Ghana to mine lithium in commercial sizes, (MIIF)
The Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) has disclosed that Ghana has found lithium in commercial quantities
Lithium discovered on the shores of central and western belt of Mankessim through to Cape Coast and Sekondi is set to be produced in commercial quantities.
The statement as sited by the Daily Guide, previews how the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) intends to invest into the sector to enable its production in commercial magnitudes to be exported out of the country.
The Chief Executive Officer of MIIF, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng stated in an interaction with investors and delegates on the sidelines of the Mining Indaba recently in Cape Town, South Africa, confirmed it was the agency’s 2022 investment plans.
Mr. Koranteng announced at the biggest mining investment event in Africa of how Ghana has demonstrated commercial deposits in lithium, which is the fundamental resource needed to power the increasing electrical vehicles (EV) market.
“The data is outstanding with further opportunities from the value chain and for byproducts such as feldspar, the main resource in ceramics and fiber glass,” Mr. Koranteng said.
According to Mr. Koranteng, the global market for unprocessed lithium is around $6.83 billion dollars, with analysts projecting steady growth to approximately $10 billion dollars by 2028, and with the global lithium battery market projected to hit $100 billion dollars by 2025 due to the rapid expansion in the EV market.
“We evidently see lithium as a growth tool, after analysing all the data and started negotiations with Atlantic Lithium which holds concessions with recoverable grade of 560 km2 miles in Ghana,” Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng voiced out to the investors gathered in Cape Town.
Mr. Koranteng emphasized that “a direct equity investment offers a worthy prospect for MIIF to come in at an early stage bearing in mind Atlantic’s planned listing in August 2022. We estimate an Internal Rate of Return of 125% in 4 years and a projected revenue of over $1.5 billion in 8 years,” the MIIF CEO confirmed.
The best use of lithium is in rechargeable’s like batteries for mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras and electric vehicles.
It is also used in some non-rechargeable batteries for things like heart pacemakers, toys and clocks.
