Orosur Mining Inc Announces Lithium JV, Nigeria - Seite 2

All licences have been specifically chosen due to their location within the major lithostructural corridors that are known to control lithium pegmatite mineralisation in this region.

Geology

Nigeria has long been known to have substantial potential for pegmatite mineralisation, however historically these pegmatites were largely exploited at the artisanal level for other metals such as Niobium and Tantalum. As such, little geoscientific information was publicly available related to any lithium potential.

However, in early 2018, the Nigerian Ministry of Mines and Steel Development began to undertake major geoscience mapping projects across the bulk of Nigeria's crystalline basement rocks to better define the mineral potential as the key plank in a far-sighted strategy to reduce the country's dependence on oil. These projects covered a range of commodities and were referred to as the National Integrated Mineral Exploration Project (NIMEP). This work indicated that the country indeed had substantial lithium pegmatite potential, especially in the southern regions.

Foto: Accesswire

Fig 1 Schematic, Nigerian Geology

As a result, Nigeria has, in the last 12 months, seen a sharp increase in small scale artisanal lithium mining of obvious outcropping pegmatites, with a corresponding and similarly sharp increase in modern exploration across the region by international public and private companies.

Orosur began to examine opportunities in Nigeria in mid-2022, focusing on regional geological assessment and land selection, leading to this current JV with Jurassic.

Rationale and Experience

The Company has been examining options to enter the lithium space for some years, based initially on Andean brines and Brazilian pegmatites. However, it became apparent that these regions had become extremely competitive, with correspondingly high entry costs, which the Company felt were not commensurate with the quality of projects on offer.

Nigeria was then examined because of the extensive in-country experience of the Company's executive team and because the Country's lithium pegmatite potential is, to a large extent, a geological mirror image of the pegmatite fields in northeastern Brazil. The Company commenced the process of examining entry strategies, based upon a detailed assessment of geological potential, rather than simply on what was being offered.