Switch Metals (AIM:SWT) has identified seven lithium targets at its Tiassalé project in Côte d'Ivoire, after a soil sampling programme across the project's three licences.
The AIM-listed critical metals explorer said three of those targets, at N'Douci East, Aboude North and Ananguie North, stand out as priorities, with a combined footprint of 26 km² and large, coherent lithium anomalies.
Tiassalé spans roughly 990 km² in south-east Côte d'Ivoire and sits about 80 km from the port of Abidjan, reachable by sealed road.
The find lands against a backdrop of intensifying interest in the surrounding district: Atlantic Lithium, the subject of a proposed takeover by Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, and Lithium Africa, partnered with Ganfeng Lithium, both operate on adjacent ground and have recently reported spodumene discoveries.
Switch Metals said the priority anomalies at Tiassalé share features consistent with those linked to the neighbouring discoveries, which it takes as validation of the district's potential.
A team has now mobilised to carry out detailed mapping across the priority zones, with trenching or auger drilling to follow where needed to refine drill targets.
The company collected 7,272 soil samples at Tiassalé, screening them with portable X-ray fluorescence for rubidium, a pathfinder for pegmatite, and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for lithium indications.
"The identification of seven lithium targets at Tiassalé, completed in parallel with our priority programmes at Issia, further demonstrates the depth and quality of the Switch Metals portfolio," said chief executive Karl Akueson.
Switch Metals holds an exclusive option to earn a 100% interest in the Tiassalé licences, which include the 298 km² Tiassalé West licence currently under renewal, alongside Tiassalé East and South, covering 692 km² combined and granted for an initial four-year term from September 2023.
The company's main technical focus remains its Issia project, where a roughly 2,500-metre maiden scout reverse-circulation drilling programme is testing the Kabore spodumene and Zraty tantalum pegmatite targets, with assay results expected in the near term.
Akueson said Switch Metals controls 3,169 km² across three Côte d'Ivoire projects and "is not a single-asset company", pointing to a portfolio spanning near-surface tantalum, hard-rock pegmatite potential and the lithium discovery at Issia alongside Tiassalé.