Lithium Analyst Juan C. Zuleta changes his mind about PLUAfter july 2018 press conference, bolivian lithium analyst Juan Carlos Zuleta reacted against the "hype" in Peru identifying the arguments that in his opinion were either not true or nonsensical about the lithium discovery in Puno (1). But recently he seems to have turned more optimistic about PLU, not only because the company's progress but also because he have personally witnessed the growing interest and expectation the Falchani Project is generating inPuno.
Although he's clearly not fully aware of the details of the deposit and what is currently driving PLU sp, I'm glad to see the work he's doing in Puno to "spread the word" about the challenges and potential benefits of the project.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4259056-peru-prepares-lithium-boom-time-real Peru Prepares For The Lithium Boom - And This Time It's For Real (...) But let me stress for the time being that Plateau Energy Metals seems to have done a good job advancing its lithium project in Peru since I was in Lima in October last year to present on lithium in Bolivia at the First International Conference called Litio Peru 2018, organized by Energia Magazine.
Indeed, in March 4, 2019 the company announced an updated mineral resource estimate for its lithium project now called "Falchani," which almost doubled the previous result. (...)
Nonetheless, as shown in Figure 1, the stock seems to have followed a pronounced downward trend after the hype around the discovery of lithium in Peru in July 2018. (...)
We should be now ready to reevaluate the two conjectures I advanced in my previous Seeking Alpha contribution.
Over the last two weeks or so, I have been wondering just how important the lithium discovery in Peru might be at a time when the metal is beginning to make headlines everywhere. A starting point for pursuing this line of reasoning was of course enquiring about the contention by Plateau Energy Metals that the Falchani lithium project would now rank as the 6th largest hard rock lithium resource in the world.
It has then come as a surprise that this lithium project may not be the sixth but the third largest hard rock lithium resource in the world. See Table 1 where Falchani ranks after the Greenbushes and the Pilgangoora - Pilbara projects.
As promising as it might be, two challenges remain and may have to be faced in the years ahead to insure the success of this project. They have to do with the difficulties I foresaw when suggesting my doubts about the possibility of starting production towards the end of 2020. One pertains to the fact that we may be in front of a project with the lowest concentrations in terms of Li2O of all of those being in production at the present time. And, another, to the hurdles of developing the first project on earth to extract lithium from uranium deposits as well as the first lithium project in Peru. Here special attention should be paid to the still missing mining and environmental regulatory framework for this kind of projects in the country, despite promises of the highest authority of Peru to overcome this problem in a timely fashion.
This takes us to the last part of the present article referring to the interest of a group of professional engineers in the surrounding area of the project not only in the progress of the region but also in making university students of different areas fully aware of the technical challenges and opportunities of producing lithium in Peru while building up the support of the government to the project. In this connection, about a month and a half ago the Metallurgical Engineering Society of Peru - Chapter Puno decided to organize a new seminar on lithium in Peru to be held on May 10th to begin a technical discussion on the subject. I was back then invited to participate. (...)
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https://seekingalpha.com/article/4216536-truth-discovery-lithium-deposits-peru