- Lithium explorer Lake Resources (LKE) plans to produce high-purity lithium carbonate samples from its Kachi project in Argentina
- The company said the battery-grade lithium carbonate will be produced from 20,000 litres of brine samples
- Lake will use Lilac Solutions’ tech to produce the carbonate
- According to Lake, the Kachi project ranks in the top 10 global lithium brine resources
- Lake’s shares are up 8.51 per cent today and trading for 5.1 cents each
Lithium explorer Lake Resources (LKE) plans to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate samples with 99.9 per cent purity from its Kachi Lithium Brine project in Argentina.
Today’s news follows on from last week’s breakthrough announcement wherein Lake confirmed it could produce high-purity lithium carbonate using Lilac Solutions’ technology in California.
Today, the company said more lithium carbonate will be produced from 20,000 litres of brine samples from Kachi. The samples will arrive in California from Argentina in two weeks for processing.
Lake Managing Director Steve Promnitz said now that it’s been confirmed the high-purity lithium carbonate can be produced, the company will be focussing on a higher volume of production from Kachi.
“We are now focused on delivering greater volumes of battery-grade lithium carbonate from Kachi brines and the pilot plant modules and this will form the basis for securing binding offtake agreements for the Kachi brine products,” Steve said.
“Lake has undertaken a considerable amount of business development in the past 24 months to build visibility in the battery and [electric vehicle] sectors. During this time, we have presented our projects and future product to a large number of industry players, which include highly recognized global brands,” he said.
The company said using the Lilac process, it is able to produce lithium concentrations of 30,000 to 60,000 milligrams per litre of lithium from brines of roughly 300 milligrams per litre in just a few hours.
On top of this, Lake said the Kachi Project ranks among the top 10 global lithium brine resources, with a maiden resource estimate of 4.4 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) within a larger exploration target.
Lake’s update comes as an upswing in lithium sentiment around the world pushes prices of the battery metal higher.
Lake’s shares have increased by 70 per cent since the start of the new year. Today, shares are up 8.51 per cent and trading for 5.1 cents each. Lake has a $27.54 million market cap.