ASX-listed companies Artemis Resources and GreenTech Metals have executed a binding agreement to consolidate the lithium mineral rights of their respective tenement holdings near Karratha in the West Pilbara, in Western Australia.

The lithium mineral rights will be combined into a lithium exploration joint venture (JV) company called Andover Lithium, with GreenTech and Artemis each owning 50% of the shares of Andover Lithium.

Artemis says Andover Lithium will hold the largest lithium exploration tenement package in the West Pilbara  covering over 420 km2 along strike from the Azure Minerals lithium discovery.

The tenement package represents a large portion of the Karratha-Roebourne lithium corridor and includes six known lithium prospective areas, four with significant outcropping spodumene-bearing pegmatites.

Artemis says consolidation of the extensive lithium interests of Artemis and GreenTech provides an opportunity to attract a major funding partner into Andover Lithium and will allow the two companies to focus on their core exploration and resource expansion activities in the Karratha region, respectively for gold and copper/zinc.

Artemis and GreenTech believe combining the lithium rights of both companies along a proven lithium belt is compelling.

The combined tenements contain undrilled outcropping lithium-bearing pegmatites within the same corridor which hosts the Tier 1 lithium pegmatite project discovered by Azure Minerals which has a reported exploration target of 100-million to 240-million tonnes at 1% to 1.5% lithium oxide.

The consolidation of the lithium rights into a 50:50 JV is not anticipated to require substantial management resources or material costs from either company.

Artemis says it remains focused on increasing existing resources at its Carlow gold project, in Western Australia, and making new gold discoveries, and GreenTech remains focused on increasing existing resources of high-grade copper and zinc at its 100%-owned Whundo VMS project, also in Western Australia.