Plateau Uranium Announces Initial Lithium Resource Estimate Within Existing Uranium Resource Base in Peru

Plateau Uranium Inc. (TSXV:PLU) announced a maiden lithium mineral resource estimate within four of its uranium deposits located on the Macusani Plateau in the Puno District of southeastern Peru, as well as results of initial unoptimized metallurgical tests displaying positive Lithium extraction and recoveries.
As quoted in the press release:

Highlights of Lithium Mineral Resource Estimates by Category
The consolidated mineral resource estimates, based on a 75ppm U cut-off grade, and wholly contained within the previously defined uranium resource estimates, are as follows:

• Indicated:52.31 M tonnes grading 0.13% Li₂O, containing 67,000 t of Li₂O equivalent
• Inferred:87.68 M tonnes grading 0.12% Li₂O, containing 109,000 t of Li₂O equivalent
• The average potassium grade included in the lithium resources estimates is 3.71% K for the Indicated resource and 3.73% K for the Inferred resource.

Lithium Recovery Highlights
Internal testwork to date has displayed Lithium recoveries of up to 86% while un-optimized external tests run at K-UTEC AG Salt Technologies (K-UTEC), a leading process engineering firm in Germany with lithium extraction expertise, displayed Lithium recoveries of up to 73% using sulphuric acid. Expected products from lithium extraction would be lithium carbonate and potassium sulphate.

Plateau Uranium CEO, Ted O’Connor, stated:

Although we are a uranium-focused company, recognizing the presence of lithium and establishing this large initial lithium resource within only a small subset of our defined uranium resource base is significant. Lithium has the potential to add substantial value to our already robust uranium project as a prospective by-product following uranium extraction.
We have only included lithium resources contained within four of the uranium deposits considered in the PEA, and within that only lithium resources hosted within uranium mineralization above our 75 ppm U threshold – the economic cutoff established in the PEA using a US$50/lb U₃O₈ price.
We have independently confirmed internal testwork that suggested the lithium can be successfully leached with sulphuric acid, and we anticipate that lithium carbonate (Li₂CO₃) and potassium sulphate (K₂SO₄) should be the potential products precipitated from the leach solutions using this process. More testing and engineering work is required to assess the potential impact to the project economics at the Macusani Plateau, and such work is being planned.
While we lack lithium chemical analyses for the entire set of uranium deposits, our interpretation is that lithium mineralization appears to be relatively consistent. Lithium is strongly correlated with uranium mineralization and appears to be present in all of the uranium deposits’ host rocks. We will be evaluating a program to analyze a number of our other uranium deposits for lithium.

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