Proactive Investors - Atlantic Lithium Limited saw its shares jump 26% higher as trading in the stock resumed on Thursday after it issued a response to a "false and misleading report" regarding its partner Piedmont Lithium Inc released by Blue Orca Capital on March 8.
The AIM-listed exploration and development company, which is targeting to deliver Ghana's first lithium mine, said it holds valid prospecting licences with operating permits for all of its current activities, in accordance with the Ghanaian government and the Minerals Commission's requirements, and outrightly refutes the allegations of impropriety made by the Blue Orca report.
The company noted that its Ewoyaa Lithium Project sits within the Mankessim licence (owned by Barari DV Ghana Ltd, which is 90% owned by the company) and Mankessim South licence (owned by Green Metals Resources Ltd, which is 100% owned by the company).
These subsidiary companies lodged applications for a mining licence for the Ewoyaa Lithium Project with Ghana's Minerals Commission, as announced by the company on 13 October 2022. The mining licence application excludes the licences owned by Joy Transporters Ltd, which Atlantic Lithium completed the acquisition of on 4 February 2021, and which do not form part of the company's defined resources for the Ewoyaa Lithium Project.
The company said it believes that the Minerals Commission will grant the mining licence for the Ewoyaa Lithium Project and Ghana's Parliament will ratify the company's mining licence in due course.
Atlantic Lithium said that all allegations in the report have been taken seriously by the company and are ungrounded, adding that it will seek legal advice to address the claims made Blue Orca.
It pointed out that Ghana is an established mining jurisdiction with a robust mining framework, adding that the company has a zero-tolerance policy on bribery and corruption and, in all of its activities, operates in accordance with the most stringent levels of corporate governance internationally.
Atlantic Lithium noted: "The Report is clearly intended to benefit Blue Orca Capital, which, in the Report itself, has disclosed that it is short selling and stands to profit in the event that the stock price of Piedmont Lithium Inc. declines. Atlantic Lithium cautions investors not to make decisions based on the Report, which it considers factually untrue."
In early morning trading, shares in Atlantic Lithium were up 26.1% at 28.50p.