REG - Great Southrn.Copper - Lithium Project Grows by 40% with New Concession

Great Southern CopperAnnouncement

31/10/2023 07:15

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RNS Number : 7843R  Great Southern Copper PLC  31 October 2023

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION AS STIPULATED UNDER THE UK
VERSION OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION NO 596/2014 WHICH IS PART OF ENGLISH
LAW BY VIRTUE OF THE EUROPEAN (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018, AS AMENDED.  ON
PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS
INFORMATION IS CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

 

31 October 2023

 

Great Southern Copper plc

("GSC" or the "Company")

 

 

Monti Lithium Project Grows by 40% with New Concession Filing

 

GSC expands its footprint to 33,100 ha in the prolific Salar de Atacama
district, Chile

 

Great Southern Copper plc (LSE: GSCU), the company focused on copper-gold and
lithium exploration in Chile, is pleased to announce that it has consolidated
its concession area in the Salar de Atacama district of Chile, which hosts the
world's largest reserves of lithium.

 

Highlights:

·    New exploration concession filings increase Monti Lithium Project to
33,100 ha

·    Salar de Atacama is Chile's largest Lithium brine producing district

·    Located in the prolific "Lithium Triangle" of Chile-Argentina-Bolivia

·    Excellent infrastructure in place

·    GSC's concessions located near to Chile's largest lithium producers

·    Chile is the world's second largest producer of lithium

 

Next steps:

·    Over the coming months, GSC will conduct due diligence on the project
and prepare plans for its exploration programmes

·    Work will include reconnaissance field trips to undertake surface
sampling and mapping programmes

 

Sam Garrett, Chief Executive Officer of Great Southern Copper, said: "We have
moved quickly to expand the Company's position within this significant
lithium-producing jurisdiction. Our applications have strategically targeted
areas where we believe the potential for lithium-rich brine fluid-flow into
the Salar de Atacama basin is enhanced by large-scale geological structures.

 

"The Salar de Atacama is a Tier 1 lithium producing region and our concessions
are located near to the largest lithium producers in Chile, underscoring the
great potential of this project. We look forward to advancing our exploration
efforts at Monti and updating the market on our progress.

 

"Chile is the largest producer of copper and the second-largest producer of
lithium globally. The two metals are critically important in the global drive
for a green-energy future and as such we believe the new Monti Lithium Project
is a perfect compliment to our two copper projects in Chile."

 

Monti Lithium Project:

On 20 September 2023, GSC announced that it had executed an Option Agreement
allowing the Company to earn 100% of the Monti Lithium Project in Chile(1)
comprising 81 exploration concessions covering a total area of 23,500 ha (235
km(2)) located in the Salar de Atacama district, Chile's largest lithium-brine
production region.

 

The Company has since filed a further 33 exploration concessions bringing the
total project area to 33,100 ha (331 km(2)) representing a 40% increase in the
project area (Figure 1). Further to these new filings preliminary
reconnaissance exploration of the Monti Lithium Project may commence.

 

The Salar de Atacama basin comprises an extensional depression controlled by
first-order normal faulting(2) within a more extensive N-S trending Preandean
rift system. The geometry of the basin is interpreted to have resulted from to
the interaction of crustal-scale, N-S trending, normal faults and conjugate
northeast and southeast-trending structures. The same structural trends also
appear significant for the control on emplacement of porphyry copper deposits
- e.g., Chuquicumata, Spence, Gabi, Escondida - located within the Preandean
Cordillera de Domeyko volcanic domain west of the depressional divide. GSC has
aimed to strategically locate its exploration concessions coincident with
interpreted major structures and basinal in-flow zones (Figure 2).

 

The Salar de Atacama is a Tier 1 lithium production region with estimated
pre-mine resources greater than 6.0 Mt Li(3). Lithium is hosted in
subterranean brine solutions which are pumped to the surface, where the
lithium is extracted via evaporation processes producing a lithium carbonate
(LiCO(3)) concentrate product. By products of the lithium concentration
process include potassium chloride and potassium sulphate, which are used to
manufacture fertilizer materials(4), and bromine products(5)

 

Lithium production in Chile:

Chile is currently the world's second largest producer of lithium after
Australia(6). Unlike Australia where lithium is recovered from spodumene-rich
pegmatites, lithium in Chile is recovered from salt brine solutions located
within and beneath high-altitude geographic depressions known as "salars" or
salt lakes. In the Andean region of South America, lithium-rich salars occur
in Bolivia, Argentina and Chile within a region known as "the Lithium
Triangle". Total reserves and resources of lithium calculated in Chile are
estimated at 14.3 Mt Li(7) with the Salar de Atacama being the largest lithium
producing salar.

 

The Chilean government recognises the strategic importance of lithium to the
country's economy and has recently moved to implement a new production model
whereby companies wishing to extract and produce lithium are required to enter
into contracts (CEOLs) with the State, negotiating with government companies
Codelco or ENAMI(8).  Codelco is Chile's state-owned copper mining company
and is one of the largest copper producers globally. ENAMI is also a
state-owned copper and gold-silver processing company mandated to purchase and
process ores from medium and small-scale copper and gold miners across Chile.
Improvements in extraction technologies are also incorporated in the new model
to address environmental concerns relating to the impact of evaporation
processing on existing water tables beneath the salars.

 

Enaction of the new model for lithium production in Chile has been
demonstrated recently with the announcement of Codelco purchasing 100% of the
listed share capital of ASX-listed Lithium Power International (ASX:LPI)(9).

 

References:

1.    RNS 9894M (20 Sept 2023): GSC secures Monti Lithium project in Chile.

2.    Rubilar et. al., (2018): Structure of the Cordillera de la Sal: A key
tectonic element for the Oligocene-Neocene evolution of the Salar de Atacama
basin, Central Andes, northern Chile. Journal of South American Earth Sciences
v87, pg 200-210.

3.    Sykes (2019): A global overview of the geology and economics of
lithium production. AusIMM lithium conference.

4.    SQM website:
https://www.sqm.com/en/acerca-de-sqm/informacion-corporativa/nuestras-faenas/
(https://www.sqm.com/en/acerca-de-sqm/informacion-corporativa/nuestras-faenas/)

5.    Albemarle website:
https://www.albemarle.com/offerings/bromine-specialties/resources?_ga=2.132203213.296506098.1698041131-1851235868.1698041131
(https://www.albemarle.com/offerings/bromine-specialties/resources?_ga=2.132203213.296506098.1698041131-1851235868.1698041131)

6.    U.S. Geological Survey (2023): Mineral commodity summaries.

7.    Cabello (2021): Lithium brine production, reserves, resources and
exploration in Chile: An updated review. Ore Geology Reviews, v128.

8.    Quinzio (2022): Gobernanza y marco legal para la exploitacion del
litio en Chile.

9.    ASX release (18 Oct 2023): LPI enters into binding scheme
implementation deed with Codelco.

 

Enquiries:

 

 Great Southern Copper plc
 Sam Garrett, Chief Executive Officer      +44 (0) 20 4582 3500

 SI Capital Limited
 Nick Emerson                              +44 (0) 1483 413500

 Gracechurch Group
 Harry Chathli, Alexis Gore, Henry Gamble  +44 (0) 20 4582 3500

 

Figure 1: Location map of Monti Lithium Project exploration concessions with
new concessions highlighted in red (Google image). UTM19S WGS84.

 

Figure 2: Location of GSC lithium concessions in relation to interpreted
geological summary and porphyry Cu deposits (green stars). UTM 19S WGS84.

 

Notes for Editors:

 

About Great Southern Copper

 

Great Southern Copper PLC is a UK-listed mineral exploration company focused
on the discovery of copper-gold and lithium deposits in Chile. The Company has
the option to acquire rights to 100% of two projects in the under-explored
coastal belt of Chile that are prospective for large scale copper-gold
deposits. In addition, the Company has the option to acquire rights to 100% of
a lithium project located in the Salar de Atacama district of Chile. Chile is
a globally significant mining jurisdiction being the world's largest copper
producer and the second-largest producer of lithium.

 

The two, early-stage Cu-Au projects comprise the San Lorenzo and Especularita
Projects, both located in the coastal metallogenic belt of Chile which hosts
significant copper mines and deposits, including Teck's Carmen de Andacollo
copper mine, and boasts excellent access to infrastructure such as roads,
power and ports. Significant historical small-scale and artisanal workings for
both copper and gold are readily evident in both exploration project areas.
The Company's Monti Lithium project is strategically located in the pre-Andean
region of Salar de Atacama which is Chile's premier lithium-producing region
with well-established lithium mining operations and infrastructure.

 

Great Southern Copper is strategically positioned to support the global market
for copper and lithium - both critical battery metals in the clean energy
transition around the world. The Company is actively engaged in exploration
and evaluation work programmes targeting both large tonnage, low to medium
grade Cu-Au and Li deposits as well as high-grade Cu-Au deposits.

 

Further information on the Company is available on the Company's website:
https://gscplc.com (https://gscplc.com)

 

 

Forward Looking and Cautionary Statements

Some statements in this announcement regarding estimates or future events are
forward-looking statements. They include indications of, and guidance on,
future earnings, cash flow, costs and financial performance. Forward-looking
statements include, but are not limited to, statements preceded by words such
as "planned", "expected", "projected", "estimated", "may", "scheduled",
"intends", "anticipates", "believes", "potential", "predict", "foresee",
"proposed", "aim", "target", "opportunity", "could", "nominal", "conceptual"
and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements, opinions and estimates
included in this report are based on assumptions and contingencies which are
subject to change without notice, as are statements about market and industry
trends, which are based on interpretations of current market conditions.
Forward-looking statements are provided as a general guide only and should not
be relied on as a guarantee of future performance. Forward-looking statements
may be affected by a range of variables that could cause actual results to
differ from estimated or anticipated results and may cause the Company's
actual performance and financial results in future periods to materially
differ from any projections of future performance or results expressed or
implied by such forward-looking statements. So, there can be no assurance that
actual outcomes will not materially differ from these forward-looking
statements.

 

 

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