The simple mention of electric vehicles has been electrifying. Not only are EV stocks accelerating higher, but so are lithium-related stocks. After all, with a good deal of EV demand, the world will need as much lithium as it can possibly get its hands on. In addition, under a Biden Administration, we could see even more EVs on the roads, which will require even more lithium supply. In fact, as noted on his Administration’s site, “There are now one million electric vehicles on the road in the United States. But a key barrier to further deployment of these greenhouse-gas reducing vehicles is the lack of charging stations and coordination across all levels of government. As President, Biden will work with our nation’s governors and mayors to support the deployment of more than 500,000 new public charging outlets by the end of 2030.” With lithium at the very heart of that EV story, it’s creating substantial opportunity for related companies, such as E3 Metals Corp. (TSXV:ETMC)(OTC:EEMMF), Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB), Lithium Americas (NYSE:LAC)(TSX:LAC), American Lithium Corp. (OTC:LIACF)(TSXV:LI), and Piedmont Lithium (NASDAQ:PLL).
E3 Metals Corp. (TSXV:ETMC)(OTC:EEMMF) BREAKING NEWS : E3 Metals Corp , an emerging lithium developer and leading lithium extraction technology innovator, is pleased to announce its Aquifer Management Plan and resource increase, in conjunction with the recently announced PEA ( see news release dated November 16, 2020 ), on the Clearwater Lithium Project.
Updated Resource Estimate
The inferred mineral resource estimate for the Clearwater Project Area has been updated to 410,000 tonnes of elemental lithium. The updated resource now totals 2,200,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), from 1,900,000 tonnes LCE, with E3 Metals now holding 7.0Mt LCE inferred mineral resources. It is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Reserves with continued exploration. In 2021, E3 has an expanded geological program planned that leverages decades of existing oilfield data to support E3's goal of upgrading the Company’s Clearwater resource.
Several factors contributed to the updated estimate, including:
1) An updated Aquifer Management Plan, including well network modeling, has outlined the ability for the reservoir to produce a larger amount of lithium from brine than was originally envisioned, increasing the production factor from 50% to 80% in some areas;
2) New Permits resulted in an expansion of the resource area by 85 km2 in comparison to the initial resource estimate in 2017; and
3) New and repeated sampling within the resource area has resulted in an updated average concentration of 74.6 mg/L Li.
Production Plan
In order to produce lithium products, brine from the Leduc Aquifer will be pumped to surface from a series of production wells operating at approximately 3,300 m3/day using electric submersible pumps. A group of wells will be located at two brine production areas, located to the north and south of the Central Process Facility (CPF), each producing just over 64,000 m3/day. Additional wells have been planned and included in the cost estimate for redundancy purposes. From there, the brine will be transported through underground pipelines, each about 15 km in length, to the CPF for pre-treatment and lithium extraction using E3’s proprietary Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) process. After the lithium is removed, the brine will be re-injected back into the aquifer through a series of wells located in proximity to the CPF.
Aquifer Management Plan
An Aquifer Management Plan (AMP) is an essential step to promoting resource longevity. Starting with an understanding of the aquifer’s natural geological characteristics, the long-term behaviour and movement of the brine in the subsurface is modelled while leveraging the aquifer’s key advantages. These include the reservoir characteristics (or the ability for brine to flow within it) and size and of the Leduc Aquifer, which spans 100’s of km2.
Building upon this, E3 Metals has developed the Clearwater Project Area Aquifer Management Plan after analyzing 60+ years of oil, gas and brine production across the project area. This includes geological data, production data, and geophysical data, including wireline logs, to characterize the aquifer. Based on the aquifer characterization, an aquifer model was developed to predict the movement of fluid and lithium in the reservoir during the project life.
The production and injection plan outlined above results in a pressure differential that effectively sweeps the production area of lithium enriched brine from the injection wells to the production wells. Figure 2 displays the modelled lithium distribution after 10 years and 20 years of production. The Aquifer Management Plan and associated modelling can support E3 to efficiently manage fluid flow and mixing patterns in the subsurface aquifer to extend the resource life across the Clearwater Project Area.
“I am very pleased to see this advancement of E3’s inferred resource estimation in association with the release of our PEA results”, stated Liz Lappin, E3’s VP Corporate Affairs and Exploration, “As we move into the new year, we plan to continue to advance the aquifer development program with the goal of upgrading the resources to Measured and Indicated.”
E3's Clearwater resource is classified as inferred because geological evidence is sufficient to imply but not verify geological, grade or quality continuity. Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE) is calculated by multiplying the elemental lithium contained within the resource by 5.323.
Other related developments from around the markets include:
Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB), a leader in the global specialty chemicals industry, announced that it will serve as a founding member of ZETA , a first-of-its-kind U.S.-based coalition committed to achieving 100 percent electric vehicle (EV) sales by 2030. ZETA will advocate for national policies to enable the full adoption of EVs throughout the light-, medium-, and heavy-duty sectors by 2030, which will support the creation of new jobs, secure American global EV manufacturing leadership, and significantly reduce carbon pollution. "The U.S. is tracking behind other countries in driving the adoption of EVs and, as a result, the benefits EVs contribute to the environment," said Eric Norris, Albemarle President, Lithium. "As an industry leader and major U.S. producer of lithium, Albemarle is committed to powering the potential of clean energy and is excited to join ZETA's mission in positioning the U.S. to support a clean and sustainable environment."
Lithium Americas Corp. (NYSE:LAC)(TSX:LAC) announces that effective immediately Michael Fischer has resigned from the Company’s board of directors. Dr. Fischer has served on Lithium Americas’ board of directors as the representative of Bangchak Corporation Public Company Ltd. since May 2020. George Ireland, Lithium Americas' Chairman commented: “We would like to sincerely thank Dr. Fischer and Bangchak for their early support for Lithium Americas. With an increased focus on sustainably developing the Thacker Pass lithium project, the Board has recently engaged a leading executive recruitment firm, to lead the process of identifying new Board members prioritizing chemical industry and US resource development experience.”
American Lithium Corp. (OTC:LIACF)(TSXV:LI), a leading lithium exploration and development operator is pleased to report commencement of the phase III drill campaign to expand the current 5.37 million tonnes (Mt) Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE) at the Company’s wholly owned TLC sedimentary lithium project in Nevada, USA. Further, the program will provide bulk material to continue independent testing and validation of existing work on economical production of lithium by both hydrometallurgical and thermal processing methods. To date, all holes drilled at TLC have intersected significant lithium.
Piedmont Lithium (NASDAQ:PLL) is pleased to announce it has expanded the current drilling campaign by an additional 25,000 meters , with three additional rigs arriving in the field over the coming weeks. The expanded drill program is designed to complete infill drilling on the Core Property with the objective of upgrading the Mineral Resource classification category for select areas from the Inferred category to the Measured and Indicated categories. The Company plans to publish a Mineral Resource estimate update for the Core Property in Q2 2021 in support of reporting Ore Reserves and completion of a Definitive Feasibility Study in mid-2021.
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