M&A evaluates one of the world’s largest, highest-grade, undeveloped lithium-potash brine resources.
Client: Lithium One, Inc. - Time frame: 2010–present
- Location: Catamarca and Salta, Argentina
The Sal de Vida deposit, located in the Salar de Hombre Muerto in northwest Argentina, is a lithium-potash brine prospect . The brines have been concentrated by evaporation, resulting in highly anomalous — and potentially commercial — quantities of lithium and potassium. M&A provided a variety of hydrogeologic services for this project in accordance with Canada’s National Instrument (NI) 43-101 guidelines. Principal Mike Rosko served as the Qualified Person for field investigations.
Our work entailed designing and implementing field investigations to support the development of an inferred resource estimate for the brines. We also developed the estimate based on the drainable porosity of the host aquifer and the concentrations of lithium and potassium. Our estimate indicated that the deposit contains 5.4 million tons of lithium carbonate and 21 million tons of potassium chloride (1,470 million cubic meters at 695 mg/L Li and 7590 mg/L K).
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- Designed and implemented a diamond-drilling program for 10 core holes ranging from 102 to 150 meters in depth
- Collected core samples for laboratory measurement of drainable porosity
- Designed sampling equipment and collected depth-specific brine samples for geochemical analysis
- Developed vertical profiles of brine temperature and electrical conductivity
- Conducted low-flow sampling of brine from monitoring wells
- Developed a conceptual geologic model for the salar basin
- Collected baseline streamflow data to develop a basin-wide water budget
- Developed the inferred resource estimate using three different methods
- Prepared a comprehensive report that met the rigorous requirements of
NI 43-101 - Prepared recommendations for upgrading the resource to indicated and measured status under NI 43-101
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