Greenpower Energy commits to phase three earn-in at Morabisi lithium project, boosts stake to 51%

Greenpower Energy (ASX: GPP) has committed to phase three of its staged earn-in of the Morabisi lithium project in South America, which once completed, will give Greenpower a controlling 51% stake in the project.

Under the initial agreement with Guyana Strategic Metals that was executed in September 2016, Greenpower will acquire 16% of the project, boosting its interest to 51%, by making a US$50,000 cash payment and issue 12.5 million shares based on its 30-day average price.

Additionally, Greenpower will fork out a further US$1 million on exploration at Morabisi within 12-months.

Phase two exploration at the Turesi deposit involved a recently completed trenching program. The program defined a 250m by 800m zone that returned lithium grading more than 2%.

Greenpower stated it believes the mineralisation is open and the trenching results had de-risked the project enough to progress to phase three exploration, which will comprise a drilling program to determine the pegmatite’s grade and depth.

“The results received to date from the phase two program are very encouraging and indicate a district scale LCT pegmatite system is evident at Morabisi and, as such, warrants further assessment via the drill bit to better understand the true extent of the lithium discovery at Turesi,” Greenpower executive chairman Gerard King said.

Greenpower has begun preparations for a 2,000m 15 to 20-hole drilling program, with camp construction underway for the operations team, as well upgrading road and site access.

The company anticipates the program will be finished within 15 weeks.

During the previous phase two program, more than 1,000 grab samples were also taken from Turesi and other prospects such as Robello and Heavy Creek.

Assays from the program returned up to 2.2% lithium, with more than 70 samples from Turesi assaying at 1% lithium or higher.

Morabisi encompasses 3,848 square kilometres in Guyana, about 150km from the country’s capital Georgetown.

Greenpower’s share price soared more than 7% in early morning trade to A$0.015.