Pursuit Minerals Updates Lithium Resource at Rio Grande Sur, Seeks Offtake Partners

Argentina-focused explorer and developer Pursuit Minerals (ASX:PUR) published an updated resource estimate for its Rio Grande Sur lithium brine project on Monday (December 9).

According to the company, the resource has increased by 339 percent and now stands at 1.104 million tonnes of contained lithium carbonate equivalent grading 505.8 milligrams per litre (mg/L) lithium.

The indicated category includes 591,800 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent grading 515.1 mg/L lithium, while the inferred category contains 512,500 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent grading 495.4 mg/L lithium.

A lithium cut-off grade of 200 mg/L has been assigned to Rio Grande Sur, in line with other projects in the region. However, the company notes that all chemistry samples show concentration values significantly higher than that.

"This is an outstanding result for Pursuit and our shareholders," said Managing Director and CEO Aaron Revelle. He added that other resource expansion opportunities exist in the asset's unexplored northern area.

"The scale of this resource opens the door to significant off-take discussions with several already underway. It's clear this is no minor upgrade; it's a transformational major resource with the potential to make a substantial impact on the supply chain," Revelle emphasised, saying that he expects Pursuit to attract attention from major mining companies.

Rio Grande Sur holds five tenements and covers 9,260 hectares in the Rio Grande salar.

In August 2023, Pursuit acquired a pilot plant with a nameplate production capacity of 100 tonnes of lithium carbonate per year. The company reported in December 2023 that commissioning was "imminent," also noting that it was pursuing plans to upgrade the plant's capacity to 250 tonnes per year of 99.95 percent battery-grade lithium carbonate.

It started the first phase of operations to produce lithium carbonate in March of this year. Pursuit said at the time that it had received several expressions of interest for offtake agreements for the initial 250 tonnes of output.

Securing offtake deals remains a priority for the company moving forward.

“We continue to advance off-take discussions with multiple requests for product samples from potential off-take partners," Revelle said in Monday's release, adding that Pursuit will focus further on commercial-scale output scenarios.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Gabrielle de la Cruz, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Editorial Disclosure: Pursuit Minerals is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.