LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Africa-focussed mineral exploration company IronRidge Resources announced on Tuesday that its wholly-owned Ghanaian entity, Green Metals Resources, has been granted the Mankessim South exploration licence in Ghana.
The AIM-traded firm said the licence provides it with full ownership of a contiguous prospective lithium exploration licence adjacent to its Ewoyaa Lithium Project.

It said the Mankessim South mineral exploration licence, 'PL3/109', covers 13.02 square kilometres.

Spodumene-bearing pegmatite targets, including extensions of the known mineral resource and the Saltpond By-Pass pegmatite, had been identified for immediate follow-up, with field teams re-mobilised to site to begin low-cost regional exploration programmes.

Those programmes would include grid auger drilling, mapping and sampling within the newly-granted licence, and the surrounding resource footprint area.

Long-lead baseline environmental and social studies, and monitoring activities, were ongoing, with additional optimisation metallurgical test-work taking place at the Nagrom laboratory in Perth, Western Australia.

IronRidge said the licence had "ideal" infrastructure support, being located within 110 kilometres of the operating Takoradi deep-sea port, within 100 kilometres of the capital Accra, and adjacent to the sealed bitumen Takoradi-Accra highway and high-power transmission line.

It also said Ghana had a "highly supportive" government with an extensive mining history, "strong" diversification drive and ongoing pro-renewable and stored energy space initiatives.

"We are delighted to have been granted the Mankessim South exploration licence, which further consolidates and enhances our Cape Coast Lithium portfolio and strategy," said chief executive officer Vincent Mascolo.

"The newly-granted licence represents highly prospective ground within the immediate lithium pegmatite resource corridor and is an extension of tenure directly adjacent to, and along strike from, the Ewoyaa Lithium Project which hosts a JORC-compliant resources of 14.5Mt at 1.31% lithium oxide, including 4.5Mt at 1.39% lithium oxide in the Indicated category."

Mascolo said additional spodumene-bearing pegmatites had been observed at the Saltpond By-Pass pegmatite within the newly-granted licence, and 960 metres from the southern margin of the current resource footprint, "boding well" for potential future resource upgrades.

"Field teams have been mobilised to site and are preparing to re-commence low-cost, value-adding exploration, focussing on defining surface pegmatite mineralisation through weathered and transported cover using grid auger drilling."

At 0953 BST, shares in IronRidge Resources were down 4.76% at 10p.

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