Recharge Resources Ltd. report that the Ekosolve™ Pilot Plant has produced Lithium Chloride salt (“LiCl”) to a purity of over 99% processed from brines sampled from the company’s 2022 drill program at the Pocitos 1 Lithium Brine Project located near Pocitos township in Salta Province, Argentina.
Testing of efficiency for separating and purifying lithium and the removal of cations was conducted, with boron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium extracted to the solvents and sodium stripped into the brine. As previously announced Ekosolve™ Lithium Solvent Exchange Extraction process has been able to extract 94.9% of the lithium (“Li”) from the brines provided from the company’s 2022 DDH3 drill program.
The brines were processed at the Ekosolve pilot plant using the Ekosolve™️ 10 stage extraction, washing and stripping process to produce lithium chloride, as contemplated as an end product under the offtake LOI between Recharge and Richlink Capital Pty Ltd. (“Richlink”) and its client to provide between 10,000-20,000 tonnes of LiCl per year (the “Proposed Supply Transaction”).
This study and process was a pre-engineering step for Ekosolve™ Extraction performance in consideration for full sized plant scale-up of 10,000-20,000 tonner per year Ekosolve™ Lithium Brine Extraction plant implementation at the Pocitos project, under the company’s technology licensing agreement announced on September 27th, 2022.
The next step is to further process the lithium chloride to produce and test lithium carbonate from the Pocitos brines.
Learn more about the Ekosolve™ process on Recharge’s website here https://recharge-resources.com/technology/
“We are delighted with the Ekosolve pilot plant test results, showcasing the project’s potential viability with an impressive 94.9% brine recovery and the successful production of Lithium Chloride with Lithium Carbonate processing on the horizon. The company eagerly anticipates the inaugural NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate, currently under development by WSP Australia, underscoring the exciting times ahead for Recharge, the Pocitos 1 project, and its stakeholders.“
CEO David Greenway
Ekosolve™ pre-engineering studies have previously shown that providing brine flow is in excess of 35,000 megalitres per year, with 110ppm LI content and above have been deemed economic. Recharge successfully completed a 2022 drill campaign at Pocitos 1 assaying 169 PPM Li and over a two-week period averaging 161 PPM Li All three drill holes at Pocitos to date have had exceptional brine flow rates.
The Ekosolve™️ Lithium Solvent Exchange Extraction process can efficiently manage the processing of the brines to produce lithium carbonate with a grade higher than 99.5% and a recovery of 96%, far exceeding any ion exchange or adsorption process available to date. Ekosolve™️ is licensed by the University of Melbourne, Australia to Ekosolve Limited, an unlisted public company.
About Pocitos Lithium Brine Project
The Pocitos Project is located approximately 10 km from the township of Pocitos where there is gas, electricity, and internet services. Pocitos (1 & 2) is approximately 1,352 hectares and is accessible by road. Collective exploration totaling over USD $2.0 million developing the project, including surface sampling, trenching, TEM and MT geophysics and three DDH holes that resulted in outstanding brine flow results. Locations for immediate follow up drilling have already been designed and permits are in place pending submission of final details.
Lithium values of up to 169 ppm Li from laboratory analysis conducted by Alex Stewart were recorded during the project’s drill campaigns as recent as December 2022. A double packer sampling system in HQ Diamond drill holes were drilled to a depth of 409 metres. The flow of brine was observed to continue for more than five hours. All holes had exceptional brine flow rates.
Qualified Person
Phillip Thomas, BSc Geol, MBusM, FAusIMM, MAIG, MAIMVA, (CMV), a Qualified Person as defined under NI 43-101 regulations, has reviewed the technical information that forms the basis for portions of this news release, and has approved the disclosure herein. Panopus Pte Ltd owns 50% of Ekosolve Limited and Phillip Thomas owns 100% of Panopus Pte Ltd.
Mr. Thomas is independent of the Company and is NOT a shareholder of Recharge Resources. Thomas visited the property to view the core and drilling between January 15th-22nd, 2023 and 8-10 May 2023 to determine if additional flow tests could be arranged.
About Recharge Resources
Recharge Resources is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on exploring and developing the production of high-value battery metals to create green, renewable energy to meet the demands of the advancing electric vehicle and fuel cell vehicle market.
All Stakeholders are encouraged to follow the Company on its social media profiles on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors,
“David Greenway”
David Greenway, CEO
