China's Xinfeng has previously clashed with Namibian authorities over exports.

Besides the potential to increase resources, drilling inside the pit shell continues to show continuity and consistency in grade and thickness.

Zeeshan Syed, a former Alberta Energy Regulator executive who was engulfed in a public sector spending scandal in Alberta welcomed two Liberal cabinet ministers to the Thunder Bay site of his junior mining company’s proposed lithium refinery.

The company plans to develop deposits of metals such as lithium, copper and nickel in southern and eastern Africa.

The shares fell as much as 35% at the open in Sydney.