20:50:57 EDT Wed 01 May 2024
Enter Symbol
or Name
USA
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Recharge Resources Ltd (3)
Symbol RR
Shares Issued 47,257,441
Close 2024-01-02 C$ 0.34
Market Cap C$ 16,067,530
Recent Sedar Documents

Recharge receives drill permit for two Pocitos wells

2024-01-02 08:36 ET - News Release

Mr. David Greenway reports

RECHARGE RESOURCES ISSUED DRILL PERMIT FOR POCITOS TWO DRILL PROGRAM TO FURTHER DEFINE ITS NI 43-101 INFERRED MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE OF 143,000 TONNES LITHIUM METAL 760,000 TONNES LITHIUM CARBONATE EQUIVALENT

The Ministerio de Produccion y Desarrollo Sustentable del Gobierno de Salta (Minister of Production and Sustainable Development) (MPSD) has approved Recharge Resources Ltd.'s drill permit for an additional two wells on the Pocitos 2 block at the Pocitos lithium brine project, located near Pocitos township in Salta province, Argentina.

The objective of this drill program will be to upgrade the recently announced National Instrument 43-101 inferred mineral resource estimate (MRE) by providing drill hole, porosity and permeability data that were absent as the Pocitos 2 project has not been previously drilled. Given the drill hole spacing, the company's geologists will be targeting a proven and probable category as well as collecting pre-engineering pumping data in preparation for building a Ekosolve direct lithium extraction (DLE) pilot plant and follow-on full-scale 20,000-tonne-per-year plant at the project.

The recently announced MRE for the Pocitos lithium brine project was prepared by WSP Australia Pty. Ltd. and was estimated at 143,000 tonnes of in situ lithium metal and 13,000 tonnes lithium metal yield (using porosity estimates), which equate to a lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) of 760,000 tonnes and 69,000 tonnes, respectively. The LCE is calculated from the ratio of lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) to Li metal (5.32:1). The calculations assume no process losses. In the latest pilot plant test at Ekosolve, 94.9 per cent of the lithium metal was extracted as lithium carbonate (see press release dated Dec. 20, 2023).

The geophysics and block model prepared by WSP show a sandy unit extending across Pocitos 2 that has higher porosity (refer to page 14-4 of "NI 43-101 Technical Report -- Pocitos I and II, Salta Province, Argentina." The company's geology team is keen to drill this area to define the magnitude of the sandy halite units and the brines they contain.

WSP indicated in the report, at the Dec. 4, 2023, Li2CO3 price of $16,573 (U.S.) per tonne, the annual revenue is estimated at $338-million (U.S.) (for a 20,000-tonne-per-year plant). Operating costs were estimated by Ekosolve to be $2,300 to $2,750 per tonne or $55-million (U.S.) at $2,700 per tonne in the WSP NI 43-101 report.

This is another milestone in the company's endeavour to build an up-to-20,000-tonne Ekosolve direct lithium extraction plant at the Pocitos project in order to supply Richlink Capital Pty. Ltd. up to 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate per year, as previously announced under a letter of intent of offtake.

David Greenway, president and chief executive officer, commented: "I am delighted with our recently announced inferred mineral resource estimate of 760,000 tonnes LCE prepared by WSP geologists, hydrogeologists and project engineers. I am thrilled to now have drill permits in hand to continue developing this project both to reclassify the resource to proven and probable but also as a pre-engineering step in preparation for a pilot plant and the company's ultimate goal of producing 20,000 tonnes per year at the Pocitos lithium brine project."

About Pocitos lithium brine project

The Pocitos project is located approximately 10 kilometres from the township of Pocitos where there is gas, electricity and accommodation. The Pocitos project is approximately 1,332 hectares and is accessible by road. Collective exploration totals over $2-million (U.S.) developing the project, including surface sampling, trenching, TEM (transient electromagnetic) and MT (magnetotelluric) geophysics and drilling three wells that had outstanding brine flow results. Locations for immediate follow-up drilling have already been designed and identified for coming exploration. Lithium values of 169 parts per million from drill hole three-packer test assayed from laboratory analysis conducted by Alex Stewart were recorded during the project's December, 2022, drill campaigns. A double-packer sampling system in HQ diamond drill holes were drilled to a depth of up to 409 metres. The flow of brine was observed to continue for more than five hours. All holes had exceptional brine flow rates.

Ekosolve produced lithium carbonate at a purity of 99.89 per cent, where extraction of the lithium from the brines was above 94 per cent (159 parts per million of lithium would have been recovered from 169 parts per million of lithium).

The company has published an NI 43-101 compliant inferred mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Pocitos lithium brine project, which has been estimated at 143,000 tonnes of in situ lithium metal and a lithium metal yield of 13,000 tonnes of (using porosity estimates), which equate to a lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) of 760,000 tonnes and 69,000 tonnes, respectively. The LCE is calculated from the ratio of lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) to lithium metal (5.32:1). The calculations assume no process losses. See press release dated Dec. 20, 2023.

The full NI 43-101 report dated Dec. 18, 2023, and entitled "Technical Report For The Pocitos 1 and II, Salta Province, Argentina," can be found on SEDAR+ under the company's issuer profile.

Qualified person

Phillip Thomas, BSc (geology), MBusM, FAusIMM, MAIG, MAIMVA, CMV, a qualified person as defined under NI 43-101 regulations, has reviewed the technical information that forms the basis for portions of this news release and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Thomas joined the company in the capacity of chief operating officer and director on Nov. 21, 2023. He is a shareholder.

About Recharge Resources Ltd.

Recharge Resources is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on exploring and developing the production of high-value battery metals to create green, renewable energy to meet the demands of the advancing electric vehicle and fuel-cell vehicle market.

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