Lake Resources and Lilac Continue Producing High Concentration Li Chloride

Clean lithium developer Lake Resources NL with its technology partner, Lilac Solutions Inc, reported that high concentrations of Li chloride are being consistently produced from Lilac's direct lithium extraction (DLE) pilot plant module using brines from Lake's Kachi Lithium Brine Project. Results obtained are similar to prior bench top testing.

Lake Resources NL (ASX: LKE) is a lithium exploration and development company dedicated to the development of three lithium-containing brine projects and one hard rock project that is 100% owned by the company in Argentina. The leases are in a prime location among the lithium sector's largest players within the Lithium Triangle, where half of the world's lithium is produced. The company holds one of the largest lithium tenement packages in Argentina (~200,000 hectares). The large holdings provide the potential to provide consistent security of supply demanded by battery makers and electric vehicle manufacturers.

The Kachi project covers 69,000 ha over a salt lake south of FMC's lithium operation and near Albemarle's Antofalla project in Catamarca Province. Drilling at Kachi has confirmed a large lithium brine bearing basin over 20km long, 15km wide and 400m to 800m deep.

The initial 20,000 liters of Kachi brines are being progressively processed through Lilac's pilot plant in California. The results continue to confirm the successful scale-up of processing from lab scale to pilot plant scale. Only a minor scale-up is required to achieve the goal of a commercial scale.

The next important step is to commission a well-known independent analysis laboratory to convert the Li chloride samples into lithium carbonate and produce more battery-grade lithium carbonate samples. It is expected that the first batch will be produced within 5 weeks, and one after that More samples will be produced within this month. The downstream participants supervising this project recommend using well-known third-party agencies to provide independent sample data. These data will be provided to potential underwriting partners and used for commercial scale development planning and final feasibility studies. Lake and Lilac are confident that high-purity lithium carbonate can be verified by a third party.

Lake company is making steady progress toward the goal of producing lithium products with high purity and responsible sources. Detailed analyses are still commercial-in-confidence due to the patented innovative and disruptive technology, but final lithium carbonate results will be released when available.

Steve Promnitz, Managing Director of Lake, said: "Continuing to demonstrate successful production of clean, highly concentrated Li chloride at pilot scale is a major advancement. This product from the direct extraction process is then converted to lithium carbonate using conventional methods by a respected third-party lab with the aim to meet the quality requirements of off-takers, who are looking for responsibly sourced scalable supplies of the battery-quality product. However, the process is taking a little longer than anticipated."

Lake Resources's recent Pre-Feasibility Study on Kachi based on the production of high purity Li carbonate demonstrated from direct extraction shows the disruptive, cost-competitive, sustainable, and scalable nature of the Lilac process which will be employed at Kachi and its ability to produce a premium, battery-quality product sought by battery and cathode manufacturers globally.

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