Galan Lithium progresses pilot plant and accommodation construction at Hombre Muerto West

Galan Lithium (ASX: GLN) has secured the essential government permits to build the stage one pilot plant and camp accommodation at its flagship Hombre Muerto West (MMW) lithium brine project in Argentina.

The country’s mining minister has granted the essential permits, which were critical to progressing HMW.

Commenting on the permits, Galan managing director Juan Pablo Vargas de la Vega said they paved the way for “an exciting new phase” for the project as development continues.

Advancing Hombre Muerto West

Work has advanced at HMW, with Galan completing the first of its small scale evaporation ponds, which are designed to measure evaporation rates and are essential to the feasibility study.

The entire Galan project team has been mobilised to HMW now that the permits have been received where the pilot plant and camp construction will be fast-tracked.

HMW has an existing resource of almost 2.3 million tonnes of contained lithium carbonate equivalent grading 946 milligrams per litre of lithium.

During the September quarter, Galan finalised discussions with three engineering firms.

The contract will be awarded imminently, and the selected firm will undertake the engineering component of the feasibility study.

At the end of September, Galan completed the first bore hole at the Pata Pila licence within the project.

The hole was drilled to a depth of 220m and has been cased and cleaned. It will be used to conduct pumping tests to assist with building hydrogeological models, which are part of reserve estimate work for HMW.

To complement drill hole lithology logs, Galan will carry out a general passive seismic survey at the project.

This additional work is anticipated to produce high fidelity models of stratigraphy to ensure the company has the highest quality resource and reserve estimations.

ESG initiative for HMW

As part of its strategy to become a preferred lithium supplier to international markets, Galan has appointed supply chain traceability provider Circulor.

UK-based Circulor is assisting Galan with developing a blue print to provide full lithium traceability and environmental social and governance (ESG) tracking for HMW.

Circulor’s technology will be used to measure carbon dioxide intensity, water usage and energy mix and will be used during the current feasibility study to track samples from the pilot plant to market.

Candelas lithium brine project

While advancing HMW, Galan has also been progressing its Candelas project in the region.

A scoping study is underway at the asset and is due for completion this quarter.

Candelas has a resource of 685,000t of contained lithium carbonate equivalent.

Greenbushes South

Over in Western Australia, Galan is advancing at the Greenbushes South hard rock lithium project where it has an 80% stake.

It is only 3km from the world-class Greenbushes lithium mine.

During the quarter, Galan focused on compiling the conservative management plan, which is required to assist the tenement grant process.

Well-position to fund exploration and development

In August, Galan topped up its cash reserves with a $50 million placement.

Existing cash and placement proceeds will fund Galan’s exploration and development plans at HMW and its other projects.