CleanTech Lithium plc (LON:CTL) has published a maiden JORC inferred resource for its Francisco Basin lithium project in Chile.
The resource rings in at 530,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) at a grade of 305 milligrams per litre (mg/L).
The estimate is based on the first well the company completed before the Chilean winter break.
That well was part of a four-well drill programme.
It encountered a brine aquifer from 99 metres to 311 metres depth.
Thirty-four brine samples were collected from regular intervals, with a peak lithium grade of 324 mg/L and an average grade of 305mg/L.
A scoping study will commence at Francisco Basin in the fourth quarter of this year, looking at an expected base case production rate of 20,000 tonnes LCE per annum.
Francisco Basin is located less than 100 kilometres away from CleanTech Lithium´s more advanced Laguna Verde project, which already boasts a resource of 1.51mln tonnes LCE at a grade of 206mg/L.
"We are delighted with the maiden JORC Inferred resource estimate of 0.53 million tonnes of LCE at a grade of 305mg/L lithium from our first well at Francisco Basin,” said Aldo Boitano, chief executive of Cleantech Lithium.
“The resource estimate provides the basis for a scoping study with a base case production rate of 20,000 tonnes of LCE per annum, expected to utilise 100% renewable energy for process power providing green lithium to the electric vehicle industry. Two of our three projects in Chile now have resource estimates, with the total lithium resource exceeding 2mln tonnes LCE.”
Further upgrades are planned in the first quarter of 2023, based on fieldwork to commence in the next few weeks.