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What are you taking about… someone asks for an article and I provide it…. I trust your accusation is to the journal in which case? Anything of merit to actually post or just standard drivel?
Well Raisingdonuts just ramps lots of people on lse3 just ramp prof of pudding will come
Thnx a lot for posting this Raisingdonuts, looks very positive for the company and the Lithium industry growth in Chile are amazing...
Last!
ASX listing
CleanTech Lithium is still in the process of listing on the ASX, having announced its intentions to pursue a listing in Australia at the beginning of last year. Kesler said the company believes getting a dual listing on the ASX is important, among other reasons, due to the deeper pool of capital available.
"We started to process last year, and for a number of reasons, it went a bit slow," he said. "We aim to complete the prospectus and file it towards the end of April. It then goes through a review period – which should be short because we've had lots of discussions with the ASX – and then we should be trading on the ASX in May."
"Going into Australia on the back of this announcement by the government on how they're seeing the development of the lithium industry in Chile, we think it will be a very positive reception when we list."
Continued
"We have no communities within 100km of our projects, but they are on the transport corridors. So, when we started these projects a few years ago, we commenced a very early dialogue with those communities to explain what we intended to do and how we intended to develop and produce lithium sustainably."
In December last year, CleanTech Lithium signed an agreement to form an alliance with local communities on the development of the Laguna Verde project. The developer proposed a 1.5% royalty to a community development fund in its application for special lithium operating contracts.
"We believe that we can have strong interaction with those communities for the benefit of those communities and ourselves in developing the project," Kesler said. "I think it's an example for the government of how companies can interact positively with communities and get support for projects going forward."
DLE pilot plant
Last week, CleanTech Lithium started operating its pilot plant in Copiapó, producing lithium chloride eluate through direct lithium extraction (DLE). The pilot plant has a capacity of 1t of lithium carbonate equivalent per month.
"There are still many people out there who are still a bit dubious or sceptical about DLE," Kesler said, adding that it felt important to go beyond the laboratory scale and demonstrate the technology at a larger scale.
"We are extracting brine from the aquifer, bringing it down to a pilot plant, extracting the lithium, and then returning the brine to reinject back into the aquifer up at the plant side. People can see this whole concept working, so we think it's a big milestone."
Kesler said CleanTech Lithium is not signing non-binding agreements but has signed NDAs with five major companies interested in offtake.
"We believe it's premature now to enter into substantive discussions on offtake," he explained. "Many other juniors think it's good to have a non-binding offtake agreement with other parties. We've taken a contrary view and don't think that's best for us. We want to be in a position to have completed our PFS, to have demonstrated the size of the resource and the economics of the project, to have the engineering, the design, and have the pilot plant up and running producing battery-grade lithium carbonate so that we can provide potential offtakers samples of the product."
Its strategy is to talk with interested parties beyond pricing mechanisms, instead focusing on how potential offtakers can help get capital for the construction and development of the project.
"To have those discussions, you need to have the PFS finished so you can discuss from a position of strength. The business development people of those major companies want it on very solid grounds before they're prepared to take a proposal to the board. That's why we want binding agreements when we have our PFS."
CleanTech Lithium expects to have completed the PFS in the third quarter of this year.
ASX listing
Cle
Continued
Laguna Verde and Francisco Basin
As its projects are outside the areas Chile has deemed strategic, CleanTech Lithium said it won't be affected by the newly announced details. Last year, it submitted applications for a special lithium operation contract for Laguna Verde and Francisco Basin on a 100% basis.
However, Kesler said the lithium explorer is happy to discuss if it makes sense for Chilean state minerals company Enami to take a minority position.
"We can see with Enami already having five salars to be developed and Codelco having their hands full, so it may be that the government prefers to see private companies drudge ahead solo on this, but we'll be in discussions with the government and Enami to see how we play this."
CleanTech Lithium has a strong likelihood of those contracts being awarded, Kesler thinks.
"One thing the government has been expressing very much during the development of this national lithium strategy is the importance of dialogue and support from the indigenous communities for the project," he explained.
27.03.2024 Mining Journal: CleanTech Lithium: Chile's lithium strategy progress sends "a very strong message"
By Isabeau van Halm
https://www.mining-journal.com/energy-minerals/news-analysis/4190540/cleantech-lithium-chiles-lithium-strategy-progress-sends-strong-message
Chile's progress in its national lithium strategy is a "very positive" development, CleanTech Lithium said, the government sending "a very strong message" in yesterday's announcement of further details.
Chile's government announced on Tuesday that it will create a network of protected salars, while others will be open for exploration and exploitation by private companies. It opened up 26 lithium salt flats for private investments while reserving the strategic Atacama and Maricunga salars for state development.
From April, private companies can express interest in leading exploration and exploitation projects in the salars open for tenders. In July, the government is expected to award special lithium operation contracts.
"The government is having a very strong message here," Steve Kesler, executive chairman at CleanTech Lithium, told Mining Journal. "It wants to develop the lithium industry, and it wants to do it very much hand-in-hand with the private sector – some projects public and led by public with private participation, others led by private, either alone or with some public participation."
Chile's finance minister, Mario Marcel, said the proposals would potentially increase the country's lithium production by 70% by 2030 and potentially double over the next decade.
"When they announced the national lithium strategy last April, it was not well received internationally," Kesler added. "It was misconstrued as the government wanting to nationalise lithium, not wanting foreign investment in the lithium industry.
The government, over the last year, has been really trying to get across that they intend to develop the lithium industry in Chile with the private sector but have a greater participation."