Galan Lithium’s (ASX:GLN) Pata Pila could be one of the highest-grade lithium projects globally after initial assays returned consistent grades above 900 milligrams per litre (mg/l).

Early success at the Candelas lithium brine project in Argentina lit a fire under the Galan share price – before it promptly fell off a cliff, like every other advanced explorer in the space.

But September has been good to Galan so far. A maiden drill hole at the Pata Pila project, adjacent to Livents Corporation’s (NYSE:LVHM) tenure, has performed “beyond expectations”.

Pata Pila is part of Galan’s Western Basin lithium brine tenements – which also includes the flagship Candelas project — on the Hombre Muerto salar in Argentina.

A map showing the location of Pata Pila (bottom left) and Candelas (bottom right).

Galan was targeting an anomaly which was believed to represent the extension of Livent’s brine producing aquifer.

There was no prior indication of more than one horizon, Galan says, only the potential existence of a new zone close to the basement, which is what the company found at Candelas.

But this drillhole actually intercepted three major brine horizons — all containing heavy brines. This saw Galan’s share price leap 31 per cent last week.

Today, the explorer told investors that samples from this initial +700m hole returned consistent, high grades greater than 900mg/l lithium with low impurity levels.

How does that compare to its neighbours? Galaxy’s Sal de Vida project brines average about 780mg/l, while  brines exploited at Livent’s Fenix reportedly contain between 600-650mg/l.

“The confirmation of high grades in excess of 900mg/l Li with low impurities indicates that Pata Pila has the potential to be one of the highest-grade lithium brine projects in the world,” managing director Juan Pablo Vargas de la Vega says.

“We are confident that Galan has the potential to increase its lithium resource inventory beyond Candelas.”

At Candelas, the company says a maiden JORC resource is on track for the current quarter, with a project pre-feasibility study expected to begin soon after.

“This [new discovery] is great news for our future PFS which will start in October 2019,” Juan Pablo Vargas de la Vega told Stockhead.

“The data from the Western Tenements will be included into the PFS in due course.”

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