Trident Royalties shares climbed to a new all-time high as a Federal judge largely approved the development of the Thacker Pass lithium project in Nevada.
The ruling required one section of the original approval from the Bureau of Land Management to be reviewed again relating to the storing of waste rock on Federal land.
Analysts suggested this was a favourable ruling nonetheless and that construction of the mine, which would be the largest in the US, can get underway.
First production is scheduled for 2026, with Trident holding a royalty over the mine that at full production is worth US$55mln a year to the UK company at a lithium price of US$66,000/t.
Broker Liberum raised its target price for Trident to 74p, from 71p, adding that with the huge investment into the project recently from General Motors, Thacker Pass’s development is essentially de-risked.
Shares in Trident rose 5.5% to 57p.