Cadence Minerals Plc (LON:KDNC) has opted not to press ahead with its planned investment in Premier African Minerals Ltd’s (LON:PREM) Zulu lithium project.
At the end of June, the two parties agreed in principle for Cadence to take up to a 30% stake in Zulu Lithium Mauritius Limited (Mauco), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Premier African, for up to US$5.1mln.
READ: Premier grants Cadence 20-day due diligence extension
The plan was that the investment would fund a definitive feasibility study of the project, where a scoping study revealed a lithium concentrate net present value (NPV) of US$127mln and lithium carbonate NPV of US$718mln last year.
As with any deal, Cadence carried out its due diligence, which it had to extend due to “unexpected interruptions” as a result of the elections in Zimbabwe.
But Cadence confirmed today (Monday) it had been unable to agree to final terms on the deal with Premier, which will provide a further update on alternative strategies for the development of Zulu over “the coming weeks”.
Premier African shares fell 22.2% to 0.14p, while Cadence dipped 0.8% to 0.18p.