Just how big could the Titan lithium project in Tanzania turn out to be?
We’re about to find out, but the early indications are already very encouraging.
Samples taken by geologists working on behalf of Titan Lithium Inc (OTC:CDSG) have returned grades as high as 22,000 parts per million lithium-in-soil. In claystone lithium terms that’s high indeed, and compares very favorably indeed to comparable deposits in, say, Nevada.
So we’re already ahead.
But there’s more.
Every time the geologists tried to close off the edges of the Titan deposit they hit mineralization. Eventually it got so that what had initially been assumed to be a small, high-grade showing encompassed more than 25 square miles, or more than 65 square kilometres.
All of a sudden, Titan was big, as well as high grade.
In fact, the current mineralized footprint covers 11 times as much ground as Thacker Pass, one of the richest and most comparable lithium mines in the US.
The real question, though, is how deep does it go?
After all, it’s all very well to have high grade and good lateral extent, but the difference between mineralization at surface and mineralization down to significant depths could be truly significant.
The plan is to drill the project later this year, perhaps in October.
But in the meantime, a couple of back-of-the-envelope calculations are worth taking note of.
Based on the current average grade and the overall mineralized footprint, and assuming that mineralization runs down to a depth of just 15 metres, then Titan could contain 15.6mln tonnes of lithium oxide, or around 7.2mln tonnes of lithium metal.
That would make it, on the assumption of just 15 metres of mineralization, twice as large as projects like Thacker Pass and Tonopah Flats, four times larger than Sonora, and more than six times larger than the Clayton Valley. And note, too, that in Nevada, grades tend to improve with depth.
All told, these are some big projections, and it remains to be seen whether Titan Lithium will deliver the data to follow through.
But on the strength of what’s already on the table, it’s hardly surprising that it’s going to have a go.
What’s more surprising is why no-one’s done it before.
The answer to that conundrum is partly commodity-specific, and partly jurisdictional.
Tanzania’s had its ups and downs as a mining jurisdiction, but on balance can be regarded as largely welcoming. Certainly, it’s on the up now, following the resolution of long-standing disputes with one of the world’s major gold companies.
For good or ill, though, and with the occasional exotic exception, it’s largely been gold that’s grabbed the attention of anyone who wants to go mining in Tanzania. Until now.
The search for alternative energy sources has generated new thinking about old knowledge. And so Tanzania’s potential for alternative energy sources has come back onto the table, especially as a new government has come into power, and a new chapter is opened in the country’s relationship with the mining industry.
Which brings us back to the Titan project.
The geological setting is what is known in North America as a ‘playa’. One way of regarding a playa is as a geologically ancient valley, but in more practical terms what a playa often amounts to is a sparsely vegetated region of desert.
So it is with the Titan project. Will Titan Lithium have to negotiate with local farmers? No. Any local people at all? Not really. Will it be taking anyone’s water? No.
Can you see the ESG scales tipping irrevocably in Titan Lithium’s favor as it works towards delivering what could be one of the biggest sources of clean energy fuel anywhere in the world?
“We’re currently the only company focused on the clay-type of lithium deposit in Africa,” says Titan Lithium’s chief executive Craig Alford.
Partly, that’s because not many lithium companies know their way around Africa in the manner that Titan knows its way around Tanzania. Chairman Harp Sangha spent many years living in and getting to know Tanzania. And Alford too knows Africa.
But do they really think they can deliver one of the world’s biggest lithium projects inside a small company like Titan Lithium?
Well, some adjustments do need to be made. For a start, funding will be required, and in significant quantities. For that, a change in SEC status needs to be completed, and the expectation is that that will be done by the fall.
Sangha is already known to fund managers around the world, and has no doubts that he can get Titan funded when all the ducks are in a row.
After that, the serious work on the ground will begin. Tanzanian law mandates that the government gets a stake, and Titan will likely use local contractors to undertake much of the work. All licences in Tanzania are now digitized, so everything is likely to be kept in good standing.
All of which brings us back to the potential size of the resource.
If Titan can get the drill rigs turning later this year, what will it find?
“We have a very good chance of finding something world class,” says Alford.
And in mining exploration, there’s not much more you can ask for.