Lake Resources and Lilac progress Argentina’s lithium plans

Well aware that the global demand for lithium is set to skyrocket in the coming years, Australian lithium company Lake Resources has partnered with Lilac Solutions - a clean tech organisation - to progress Argentina’s battery-metal ambitions. The companies are collaborating on the development of the Kachi Lithium Brine Project in the Catamarca Province and, already, Lake Resources’ has seen a 20% bolster to its shares. 

Currently, Argentina holds the third-largest lithium reserves in the world, making it a hot spot for miners globally that are itching to get their hands on the precious battery metal. The Kachi project is already estimated to generate a fantastic 25,000 tonnes of lithium per year, with the potential to double that number following expansion success. 

Lilac’s lithium ambitions 

As the clean technology specialists, Lilac will supply valuable digital oversight on the project’s progress, ensuring a sustainable and streamlined technological process. It’s prepared to pump approximately US$50mn into the development of the lithium project, opening a door to a possible 25% stake in what will likely become a highly financially rewarding project in the near future. 

In conversation with Reuters, David Snydacker, Lilac’s Chief Executive Officer, said the company’s ambitions lay in the future involvement with the battery metal. 

“We want to be in the business of producing lithium,” he says. “We want to help people like Lake Resources bring production online and not simply be doing engineering work.”

Lilac’s a growing name within the industry, with supporters the likes of Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. According to the company, the partnership with Lake Resources gives Lilac the platform it needs to showcase technology’s place in the mining industry, and the company’s ability to help deliver high-purity lithium on an impressive scale.

But what about Lake Resources? 

The lithium-focused company’s involvement in the project will see its sustainability portfolio expand and its funding increase, meaning Lake Resources will have more flexibility in selecting customers and its own terms for future contracts. Its growth in shares - at one point leaping by 22.3% - has proven its potential for customer and project expansion if the Kachi project proves successful. 

Presently, the Kachi Lithium Brine Project is costing a whopping US$540mn, with both companies involved expected to fund US$300mn through debt. And despite many lithium projects raising concerns regarding the hypocritical sustainability endeavours of the battery-metals extraction juxtaposed with the environmentally harmful development and maintenance process, the Kachi project is expected to be powered mainly by solar power.