Lake Resources and Lilac Solutions agree to amended timeline for Kachi lithium project
The companies expect to continue to improve on the Kachi lithium project development timeline as it advances to commercialisation.
Clean lithium developer Lake Resources (ASX: LKE) has agreed to an amended project timeline to resolve a dispute with technology partner Lilac Solutions over development of the Kachi lithium project in Argentina.
The companies today signed a contract amendment, which seeks to “reset the relationship” so they can jointly focus on delivering the world-class project located in the nation’s Catamarca Province.
Lake said it was “confident” that the amended timeline could be achieved.
The company will retain certain buy-back rights if Lilac does not meet agreed testing criteria in a timely manner.
In line with expectations
Lake and Lilac are continuing development work at the Kachi project demonstration plant, with performance of the plant so far in line with expectations.
The plant has produced approximately 20,000 litres of lithium chloride (or more than 15% of the total forecast output) since the start of operations this quarter.
It is currently operating at 90% of steady state capacity, volume and production.
Lake said Hatch engineering personnel will travel to Argentina over the coming weeks to observe and validate the steady state operations.
Meanwhile, Lilac is preparing lithium chloride samples for shipment to US-based Saltworks Technologies and Lilac’s facility in California for conversion into lithium carbonate.
Promising testwork
Lake chief executive officer David Dickson said progress and test work being achieved at Kachi was promising.
“We are fortunate to be working with the Lilac team and they are equally interested in doing things differently so we can efficiently deliver the large volumes of high-quality lithium chemicals needed by battery makers,” he said.
“Lilac has worked extensively with Kachi brine for the past two years, generating the data needed for engineering studies these next steps, along with the strong alignment of our companies, is quite encouraging.”
New standard
Lilac chief executive officer David Snydacker hoped the partners would set a “new standard” for pace of project development in the lithium industry.
“Progressing the onsite plant from completion of construction to shipping of on-spec bulk samples of lithium chloride in just two months is significantly faster than conventional projects, where commissioning of evaporation ponds typically takes many years,” he said.
“We expect to continue to improve upon the traditional project development timeline as we advance toward commercial production, ultimately bringing the Kachi project online years ahead of competing projects.”