JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Battery metals investment and exploration company Marula Mining, which is delivering its first shipment of lithium ore from its Blesberg lithium and tantalum mine in the Northern Cape, has received a funding boost by clinching a partnership with Q Global Commodities (QGC).

As a majority shareholder and major investor in three future metals projects, QGC is set to fund Marula and bolster the value of the assets of this Aquis Stock Exchange-listed company that also has interests in the Nkombwa Hill niobium and tantalum, rare earth elements and phosphate project in Zambia and the Kinusi copper mine in Tanzania. Marula is also exploring opportunities to admit its shares to trading on the London AIM and Kenya’s Nairobi Securities Exchange.

“We want to make sure this is a company that we can all look to for massive growth and future profits,” QGC CEO Quinton van der Burgh stated in a release to Mining Weekly.

QGC sees itself as being able to add considerable value with a background of having brought more than 47 projects to mining stage and having nine mines under management.

“We believe Marula is a big play and we intend to throw a lot of our time and efforts to get it there during this year,” said Van der Burgh, who is proposed to be appointed chairperson of the board of directors.

The reprocessing of the stockpiles is providing a good base from which to undertake broader exploration and eventual hard rock mining.

“With Quinton, we can now go full throttle,” said Marula Mining CEO Jason Brewer.

Marula is targeting opportunities in East Africa, Central Africa and Southern Africa that can generate positive returns for all stakeholders. 

“Our board and management team aims to establish Marula as a socially and environmentally responsible, sustainable, and profitable producer of critical metals and commodities that are of increasingly strategic importance to modern technologies and the global economy,” added Brewer, a sentiment which QGC echoed.

QGC’s investment is seen by Brewer as effectively removing funding risk from advancing Marula’s projects and accelerating far-reaching development.

“We now have the ability to implement our exploration plans, resource drilling programmes, feasibility studies and development work across our projects.

“Through strengthened financial and marketing relationships, I believe we can now look to establishing Marula as a profitable producer of critical metals and commodities that are of increasing strategic importance to modern technologies and the global economy," added Brewer.

The first shipment of lithium is taking place under a $5-million lithium prepayment facility to a South African subsidiary of global commodity group Traxys.