Galan Lithium To Commence Drilling At Western Basin Tenements In Salar De Hombre Muerto

Mineral exploration company Galan Lithium Limited (ASX: GLN), based in West Perth, Australia, has reported yet another milestone with the announcement that the maiden drill programme over its Western Basin Projects (100%-owned) located on Salar de Hombre Muerto, Argentina is set to commence later this week. The drilling permits for the same were received from the Secretaria de Estado de Minería - Gobierno de Catamarca in late July 2019.

The company is swiftly progressing with the investigation of lithium brines within its project tenure at Hombre Muerto located in the world-renowned bountiful Lithium Triangle of South America and recently completed the two-staged initial maiden drilling campaign in July 2019 at its Candelas Lithium Brine Project (100%-owned), located on the Salar in Catamarca Province, Argentina.

In addition, Galan has recently launched a two million-dollar capital raising initiative comprising one million-dollar Private Placement to sophisticated investors and a Share Purchase Plan offer to current investors. More on the same can be READ here.

Western Basin Projects – Overview

Within the Western Basin, Galan Lithium holds interest in around five key concessions including Santa Barbara, Catalina, Rana del Sa, El Deceo and Pata Pila, located on the periphery of the Hombre Muerto Salar, spanning across the border between the provinces of Salta and Catamarca. The Secretaria de Estado de Minería has given approvals for a total of 14 drillholes along with five (5) water bores, expected to be completed in the next 18 months. This is the third round of drilling being conducted by the company within the Hombre Muerto basin, representing sustained support from the regional authorities and presence of amicable relationship with the local communities being forged by Galan as it continues to offer large scale employment through its endeavours.

The preparatory works to access sites for drilling have now been successfully completed for the Pata Pila and Rana del Sal tenements, being the initial targets of the programme. The drilling will specifically examine the highly-conductive anomalies recorded from the previously executed Controlled Source Audio-frequency Magnetotellurics (CSAMT) surveys in Sep’18.

(Source: Company’s Report)

(Source: Company’s Report)

Galan Managing Director, Juan Pablo Vargas de la Vega commented on the recent development and added that as the attention turns towards Western Basin projects from Candelas, the company has high expectations regarding the discovery of more low impurity, high-grade lithium in what is known as one of the richest lithium areas in the world.

Candelas Lithium Brine Project – Drilling Recap

The maiden drilling campaign at the Candelas Project commenced in January 2019 (permits received in Dec 2018) and was conducted in two stages (Stage I and Stage II) with the results confirming the presence of high-grade minimally contaminated lithium towards the eastern boundary of the Basin.

The exceptionally low levels of impurity (Mg/Li ratios <2.80) observed in the lithium brines was also similar to the ones identified at the neighbouring Sal de Vida Project owned by Galaxy Resources (ASX: GXY) as well as Livent Corporation’s operations.

The entire drilling campaign comprised a total of eight drillholes (C-01-19 to C-08-19) with assay results summarised below.

(Source: Company’s Reports)

The company has now advanced to investigating ion exchange technologies (as announced on 3 July 2019) for processing of lithium brines at Candelas, following a six-month technical review into alternative technologies. The results of both the studies would be fed into the Pre-Feasibility Study.

Also, for quality control purposes, Galan Lithium is executing pumping tests at all the drillholes. With major works completed, Galan Lithium is currently undertaking estimation of a Maiden Resource (JORC 2012 compliant) for the northern portion of Candelas and aims to deliver the same within the current quarter. Subsequently, the PFS into the potential development of the project would be undertaken, with preparations underway for the same.

Outlook for Lithium

Ten years ago, the electric vehicle (EV) revolution was more of a concept but now it has become a reality with production numbers increasing by the year. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are the key component in millions of rechargeable consumer electronic devices, the most popular being EVs, that are forecasted to be commercialised on a large scale in the foreseeable future as the clean energy shift paces up.

Therefore, the emergence of incremental capacity at current and new operations would be critical to meet the predicted rise in the Lithium demand over the next three decades, be it from lithium brine or lithium hard rock/mineral.

The EV market is all prepared to fully take off, presenting the numerous lithium exploration companies with an exciting opportunity to capitalise on the same.

Stock Performance

Galan Lithium has a market cap of ~AUD 22.63 million with ~ 129.33 million shares outstanding to date. On 13 August 2019, the GLN stock price settled the day’s trading session at AUD 0.170 with ~ 308,594 shares traded. In addition, the GLN stock has generated a positive return of 9.38% in the last one month.

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