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MD/CEO Aaron Revelle Interview | It’s more than 1M tonnes now at Rio Grande Sur10 December 2024 - 11:29 am
Overview
The Rio Grande Sur Lithium Project comprises of 5 tenements covering 9,260 hectares at the Rio Grande Salar at the province of Salta, Argentina The Rio Grande salar has benefited from historical exploration including CSAMT geophysical surveys which identified Lithium enriched brines to a depth of 500m and Shallow diamond drilling to 100m which yielded an Ni43-101 resource.
This previous exploration work has enabled explorer LSC Corporation of Canada to outline a Ni43-101 resource for the whole salar of 2.19Mt LCE @ 374 mg/Li, at inferred category. The Pursuit tenements cover approximately 9,260 hectares of the resource area.
The mineral resource compiled in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101, is a foreign mineral resource estimate and it was not compiled in accordance with the JORC code. The Competent Person has not done sufficient work to classify this foreign mineral resource estimate as a Mineral Resource in accordance with the JORC Code. It is uncertain that following evaluation and/or further exploration work that the foreign mineral resource estimate will be able to be reported as Mineral Resources in accordance with the JORC code.
Prior CS-AMT Survey and Drilling carried out by LSC Lithium in 2018 and ADY Resources in 2011 revealed several key geological findings to confirm the viability of the Rio Grande Salar for commercial Lithium production operations.
The interpretation of the CS-AMT survey results indicated the potential for lithium bearing brines to depths in excess of 500m. The results of the survey defined the presence of two main deep seated depositional centers; the first is well developed in the northern end of the salar and open ended at depth deeper than 500m. The second depocenter is further to the south where the Rio Grande Sur project is located. The depositional centre more centrally located and extends to the west and is also open to a depth in excess of 500m.
The drilling program in 2018 returned positive results of Lithium enriched brines with grades as high as ~550mg/Li. Prior drilling in 2011 returned results ranging between 350-400mg/Li, consistent across all prior exploration programs.
In Q3 2023, the company announced the completion of the TEM and CSAMT geophysical surveys at the Rio Grande Sur Project, which produced significant results. The TEM survey identified multiple zones which were highly prospective for lithium-enriched brines. Two distinct geological regimes were highlighted that provide the potential to extend to significant depths with multiple transmissive layers. The results made for good reading, with the identified low resistivity or high conductivity layers considered highly prospective for future exploration activities.
The CSAMT survey also yielded significant results identifying multiple resistivity layers which are considered highly prospective for lithium-enriched brines. Importantly, this data demonstrated that the potential of the Rio Grande Sur Project to host a significant resource now extends to the Mito tenement to the north.
A drilling campaign is planned for the Rio Grande Sur Lithium Project to define a maiden JORC resource.
Pathway to Production
Pursuit recently completed the acquisition of a 100tpa Pilot Plant which will now focus on continuous production, firstly at a specific site in the city of Salta where following successful production of Lithium Carbonate the plant will be relocated to a site at the Rio Grande Salar.
Pursuit has engaged global engineering firm Worley to optimise the existing flow sheet for the Rio Grande Brines profile to produce battery grade Lithium Carbonate. This will build on the existing historical work relating to the proposed conventional processing plan.
