ASX-listed ENRG Elements has wasted no time in preparing ground reconnaissance work at its recently-acquired Tarouadji project in Niger, with surface rock-chip sampling already planned in its search for lithium.
The company added the project in the relatively underexplored Agadez region of the African nation to its portfolio just this month. It is in a geological area management considers favourable to host lithium mineralisation.
ENRG’s initial work will focus on areas historically identified with lithium anomalies and pegmatite material. The explorer has its sights set on several targets to be tested for lithium and lithium pathfinder elements, including tin, caesium and tantalite.
Tarouadji covers a tenement package of about 500 square kilometres and sits only 70km east from ENRG’s Agadez uranium project. The new acquisition was previously explored in 1969 through surface sampling and geological mapping. The company says the region contains the world’s biggest ring dykes and the project is also host to several identified pegmatite intrusions.
ENRG is studying historic sample results that identified lithium and tin anomalies and will report them in accordance with JORC code 2012 once verified.
In April, the company bolstered its Agadez uranium mineral resource estimate by more than 100 per cent to 31.1 million tonnes grading 315 parts per million triuranium octoxide for 21.5 million pounds of yellowcake. The company’s improved resource estimate includes an increase in grade of 6.8 per cent from 295ppm to 315ppm triuranium octoxide.
Agadez sits in the highly-prospective Tim Mersoi Basin in Niger – one of the globe’s premier uranium mining districts. The 114,000sq-km basin extends into Mali, Algeria, Benin and Nigeria and hosts French nuclear giant Orano’s 134-million-pound Somair and 75-million-pound Imouraren mines.
ENRG says Niger has one of the world’s biggest uranium reserves and in 2021, it was the seventh-highest uranium producer globally. The nation’s Tim Mersoï Basin hosts the highest-grade and tonnage uranium ores in Africa.
ENRG previously operated under the name Kopore Metals. However, last year it switched the tag in line with management’s strategic objective to supply minerals critical to the carbon neutral and electric energy sectors. That mission includes its Ghanzi West copper-silver project in Botswana’s renowned Kalahari copper belt.
Six wholly-owned prospecting licences make up the company’s extensive 2630sq-km tenure in Botswana. Management considers its significant ground position in the world-class Kalahari copper belt as an ideal location for a large-scale discovery, as demonstrated by the neighbouring resources defined by other explorers.
Rio Tinto has acquired ground south-east of ENRG’s interests, while ASX-listed Noronex is already mining copper to the south-west.
With surface sampling set to kick off at Tarouadji, the market will be keeping a close eye on what the company can unearth in its search for lithium in Niger.
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