Page 73 - pd297-Sept21-mag-web

LAtIn AMeRIcA

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Juan Pablo Vargas de la Vega

he market is quickly waking up to our projects. Money definitely helps to Galan was not the only lithium hopeful
Tthe fact a major shortfall in lithium is strengthen our position from here to the to raise a big sum last month with Core
looming, according to Galan Lithium Ltd end of next year. We’ve got a budget for Lithium Ltd raking in $140 million – com-
managing director Juan Pablo Vargas de beyond that, but this is definitely an en- prised of a $91 million placement, $15
la Vega, whose company is now acceler- dorsement in the upside that Galan has.” million share purchase plan and a $34
ating development plans for its projects The company will soon launch into million equity investment and binding
in Argentina after raising $50 million last drilling at both Hombre Muerto West and offtake agreement with China’s Ganfeng
month. Candelas to convert existing resources to Lithium Co Ltd – to fund development of
Galan’s bank balance now stands at reserves, as well as establish the produc- its Finniss project in the Northern Terri-
more than $65 million after the company tion well field for the former. The funds are tory.
decided to take full advantage of its surg- also expected to cover completion of fea- Fellow Argentine lithium developer
ing share price, which recently peaked at sibility studies on both projects. Lake Resources NL also announced last
an all-time high of $1.34. The two-tranche Galan recently committed to a scoping month it had received a “strong expres-
placement introduced a number of new study on Candelas, the original project sion of interest” from the UK Govern-
institutions to the register, including two in the company’s lithium portfolio before ment’s export credit agency, UK Export
notable investment groups with a proven the high-grade Hombre Muerto West Finance, to support some 70% of the
track record of tipping large sums of cash emerged as the flagship. total finance required for construction of
into credible and successful projects in Vargas de la Vega said the study would the company’s Kachi project.
the natural resources sector. help determine whether the company pur- “This appetite for lithium right now, it’s
While the second tranche of the place- sued a standalone operation at Candelas a worldwide effect,” Vargas de la Vega
ment remains subject to shareholder ap- or combined it with the development for said.
proval, Galan has indicated proceeds Hombre Muerto West, both of which are “We’ve seen a lot of announcements
from the raising will be used to fast-track hosted in Argentina’s famed “Lithium Tri- from companies indicating that they’re
development of its Hombre Muerto West angle”. moving and transitioning to a green foot-
and Candelas lithium projects in Argen- A DFS on Hombre Muerto West is also print and that’s a question lithium-ion
tina, as well as kickstart exploration work expected to begin shortly, pending the im- batteries or LFP batteries or even fu-
on its Greenbushes South project in minent award of permits for a pilot plant ture solid-state batteries can solve. The
Western Australia. on site. lithium industry will play a fundamental
Vargas de la Vega said the appetite for “The results of the work we’ll be doing role in this and the market is watching a
lithium stocks had “completely changed” at Hombre Muerto West and Candelas lot of potential producers like Galan very
from this time last year when the key bat- will dictate what we do next and what we closely.”
tery mineral appeared to be the least fa- do with the next stage of funding as we At Greenbushes South, only 3km
voured commodity in the marketplace. move towards production,” Vargas de la south of the major lithium mine which
“The key message within all of this is Vega said. shares its name, Galan will soon under-
that the market realises that it needs more “We are now fully funded on what we take geophysics in a bid to define future
lithium, so that’s why we gained the atten- said we would deliver and all of these ex- drill targets on the 43sq km property.
tion of the market, and also because we tra activities were not part of the funding “In Australia we are taking it one step
are seen as a potential producer, which [from a raising of $10 million earlier this at a time,” Vargas de la Vega said. “It’s
is where we would like to take the com- year], but now they are. We are in a very a long shot, but it’s very interesting and
pany,” Vargas de la Vega told Paydirt. good position for the next 12-15 months. very prospective and there’s a lot of
“As the saying goes, if the ducks are “We have a team that wants to deliver. smoke coming out of that area, so we
quacking you have to feed them. We al- We’re committed and we want to make it definitely want to go and test it.”
ready had a plan to execute, but with happen. We want to get this as close to – Michael Washbourne
more money we can identify and fast- production as we can with the money we
track some other things and strengthen have.”

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