Andrada Mining’s recent announcement that lithium oxide grades above 4% Li₂O, including values approaching 4.7% Li₂O, have been identified at Lithium Ridge places the Namibian project among the highest-grade hard-rock lithium systems globally.
Andrada Mining’s control of the Lithium Ridge licence stems from its majority ownership of Uis Tin Mining Company Limited (UTMC), the Namibian vehicle that holds the Lithium Ridge mining licence.
Through a corporate restructuring announced in June 2024, Andrada moved to acquire the minority interests in UTMC previously held by the Small Miners of Uis, consolidating its strategic control over both the Uis and Lithium Ridge licences.
This was achieved through share transfers and local empowerment arrangements rather than a single, standalone cash purchase of the Lithium Ridge asset.
Lithium Ridge does not yet have a declared mineral resource or ore reserve under a public reporting code.
However, Andrada’s published records describe the project as a pegmatite field with historical results that include reverse-circulation drilling up to 2.13% Li₂O and channel sampling up to 2.18% Li₂O over 9.68 metres, along with tin and tantalum values.
Grades at this level are uncommon. Most producing and near-production spodumene mines operate at average head grades of 1% to 1.5% Li₂O, with only a small number of operations consistently exceeding that range.
Lithium Ridge’s reported grades, therefore, sit well above the global norm and invite comparison with the world’s best-known lithium assets.
Australia’s Pilgangoora, one of the largest spodumene producers by volume, typically mines ore grading around 1.2–1.3% Li₂O.
Liontown’s Kathleen Valley, regarded as one of the strongest new Australian developments, reports reserve grades close to 1.4% Li₂O. In Africa, Arcadia in Zimbabwe averages roughly 1.1–1.3% Li₂O, while Mali’s Goulamina, before construction, sat closer to 1.5% Li₂O.
Even Greenbushes, widely viewed as the global benchmark for hard-rock lithium, is exceptional because it consistently delivers reserve grades of about 2.0–2.3% Li₂O at scale, not because it routinely exceeds 3%.
Against this backdrop, lithium grades above 4% Li₂O place Lithium Ridge in a narrow global category.
Such values are typically confined to the highest-grade cores of major pegmatite systems and are seldom encountered repeatedly unless the underlying mineralised system is particularly robust.
Within Namibia, Lithium Ridge also stands out for its grade.
The country’s most advanced lithium project, Lepidico’s Karibib Lithium Project, is based on lithium-mica (lepidolite and petalite) mineralisation, with reported grades typically around 0.4–0.6% Li₂O equivalent, and relies on chemical processing rather than high-grade head.
At Uis, lithium is produced as a by-product of tin mining, with a published lithium resource grading around 0.7–0.8% Li₂O.
In comparison, Askari Metals’ Uis Lithium Project reports a JORC (2012) resource of about 0.73% Li₂O in spodumene-bearing pegmatites.
Other Namibian pegmatite prospects across the Erongo and Kunene regions have generally returned lithium grades in the ~0.8–1.5% Li₂O range, consistent with global hard-rock averages.
Against this domestic backdrop, Lithium Ridge’s reported drill and sampling grades exceeding 2% Li₂O, and surface values above 4% Li₂O, place it at the top end of Namibia’s lithium grade spectrum.
The geological setting provides essential context. Lithium Ridge lies within Namibia’s central pegmatite belt, a province with more than a century of mining history anchored in tin.
Andrada’s project description notes that Lithium Ridge was historically an opencast mine and hosts lithium-bearing minerals, including spodumene and petalite, with pegmatite intrusions extending from the surface.
The licence sits about 35 kilometres from Uis, within a district where pegmatites were extensively worked for cassiterite, with tantalum as a secondary product.
At the same time, lithium minerals were overlooked mainly because they had little commercial value.
This history mirrors the evolution of several globally significant lithium districts.
Greenbushes in Western Australia and Bikita in Zimbabwe both began as tin-dominated fields before lithium emerged as the primary commodity.
In each case, mature pegmatite provinces were later re-evaluated and transformed into major lithium producers as market demand shifted.
Lithium Ridge follows the same pattern. It is not a greenfields discovery in unknown terrain, but a modern reassessment of a known pegmatite province under today’s battery-metal economics.
The presence of tin and tantalum alongside lithium reinforces that lineage and aligns the project with proven polymetallic lithium systems.
