PUR Commissions Pilot Plant - One Step Closer to Production

Our Argentinian lithium exploration and development Investment, Pursuit Minerals (ASX: PUR) just completed the first phase of commissioning its lithium pilot plant.

PUR is looking to develop its lithium brine assets in Argentina - inside the South American “lithium triangle” which holds ~56% of the worlds lithium reserves.

PUR already has a JORC resource of 251.3kt carbonate equivalent (LCE) and is currently drilling to try and increase that number.

PUR’s strategy has always been to try define and grow its JORC resource estimate and try get it to market as quickly as possible.

A big part of that strategy was the acquisition of an existing pilot plant, which PUR did in early 2022.

Today, PUR confirmed that the first phase of commissioning for the plant had been completed.

PUR now expects to be able to produce 2-10 tonnes of battery grade lithium carbonates just from the brine gathered during the current drill program.

Once fully commissioned, the pilot plant should be able to produce at a rate of ~250 tonnes of LCE per annum.

Below are some pictures of the pilot plant - which is almost ready to go.

The first 2-10 tonnes may not sound like much but more important is the fact that PUR could soon be able to produce and provide battery grade products to potential customers/offtake partners.

PUR has in the past (and again today) mentioned interest from different parties for offtake of its product so it will be interest to see what comes after the first batch of LCE is produced.

PUR also gave us a look at its development strategy -

We also noticed in today’s announcement PUR laid out what a development scenario will look like for its project.

Being lithium brines, the processing of brines into LCE typically starts by evaporating the brines.

(See our lithium educational article here: The different types of lithium projects explained)

Below is what PUR’s evaporation ponds would look like:

What’s next for PUR?

Phase 1 drill program 🔄

PUR is currently in the middle of a drill program.

We expect to see results released to the market periodically. The ultimate goal is to try and increase PUR’s existing JORC resource by the end of this year.

Pilot plant commissioning 🔄

We will be waiting to see PUR switch the plant on and produce the first 2-10 tonnes of battery/technical grade LCE.