Lithium Energy is eyeing a potential mineral resource upgrade at its Solaroz project in Argentina after recording its highest grades to date, with lithium brine concentrations of up to 594 milligrams per litre.
The company’s latest results come from drilling at the site’s sixth hole, which has been completed to a depth of about 623m and intersected a total of 356m of lithium-rich brines. Drilling through the upper aquifer intercepted 131m with lithium concentrations of up to 354mg/l, while the lower aquifer begins at 287m for 225m at concentrations of up to 594mg/l.
The company only released its maiden mineral resource last month, with 3.3 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). Assay data from hole six was not available at the time, meaning the latest results could not be included in the maiden resource. A high-grade core of 1.34 million tonnes LCE with an average concentration of 405mg/l lithium is within the resource.
However, Lithium Energy says its full assay and geophysical logging results from hole six will now be used to review and potentially upgrade the resource in terms of both size and confidence to an indicated category.
The company is currently drilling its seventh hole at the operation, which is the first to test the conductive brines in the northern block of its concessions on the Olaroz Solar basin – a region that has gained a reputation for developing large-scale lithium-brine operations. Hole seven will be drilled to about 500m below surface to test the extent of lithium mineralisation. The target was based on the interpretation of previously-conducted geophysical surveys.
We are very pleased with the results recorded from the recently completed sixth drillhole, with the lower aquifer returning the highest lithium concentration grades seen so far at the Solaroz Project. These results give us confidence in the potential to upgrade the existing 3.3 Million tonne LCE Mineral Resource both as to tonnage and resource confidence. Lithium Energy executive chairman William Johnson
The Solaroz brine project takes in about 12,000 hectares in South America’s renowned Lithium Triangle. The zone is projected to host about a third of the world’s lithium resources in underground bodies of fluid known as brines and is nestled between Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.
Lithium Energy is currently working towards completing a scoping study to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate, in addition to investigating the merits of the direct lithium extraction (DLE) method. It recently announced it had entered a “try before you buy” agreement with leading DLE provider, China-based Xi’an Lanshen New Material Technology to fully fund, construct and operate a trial plant at Solaraz.
The DLE process involves pumping lithium brine to the surface directly into a processing plant. One of several absorption methods is applied to extract the lithium from the brine, which takes less than a day compared to the year-long process of pond evaporation.
The market will certainly be keeping a close eye on what the seventh hole at Solaroz will reveal – especially as Lithium Energy looks towards the upgrade of its maiden mineral resource.
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