[SMM News] Solis starts lithium drilling at Campo Grande

Charger Metals has mobilized a second drill rig to its Lake Johnston Lithium Project in Western Australia as part of a 10,000 m program targeting resource growth. Diamond and reverse circulation rigs are now operating at the Medcalf lithium deposit, and RC drilling began just over a week ago. The program will double the meters drilled at Medcalf. The drilling targets extensions and infill at the Medcalf inferred mineral resource estimate of 10.6 Mt grading 1% Li₂O. Drilling has further defined the Medcalf West Exploration Target of 3-5 Mt at 1-1.4% Li₂O. The program also aims to provide diamond core for metallurgical and geotechnical test work. Following the recent Medcalf resource upgrade, which raised contained Li₂O by 34%, Charger's board has committed to a Scoping Study on the Lake Johnston Project. The current resource sits on a predominantly 40 m x 80 m drilling grid, including 10,936 m of drilling at a cost of $32 per tone of contained Li₂O. The program is fully funded from Charger's sale of the Bynoe Lithium Project to Core Lithium for $3.75 million cash, received on 17 July 2026. Lake Johnston lies 450 km east of Perth in the Yilgarn Province, about 70 km from the Earl Grey Lithium Project, where Covalent Lithium began mining and commissioning in March 2024.

On September 23(rd), Savannah Resources raised US$30 million for its Barroso Lithium Project in Portugal, via 408 million shares at £0.055/share, including US$11.2 million from subscription agreements with major shareholders. Combined with US$15.5 million cash on hand, funds go toward long lead item fabrication, access road works, EPCM contracting, plant engineering, permitting, and land use rights. Barroso's July 2026 phase one DFS outlined a 14-year mine life at 183,000 t/y lithium oxide, 5.5% grade, based on US$1,788/t pricing yielding US$3.2 billion EBITDA, US$1.9 billion free cash flow, and US$913 million post-tax NPV. The deposit holds 39 million tones at 1.05% Li2O for 411,900 tones contained, Europe's largest hard-rock spodumene resource. The funding advances one of the few large-scale hard-rock lithium sources under development outside China linked African and South American supply chains, feeding EU critical raw material diversification targets.

US battery recycling startup Nth Cycle has signed a 10-year, $1 billion offtake agreement with Glencore to supply lithium carbonate recovered from recycled batteries, ahead of a planned public listing. Under the deal, Glencore will supply Nth Cycle roughly 24,000 metric tons a year of black mass as feedstock; deal value reflects Q2 2026 metals pricing. Nth Cycle will process the material at a commercial facility in the US Southeast, with location to be announced later this year and operations starting by 2029, after the company doubled its planned facility size following a $100 million US Department of Energy grant received in August. Nth Cycle also holds a similar offtake deal with commodities trader Trafigura, announced in March. Nth Cycle plans to go public via a merger with Kensington Capital Acquisition, a SPAC deal valuing the company at $585 million, after canceling a planned Series C round earlier this year. The deal expands US domestic lithium recovery capacity from battery recycling, adding a non-mined lithium supply source as EV and clean energy demand drives competition for lithium feedstock.