Tolga Kumova joins Pilbara lithium frenzy
Resources investor Tolga Kumova is the latest high-profile mining sector figure to wade into the hot Pilbara lithium sector, getting exposure on Friday to tenements in the geological region known as the Tabba Tabba shear.
Mr Kumova is the biggest shareholder in micro-cap explorer Industrial Minerals, which doubled in value on Friday after buying an option to extract lithium from tenements owned by an unlisted quarrying company.
Tolga Kumova was the former managing director of Syrah Resources and has invested in numerous small-cap resources groups. Michael Quelch
Industrial Minerals told the ASX that only one of the 442 holes drilled on the tenement previously had been assayed for lithium; but that one hole contained relatively high-grade intercepts of 3.73 per cent lithium.
Those assays were conducted in the 1990s when the tenement was being explored for feldspar, sources said. At the time, lithium was a low-value byproduct of little interest to investors and explorers.
Industrial Minerals shares were at 45¢ this week but traded as high as $1.08 on Friday morning before closing at $1.005.
Investor enthusiasm towards Friday’s deal comes after an intense fortnight of dealmaking in the lithium sector, particularly in the region around the tenements acquired by Industrial Minerals.
The tenements are within a 20 kilometre area that is being closely watched by acquisitive lithium giants Mineral Resources and Sociedad Quimica Y Minera. SQM bought exploration ground in the region earlier this week off Gary Morgan’s Haoma Mining, shortly before launching a $1.63 billion takeover bid for fellow Pilbara lithium explorer Azure Minerals.
The Industrial Minerals tenements are also close to Wildcat Resources’ Tabba Tabba project;The
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