Ultra Lithium Signs Difinitive Partnership Agreement with Zangge Mining for Laguna Verde Brine Lithium Project in Argentina
June 20, 2022
Vancouver, BC – Ultra Lithium Inc. (TSX-V:ULT, OTCQB: ULTXF and Frankfurt: QFB) (“Ultra Lithium” or the “Company”) announces that the Company has entered into a definitive agreement with Zangge Mining Investment (Chengdu) Co. Ltd (“Zangge”), for exploration and development of its 100% owned Laguna Verde Brine Lithium Project in Catamarca Province, Argentina. Under the terms of the agreement, Zangge will, in staged payments, pay US $10 million to Ultra Lithium and invest US$40 million in the Laguna Verde Project as work expenditures for a 65% stake in Ultra Argentina S.R.L. (Ultra Argentina) which is a subsidiary of Ultra Lithium and holds the Laguna Verde Property. The investment is subject to regulatory approvals and due diligence. The Company will provide further details with respect to agreement terms in a subsequent news release.
Fig 1. Ultra Lithium and Zangge enter definitive agreement
About Zangge Mining Co.
Zangge Mining Investment (Chengdu) Co., Ltd. with the registered capital of 2.6 billion RMB (about $500 million) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Zangge Mining Co., Ltd. (“Zangge Mining”), a lithium and potassium producer listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of about $8 billion. Zangge Mining is headquartered in Golmud City of Qinghai Province of China. Currently, Zangge has the mining rights of 724 km2 in Qarhan Brine Lake. It has been developing and utilizing the brine lake for 20 years and has become the biggest private potash producer in China with an annual production output of two million tons of potassium chloride.
Zangge Mining entered the lithium industry in 2017, using its proprietary, advanced and commercially proven adsorption technology to extract lithium from brine. In 2020, Zangge completed construction of its lithium processing facility at its brine project site in Golmud, Qinghai, China and is producing 10,000 tons of lithium carbonate annually. The current production line has been continuous operating for 3 years without needs for changing and/or adding the reagent at all and with almost zero pollutants leakage to the atmosphere and ground. The Company is one of only three companies in the world with industrialized adsorption lithium extraction technology.
Since as early as 2007, the core technical team of Zangge has been engaged in the technology research and development and industrialized construction for brine lithium extraction and has positioned itself as an adsorption lithium extraction technology leader in the global lithium industry.
Laguna Verde Brine Lithium Project Highlights
Laguna Verde is a new brine lithium discovery where exploratory sampling conducted by Ultra Lithium has shown lithium values in the range of 34.2 to 1,270 milligrams per liter (mg/L) or parts per million (ppm), magnesium values less than 1 to 7,920 ppm, potassium 804 to 15,800 ppm, and boron 65 to 2,190 ppm. The Laguna Verde area is marked by low magnesium to lithium ratios, in the range of zero to 10.2. In 2018, the Company completed a 39.2-line- kilometers of ground geophysical survey which indicates high value brine lithium exploration targets in a salar core area of 3.4 square kilometers within a potential brine basin of twenty-three square kilometres and a thickness of 100 to 150 meters. Gravity survey interpretation shows a major fault system exists to the east of the Laguna Verde Salar representing a 2.4-kilometer-thick Cenozoic basin, which requires further research.
In 2018, a bench scale evaporation test of approximately 4,000 litres of brine sample from Laguna Verde was conducted in Ultra Argentina laboratories located in Salta. The density of the original brine sample was 1156 and its lithium concentration was 391 ppm. Two types of evaporation tests were completed. The first test included evaporating 179 litres of brine sample in an external pool located outside to match the natural evaporation conditions. The results indicate that in a period of five months, the brine volume was reduced from sixteen cubic metres (m3) to three cubic meters and lithium concentration increased from 391 to 6,760 ppm. Major salts produced during this process were Halite, Felsobanyaite, Silvite, Lithium Sulfate and Potassium, Carnalite, Kainite and Gypsum. The second test was conducted inside in controlled conditions. The results indicated that the original brine volume of 2,326 m3 was reduced to 85.06 m3 and the lithium concentration went up from 391 to 7,370 ppm.
Ultra Lithium is currently carrying out exploratory drilling on the Property where the first drill hole indicates the presence of a continuous brine aquifer comprising of mainly clastic sediments from 13.9 meters to 205 m drilled depth with a marked hydrothermal presence towards the deeper section. The aquifer is still open at depth.
Qualified Person
The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Afzaal Pirzada, P.Geo., a qualified person, as defined by NI 43-101 who works as Vice President Exploration of the Company.
About Ultra Resources Inc.
Ultra Lithium Inc. is an exploration and development company with a focus on the acquisition and development of lithium, gold, and copper assets. The Company holds a brine lithium property in Argentina, hard rock spodumene type lithium properties at the Georgia Lake / Forgan Lake area in northwestern Ontario, Canada, and a brine lithium property in the Big Smoky Valley, Nevada, USA. The Company also holds other gold and base metals properties in Argentina.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Kiki Smith, CFO
For further information, please contact:
Kiki Smith, CFO
T: +1-778-968-1176
E: kiki@ultralithium.com
W: www.ultralithium.com
Or view the Company’s filings at www.sedar.com
Cautionary Statement Regarding “Forward-Looking” Information
Some of the statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects”, “intends”, “is expected”, “potential”, “suggests” or variations of such words or phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “should”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements and information are not historical facts and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties beyond the Company’s control. Actual results and developments are likely to differ and may differ materially, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulations Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
