The battle for lithium is accelerating. Earlier this week, General Motors said it would invest $650 million in Lithium America to help develop a lithium deposit in Nevada. In fact, the Thacker Pass investment should amount to all the lithium GM needs to meet its goal of selling 1 million EVs in North America by mid-decade. In addition, earlier this month, Piedmont Lithium amended its agreement with Tesla for lithium. Piedmont has agreed to deliver approximately 125,000 metric tons of SC6 to Tesla beginning in H2 2023 through the end of 2025. With automakers racing to secure even more supply, we’re likely to see many more deals. That’s all positive news for LithiumBank Resources Corp. (TSXV: LBNK) (OTCQX: LBNKF), Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB), Lithium Americas (NYSE: LAC) (TSX: LAC), American Lithium Corp. (NASDAQ: AMLI) (TSXV: LI), and Piedmont Lithium (NASDAQ: PLL).
Look at LithiumBank Resources Corp. (TSXV: LBNK) (OTCQX: LBNKF), For Example
LithiumBank Resources Corp. just provided a corporate update and outline key milestones for 2023. In 2022, LithiumBank successfully completed its 3-year acquisition and exploration campaign that was focused on:
1) Reservoirs that contain commercially viable lithium brine concentrations in Alberta & Saskatchewan;
2) Geological formations that can support large scale brine extraction and subsequent reinjection;
3) Availability of comprehensive historical data;
4) Existing past producing wells and local infrastructure;
5) Proximity to labour; and
6) Supportive local relationships & partnerships;
This resulted in acquiring three separate development districts that are part of a portfolio of claims that totalled over 4 Million acres:
- Boardwalk: 572,237 acres that cover 100% of the Leduc reef complex, 270 kilometres west of Edmonton.
- Park Place: 1,571,364 acres that cover - ~95% of the Leduc reef complex 50 kilometres south of Boardwalk.
- Saskatchewan: 336,595 acres across three highly prospective properties in southern Saskatchewan.
LithiumBank has since established Canada’s first indicated mineral resource of lithium brine at the Company’s Boardwalk lithium brine project, and assayed wells up to 82.0 mg/L lithium from Leduc brine at the Company’s Park Place project.
LithiumBank is now focused on developing the Boardwalk and Park Place district projects by further quantifying their mineral resources and completing financial models to be included in coming Preliminary Economic Assessments.
Emerging North American Lithium Developer – 2023 Strategy
LithiumBank’s successful exploration programmes and geological assessments have identified Boardwalk and Park Place as flagship district scale projects that possess key elements required for potential commercial development. In the Company’s view, both projects have an ideal combination of lithium resource potential and brine chemistry that is compatible with existing extraction technologies. Furthermore, each area is well situated with paved highways, permitted well pads, power & natural gas lines throughout, skilled labour force and hundreds of past & present production wells.
During 2023 the Company intends to further de-risk these flagship assets by commissioning a brine processing pilot plant to establish optimal production parameters. Additionally, LithiumBank expects to conduct detailed hydrogeological modeling and brine sampling at both Boardwalk and Park Place to further expand and upgrade the classification of their lithium resources to measured and indicated categories.
The Company is working with a number of experienced Direct Lithium Extraction technology providers to enhance recovery, lower power consumption, and reduce project capex. This work and subsequent reservoir sampling is expected to be incorporated into a Preliminary Economic Assessment on the Boardwalk Project which the Company expect will be completed in Q1 2023, and a NI-43-101 inferred resource assessment at Park Place. LithiumBank has also retained consultants that have successfully permitted and attracted government financing for industrial projects in Alberta.
“LithiumBank’s ongoing transition from a lithium resource explorer to developer is a defining moment for our young company of 3 years," commented Rob Shewchuk, CEO and director of LithiumBank. “I am proud of my team’s success in acquiring a 4 million acre plus portfolio of prospective lithium brine assets and evaluating their potential. We will soon be completing a further resource estimate at Park Place and await receipt of a PEA of Boardwalk. Shifting gears to become a development company with near term lithium production potential, at multiple district scale projects, highlights our view that Alberta is a critical centerpiece to North America’s lithium supply chain industry. We are looking forward to a catalyst rich 2023 across our entire lithium brine portfolio.”
LithiumBank Development Assets
The Company is proud to be building off a successful 2022 that saw LithiumBank begin publicly trading in April (TSX.V, OTCQB & Frankfurt), increase lithium brine holdings to over 4 million acres, and announce Canada’s first lithium brine indicated mineral resource at Boardwalk. In addition to providing a summary of work done to date below, the Company will further detail its 2023 project level goals over the coming weeks.
Boardwalk
The Boardwalk Project is located in west-central Alberta, approximately 85 km east of the City of Grande Prairie and 270 km northwest of the City of Edmonton (see Figure 2). The Project consists of 30 contiguous Alberta Metallic and Industrial Mineral permits covering an area of 572,237 acres. Boardwalk is covered by 100% Crown mineral rights and has no current operating oil and gas producers in the Leduc Formation. Highlights at Boardwalk in 2022 include:
- Completed hydrogeological studies of the Boardwalk reservoir that showed the ‘Production Zone’ within the Leduc Formation is capable of providing consistent, high volume brine production over a 20-year period. Of particular note, the Production Zone accounts for only 10% of the Leduc Formation by volume at Boardwalk.
- Results from DLE test work completed by Conductive Energy Inc. indicate that it was highly effective and scalable for extracting lithium chloride from the Boardwalk brine.
Highlights of this testing includes:
- 93% Lithium Chloride (“LiCl”) recovery achieved in under 60 minutes of extraction processing;
- High purity lithium concentrates were achieved between 2,500 – 4,000 mg/L; and
- DLE increased the lithium concentration of samples between 35-60 times over feed grade.
- LithiumBank announced the first brine project in Canada to include indicated mineral resources of 393,000 tonnes of Lithium Carbonate Equivalent at a grade of 71.6 mg/L and 5,808,000 tonnes of Inferred LCE at 68.0 mg/L lithium1.
- A Preliminary Economic Assessment being led by Hatch is well underway and is expected to be completed in Q1 2023.
Park Place
The Park Place Project is located in west-central Alberta, approximately 180 km west of the City of Edmonton (see Figure 3). Park Place consists of 83 contiguous Alberta Metallic and Industrial Mineral permits covering an area of 1,571,364 acres. Highlights at Park Place in 2022 include:
- LithiumBank initiated a hydrogeological study that is utilizing pre-existing data to determine the porosity, permeability, transmissivity, and volume estimates of lithium-bearing brine. These estimates are expected to be used to complete a NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate;
- Consolidated the mineral rights (only crown mineral rights in the project area) that cover over 95% of Leduc carbonate reef complex; and
- In January of 2023, the Company announced assay results from three samples taken from a 72-meter-thick interval at the top of the Leduc Formation (Figure 3) that returned grades ranging between 71.2 – 82.0 mg/L lithium with an overall average of 77.2 mg/L lithium.
Saskatchewan
LithiumBank is the second largest land holder in Saskatchewan with 336,595 acres of mineral permits across three separate property areas (see Figure 4). Each property listed below is targeting the Duperow Formation, which is a stratigraphic equivalent to the Leduc Formation in Alberta. Increased activity in the Company’s property areas continue to report encouraging lithium grades in brine sampled from the Duperow Formation.
- Kindersley – 111,483 acres, located in west-central Saskatchewan near the Alberta border that consists of 16 claims acquired through auction from the Saskatchewan government.
In November 2022, the Company completed a hydrogeological study that indicated:
- The Duperow Formation, within the “Kindersley Project” area hosts a brine volume of 3.89 km3 at a 6% porosity cut off. Lithium grades reported adjacent to the property range between 70 and 78 mg/L lithium.
- The Duperow Formation is an unconfined aquifer that measures up to 300 metres thick within the area of the Company’s mineral permits.
- Multiple zones of potential lithium brine production within the Duperow Formation add up to ~90 m in net pay at a 6% porosity cut off.
- South Property – 134,229 acres, located in southern Saskatchewan along the border with the United State that consists of 8 claims acquired through auction from the Saskatchewan government.
- LithiumBank’s South Property is directly adjacent to Prairie Lithium’s Williston Basin project that is under agreement to be acquired by Arizona Lithium for approximately C$70.6 million in cash and stock. The South Property shares the same reservoir and key infrastructure including electricity, natural gas, fresh water, paved highways, and railroads.
- Estevan – 90,883 acres, located in southeast Saskatchewan that consists of 11 claims acquired through auction from the Saskatchewan government or from Freehold owners.
- Neighboring lithium exploration activities, adjacent to the Company’s Estevan property have reported lithium grades ranging between 77 and 148 mg/L lithium.
Other related developments from around the markets include:
Albemarle Corporation, a leader in the global specialty chemicals industry, announced that it will release its fourth-quarter 2022 earnings after the NYSE closes on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. The company will hold its conference call to discuss fourth-quarter 2022 results on Thursday, Feb. 16, at 9:00 a.m. ET. This call will be webcast and can be accessed through Albemarle Corporation's website.
Lithium Americas provided an update following a hearing held by the US District Court, District of Nevada on January 5, 2023, for the appeal of the issuance of the Record of Decision for the Thacker Pass lithium project, located in Humboldt County, Nevada. “Yesterday's hearing provided an opportunity to reaffirm our confidence that the permitting process for Thacker Pass was conducted thoroughly and responsibly,” commented Jonathan Evans, President and CEO. “As we continue to prepare for construction, we look to finalize key supply agreements and partnerships that can help to secure America’s clean energy future by providing responsible and domestically produced lithium.”
American Lithium Corp. entered into an agreement with Nevada Alaska Mining Co. Inc., an arms-length party, to buy back the remaining one percent (1%) gross overriding royalty on the Company’s wholly owned TLC Lithium Project located in the Esmerelda lithium district northwest of Tonopah, Nevada. Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, American Lithium will issue 950,000 common shares in the capital of the Company to Nevada Alaska Mining Co. Inc. The Shares will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months and one day in accordance with applicable securities laws. The acquisition of the Royalty, and issuance of the Shares, remains subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
Piedmont Lithium amended its agreement with Tesla, Inc. to supply the U.S. automaker with spodumene concentrate from North American Lithium . Piedmont and Tesla have mutually agreed to amend their previous offtake agreement with the terms of this new agreement, which are binding for a three-year term and include an option to renew for another three years. Under the amended agreement, Piedmont has agreed to deliver approximately 125,000 metric tons of SC6 to Tesla beginning in H2 2023 through the end of 2025.
Legal Disclaimer / Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this article contains forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Winning Media is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. Winning Media is only compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation. Pursuant to an agreement Winning Media has been paid three thousand five hundred dollars for advertising and marketing services for LithiumBank Resources Corp. by LithiumBank Resources Corp. We own ZERO shares of LithiumBank Resources Corp. Please click here for full disclaimer.
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