PFE increases lithium acreage in the Smackover, USA

Our US lithium Investment, Pantera Minerals (ASX: PFE), just increased its acreage position in the Smackover Formation in southwest Arkansas, USA.

The Smackover has quickly become prime real estate for US based lithium players with Exxon making a move into the region after buying Galvanic Lithium for US$100M.

As well as Exxon, the world’s biggest lithium producer Albermarle also holds ground in the region.

Today, PFE announced an increase in its acreage size to ~13,457 acres - an 11% increase on its overall land position in the region.

PFE also mentioned that it has a further 8,600 acres under negotiation, which would see PFE’s total landholding grow to >20,000 acres.

PFE increasing its acreage position is important because the larger its landholding gets, the higher the chances of defining a large resource over the project.

Right now, PFE has an exclusive abstract agreement covering 50,000 acres where PFE has defined a lithium exploration target of between 436,000 to 2,966,000 tonnes of Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE).

The more ground that PFE adds to its portfolio, the more likely it is that those resources will eventually become the project's maiden JORC resource.

Here is how PFE’s acreage position compares with its much larger capped neighbours:

• Pantera Minerals (ASX: PFE) has 13,457 acres and will be capped at $14.3M after PFE completes the acquisition of Daytona Lithium (the company that holds the ground).
• Standard Lithium has 63,000 acres and is capped at $371M.
• Tetra Technologies has 5,100 acres and is capped at $8824M.
• Albemarle has ~140,000 acres and is capped at $20.8BN.
• ExxonMobil has ~120,000 acres, is capped at $627BN, and paid at least US$100M for its land.

What’s next for PFE?

Continue leasing more ground 🔄

PFE has a 50,000-acre Exclusive Abstract Agreement (EAA) - we want to see PFE increase its ground position from its current ~13,457 acres to somewhere near the 50,000 number.

Acquisition of 2D Seismic & geophysical data 🔄

PFE plans to acquire existing 2D seismic data over its acreage. The new data will ultimately be used to guide PFE’s drill programs in the future.

Re-enter a well 🔲

The first step toward converting its exploration target into a maiden JORC resource will be to re-enter historic oil & gas wells that sit on its acreage.

The goal for the re-entry programs will be to see how much lithium sits in the ground and at what concentrations.

DLE test 🔲

The re-entry will bring up samples which PFE can then send off to DLE (Direct Lithium Extraction) tech partners.

Complete the acquisition of Daytona Lithium 🔲

At the moment, PFE has rights for up to 35% of the Smackover lithium project and is working through a deal to acquire the remaining 65%.

The deal is set to be voted on by PFE shareholders on the 15th of February.

We want to see the deal get completed and PFE take 100% ownership of the project.