Bernard Aylward

IT’S lift-off for Bernard Aylward’s Kodal Minerals, a UK-listed firm, after the first lithium concentrate was exported from the Bougouni mine in southern Mali. The maiden shipment of 30,000 tons from the mine took place in October, five months after production began. Once ramped up, Bougouni’s first-phase production is forecast to be 125,000t of spodumene concentrate. It is some achievement given the political noise since the mining licence was granted four years ago, and the current foment in the oversupplied lithium market.

Claps on backs all round, we say, especially as the project was on budget at $65m. A $175m-$200m second phase, taking production to 230,000t a year of concentrate, is now in the works. It’s helped Aylward no end, however, that China’s Hainan Group invested in his company and the project, for which it has a four-year offtake, with a floor price written in. There have been questions, though, about the deal. Mali’s ruling junta, which has kept foreign investors on a tight rein, initially withheld an export permit as it sought clarity over prices. Lithium pricing could be in government crosshairs again because when the export permit was finally granted in September, it was for Bougouni’s first phase only.

In November, Kodal was soothing investor nerves after reports jihadists had advanced towards Mali’s capital, Bamako, cutting off key roads and ambushing military patrols. Bougouni is a distant 180km from Bamako, but politics in the West African country are difficult to anticipate.