The Firefinch Ltd (ASX: FFX) share price is on the move today following a positive update from the company.
At the time of writing, the lithium developer's shares are up 12.23% to $1.055 apiece.
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What did Firefinch announce to the ASX?
According to the company's release, Firefinch advised that its subsidiary Birimian Gold Mali SARL has been granted a Finkola exploration licence.
Located 23 kilometres north-west of Firefinch's Morila Gold Mine in the West African nation of Mali, the licence covers the Beledjo-Koting gold deposit (Beledjo) as well as the K2, K3, and other prospects.
Firefinch will transfer the mining licence to a single purpose Malian company as required by the country's legislation.
As such, the Malian entity will initially be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Firefinch and will be a separate standalone company from Morila. However, the state of Mali has a right to receive a 10% free carried interest in the company, with an option to purchase an additional 10% at fair market value.
Once the single purpose Malian company has been formed, commercial agreements with Morila are expected to take place. This will involve operating and managing mining and haulage activities at Beledjo and processing the mined ore.
Beledjo contains probable ore reserves of 20,000 ounces of gold within an indicated and inferred mineral resource of 30,000 ounces of gold.
The grant of the mining licence allows Firefinch to add Beledjo into the mining schedule and commence preliminary site works.
Firefinch managing director Michael Anderson commented:
The grant of the Permis d'Exploitation for Finkola is another important step in ramping up production at Morila. Beledjo gives us another ore source and importantly provides oxide ore for blending with fresh ore from the Morila Super Pit.
About the Firefinch share price
Adding to today's gain, the Firefinch share price has accelerated by 402% in the past 12 months.
When looking year to date, the company's shares are up almost 22%.
Its current share price represents a 14-year high for the company.
Based on valuation grounds, Firefinch presides a market capitalisation of around $1.24 billion.
