Castle Minerals has announced that Ghana's Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) has committed a $2 million investment to support the company’s gold exploration activities and the development of the Kambale Graphite Project in northern Ghana.

The commitment, outlined in a non-binding term sheet, includes a $500,000 equity investment in Castle Minerals and a $1.5 million stake in its Ghanaian subsidiary, Kambale Graphite Limited, which oversees the graphite project.

The funding is expected to advance the project to a pre-feasibility study, with plans to produce specialised graphite concentrates for use in lithium-ion battery anodes.

The 149 km-square Kambale Graphite Project licence is held by a hundred per cent-owned Ghanaian subsidiary, Kambale Graphite Limited (KGL).

It is located 6 km west of Ghana’s Upper West regional capital of Wa which is 640 km north, via good sealed roads, of the capital Accra and the Port of Tema, which provides direct access to global export markets.

Wa has an excellent infrastructure including a commercial airport only a few kilometres from the Project, numerous well-maintained sealed and unsealed roads, plenty of potable water and reliable grid power largely fed with electricity generated by the 400MWh Bui hydroelectric dam.

These will all combine to represent a large saving in Project establishment capital costs. Mineral Resource Estimate In October 2023, the Kambale MRE was increased to 22.4Mt grading 8.6% TGC containing 1.94Mt of graphite.

This included 43% in the higher confidence Indicated Mineral Resource category.

Castle Executive Chairman Stephen Stone said: “The proposed transformational funding arrangement with Ghana’s sovereign wealth fund, the Mineral Income Investment Fund, will not only see the Project accelerated through to pre-feasibility but also establishes a de-risking platform for the offtake of a major proportion of graphite production and the provision of development capital.”

He added: “With MIIF having already formed an alliance with Atlantic Lithium and its Ewoyaa lithium project, its Castle investment fully aligns with the country’s aspiration to build Sub-Sahara’s first lithium-ion battery manufacturing hub and to be a leader in the global energy transition.”

He noted: “An undertaking to list on the fast-growing Ghana Stock Exchange will open up access to additional in-country investment and capital. Kambale’s fine flake graphite is the form required for lithium-ion battery anode manufacture and extensive test work has demonstrated that it can be processed to achieve the stringent specifications required for use in anode manufacture. The high-grade 22.4 million-tonne Mineral Resource will comfortably support a long-term production facility. We are looking forward to a very productive partnership with MIIF and the Ghana government.” 

MIIF Chief Executive Officer, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, added: “The Minerals Income Investment Fund of Ghana is a minerals sovereign wealth fund whose underlying objective is to support the growth of mining in Ghana and provide a de-risking option for investors in the mining space.”

He said: “We are excited about the proposed USD2.0 million investment in Castle Minerals Limited and its subsidiary, Kambale Graphite Limited, which meets this objective. It also fully aligns with the Government of Ghana’s critical minerals policy and its aspiration to establish sub-Sahara’s first lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility. Combined with our investment in Atlantic Lithium Limited, Ghana is moving closer to firmly positioning itself in the global EV supply chain and playing its part in reducing harmful global emissions. Ghana’s status as one of the best mining investment destinations in Africa is considerably reinforced.”