Lithium Americas Inaugurates POSCO Plant at Cauchari-Olaroz, Argentina

Lithium Americas (TSX:LAC) announced that POSCO’s lithium extraction demonstration plant was inaugurated at Lithium Americas’s Cauchari-Olaroz lithium project in Argentina. Once POSCO is satisfied that the demo plant is operating as expected, Lithium Americas will enter a 90-day exclusivity period to negotiate a commercial stage production agreement with the company.

As quoted in the press release:

POSCO, Korea’s largest steel company and a leader in the development of advanced material processes, has developed an innovative lithium extraction technology, which it claims is much faster than traditional brine evaporation technology, has a recovery rate which is significantly higher than traditional brine evaporation technology, and minimizes the environmental footprint associated with large scale evaporation ponds used in traditional brine evaporation technology. POSCO’s several hundred tonne Demo Plant is the final stage test for its high efficiency lithium extraction process, having previously successfully operated pilot plants in 2011 and 2013, respectively. The Demo Plant test is expected to take several weeks.

Lithium Americas president and CEO, John Kanellitsas, said:

POSCO is now producing lithium at Cauchari. We congratulate Dr. Chon and POSCO for achieving this important milestone. We are all very proud of what has been accomplished in a very short period of time, and we are most grateful for the tireless efforts from an extremely talented and committed local team and the people of Jujuy Province, who all worked together alongside POSCO, to deliver on every timeline and budget metric. I would also like to acknowledge the strong support we have received from Governor Fellner, Secretary Mayoral, and our partners at JEMSE, and their dedication to advancing our project.

Click here to read the Lithium Americas (TSX:LAC) press release