Transcription of The Stock Network Interview with Chariot Corporation (ASX:CC9) Managing Director, Shanthar Pathmanathan
Lel Smits: Chariot Corporation is a fast-moving lithium exploration company focused on unlocking high-grade lithium in the world’s most dynamic supply regions. The company holds a 66.7% stake in Nigeria’s largest hard rock lithium portfolio, a first for the ASX. Chariot also controls one of the largest lithium exploration footprints in the United States, including the Black Mountain Project in Wyoming and the Resurgent Project in Nevada and Oregon.
Joining me from Chariot Corporation is its Managing Director Shanthar Pathmanathan. Shanthar, welcome to the Stock Network.
Shanthar Pathmanathan: Thank you, Lels. Good to be here.
Lel Smits: Now, you plan to quickly get an initial exploration program underway at the now-acquired Nigeria assets. What will the program entail and how quickly will investors get updates on the results following on from this work?
Shanthar Pathmanathan: I believe Nigeria is going to be one of the most exciting frontiers. It’s going to be what Brazil was in the last five years. Nigeria’s turn is now. We have acquired the largest portfolio of lithium assets in country. They were about to be listed for US$120 million on the Nasdaq. They ran into some issues on that front, not the least the market turning down. So we’ve swooped in in a counter-cyclical way, purchased these assets.
There are eight exploration licences, two small-scale mining licences already in place, and 170 to 400km from the port of Lagos. So unlike most of the other big African deposits, these are not landlocked. ABZ, etc.
in Mali are all landlocked. These are on the coast, very close to port. They’ve all got past production, recent or current artisanal production. As I said, Nigeria is one of the most exciting frontiers. It’s the fastest growing supply region for lithium on the planet. Africa as a whole has grown 500%.
It’s now about 20% of global production during a time when lithium prices crashed 90%. China seems to prefer African supply. Geopolitical shifts are obviously promoting that because that seems to be the most active trade route in lithium.
The undocumented sales of lithium from Africa to China is the inside story in the lithium world, and we’ve just moved in on that trade. In terms of what we’re going to be doing, we will be looking to develop each of these four assets. They all merit all the work to do there.
We will be looking to develop each of those properties at the same property in three different ways. One is to continue the artisanal mining. What investors can expect is a revenue-sharing deal.
The artisanal mining means the locals will be going and picking up the ore, selling it to the joint venture, which will then process the ore and sell it to China. This is small quantities, sub-10,000t per annum. We will then look to work with a Chinese counterparty off-take partner to get prepayment financing and develop a small-scale lithium mine in-country.
That will cost somewhere in the vicinity of USD$20M-USD$30M, and that will likely have revenues of USD$50M-USD$100M. That’s the next phase in the next 18 months or so. Beyond that, the same properties we will be drilling in parallel.
That’s the third plank of growth to discover the next Pilbara-type or Pilgangura-type deposit in Nigeria. Nigeria shares a very similar geology to Brazil. It was once connected 500M years ago.
The landmass was connected and the Atlantic Ocean rift caused the landmass to separate about 120M years ago. The great discoveries in Brazil, the Sigma Lithium deposit, the multi-billion-dollar lithium deposit, that type of geology is the same as what is in Nigeria. That’s what we’re going to be looking to go and take advantage of.
Lel Smits: Excellent. Well, great to hear about these exciting Nigeria tenements coming on board. You still have the US-based Black Mountain and Resurgent Assets. Can you outline what exploration activities will be occurring across these projects over the coming year?
Shanthar Pathmanathan: The US assets don’t have the same superstar status as the Nigeria assets. We will be dedicating most of our capital to the Nigeria properties. We will definitely be dedicating capital to holding the US properties together.
But the emphasis there is actually going to be on working with the federal government, getting government support to advance those properties a little bit slower because the US market is admittedly growing quite a bit slower than the Chinese market in terms of the electric vehicle rollout. So, we want to time our approach to what the market is doing in the United States. Well, thank you so much for the update on Chariot Corporation and look forward to seeing your news flow in the coming months.
Shanthar Pathmanathan: Thank you, Lels.
Ends