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Arizona just increased its lithium resources by *rubs glasses* 1200 per cent
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Arizona has wrapped up the acquisition of Prairie Lithium, increasing its global lithium resources by 1,200% to 4.4Mt of lithium carbonate equivalent.
The acquisition also includes Prairie’s proprietary direct lithium extraction technology, which has already returned encouraging results when used on samples from the company’s existing Big Sandy project.
Highlighting the potential of the DLE tech for Arizona Lithium (ASX:AZL), Prairie had recently received a $1.2m grant from the Critical Mineral Research Development and Demonstration (CMRDD) program for Natural Resources in Canada for development of the technology.
A pilot plant using this modular technology is already operating.
“We are very pleased to have completed the acquisition of Prairie Lithium including Prairie’s JORC Inferred mineral resource of 4.1 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) at 111 mg/L Li, which represents the highest quality inferred lithium brine resource in Canada discovered to date,” managing director Paul Lloyd said.
“Arizona Lithium has also acquired Prairie’s proprietary direct lithium extraction technology that removes lithium from brines and ore bodies (already having encouraging results with Big Sandy material).
“By combining the lithium experience of both AZL and Prairie, we aim to further advance this technology, with C$1.074m (approx. A$1.2m) recently received in Canadian government grant funding, which will be matched with funding from AZL, and is to be invested into Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology development.”
As part of the acquisition, Prairie Lithium founder and chief executive officer Zach Maurer will join the company’s board as an executive director based alongside the resource in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Greater resources and DLE technology
The lithium project in the Williston Basin of Saskatchewan, Canada, has a resource of 4.1Mt LCE at 111mg/L with significant expansion potential.
It has easy access to key infrastructure including electricity, natural gas, fresh water, paved highways and railroads.
Meanwhile, the Prairie Lithium Ion Exchange (PLIX) tech is based on an ion-exchange material that selectively extracts lithium from brine, using equipment which is anticipated to be readily available at commercial scale.
This has the potential for global use with testing carried out on resources from around the world.
Despite enjoying success with extracting lithium from Big Sandy material, the company is also testing other DLE technologies to ensure it deploys the most cost effective technology onto its resource.
This article was developed in collaboration with Arizona Lithium (ASX:AZL), a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
