TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - February 27, 2017) - Neo Lithium Corp. ("Neo Lithium" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: NLC) today announced that it has engaged GHD Chile SA ("GHD"), a leading full-service engineering services firm with offices throughout Latin America to complete the Preliminary Economic Assessment report ("PEA") for the Tres Quebradas lithium brine project ("3Q Project") in Argentina. GHD is a very well recognized firm with a solid track record in servicing analysis for the design and construction requirements for some of the world's largest and lowest cost lithium-potash brine processing facilities situated in Chile and Argentina.
The Company is excited to announce that the PEA is expected to be completed well ahead of schedule with a target completion date during the third quarter of 2017. The PEA will provide a detailed financial model and economic analysis for a conventional evaporation recovery circuit for lithium and potash and should lay the foundation for the future feasibility work.
"I am delighted with the engagement with GHD and we look forward to working together on maintaining the pace of progress at the 3Q Project," said Waldo Perez, CEO of Neo Lithium "We are proud of our rapid progress and accomplishments in a very short period of time and anticipate that the delivery of a robust economic model by GHD ahead of schedule will enable us to quickly move towards the completion of our feasibility work in 2018. Should the results of the PEA and subsequent mining studies support the development and construction, our objective is to be in production no later than 2021 to capture the strong growth being forecasted for the industry."
The Neo Lithium and GHD teams combined include some of the world's highly regarded consulting engineers, geologists and scientists, such as:
- Peter Ehren - QP Eng. Mr. Ehren is a world-leading process engineer with extensive industry experience and involvement in projects including Salton Valley (BHP), Salar de Atacama (SQM) and Olaroz Salar (Orocobre) to name a few.
- Mark King - QP Geo. Dr. King is the leader of Groundwater Insight, a company that specializes in the technical oversight of Resource and Reserve Evaluations. Dr. King is the author of the first resource and reserve estimation done under NI 43-101 for the Cauchari Salar (Lithium Americas). He consulted as a hydrogeologist to Talison 7 Salares project in Chile and a number of clients like Lithium One and Daijin.
- Hugo Barrientos - Mech. Eng. Mr. Barrinetos was the chief project engineer for the Cauchari Salar (Lithium Americas) and Salar de Atacama (SQM).
- Marcela Matus - Chem. Eng. Mrs. Matus has strong experience in process engineering in the Salar de Atacam (SQM), and Maricunga and Pedernales (Codelco).
- Claudio Suarez Authievre - Chem. Eng. / Process Chemist. Dr. Suarez developed process chemistry at Salar de Atacama (SQM) and Cauchari Salar (Lithium Americas) and is the current Process Engineer Manager at Neo Lithium.
- Marcelo Bravo - Process Engineer. Mr. Marcelo has developed the process for potassium salts (KCl and K2SO4) and lithium carbonates projects, solar evaporation ponds design at the Salar de Atacama (SQM), Cauchari Salar (Lithium Americas), Hombre Muerto Salar (Galaxy) and Uyuni Salar.
- Fernado Villarroel - Ind. Eng. Mr. Villarroel brings global experience in multicultural teams in the mining industry with wide experience in several lithium projects in Argentina including Cauchari Salar (Lithium Americas), International Lithium, Daijing and Gangfeng.
The engineering and lithium brine processing studies completed to date have laid a strong foundation for the 3Q Project PEA and will allow Neo Lithium to complete the PEA in Q3 2017, well ahead of originally planned.
The Company has made significant progress to-date on several fronts at the 3Q Project including: environmental impact approval, detailed sampling completion, road and camp construction, geophysics, initiation of drilling and environmental and community baseline studies. This multi-pronged approach will facilitate timely delivery of the PEA and related NI 43-101 report in due course and ahead of schedule.
About Neo Lithium Corp.
Neo Lithium Corp. is quickly becoming a prominent new name in lithium brine exploration by virtue of its quality 3Q Project and experienced team. Already well capitalized, Neo Lithium is rapidly advancing its newly discovered 3Q Project -- a unique high-grade lithium brine lake and salar complex in the Latin America's Lithium Triangle.
The 3Q Project is located in the Province of Catamarca, the largest lithium producer in Argentina. The project covers approximately 35,000 ha and the salar complex within this area is approximately 160 km2. Surface exploration results indicate a high-grade lithium target in the northern portion of the salar complex extending for approximately 20 by 5 km with low magnesium and sulphate impurities. Low impurities are a key factor in traditional low cost evaporation techniques for final lithium carbonate production. Hot springs on the property with elevated lithium content are part of the recharge system of the salar complex.
The technical team that discovered this unique salar complex is one of the most experienced in lithium salars, having discovered and led the technical work, including resource definition and full feasibility study that established the Cauchari lithium salar as the third largest lithium brine resource in the world.
Additional information regarding Neo Lithium Corp. is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com under the Company's profile and at its website at www.neolithium.ca, including various pictures of ongoing work at the project.
Waldo Perez, Ph.D, P.Geo., the CEO and President of Neo Lithium Corp. is the Qualified Person who approved the scientific and technical disclosure in the news release.
