Kodal Minerals shares made minor gains on Tuesday after the company announced a significant increase in the mineral resource at their flagship lithium project.
Kodal Minerals has announced a 40% increase in the mineral resource at its Bougouni lithium project in Mali, Africa. Kodal reported a new resource estimate of 31.9 million tonnes at 1.06% lithium oxide for Bougouni, making the project one of the largest in the world.
Investors may be disappointed with the subdued market reaction, given the revised size of the resources.
The upgrade comes after recent drilling programs expanded resources at the project’s Ngoualana and Boumou deposits, which Kodal aims to develop in two stages.
The company plans first production from Ngoualana through a dense media separation plant, with a later expansion to process ore from Boumou and Sogola-Baoule using a flotation method.
Kodal said the increased resource at Ngoualana has improved confidence in the deposit ahead of initial mine development, with optimisation and design work now underway.
More drilling is imminent to expand resources further and advance additional targets at Bougouni.
Kodal Minerals shares were up only 7% at the time of writing on Tuesday despite a substantial increase in the resource, which will feed through to better project economics.
Kodal recently announced the completion of the funding package with their Chinese partners to develop the project.
