ASX lithium shares have been some of the best performers on the exchange this year.
With lithium demand booming amid a surge in global electric vehicle production, many resource explorers are branching out from their traditional metals and turning their attention to uncovering the light-weight, highly-conductive metal.
And that's seeing this small ASX gold share transforming into an ASX lithium share.
A nascent ASX lithium share
You may not be familiar with Ragusa Minerals Ltd (ASX: RAS). The microcap resource explorer that's been primarily focused on gold has a market cap of just $12 million. But it has big ambitions.
At time of writing the Ragusa share price is up 23% to 9.8 cents per share after earlier posting gains of 30%.
The aspiring ASX lithium share entered a trading halt on Friday pending an announcement released before market open today.
According to the release, Ragusa has entered into a tenement farm-in agreement with May Drilling for the exclusive right to earn an initial 90% interest in a tract of lithium prospective tenements. Ragusa maintains the option to increase its interest to 100%.
The tenements are located in the Litchfield Pegmatite Belt, located in the Northern Territory. Covering some 570 square kilometres, the area is in close proximity to Core Lithium Ltd's (ASX: CXO) Finnis Project.
What did management say?
Commenting on the agreement that could see the company transform into an ASX lithium share, Ragusa chair, Jerko Zuvela said:
The company has secured extremely strategic and highly sought-after lithium prospective tenements in the centre of a well-renowned lithium district. This is a significant opportunity to combine Ragusa's existing NT lithium projects to create a combined 'supergroup' project area comparable to neighbours Core Lithium and Lithium Plus, and utilise our exploration and development experience to rapidly progress our NT Lithium Project in a Tier 1 jurisdiction close to major infrastructure.
With four currently granted tenements and considerable historic works to reference, Ragusa is in a strong position to rapidly accelerate the development of our project at a time of record lithium prices and within a proven high-quality lithium district.
