According to a press release, the Mineral Incomes Investment Fund (MIIF) of Ghana, a sovereign minerals fund tasked with maximizing the value of the nation’s mining profits and royalties, is ready to invest in the first lithium exploitation in the nation.
In exchange for 6.0 percent holdings in the company’s assets, which include the Ewoyaa lithium project, the company is looking to invest 32.9 million US dollars in Atlantic Lithium’s operations, which are constructing a lithium mine in Ghana.
With assets in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa, Atlantic Lithium is a lithium-focused exploration and development business. To put its flagship Ewoyaa project in Ghana’s Central Region into production, the company is currently making progress. Electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing employs lithium.
MIIF’s planned investment will help Ghana’s larger Cape Coast lithium portfolio and the flagship Ewoyaa lithium project get closer to production.
In addition to some share rights, the investment would grant the state’s sovereign minerals fund representation on the boards of the corporation’s Ghanaian subsidiaries and participation in the next bidding process for Ewoyaa’s available off-take when production starts.
The planned investment by MIIF, which highlights Ghana as a very desirable mining jurisdiction and a pioneer in decarbonization activities, is seen by the lithium mining company as strategic and as a significant endorsement by an African sovereign wealth fund.
“We warmly appreciate MIIF’s continued assistance as a significant stakeholder. According to Neil Herbert, Executive Chairman of Atlantic Lithium, MIIF’s investment in the company, both at the level of the listed company and through Atlantic Lithium’s Ghanaian subsidiaries, “represents a huge endorsement of the company’s work to date and its belief in Atlantic Lithium to establish Ghana as a major producer of spodumene concentrate.
According to Herbert, the MIIF investment would be utilized to continue developing, exploring, and studying Ewoyaa as well as the company’s larger portfolio, greatly reducing the risk associated with the project’s success.
The investment by MIIF in Atlantic Lithium could boost the country’s own desire to introduce EV into the transportation mix amid global energy transition efforts.
“For MIIF, this marks the beginning of a relationship with Atlantic Lithium that will extend beyond Ghana. According to Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, Chief Executive Officer of MIIF, “We are sure that this initial investment will boost and accelerate Ghana’s attempts to establish the country’s position in the global EV supply chain as well as its efforts to become an African hub for essential minerals.
