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Argosy Minerals rides high on lithium wave

Published: 14:15 16 Jan 2018 AEDT

Evaporation ponds
The stage II lithium brine evaporation ponds are expected to cover circa 34 hectares

Argosy Minerals Limited (ASX:AGY) is riding high on the back of ongoing lithium news flow from its Rincon Project in Argentina’s Lithium Triangle.

A 12 month high of $0.48 was reached in early trade, almost 22 times higher than a year earlier and almost 20 times higher than on 21 December 2017.

Stage II development at Rincon is progressing while production of lithium carbonate from stage I is expected within months.

Jerko Zuvela, managing director, said: “Argosy continues its rapid progress and aggressive development strategy toward becoming a lithium carbonate producer in the near-term.

“The company’s joint venture partner and lithium processing expert Pablo Alurralde has made significant progress and the company is confident of achieving its first major milestone target.”

READ: Argosy Minerals Limited continues to accomplish lithium project development milestones

Argosy is building a pilot plant at its nearby industrial warehouse site in preparation for lithium concentrate processing test work.

The tests will take place this quarter with production of targeted battery grade lithium carbonate product shortly after.

The pilot plant will have annual capacity of up to 500 tonnes.

Stage I evaporation ponds have been concentrating lithium brine since April 2017 and are progressing to a suitable lithium concentrate for processing through the plant.

READ: Argosy Minerals begins stage II lithium brine concentration

Argosy has now filled the initial stage II evaporation ponds with lithium brine.

These ponds are fully operational for solar evaporation and lithium concentration during the peak summer season.

With initial lithium brine pumping works completed, the company plans additional pumping tests to start this week on the completed two production wells.

These will measure flow rates among other testing for future analytical/study works.

From field observations and the positive effect of pumping into the stage II ponds, Argosy considers these wells will provide ample volumes for consistent pumping operations.

Seeking approvals for remaining ponds

The company continues to expedite stage II development progress by submitting the necessary regulatory application documents to construct the remaining ponds.

Upon approvals and permitting, this work will begin resulting in a combined total of circa 34 hectares of stage 2 lithium brine evaporation ponds.

Drilling program will resume this week

Exploration diamond drilling to delineate a JORC-compliant resource estimate is resuming this week.

Six holes have been completed to a depth of 102.5 metres and the remaining two drill holes are planned to be completed during January.

Once all drilling and sample testing is completed, all the data will be used to produce a resource estimate later this quarter.

Move to 77.5% interest in Rincon

Argosy has reached in-principle agreement with its project partners for an early move to a 77.5% interest in Puna Mining S.A., the joint venture entity that owns the Rincon project.

The company is formalising the agreement and will complete the bureaucratic requirements.

Asian negotiations continue

Negotiations are continuing with several companies in the Asian lithium battery sector to discuss Argosy’s development strategy and potential propositions for the project.

These include the potential to consider investment funding, offtake or other value-adding commercial agreements in consideration for stage III development.

Zuvela said: “The continued interest from potential Asian lithium carbonate product end-users provides confidence for Argosy to continue its fast-track development of the Rincon project.”

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