Galan Lithium Limited (ASX: GLN) has provided the following additional information as an addendum to its ASX Announcement dated 27 March 2024 and titled “Galan Increases Total Mineral Resource by 18% to 8.6Mt LCE @ 859mg/l Lithium”.
The company has stated that ASX Listing Rule 5.8.1 requires various items of disclosure in the body of an announcement. The following items lacked adequate disclosure in the original announcement and are now presented in more detail in this addendum to announcement.
No cut off grades were applied in this mineral resource. The mining method in a brine deposit corresponds to vertical production wells that induce depression cones in the brine aquifer around each individual well. In this case the homogenous characteristics of the reservoir results in a vertical mix of the brine body in the well surroundings. Therefore, due to the mining method considered, it is not possible to be selective or exclude these small volume of resource blocks from the production plan. Li grades below 400mg/L represent only 0.02% of the total resource estimate and is above what has been deemed in similar projects as an economic cut-off grade. The impact of potential dilution in production is therefore limited.
Lithium grades are normally presented in mass percentages or milligrams per litre (or parts per million (ppm)). Grades of deposits are also expressed as lithium compounds in percentages, for example as a percentage of lithium oxide (Li2O) content or percentage of lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) content. Lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) is the industry standard terminology and is equivalent to Li2CO3. Use of LCE provides data comparable with industry reports and is the total equivalent amount of lithium carbonate, assuming the lithium content in the deposit is converted to lithium carbonate, using the conversion rates in the table included below to get an equivalent Li2CO3 value in per cent. Use of LCE assumes 100% recovery and no process losses in the extraction of Li2CO3.
Further, test work via pilot plants to assess lithium recovery from raw brine was undertaken to assess whether lithium can be efficiently and effectively extracted. During the period 2020 and 2021, Galan conducted test work at the laboratory scale in Chile to calibrate the process design. These tests obtained a high-quality lithium chloride product and provided the information to prepare the process design criteria for the Hombre Muerto West Project.
Galan also conducted laboratory scale test work activities using the lithium chloride product obtained in the test work, successfully producing lithium carbonate within the battery grade specifications. The results of these tests were released to the market on 12 July 2021. Galan is planning to run additional test work for the obtention of battery grade quality of lithium carbonate in the first semester of year 2025. The feedstock to run the new test work could come from the pilot plant or the industrial ponds currently under construction.
Before the commissioning of the existing pilot plant on site, Galan conducted test work at the HMW site for obtaining a lithium chloride concentrate product with 6% Li. Test work utilized a batch methodology starting with a volume of around 40m3 of raw Hombre Muerto West brines, to obtain around 10L of lithium chloride. Another set of laboratory test work was conducted in the Antofagasta Region, Chile, during 2021. These tests also obtained lithium chloride concentrate products with similar qualities with the results being released to the market on 22 March 2021.
The company started piloting activities in April 2022 by filling the first evaporation pond at the existing pilot plant. The pilot plant continued with brine evaporation and on 24 July 2023 Galan announced that 6% Li concentrated content had been achieved. Since then, the pilot plant has continued operating successfully, delivering the second volume of lithium chloride product on 18 September 2023. The test work undertaken and described above was released to the market in line with ASX disclosure requirements. The pilot plant has validated the production of lithium chorine concentrate, adding reagents to eliminate impurities, and generating a concentrate at 6% Li. The plant comprises pre-concentration ponds, a lime plant, a filter press, and concentration ponds.
To find out more, please visit www.galanlithiumcom.au
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