African Battery Metals PLC (LON:ABM) has kicked off exploration work at its cobalt-nickel project in Cameroon.
Starting immediately, the AIM company is to undertake a pit excavation programme, digging down to up to 15 metres.
READ: ABM prepares to analyse samples from DRC copper-cobalt project
The pitting programme will include mapping and sampling of each excavated pit, which will add to the data from historical work at the site.
African Battery bosses are using the programme to try to figure out if their project demonstrates similarities to the nearby Nkamouna deposit, which is host to an estimated 323mln tonnes of ore at 0.21% cobalt, 0.61% nickel and 1.26% manganese.
The plan is to finish the excavation work before the onset of the heavy rains later in the year, with the samples to be sent to a laboratory in South Africa for analysis.
Results could have ‘dramatic’ impact
“I am pleased to announce the recommencement of exploration field work in Cameroon, which follows the recommencement of exploration at the Kisinka project in the DRC announced in April,” said executive director Paul Johnson.
“As with Kisinka, we have opted to focus our initial exploration spend in a highly targeted manner, answering a simple exploration question and namely, do the identified target areas have geological similarity to the nearby Nkamouna deposit?”
“If the answer is positive, the impact on the value of the project to the company could be dramatic and certainly disproportionately beneficial against the underlying modest cost of conducting the planned pitting and sampling programme.”
African Battery shares rose 5.6% to 0.48p on the back of Monday’s announcement.