Ragusa Minerals to earn stake in five Australian lithium tenements

Ragusa Minerals has signed a farm-in agreement with May Drilling to acquire a majority stake in five tenements in the Litchfield Pegmatite Belt in the Northern Territory (NT), Australia.

Ragusa will receive a 90 percent stake in the prospective tenements EL28642, EL29731, EL30521, EL32671 and EL(A)32405, according to the agreement.

Ragusa will pay May Drilling A$125,000 in cash to fund due diligence on the tenements.

The due diligence work, which is expected to take up to 12 months, will include exploration activities aimed at outcropping pegmatite rocks.

Ragusa will also have the option to buy May Drilling’s remaining 10% stake in the five tenements for A$500,000 in cash, $500,000 in cash or shares, and a 2 percent net smelter return royalty from the tenements.

Ragusa and May Drilling will sign a joint venture agreement after the farm-in period is completed.

“The company has secured extremely strategic and highly sought-after lithium prospective tenements in the heart of a well-known lithium district,” Ragusa chairman Jerko Zuvela said.

“This is a significant opportunity to combine Ragusa’s existing NT lithium projects to form a combined’supergroup’ project area comparable to Core Lithium and Lithium Plus, and to use our exploration and development experience to rapidly advance our NT Lithium Project in a Tier 1 jurisdiction near major infrastructure.”

“Ragusa is in a strong position to rapidly accelerate the development of our project at a time of record lithium prices and within a proven high-quality lithium district, with four currently granted tenements and significant historic works to reference.”

May Drilling and other groups had previously explored the tenements for tin, tantalum, gold, copper, zinc, graphite, lead, uranium, and lithium.

Following preliminary surface exploration, Ragusa plans to continue the previous work at the tenements, which identified high-grade lithium and gold mineralisation.