Galan Lithium achieves major development breakthrough in Argentina

Critical mineral developer Galan Lithium (ASX: GLN) has received a major breakthrough in support of its rapidly-developing mining activities in Argentina.

The local Catamarca government and Galan have signed a commercial agreement for the support of the grant of permits to enable the commercialisation of lithium chloride concentrate to be sold locally or exported internationally from the Hombre Muerto West (HMW) lithium brine project.

Galan will also continue to endeavour to place lithium chloride concentrate locally.

Downstream processing

The company has also committed to pursuing further downstream processing routes after four years, in a location outside the Hombre Muerto salar.

The next step in the process is the formalisation and passing into legislation of the agreement.

“We look forward to continuing to work side-by-side with our local communities and authorities towards achieving mutually beneficial and sustainable outcomes for both the people of Argentina and Galan’s shareholders,” Galan managing director Juan Pablo Vargas de la Vega said.

“This commercial agreement is an important milestone in implementing Galan’s strategy, providing access to a larger international customer base at potentially improved sales and funding/prepayment terms.”

“We are proud of our long-term relationship with the government of Catamarca and local communities in Argentina.”

“The agreement reflects the mutual respect and trust we have established and the commitment we all have to maximising the short, medium and long-term economic opportunities at the HMW project.”

He added that the commercial agreement is an important milestone in implementing Galan’s strategy, providing access to a larger international customer base at potentially improved sales and funding/prepayment terms.

“The agreement is expected to provide tangible progress towards the granting of Phase 2 permits on our journey to becoming the next lithium producer in Argentina.”

Resource estimate upgrade

Galan announced in late March that it had achieved an 18% increase in its estimated mineral resources at HMW, releasing one of the highest-grade resource estimates ever declared in Argentina.

The company’s fourth significant resource upgrade in as many years has seen its 100%-owned mineral resources increase to 8.6 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) at 859 milligrams per litre lithium from 7.3Mt LCE at 852 mg/l lithium.

The latest upgrade has provided support for Galan’s requirements to achieve the necessary production conditions for Stage 3 (40Ktpa LCE) of its four-stage lithium production target of up to 60Ktpa LCE.

Galan is on target for first lithium chloride production in the first half of 2025 with a number of key activities recently completed or underway.