Clontarf Energy Plc said it is now clear to advance its lithium joint venture with NEXT-ChemX Corporation, after all conditions of the deal were met.

It has now paid US$500,000 to NEXT-ChemX, and the partners will now execute a share exchange.

The deal, agreed initially in March, envisages a lithium project being developed in Bolivia, using NEXT-ChemX’s brine processing technology.

In the field, teams have sought to source brines from multiple projects in order to feed the proposed plant.

"Completion of Clontarf's joint venture with our preferred Direct Lithium Extraction partner is another important milestone,” Clontarf chair David Hogan said in a statement.

He added: "We are also considering ways to extend Clontarf's upside potential beyond our promising Bolivian joint venture. Lithium demand continues to grow, as are purity requirements in the Lithium-ion battery industry. Recent discussions in Asia reinforced our belief in market demand, particularly for environmentally-friendly and cost-efficient Lithium from brines.”

"Our team has been working with various licence-holders and regulatory bodies to provide sufficient volumes of priority brines for laboratory test-work. Once these tests have yielded adequate results, we expect to move to pilot plant volumes.

This work should enable confirmation of the commerciality of the NEXT-ChemX DLE process and move to the application of the technology across a number of lithium brine projects," Hogan concluded.