After completing a successful round of lithium brine pumping tests at its Hombre West or "HMW” project in Argentina, Galan Lithium has confirmed the high production capabilities at its Pila and Rana del Sal concessions. The program delivered a suite of robust extraction and production chemistry data that bodes well for the company’s soon-to-be-completed definitive feasibility study, or “DFS” which aims to evaluate production at the site.
The company tabled a cracking set of numbers in a preliminary economic assessment of HMW released in 2021 where 20,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium carbonate equivalent or “LCE” was projected each year over the project’s 40-year shelf life. Galan subsequently moved to establish a more comprehensive evaluation of lithium production at HMW via a DFS in 2022. The completed study is now set to be released in the next few months.
Galan says the pumping tests at Pata Pila and Rana de Sal boosts the viability of the DFS and are considered crucial components in the operational and commercial success of a lithium brine project. The tests are generally used by companies to get a handle on the behaviour of a given aquifer during the extraction process.
The company recently completed a raft of long-term pumping test work at HMW following its initial exploits in 2022 where three production wells were completed – two in Pata Pila and one at Rana de Sal.
The program at Pata Pila marked the Galan’s second long-term pumping test in the zone and delivered an average extraction rate of 21 litres a second along with lithium grades of between 815 to 866 milligrams per litre. Work at Rana de Sal returned an average flow rate of 25 L/s along with an average grade of 967 mg/L late last year.
Initial results from work at its Pucara del Salar tenement, north of Rana de Sal delivered a high average grade of about 974 mg/L.
The company’s resource at HMW tips the scales at 5.8 million tonnes of contained LCE grading 866 mg/L – astonishingly the figure represents more than double the size of its previously tabled resource of 2.2 million tonnes grading 946 mg/L
Notably, Galan says new geophysical data acquired from Galan’s Pata Pila, Rana de Sal and nearby del Condor, Casa sel Inca and Santa Barbara tenements confirm the project’s brines extends to previously unexplored areas which could potentially result in an increase to the company’s current inventory.
Drilling is already underway at Santa Barbara which could also bolster the outlook.
Galan Lithium Managing Director, Juan Pablo Vargas de la Vega said:We have further demonstrated a high production capacity at both Pata Pila and Rana de Sal. Importantly, we have extended the reservoir quality throughout the main (uphill) alluvial deposits of Pata Pila. Recent results at Pucara de Salar also show further potential to expand the total HMW Project resource and reserve. All of the above factors, keep adding empirical support for the world-class nature of the HMW Project and its continued rapid advancement and development to production.”
According to the company, results from the pumping tests also confirm the ground’s capacity to support a larger 4ktpa LCE production plant at the site. Galan says the facility could be completed this year with the concentrate potentially being sold to off-take partners where it could be transformed into high-quality lithium products.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Matt Birney
