Galan Lithium has delivered a strong foundation for a planned four-stage lithium brine project in Argentina that could eventually produce 60,000t of lithium carbonate equivalent every year after a “world class” resource upgrade.

Located in Argentina’s hotter than hot Catamarca province on the world class Hombre Muerto Salar, HMW now contains a massive 6.6Mt of LCE at a grade of 880mg/l Li.

The upgrade is the third since March 2020, increasing the size of the initial resource six times over.

Including the nearby Candelas brine, Galan (ASX:GLN) has a large resource base of 7.3Mt at 852mg/l Li, making it one of the highest grade large scale resources in the lithium rich country and its vaunted Lithium Triangle.

As much as 72% is in the measured resource category – 4.7Mt at 873mg/l Li – showing the level of detail and confidence GLN has in a brine located alongside Livent’s major operating El Fenix project, Allkem’s Sal de Vida and POSCO’s Sal de Oro.

“This latest increase in the high grade, low impurity HMW Resource highlights the potential enormity of the brine resource that sits within Galan’s 100% owned tenements in Argentina,” GLN managing director JP Vargas de la Vega said.

“We have continued to acquire tenements and continued to drill holes since our maiden resource was announced at HMW. The initial HMW resource in March 2020 was 1.08Mt LCE @ 946Mg/L Li.

“This now sits at a world class size of 6.6Mt contained LCE at 880mg/l Li.

“Coupled with our Candelas resource, Galan has a very solid foundation, and more importantly confidence that its Hombre Muerto Salar resources fully support its four-stage lithium production target of up to 60ktpa LCE.”

 

What is on the horizon?

The updated HMW resource estimate establishes Galan as a key player to watch in the next phase of lithium brine developments in Argentina.

1400km northwest of Buenos Aires, 170km west-southwest of the city of Salta and comprising multiple exploration areas over a total 15m strike, 7km width and up to 900m depth, HMW also represents a high grade resource relative to other projects in the South American development pipeline.

At a minimum interpolated grade of 805mg/l Li, it is well above economic cut-off levels used in other projects like 500mg/l Li at NRG Metals’ nearby Hombre Muerto North.

Exploration activities are expected to continue to consolidate all of Galan’s HMW tenements, including Candelas into the 60,000tpa project plan.

In the immediate term new production wells are expected to demonstrate the extraction yield and grade on the fractured domain at HMW, concluding in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Reserve estimates are due soon for the initial 4000tpa starter project, with the potential Stage 2 expansion to 20,000tpa LCE to come from the measured resource area.

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Galan Lithium, 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.

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