Power Minerals to start resource definition drilling at Rincon lithium brine salar
Power will drill up to six diamond holes to confirm previous results and test for additional lithium brine resources in the northern part of Rincon.
Diversified explorer Power Minerals (ASX: PNN) has confirmed it will launch a resource definition drilling campaign at the Rincon salar within the Salta lithium project in Argentina.
The campaign is designed to deliver a significant upgrade to the project’s existing global resource which sits at 239,000 tonnes of contained lithium carbonate equivalent grading 313 milligrams per litre of lithium.
Drilling commenced at the nearby Incahuasi salar in December comprising two holes for a total 1,000 metres with “highly encouraging” early results.
Work at Rincon will comprise up to six diamond drill holes for a total 1,200m.
It will aim to confirm results from a 2017 program and test for additional potential lithium brine resources in the northern part of the licence area.
The campaign is planned to commence immediately following completion of the program at Incahuasi.
Preliminary economic assessment
Power executive director Mena Habib said the latest drilling work together with the planned resource upgrade will be key inputs to the Rincon preliminary economic assessment (PEA) which kicked off in December.
“Rincon is our most advanced salar and hosts the Salta project’s highest-grade lithium,” he said.
“We are excited to see the results of the resource drilling campaign feed into the PEA… we have scheduled similar PEAs on the Incahuasi and Pocitos salares as part of our plans to fast-track Salta’s development.”
The Rincon PEA is being completed to scoping study level by global engineering and mining consultant Golder Associates, which has vast experience working with Tier 1 lithium-brine companies such as Ganfeng Lithium Co and Tibet Summit Resources.
Golder will assess Salta’s production and life-of-mine profile, along with engineering, process, capital and operating costs for a potential high-quality lithium carbonate (LCE) operation at Rincon.
Lithium triangle location
The Salta project is located in the Salta province of northwest Argentina and is part of the world’s leading lithium brine region known as the “lithium triangle”.
It consists of five salares (or salt lakes) within seven mining leases over a total project area of 147.07 square kilometres.
The Incahuasi salar is located immediately adjacent to Ganfeng’s project and the Rincon salar is adjacent to Rincon Mining’s namesake lithium project, which was acquired in March by Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) for $1.28 billion.
Power is currently assessing commercial evaluation and development pathways for Salta, including the use of direct lithium extraction techniques and a staged hybrid development strategy combining traditional production methods with new technologies.