Story details
Pursuit Minerals Limited announced the production of its first batch of battery-grade lithium carbonate from its continuous pilot plant facility in the industrial zone of Guemes, Salta Province, Argentina. Chemical laboratory assays performed on final crystallized product samples confirmed a purity exceeding 99.5 percent lithium carbonate (Li2CO3), conforming to stringent international specifications required by Tier-1 lithium-ion battery cathode manufacturers. The feedstock brine was sourced directly from the company's 100 percent owned Rio Grande Sur lithium project on the Salar de Rio Grande.
The pilot facility utilizes a state-of-the-art chemical precipitation and carbonation circuit designed to process concentrated brine following initial solar evaporation and chemical polishing stages to eliminate magnesium and calcium impurities. Continuous operation of the 250 tonnes per annum nameplate demonstration plant provides critical engineering flow-sheet validation, mass balance parameters, and reagent consumption data required to finalize the definitive feasibility study for a planned 20,000 tonnes per annum commercial production facility.
On-site drilling operations across the Salar de Rio Grande tenement package have delineated continuous high-grade brine aquifers hosted in permeable volcanic ash layers and fractured halite formations down to depths of 500 meters. The updated mineral resource estimate outlines over 250,000 tonnes of contained lithium carbonate equivalent at an average grade of 360 milligrams per liter lithium, exhibiting favorable magnesium-to-lithium ratios below 3.8. The company has completed shallow pumping tests demonstrating sustained hydraulic flow rates exceeding 25 liters per second.
Executive management stated that producing verified battery-grade product transforms Pursuit Minerals from an early-stage exploration company into an advanced lithium developer in the Lithium Triangle. Argentina's established legal framework under the Mining Investment Law provides fiscal stability guarantees for 30 years and streamlined municipal environmental permitting. Pursuit confirmed that qualified product samples are currently being packaged for shipment to prospective Asian and European battery offtake partners for commercial qualification.