Galan Lithium

Galan Appoints Former Senior SQM VP Operations As Consultant And Board Advisor

The Board of Galan Lithium Limited (Galan or the Company) is delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Juan Carlos Barrera to the senior management team as a consultant and advisor to the Board.


  • Galan appoints world lithium brine expert as a consultant and advisor to the Board
  • Over 28 years’ experience at SQM, a world leader in the lithium industry
  • Highly experienced in all operational aspects of the lithium brine business
  • Constructed over 27 km2 and operated over 44 km2 of solar evaporation ponds
  • Key appointment timing as project studies, work and construction activities ramp- up at Hombre Muerto West (HMW)
  • Along with Daniel Jimenez, a Galan Non-Executive Director, the Company now has two ex-SQM Senior VPs in its ranks
Juan Carlos is a civil industrial engineer (with two Master’s Degrees) with over 33 years of broad mining experience including 28 years working for the world leader in the lithium industry, Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (NYSE:SQM, Santiago Stock Exchange: SQM-A, SQM-B) and two for Exxon.

For the last 12 years at SQM, he was Lithium & Potassium Senior Operations Vice-President and was responsible for exploration, mining, production, expansions, and new projects particularly in lithium chloride, carbonate, lithium hydroxide and sulphate. This included the management of more than 1,700 direct workers and up to 5,300 contractors, the operation of 11 production plants and was instrumental in building over 27 square kilometres of solar evaporations ponds. Juan Carlos has developed lithium projects in Chile, Argentina and Australia and has also been the due diligence team leader for two successful lithium project acquisitions.

Galan’s Managing Director, JP Vargas de la Vega, said: People with Juan Carlos’s experience, particularly in the South American lithium industry, are not easy to source. The fact that he has joined the Galan team and agreed to consult to the Board and management is a further testament to the high calibre of our projects and the quality of work we have achieved to date. His expertise will greatly assist us at this critical time in the development and future operational aspects of the HMW project, especially with the planned mineral reserve/resource estimate and the DFS slated for completion in the coming weeks.

We are proud to have now secured two highly experienced ex-senior VPs from SQM into our ranks, in Juan Carlos and fellow Board member, Daniel Jimenez, as well as sourcing other key personnel with operational lithium experience. We welcome Juan Carlos to the Galan team and will continue to press forward and work hard to become a lithium producer sometime in 2025.”


Click here for the full ASX Release

This article includes content from Galan Lithium, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.

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HMW Phase 1 Funding & Offtake Secured with US Based Partner

HMW Phase 1 Funding & Offtake Secured with US Based Partner

Galan Lithium (GLN:AU) has announced HMW Phase 1 Funding & Offtake Secured with US Based Partner

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The JTF is run by the European Commission, supporting projects that align with the economic diversification and reconversion of concerned territories such as Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

JTF states on its website that the number of supported projects varies annually, depending on the proposals. The grant also forms part of the European Union’s efforts to transition to clean energy and achieve climate goals.

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