Ultra Lithium Signs Definitive Partnership Agreement With Zangge Mining for Laguna Verde Brine Lithium Project in Argentina
June 20 2022 - 7:30AM
Ultra Lithium Inc. (TSX-V: ULT) (“Ultra Lithium” or “the Company”)
announces that the Company has entered into a definitive agreement
with Zangge Mining Investment (Chengdu) Co. Ltd. (“Zangge”), for
exploration and development of its 100% owned Laguna Verde Brine
Lithium Project in Catamarca Province, Argentina. Under the terms
of the agreement, Zangge will, in staged payments, pay US$10
million to Ultra Lithium and invest US$40 million in the Laguna
Verde Project as work expenditures for a 65% stake in Ultra
Argentina S.R.L. (Ultra Argentina) which is a subsidiary of Ultra
Lithium and holds the Laguna Verde Property. The investment is
subject to regulatory approvals and due diligence. The Company will
provide further details with respect to agreement terms in a
subsequent news release.
About Zangge
Zangge Mining Investment (Chengdu) Co., Ltd.
with the registered capital of 2.6 billion RMB (about $500 million)
is a wholly owned subsidiary of Zangge Mining Co., Ltd. (“Zangge
Mining”), a lithium and potassium producer listed on the Shenzhen
Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of about $8 billion.
Zangge Mining is headquartered in Golmud City of Qinghai Province
of China. Currently, Zangge has the mining rights of 724 km2 in
Qarhan Brine Lake. It has been developing and utilizing the brine
lake for 20 years and has become the biggest private potash
producer in China with an annual production output of two million
tons of potassium chloride.
Zangge Mining entered the lithium industry in
2017, using its proprietary, advanced and commercially proven
adsorption technology to extract lithium from brine. In 2020,
Zangge completed construction of its lithium processing facility at
its brine project site in Golmud, Qinghai, China and is producing
10,000 tons of lithium carbonate annually. The current production
line has been continuous operating for 3 years without needs for
changing and/or adding the reagent at all and with almost zero
pollutants leakage to the atmosphere and ground. The Company is one
of only three companies in the world with industrialized adsorption
lithium extraction technology.
Since as early as 2007, the core technical team
of Zangge has been engaged in the technology research and
development and industrialized construction for brine lithium
extraction and has positioned itself as an adsorption lithium
extraction technology leader in the global lithium industry.
Laguna Verde Brine Lithium Project
Highlights
Laguna Verde is a new brine lithium discovery
where exploratory sampling conducted by Ultra Lithium has shown
lithium values in the range of 34.2 to 1,270 milligrams per liter
(mg/L) or parts per million (ppm), magnesium values less than 1 to
7,920 ppm, potassium 804 to 15,800 ppm, and boron 65 to 2,190 ppm.
The Laguna Verde area is marked by low magnesium to lithium ratios,
in the range of zero to 10.2. In 2018, the Company completed a
39.2-line- kilometers of ground geophysical survey which indicates
high value brine lithium exploration targets in a salar core area
of 3.4 square kilometers within a potential brine basin of
twenty-three square kilometres and a thickness of 100 to 150
meters. Gravity survey interpretation shows a major fault system
exists to the east of the Laguna Verde Salar representing a
2.4-kilometer-thick Cenozoic basin, which requires further
research.
In 2018, a bench scale evaporation test of
approximately 4,000 litres of brine sample from Laguna Verde was
conducted in Ultra Argentina laboratories located in Salta. The
density of the original brine sample was 1156 and its lithium
concentration was 391 ppm. Two types of evaporation tests were
completed. The first test included evaporating 179 litres of brine
sample in an external pool located outside to match the natural
evaporation conditions. The results indicate that in a period of
five months, the brine volume was reduced from sixteen cubic metres
(m3) to three cubic meters and lithium concentration increased from
391 to 6,760 ppm. Major salts produced during this process were
Halite, Felsobanyaite, Silvite, Lithium Sulfate and Potassium,
Carnalite, Kainite and Gypsum. The second test was conducted inside
in controlled conditions. The results indicated that the original
brine volume of 2,326 m3 was reduced to 85.06 m3 and the lithium
concentration went up from 391 to 7,370 ppm.
Ultra Lithium is currently carrying out
exploratory drilling on the Property where the first drill hole
indicates the presence of a continuous brine aquifer comprising of
mainly clastic sediments from 13.9 meters to 205 m drilled depth
with a marked hydrothermal presence towards the deeper section. The
aquifer is still open at depth.
Qualified Person
The technical information contained in this news
release has been reviewed and approved by Afzaal Pirzada, P.Geo., a
qualified person, as defined by NI 43-101 who works as Vice
President Exploration of the Company.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
“Kiki Smith”
Kiki Smith, CFO
About Ultra Lithium Inc.
Ultra Lithium Inc. is an exploration and
development company with a focus on the acquisition and development
of lithium, gold, and copper assets. The Company holds a brine
lithium property in Argentina, hard rock spodumene type lithium
properties at the Georgia Lake / Forgan Lake area in northwestern
Ontario, Canada, and a brine lithium property in the Big Smoky
Valley, Nevada, USA. The Company also holds other gold and base
metals properties in Argentina.
For further information, please contact the
Company at: Attention: Kiki SmithTelephone: 778 968-1176 Facsimile:
604 909-4682 Email: kiki@ultralithium.com Website:
www.ultralithium.com or view the Company’s filings at
www.SEDAR.com.
Cautionary Statement Regarding
“Forward-Looking” InformationSome of the statements
contained in this press release are forward-looking statements and
information within the meaning of applicable securities laws.
Forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the
use of words such as “plans”, “expects”, “intends”, “is expected”,
“potential”, “suggests” or variations of such words or phrases, or
statements that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”,
“should”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be
achieved. Forward-looking statements and information are not
historical facts and are subject to a number of risks and
uncertainties beyond the Company’s control. Actual results and
developments are likely to differ and may differ materially, from
those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements
contained in this news release. Accordingly, readers should not
place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company
undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any
forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulations
Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/636d3262-75e2-4416-8aab-f50019aa30a9
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