Peruvian newspaper "El Comercio" informs about claims issuehttps://elcomercio.pe/economia/dia-1/gobierno-y-empresa-minera-litigan-por-19-de-litio-descubierto-en-puno-noticia/ Government and mining company litigate for 19% of lithium discovered in Puno
Those who have visited the Macusani plateau (Puno) tell that uranium is so exposed there that it is common to find traces of this radioactive mineral in pastures and huts.
It is, however, mild concentrations. "The most important are in depth", says Ulises Solis, general manager of Macusani Yellowcake, a company that has been exploring this territory since 2006.
It was like this, looking for high uranium grades, that the canadian company went to drill in the town of Chacaconiza, although with discouraging results (2017): they did not discover uranium, and already were planning to leave the area when they received the results of the samples they had sent to the laboratory.
These evidenced surprising concentrations of lithium, metal that until then had been poorly reported in Macusani. "We had discovered a lithium deposit", says Solis.
Peru, lithium country?
Falchani (thus the project was baptized) has put Peru on the map of lithium mining, along with Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, which already exploit this technological mineral, but in salt flats.
But, the Peruvian find is found in hard rock, so it will be exploited as a traditional mining operation: as an open pit.
According to Macusani Yellowcake, it is the sixth largest project of its kind in the world, with 4.7 million tons of lithium discovered as of December 31st, 2018.
That is, a growth of 3,500% in the volumes of lithium delineated since 2017, a surprising feat, considering that Macusani started as a uranium project.
Precisely, this vertiginous transformation has aroused the suspicion of a non-small sector of the Peruvian geological and mining community.
More perforations
The Institute of Mining Engineers of Peru (IIMP) warns, for example, that Falchani needs to be explored more thoroughly to confirm the lithium resources discovered.
The Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem) also does not record the project in its investment portfolio.
And specialists like Guido del Castillo, discoverer of many sites in the south of the country, point out that Macusani must drill tens of thousands of meters before being certain that it has made a great find.
The Canadian has drilled about 6,000 meters in Falchani, but Solis warns that they are preparing an ambitious 35,000 meter drilling campaign that will "dispel the doubts" of the detractors of the project.
“At the end of October or beginning of November (of 2019) we will begin drilling with the Redrilsa firm. The objective will be to convert resources (potentially valuable mineral) into reserves (valuable mineral)”, notes Solis.
Judgment with Minem
Macusani estimates that the first calculation of Falchani reserves will be published in early 2020, in time to be presented at the PDAC (Toronto), the world's largest mining congress.
Their next challenge will be to advance with the prefeasibility and feasibility studies, which will give more light on the key parameters of the project, such as investment, production and design of mine and plant.
The objective of the Canadian is to exploit only lithium resources, because uranium, due to its low price, is not profitable at the moment.
"Happily, Falchani has little uranium, and that little that exists will not be touched, but stored for exploitation at a better juncture", notes Solis.
He anticipates that the investment will be less than initially estimated (US$ 700 million instead of US$ 860 million) due to this reason, but also to an unforeseen event: a bitter dispute with Minem for a portion of the project.
“The mining authority (Ingemmet and Minem) intends to take from us 32 of our 151 concessions, because we would not have paid the validity fees. But we have the evidence that we have complied”, he clarifies after noting that these areas house 19% of the lithium resources and 25% of the project's uranium resources.
In order not to lose these resources, the Canadian has filed a contentious-administrative lawsuit against Minem.
"The issue is that we were going to launch the prefeasibility study, but, due to this legal problem with the Government, we are reducing the scope of the project to the Falchani area", he explains.
Concessions for sale?
For Minem, the situation is clear: Macusani Yellowcake has not complied with the rules and administrative processes, so it could lose its 32 concessions.
"Macusani will have to follow the corresponding legal process to enforce its rights", warns Francisco Ismodes, head of the sector.
In Solis' opinion, what Minem wants is to take away the concessions from Macusani to give them to Ingemmet, so that it can carry out explorations and sell the new project.
“Fools we are not. But we are going to defend what is ours to death”, he warns.