If there was ever a prize for an ASX junior being in the right commodity, in the right place and at the right time, ASX-listed Chariot Corporation would surely be a hot contender.
The company’s share price soared 225 per cent from 10 cents to 32.5 cents a share this week after the Trump administration said it was considering taking a 10 per cent equity stake in the company’s neighbour – Lithium Americas – as part of a US$2.26 billion (A$3.4 billion) government loan renegotiation.
Chariot Corporation’s share price rocketed 225 per cent to 32.5 cents a share after Washington said it was eyeing a 10 per cent stake in Thacker Pass – right next door to Chariot’s Resurgent claystone lithium project in Nevada.
Not surprisingly, the share price of Lithium Americas, which owns the Thacker Pass lithium project, soared 95 per cent to $6 a share on the news, taking the market capitalisation of the company to US$1.5 billion (A$2.26 billion).
Thacker Pass in Nevada is North Americas’ biggest lithium prize and the prospect of Washington muscling onto the register alongside General Motors – which last year snapped up 38 per cent for US$625 million (A$944 million) – speaks volumes about just how vital the metal has become to America’s future.
As for Australian punters, the ripple effect couldn’t be clearer. The Chariot-controlled Resurgent project sits right next door to Thacker Pass. The company’s landholding shares the same ancient caldera basin, which is the very geological bowl that has already coughed up billions of dollars’ worth of lithium-bearing claystone at its famous neighbour.
Chariot’s own early surface sampling has thrown up some serious numbers, with assays hitting up to 3,865 parts per million lithium. Widespread mineralisation is already mapped and the company is poised to unleash a drilling program once the final permits are in hand.
Given the US Government’s laser focus on securing domestic lithium, Chariot’s timing really couldn’t be sharper.
For Chariot though, its Resurgent prospect is only one piece of the jigsaw. The company recently reclaimed full ownership of its Horizon lithium project, also in Nevada, after a partner defaulted.
Horizon currently hosts a 10.2-million-tonne lithium carbonate equivalent resource, including 1.3Mt in the indicated category, catapulting it into the top tier of US lithium plays. It is up there with Lithium Americas’ 19.1Mt Thacker Pass orebody and American Lithium’s TLC deposit at 10.7Mt.
