumou and Sogola-Baoulé deposits during the second stage.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished