These characteristics make the ore valuable to the lithium battery industry which has a forecast worth of US$77 billion by 2024, according to Transparency Market Research. Exploration at the entire Manono project is targeting up to 1.2 billion tonnes grading 1.5% lithium oxide, with up to 400 million tonnes projected from Roche Dure alone. According to AVZ Minerals, the Roche Dure pegmatite has an estimated thickness of 220m and 2,100m in strike. However, AVZ Minerals cautions these targets are conceptual and are yet to be defined to regulatory compliance standards. AVZ Minerals executive chairman Klaus Eckhof said Equity Drilling has a proven record of professional conduct within Africa. "We look forward to announcing commencement of drilling at the project in the near future and subsequently reporting on what we expect to be the first resource at Manono as part of a staged release of resources estimations," Mr Eckhof said.