Posted on 15 Dec 2022
Australia-based Pursuit Minerals says it is acquiring the advanced Rio Grande Sur lithium project in Argentina, Kallanish reports.
The company will acquire 100% of the issued capital and combine with Argentina-focused Trilogy Minerals Pty, which holds the rights to acquire 9,233 hectares in Argentina’s so-called lithium triangle.
The companies have signed a binding agreement. Trilogy has five option interests to secure tenements that are prospective for lithium near Salta Province, which Pursuit will acquire once the options have been finalised.
“The acquisition of Trilogy will see Pursuit expand its operations to become an emerging lithium exploration company with resources in a highly prospective lithium-rich region,” says Pursuit’s managing director Bob Affleck. The deal provides a clear, de-risked pathway to lithium development, he adds.
Pursuit intends to undertake a capital raising of AUD 2m ($1.37m). Trilogy will complete an $8m fundraising drive by year-end 2022 through convertible notes to fund the exercise of options over the project and to provide working capital. The deal must be approved by numerous agencies and parties including shareholders and is expected to close in January 2023.
The next step to develop the project is to complete bankable feasibility study, the company says. In the next two years, it plans to conduct additional deep resource drilling and to conduct pump and porosity testing to confirm the resource base estimates.
Pursuit is offering to acquire Trilogy for 362.5m of its common shares, in addition to performance shares of 709.6m common shares, to be issued after certain goals are reached.
The Rio Grande salar or salt lake covers 27,500 hectares and hosts an inferred resource of 2.1m tonnes of LCE at an average grade of 370 milligrams/litre to a depth of 100 m. About one third of the Rio Grande Sur tenement lies within that resource.
Source:Kallanish
