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Aterian PLC on Thursday reported positive results from a drilling campaign at the HCK project in Rwanda, held under a joint venture with Rio Tinto PLC. The Africa-focused mining company said Rio Tinto has also notified it of its decision to exercise stage one earn-in rights under the joint venture agreements. Aterian said this results in Rio Tinto taking a 51% interest in the HCK licence. It said Rio Tinto may earn up to a further 24% by completing exploration expenditures totalling $7.5 million over the next three years. Aterian said diamond drilling was completed successfully as part of the initial drilling campaign, across two targets with a total of 1,180 metres drilled from four holes. The company said multiple pegmatite intersections were reported at the HCK-1 target. It said 6.90 metres of lithium oxide grading was reported at 174.6 metres, with 3.45 metres at 3.2% reported to 178.1 metres. ‘We are delighted with these initial drill results, which confirm the presence of spodumene-bearing lithium pegmatite at the HCK project, and in the case of the fresh pegmatite intersected in hole MWOG0002, associated with high-grade lithium,’ said Chief Executive Officer Simon Rollason. ‘While further work is required to fully assess the project’s scale and continuity, these early indications provide a strong foundation to build upon as we advance our exploration activities in Rwanda... Good thickness of pegmatite is observed in several intersections at HCK-1, and when fresh spodumene-bearing pegmatite was intersected, the lithium grade is highly encouraging.’ Aterian said it will carry out further work to evaluate the scale, continuity and development potential of the mineralisation. Shares in Aterian were up 11% at 39.92 pence in London on Thursday morning. Rio Tinto shares were up 4.3% at 4,460.50 pence. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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