Douglas Chikohora, the CEO of CAA Mining, says the consortium is close to securing a lithium-prospecting licence, which is essential to get the refinery project off the ground.

“The critical stage for us is to get the prospecting licence. It has to be granted before we take things further with the refinery,” he tells The Africa Report.

The process has rather been “slow, but we are getting there”, adds Chikohora. Sources tell The Africa Report that the licence could be issued before the end of November.

From a 200-acre site, the proposed $500m facility will convert spodumene into an intermediary lithium chemical. The output will be exported to Livista’s European plant for further refining.

Apart from Ghana, where Atlantic Lithium and CAA Mining are racing to develop lithium mines, the consortium is targeting spodumene from Zimbabwe, DR Congo, Sierra Leone, Mali, Namibia and South Africa to feed the plant.

“There is no refinery for lithium in Africa. This project will create an alternative for sending raw lithium to China or the US [for refining],” says Chikohora. The silvery mineral is an essential component in battery manufacturing.

“Livista is building a refinery in Germany as well, but when you look at the returns, because of the cost of energy since the war in Ukraine, the profits out of the Ghanaian project, which has access to cheap gas would overshadow what they are doing in Europe,” says Chikohora.

Government’s role

Policy analysts are optimistic about the prospects of the project for Ghana’s struggling economy, but say the government ought to play an active role by owning a stake in the business.

“Ghana needs to be more strategic with this [project] and active in the process,” says Alex Ampaabeng, an economic analyst at the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI).

But, we shouldn’t rush it because being a new area there is a huge corruption risk

“The refinery can be set up here, but Ghana could end up getting nothing from it … The country must have a good percentage [of] ownership.”

Inside Ghana’s green minerals policy, recently approved by cabinet, the West African country has a strict policy against exporting raw lithium and intends to invest in big-ticket green energy projects to guarantee Ghanaian ownership.

“If this is something that we are able to do, it will have a ripple effect and be good for Ghana especially because of our energy transition framework and targets,” says Akua Chrappah Ayippey, an associate at AB & David.

With the policy yet to get parliamentary approval, Ayippey notes that “there’s still a lot of paperwork going on, which I guess is the first step, but in terms of actual implementation, we haven’t seen that yet”.

The government’s Minerals Income Investment Fund has already committed to investing $32.9m in Atlantic Lithium’s Ewoyaa lithium?project contiguous with CAA Mining’s lithium field.

Financing

The consortium is hoping that the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) will directly put funds into the refinery project.

“Minerals Income Investment Fund is talking to Livista and they like what we are saying,” CAA Mining CEO Chikohora says.

“We are saying to the government, come and join us. We want to be seen to be involving locals in what we are doing and there is no better local than the quasi-government institution that has the financial capacity to take the risk to establish such a refinery.”

CAA Mining may consider going public as well to raise funds for the project, Chikohora says.

With an anticipated completion of 2026, Ampaabeng from the NRGI hopes the government will thoroughly access the project and other green mineral-related ones before making commitments to them.

“We need to get it right. It is important for us to be out there, taking the risk and advantage of the huge [lithium] demand that is coming out,” he says

“But, we shouldn’t rush it because being a new area there is a huge corruption risk. We need to exercise enough restrain and do our homework well.”