Last checked at 25 Jun 2014 07:00
25 June 2014
Rare Earth Minerals Plc.
("Rare Earth Minerals", "REM" or "the Company")
Update - El Sauz Fleur Lithium Property, Mexico
Rare Earth Minerals Plc (LSE AIM: REM) is pleased to announce that it has agreed with its partner in the Sonora Lithium Project in Mexico, Bacanora Minerals Ltd ("Bacanora"), to extend the date of the exclusive right to negotiate increasing REM's interest in the El Sauz Fleur Lithium Property ("Agreement 1") from 30% to as high as 49.9% from 22 May 2014 to 30 September 2014.
The Agreement 1 mining concessions comprise of Fleur, Fleur 1, El Sauz, Sauz 1 and Sauz 2, which total 5,325 hectares and form part of the overall Sonora Lithium Project in northern Mexico ("Concessions").
REM's interest in the overall Sonora Lithium Project consist of a 11.27% direct interest in Bacanora, a 30% in the Bacanora subsidiary that owns the Concessions (Agreement 1) and a 10% in the Bacanorasubsidiary that owns the Megalit mineral concessions (Agreement 2). When aggregated the total economic interests are, 37.89% in Agreement 1 and 20.14% in Agreement 2.
David Lenigas, the Company's Chairman commented:
"This 4 month extension to our exclusive right provides REM with multiple options and flexibility on how best to use the Company's balance sheet to increase our exposure to this exciting lithium play."
Terms of Extension Agreement for First Right of Refusal:
As announced on the 23 May 2013, the terms of Agreement 1 provided REM with an exclusive one year right to negotiate terms to increase REM's interest from 30% to 49.9% in the Bacanorasubsidiary that owns the Concessions. This was subject to REM's completion of a 30% earn in to this subsidiary, which was completed on the 5 September 2013. The one-year period has now been extended from the 22 May 2014 to the 30 September 2014. The extension has been granted at no cost to REM.
Current Lithium Resources of El Sauz Fleur Concessions:
The Concessions contain an indicated mineral resource of 120,990,000 tonnes of ore averaging 3,120 ppm Li (1.66% LCE) resulting in 2.01 million tonnes of LCE.
The indicated mineral resource lies directly to the south of and along strike of the La Ventana deposit, which forms part of the Sonora Lithium project and has a reported net present value of US$848 million.
Independent laboratory work has confirmed that Bacanora was able to produce battery grade lithium carbonate (99.5%) from the lithium bearing clays within the Concessions.
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For further information please contact:
Rare Earth Minerals plc +44 (0) 207 440 0647David LenigasKiran Morzaria
WH Ireland Limited (NOMAD & Joint Broker) +44 (0) 207 220 1666 James JoyceNick Field
Hume Capital plc (Joint Broker) +44 (0) 203 693 1470Guy PetersJon Belliss
Square1 ConsultingDavid Bick +44 (0) 207 929 5599Mark Longson