C29 Metals gears up to begin lithium drilling at its Pocitos Salar projects, Argentina

Highlights:

• C29 Metals Limited has been granted all regulatory approvals to conduct drilling at its recently acquired Pocitos salar projects, Pocitos 7 and Pocitos 9, in the Salta Province, Argentina.
• The Company has secured a drill contractor for the first reconnaissance exploration wells at the site.
• A suitable diamond drill rig and other equipment have been secured by the Company to start drilling in the month of December.
• The highly prospective Pocitos 7 project will be the first to be drilled.

C29 Metals Limited (ASX:C29), an emerging copper-gold and lithium explorer company, has shared an update on its forthcoming salar drilling program at the recently acquired Pocitos 7 project.

This project is situated in the Salta Province, Argentina, part of the world-renowned South American Lithium Triangle:

Project location in the world-renowned South American Lithium Triangle (Source: Company update dated 16 November 2022)

The Company has received all the regulatory notices for drilling up to 5 holes, of which initially three to four diamond holes are slated to be drilled as part of this initial program in December. The Company has also commissioned a drilling contractor to complete the maiden reconnaissance exploration wells over the salar.

These initial holes have been designed to test the hydrogeological conditions of the significant low-resistivity zone at depth. The initial holes were identified by Transient Electromagnetic Vertical Electrical Sounding (TEM-VES) profiles.

These areas have been interpreted as a huge aquifer that hosts the target lithium-charged brines. The salars, namely Pocitos 7 and Pocitos 9, are part of the world-renowned South American ‘lithium triangle’, a premier lithium exploration region which, as per the company, is estimated to contain 75% of the world's lithium supply:

Source: Company update dated 16 November 2022

With these holes, the Company looks forward to building a JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate by the mid-2023.

To verify the lithium prospectivity, geochemical samples of the brines will be taken from all aquifers and processed by the Ekosolve™ DLE technology.

Why Ekosolve™ DLE technology?

The Pocitos projects can become a long-life, low-cost producer of battery-grade lithium carbonate with the help of an emerging direct-extraction technology called Ekosolve™, says the Company.

In fact, the Company believes that these direct extraction methods are better than the older solar evaporation ones since the former do not require solar evaporation ponds, thereby resulting in a considerably lower operational footprint, positive water balance by returning waters to the salar, and possibly a substantially reduced requirement for capital too.

This is what the Company’s Executive Director, Mark Major, said:

© 2022 Kalkine Media®, data: Company update dated 16 November 2022

Some past perspective

Back in October 2022, the Company acquired two highly prospective lithium projects within the Pocitos salar, which is housed in the mining friendly Salta Province, Argentina. Furthermore, the projects are in close proximity to the established infrastructure: national road, power, and rail directly connected to a major port facility.

The Company says that long-term lithium demand fundamentals continue to be very strong and will benefit its Pocitos lithium exploration strategy.

C29 stock was trading at AU$0.280 as on 16 November 2022 (As at 01:58:21 PM AEDT).