Galan Lithium has reached another construction milestone at its 100%-owned Hombre Muerto West (HMW) phase 1 lithium brine project in Argentina with the commencement of the initial filling of pond 1.
This is expected to lead to the commencement of the evaporation process – the first major step of the long-term production schedule at HMW phase 1 – within two weeks.
“Our experienced project team has been implementing a quicker route to start evaporation while construction continues for HMW Phase 1,” managing director Juan Pablo (JP) Vargas de la Vega said.
“We are taking advantage of the summer season whereby a buffer wall has been installed at the one-third mark of pond 1.”
“The commencement of the filling of pond 1 is another significant major milestone for the HMW project and I congratulate the entire Galan team.”
“The initial partial evaporation process will commence in approximately 14 days with the full fill of pond 1 remaining on track for Q1 2024.”
Important project component
Conventional lithium extraction from brines involves salt-rich waters under salt lakes being pumped to the surface into large ponds, where solar evaporation reduces the liquid content.
The process, specifically defined and designed for the HMW project, is based on conventional solar evaporation ponds and impurity removal treatment by addition of reagents to obtain a concentrated lithium chloride product with 6% lithium content, equivalent to 12.9% lithium oxide or 31.9% lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE).
How the process works
The process begins with the extraction of brine from wells located in the Rana de Sal, Del Condor, and Pata Pila mining properties.
The brine from the wells is transferred to the pre-concentration ponds and through the action of solar radiation, wind and other environmental conditions the water evaporates from the brine producing a change in its thermodynamic equilibrium point, causing the precipitation of salts and the concentration of lithium present in said brine.
There are seven pre-concentration ponds at the beginning of the brine evaporation process, where the main salts precipitating are halite salts.
It is then fed from the last pre-concentration ponds to the reagent plant to generate the reaction between ions of elements present in the brine and the reagent and thus cause the precipitation of impurities.
Active period ahead
The commencement of pond-filling heralds the start of a highly-active period of construction at the HMW phase 1 development, with the project scheduled to commence lithium chloride production in H1 2025.
Galan has already commenced earthworks construction at pond 2 and work there is now 20% complete.
The initial phase 1 of the four-stage HMW development is focused on the production of 5.4 thousand metric tonnes per annum LCE of a lithium chloride concentrate.
Positive phase 2 DFS
In mid-2023, Galan received positive phase 2 HMW definitive feasibility study (DFS) results highlighting a number of ways to add value to the project.
The study identified the potential to increase the overall annual production rate to 20,851 recoverable tonnes LCE contained in a concentrated lithium chloride product for a period of 40 years, along with a payback estimate of approximately 2.9 years.
The latest HMW mineral resource estimate announced in early May 2023 highlighted an increase to 6.6 million tonnes LCE at 880 milligrams per litre of lithium.
Offtake agreement
In late November, Galan signed a phase 1 offtake and financing agreement with leading global miner Glencore, which is looking to purchase technical-grade lithium chloride product from the high-grade, low-impurity HMW project.
Upon the satisfactory completion of its due diligence, Glencore has the option to either purchase a lithium chloride product or toll-treat lithium carbonate in Argentina.
The binding agreement is for an initial 5-year period for 100% of Galan’s phase 1 production.
Glencore has also offered to provide or facilitate a financing prepayment facility for between $107m and $153m.
