Barrick halts operations in Mali after $245m gold seized
The temporary suspension comes the military-led government seized gold stocks from the Loulo-Gounkoto complex over the weekend.
PowerStone Metals (CSE: PS) and privately held Canadian critical minerals explorer Libra Lithium have agreed to a merger, under which PowerStone will acquire all the issued and outstanding shares of Libra.
As part of the deal, PowerStone said it will also complete a consolidation of its outstanding common shares on the basis of approximately one post-consolidation common share for every 2.4966 outstanding shares.
Libra is focused on the discovery and development of its Soules Bay-Caron (SBC), Flanders North, and Flanders South lithium projects in Ontario. It also has 100% ownership over its Toivo, Burton, Bitchu, Tennant, Battery Hill and Kivinen projects in Ontario and its Nemiscau project in Quebec.
In the summer of 2024, Libra discovered a new pegmatite field in the span of less than two weeks at SBC, with 18 spodumene outcrops, pegmatites up to 30m wide, samples up to 6.64% Li2O, and spodumene crystals up to 0.4m long, Libra Lithium CEO Koby Kushner said in a December news release.
“With limited capital, we were able to build a company with a large portfolio of lithium assets and discover lithium mineralization on three grassroots projects in under a year,” he said.
Earn-in with KoBold Metals
Libra also announced in December that its Flanders South, Flanders North and SBC lithium projects are being explored under a C$33 million ($23m) earn-in deal with KoBold Metals.
Backed by billionaire investors Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, California-based KoBold uses artificial intelligence to find deposits of minerals such as copper, lithium and nickel as it seeks to become a key player in the race for critical minerals needed for the energy transition.
KoBold has about a dozen exploration properties in Zambia, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Western Australia, which have resulted from joint ventures with BHP, the world’s largest miner, and BlueJay Mining (LON: JAY) to explore for minerals in Greenland.
“We…are looking forward to exploring the Flanders South, Flanders North and SBC projects,” KoBold Metals chief strategy officer Daniel Enderton said in the statement.
“The three projects are compelling, and we are eager to follow up on the encouraging data that Libra has collected to date. Furthermore, we believe that combining Libra’s capable team with KoBold’s experienced explorationists and exploration technology will set us up for success,” Enderton said.
Consolidated company
On completion of the transaction, the company will change its name to Libra Energy Materials, which will be led by Libra CEO Kushner as chief executive officer and director, Libra chairman David Goodman as chairman and director, and Ben Kuzmich as VP Exploration.
The definitive agreement is signed, and Libra Energy Materials expects to be public this quarter, Kushner said in an email to MINING.com.
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