Australasian Metals (ASX:A8G) has secured an exclusive option over a major stake in two West African lithium projects, including the already-drilled Atex Project in Côte d’Ivoire.
Under the binding agreement, A8G can acquire 75% of Atex and 51% of the Alliance exploration licence, subject to grant.
Atex already has serious lithium hits
This is not a blank-sheet exploration story.
Historical drilling at Atex returned:
- 67.97m at 1.23% Li₂O from 68.4m, including 27m at 2.13% Li₂O
- 20.77m at 1.65% Li₂O from 79.48m
- 17.59m at 0.84% Li₂O from 71.91m
- 13m at 0.83% Li₂O from 118m
Those results give Australasian Metals something valuable from day one, a project with real drill data, not just geological theory.
Figure 1: Cross sections A-A’, B-B’ and C-C’ in Spodumene Hill area looking north-east showing significant diamond drill assay intercepts in TVDD004, TVDD0018 and TVDD019 on current interpreted geology.
The system is still open
The known lithium mineralisation sits within spodumene-bearing LCT pegmatites that remain open along strike and at depth.
Historical soil geochemistry, auger drilling and RC drilling have also identified additional pegmatite targets outside the main Spodumene Hill discovery.
That gives A8G both an existing discovery and room to expand it.
West African lithium gets another ASX entrant
Atex sits within the broader West African Craton, a region that has already produced several substantial lithium projects and transactions.
Australasian Metals is moving into that district while still keeping capital discipline through an option structure rather than buying outright on day one.
The company has also raised $1M at $0.13 per share to support the next phase.
What’s next
The key now is simple.
Australasian Metals has to use the option period to decide whether the historical lithium hits can be turned into a larger, scalable system.
Atex already has grade, now A8G has to prove scale.
