Atlantic Lithium Ltd, the Australian firm behind Ghana’s first lithium mine, has marked its first anniversary on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) with a solid market performance and renewed commitment to its flagship Ewoyaa Lithium Project.
The company, which was listed on 13 May 2024, continues to trade steadily at GHC6.12 per share with a market capitalisation of GHC4.24 billion, making it the sixth most valuable stock on the exchange and 3.05% of the total GSE market equity.
Since receiving its mining lease, mine operating permit and environmental permit in late 2023, Atlantic Lithium has been working towards bringing the Ewoyaa Project into production. However, the company still awaits parliamentary ratification of its mining agreement with the Government of Ghana – a critical step before full-scale development can commence.
In addition, Atlantic Lithium has confirmed that it is in discussions with the Government of Ghana to secure improved fiscal concessions to reflect current global market realities. The company noted that the economic environment has changed significantly since it was granted the mining lease in October 2023, with global lithium prices declining and affecting project economics.
In a statement released by Atlantic Lithium’s board on 24 April 2025, the company reaffirmed its commitment to the Ewoyaa project, declaring that it remains engaged with government stakeholders to ensure that the fiscal terms are sustainable and supportive of long-term success.
“The company has engaged key stakeholders, including government representatives, to discuss fiscal terms that reflect the current lithium price environment,” the statement said. “Discussions are ongoing.”
The executive chairman of Atlantic Lithium, Neil Herbert, expressed confidence in the project’s prospects, saying: “We are dedicated to working in a spirit of partnership with the Government of Ghana and our host communities to ensure Ewoyaa becomes a flagship project for the country and the region.”
Despite fiscal uncertainties, the company’s listing on the GSE has performed well. Over the past six months, Atlantic Lithium shares have gained 39.1%, even as short-term price movements have remained flat. In the last three months alone, the company traded 38,603 shares valued at GHC236,235, making it the 22nd most traded stock on the GSE during this period.
Atlantic Lithium has yet to declare a dividend, and earnings per share have not been disclosed. However, investor sentiment remains positive, buoyed by the project’s strategic importance to Ghana’s growing role in the global green minerals value chain.
As the world continues to pivot towards electric mobility and clean energy, Atlantic Lithium’s Ewoyaa project is seen as a potential game-changer – not only for shareholders, but for Ghana’s economic diversification and industrial future.
The listing of Atlantic was one of the conditions pushed by MIIF under the tenure of the fund’s former chief executive, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, as a way to ensure that all Ghanaians are able to buy a stake and also help develop the capital markets.
Some of the salient points in the Atlantic investment include the following:
● Increase royalties from the maximum 5% under current laws to 10%
● Increase free carried interest for Government of Ghana from 10% to 13%
● Ban on raw exports of spondumene
● Ensuring spondumene is processed in Ghana and
● Mining contracts and supplies must meet local content conditions to make the value delivery process at least 65% Ghanaian
Other terms are 1% of gross profits to go into a community development fund to support development of the community (this is against the touted 1% net profits for the same among large-scale gold producers), a commitment to develop the lithium by-product feldspar to support the fibreglass and ceramics industry, and for MIIF to be considered as holding the rights to offtake 40% of lithium produced.
By taking a stake in the holding company at a discounted price, MIIF became the third largest shareholder in Atlantic Lithium globally.
Although many experts, including Sam Jonah and Steve Manteaw, have touted the agreement as Ghana’s best for minerals, politicisation of the transaction has been such that ratification of the lease for production to begin is still dangling, leaving over 1,880 jobs at risk