Atlantic Lithium Ltd. said it remains confident that its mining lease for the Ewoyaa lithium project will be ratified, following revisions to fiscal terms that now align the project more closely with Ghana’s current mining laws.
The Africa-focused developer, Atlantic Lithium Limited, said a changed mining lease for Ewoyaa has been formally submitted to the Parliament of Ghana and referred to a select committee, restarting the ratification process required before mining can begin.
Ewoyaa, which Atlantic Lithium hopes will become Ghana’s first lithium mine, is the company’s flagship asset. The original lease was granted in October 2023, but changes were later requested as the government reviewed how royalties and levies should apply to lithium projects.
Those revisions follow consultations led by Ghana’s minister of lands and natural resources and were supported by the company. The updated lease brings Ewoyaa’s royalty rate and Growth and Sustainability Levy into line with rates already set out in Ghanaian law.
As part of that process, the minister has also submitted a new legislative instrument to parliament that proposes a sliding scale of royalty rates linked to the price of spodumene, the lithium-bearing mineral produced at Ewoyaa.
Under the proposal, royalties would start at 5% when prices are below US$1,500 a tonne and rise to as much as 12% if prices exceed US$3,000 a tonne.
All other fiscal terms agreed in the original 2023 mining lease remain unchanged.
Parliament has now adjourned for the festive period. Atlantic Lithium expects the select committee to review the revised lease in the new year before making a recommendation on whether it should be ratified.
In the update, the company said it “remains confident that ratification of the Mining Lease will be forthcoming in accordance with due parliamentary process”. It added, however, that there can be no certainty over the final form of the legislation or the outcome of the parliamentary vote.
