Ghana's sovereign wealth fund invests $33 million in first lithium mine

Ghana’s sovereign wealth fund will invest almost $33 million in a lithium mine in the country and take a minority stake in its developer Atlantic Lithium, the company said on Friday.

Ghana’s Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) will buy a 6% stake in Atlantic Lithium’s projects in the country, including Ewoyaa, which is set to be the West African country’s first lithium producing mine, for $27.9 million, Atlantic Lithium said in a statement.

The investment is another example of a surge in interest in companies producing the key electric vehicle battery metal amid the clean energy transition.

In 2021, Piedmont Lithium took a 9% stake in Atlantic Lithium to secure spodumene, or high-purity lithium ore, for which it has a supply contract with electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc.

MIIF will also buy a 3.05% stake in Atlantic Lithium for $5 million, it said. The deal gives it an option to bid for the Ewoyaa project’s available supply contract of the lithium produced, through a competitive process.

“There is a competitive process (for the offtake) which MIIF will also participate in, but on a commercial level,” said Atlantic Lithium chairman Neil Herbert.

“There is an open field of chemical converters, OEMs and major trading groups,” he said.

Ghana’s leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in the country.

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