VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Junior explorer Lithium Chile has added a further 5 900 ha of prospective land to its Helados lithium brine property, where near-surface brine samples have assayed up to 1 280 mg/ℓ lithium.
In a news release on Tuesday, Lithium Chile stated that near-surface brine sample lithium assays from this newly acquired block range up to 760 mg/ℓ and further highlight the more than 20 km lithium enrichment trend along the Salar Tara to Laguna Helada Basin axis.
"The continuing strong lithium enrichment encountered in near-surface brine samples along the whole Salar Tara to Laguna Helada Basin axis supports management's belief that our Helados property has potential to host large high-grade lithium resources," VP for exploration Terry Walker commented.
The TSX-V-listed company reported that previously sampled lithium brines at Helados have shown "excellent chemistry", including a lithium-to-potassium ratio of 0.1 and a magnesium-to-lithium ratio of 2.6.
The Helados property now comprises 22 700 ha, all of which is located 80 km east of Salar de Atacama in the Andean Lithium Belt and is accessible year-round by paved highway and a short 5 km gravel road from the town of San Pedro de Atacama.
A geophysical work programme is under way at the property, with drilling expected to start in March.
The company now has a total land package of 140 100 ha, which represents the largest lithium exploration property portfolio outside of the Chilean government.
Lithium Chile also announced that it has appointed industry veteran Jeremy Walker to the position of VP of business development.
Meanwhile, Lithium Chile had also recently moved ahead to spin-out its copper/gold assets into a new standalone public company that will be named Kairos Metals.
The effective date for the spinout transaction is expected to be about five days after a meeting of the corporation's shareholders has been held to approve the arrangement and will result in a shareholder of Lithium Chile owning an equal pro rata percentage of Kairos Metals on an issued and outstanding basis.
The corporation expects to provide further information on this development by mid-February, once the terms of the spin-out transaction have been determined.
Further, the corporation launched a nonbrokered private placement of C$4-million, a portion of the net proceeds of which will be transferred into Kairos Metals as general working capital. The balance of the proceeds from the offering will be used to further ongoing exploration efforts on Lithium Chile's extensive lithium property portfolio and for general working capital purposes.