- PepinNini Minerals (PNN) strategically expands its 100 per cent owned Salta Lithium brine project via the award of the Tabapocitos 01 licence, in north-west Argentina
- With this new licence, the company now has three licences in the Pocitos area
- PNN now plans to include brine samples within the Salta Project area in upcoming Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) evaluation studies with a view to significantly expand the project’s brine sources for potential commercial evaluation
- Company shares are down 0.87 per cent, trading at 86.3 cents
PepinNini Minerals (PNN) has strategically expanded its Salta Lithium brine project via the award of the Tabapocitos 01 licence, in the lithium triangle of north-west Argentina.
With the award of the Tabapocitos 01 licence, the company now has three licences in the Pocitos area – Pocitos 11, Tabapocitos 01 and Tabapocitos 02.
The company now plans to include brine samples from the Pocitos licences and other licences within the Salta Project area in upcoming Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) evaluation studies, with a view to significantly expand the project’s brine sources for potential commercial evaluation.
It is PepinNini’s aim to develop lithium brines resources from the Salta Project of sufficient scale to potentially support the development of a lithium carbonate (LIC) producing operation to supply lithium battery markets.
Previous exploration by the company has identified lithium-bearing brines containing 40 to 90 parts per million lithium at the Pocitos licences, which are considered to be best suited for processing by DLE technologies.
PepinNini recently entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with global lithium extraction company Sunresin New Materials for the evaluation and development of DLE lithium extraction at the Salta Lithium Brine Project.
The initial phases of the MoU involve a project review along with bench-scale DLE test work and a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) which the company is currently in the process of making brine samples available to commence this work.
The brine blending program which commenced in May 2021 is now completed, with final results and outcomes to be reported soon.
The Salta Project is strategically located in the Salta province in north-west Argentina and is part of the Lithium Triangle, the world’s leading lithium brine region.
The project consists of five salares that sit within seven mining leases, over a total project area of 147.07 square kilometres.
PNN shares were down 0.87 per cent, trading at 86.3 cents as of 12:39 pm AEST.