NewsBite

Resources Top 5: It’s to Infinity and beyond (47pc) for INF and its Spanish lithium hunt

Talk about a joy story! Infinity Lithium has won $31 million in Spanish government funding for its San Jose project – driving INF shares higher.

Rob Badman
5 min read
November 13, 2023 - 3:19PM
Stockhead
Infinity Lithium has grabbed the ball and burst up the bourse today. Picture: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Infinity Lithium has grabbed the ball and burst up the bourse today. Picture: Julian Finney/Getty Images

Infinity Lithium (ASX:INF) has been rocketing up the bourse on Monday, thanks to an announcement about significant Spanish government funding for its San Jose lithium project in, er, Spain.

It’s an award of €18.8 million ($A31 million) grant funding from the government’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism to joint venture entity Tecnología Extremeña del Litio.

INF’s MD and CEO Ryan Parkin describes it as a “significant milestone” for Infinity Lithium and the project, of which it owns 75 per cent.

For the latest mining news, sign up here for free Stockhead daily newsletters

Spain appears to be laying some serious chips on the table when it comes to advancing operations in the electric vehicle battery chain. It’s now awarded a total of €528.7 million to 26 major projects, including €200 million to the Extremadura giga-factory.

The San José project is in the Extremadura region of Spain and boasts the EU’s second-largest JORC-compliant hard rock lithium resource.

A recent scoping study by INF assessed potential for a “significant increase” in production of battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate from the company’s proposed integrated lithium chemical conversion facility.

“The company welcomes the government’s commitment to recognising the critical importance of lithium and its endorsement of the project,” Parkin said.

“These first funding commitments for the processing of critical raw materials in Spain places the company at the forefront of future funding pathways at both the national and European level.”

INF is currently up about 8.3 per cent YTD. At 3pm (AEDT), INF’s share price was up more than 29 per cent for the day.

Other resources stocks in the news

RONIN RESOURCES (ASX:RON)

This junior explorer sliced its way to the top of the daily ressie gainers pack earlier on Monday, but specific company news from the past 24 hours or so doesn’t appear to be readily visible at the time of writing.

We can tell you, though that, beyond its flagship Colombian projects, including Vetas, a large, high-grade thermal coal operation, it’s also joined the recent frothy hunt for white gold in Canada. Lithium, that is.

It’s been focusing on the Hornby Lake lithium project in Ontario, where, on November 6, it confirmed the sighting of numerous pegmatites, which it’s in the process of assessing for LCT-based mineralisation.

Those assay results are expected some time in December.

Familiar shot of geologist on peggie incoming …

A large pegmatite dyke at Target 27 for Ronin Resources. Source: RON
A large pegmatite dyke at Target 27 for Ronin Resources. Source: RON

RON is up about 18 per cent YTD. At 3pm (AEDT) it was up 36 per cent for the day.

TG METALS (ASX:TG6)

Last Friday, Lake Johnston-focused lithium explorers were firmly in the spodlight, and TG Metals has on Monday dodged the long hook, refusing to budge from the stage.

It has further news regarding its activities in that particular WA greenstone belt, revealing in the morning it had expanded its lithium soil anomaly associated with its Burmeister spodumene pegmatite discovery.

MORE FROM STOCKHEAD: Call to hold faith in metals, energy | Graphite gets its groove back | Investors flee currency for gold | Your guide to miner-speak

The new lithium-targeting ground is dubbed the Jaegermeister prospect, and is larger in scale than the Burmeister soil anomaly, covering some 5.7km in strike and 2.3km in width. Analogies to the massive Earl Grey pegmatite, host of SQM and Wesfarmers’ (ASX:WES) global top 10 Mt Holland lithium resource, were sure to capture the eye as well.

Drilling preparations are under way.

“Since the discovery of the spodumene pegmatites at Burmeister, the deposit models we have been considering have been based on the Earl Grey lithium mine area,” said TG Metals CEO David Selfe. “With this in mind, the lithologies at Jaegermeister were always going to be a target.

“The current drilling at Burmeister, targeting up dip, down dip and along strike of the known high grade lithium pegmatites, will provide knowledge we can apply to the Jaegermeister area and provides us with another quality drill target for early 2024.

“We are eagerly anticipating the next drilling results from Burmeister, which we expect assays back in the next two weeks.”

TG6 is up 900 per cent YTD and, at 3pm Monday (AEDT), up 28 per cent for the day.

KRAKATOA RESOURCES (ASX:KTA)

Krakatoa was, for a time, king of the mountain last week. On Monday, its gains (almost 15 per cent at 3pm, AEDT) are bubbling up once more, although we’re not seeing fresh news this week thus far.

Let’s quickly reprise its recent explosive news:

The critical minerals-hunting junior erupted on news of pegmatite intersections of the thick kind, at the former tantalum mine that is King Tamba – now a site with strong lithium-caesium-tantalum potential.

We’re talking up to 39m pegmatite under the 4.3 per cent Li20 rock chip at the Wilsons prospect at the 42sq km King Tamba in WA’s mid west, where KTA recently began a reverse circulation (RC) drill program to test high-grade lithium targets.

The company reports that 16 holes have now been drilled beneath high-grade lithium oxide rock samples, with 1806m completed.

And of those 16 holes, 13 have hit pegmatites with consistent intersections of flat-lying pegmatite logged from a depth of 70m.

KTA is now up about 115 per cent over the past 30 days, but is still down a fraction (-2.27 per cent) YTD.

Visit Stockhead, where ASX small caps are big deals

FIRST LITHIUM (ASX:FL1)

First Lithium has revealed it’s sighted spodumene-bearing pegmatite in all eight holes from its drilling at the Blakala prospect in Mali, Africa. And the price action earlier Monday morning indicated there’s some excitement surrounding the news.

That +25 per cent early surge has since cooled and there’s actually been a pause on trading for now, “pending a further announcement”.

At 3pm (AEDT), FL1 was up by 13.6 per cent for the day.

A total of 912m has now been completed as part of the company’s monster 6000m diamond drilling campaign, and today’s news continues the company’s good form with it thus far.

All holes have reportedly intersected significant spod mineralisation and remain open at depth and along strike to the north and south. FL1 highlights three holes in particular, with mineralisation at 115.5m, 73.55m and 67.28m.

Assay results are expected in about 2-3 weeks and deeper drilling is planned.

Per one of our recent special reports, Blakala sits within the company’s Gouna permit in Mali and was first identified as having lithium bearing spodumene in the 1960s by Russian geologists.

It’s one of two Tier 1 priority lithium targets in the country ranked by CSA Global in 2008 – the other being Leo Lithium’s 211Mt Goulamina joint venture project with Ganfeng.

Both prospects have clear similarities making Blakala a possible geological mirror of Goulamina.

FL1 is up 191 per cent YTD so far having rebadged and relisted in September.

This content first appeared on stockhead.com.au

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While First Lithium and Krakatoa Resources are Stockhead advertisers at the time of writing, they did not sponsor this article. 

SUBSCRIBE

Get the latest Stockhead news delivered free to your inbox. Click here

Originally published as Resources Top 5: It’s to Infinity and beyond (47pc) for INF and its Spanish lithium hunt

More related stories

Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/stockhead/resources-top-5-its-to-infinity-and-beyond-47pc-for-inf-and-its-spanish-lithium-hunt/news-story/f9c9e5179d1996fbff1e2ec2e6e7f757