(Kitco News) - Alberta-focused lithium developer E3 Lithium (TSXV: ETL) today announced the increase in its inferred mineral resource to 23.4 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent contained within the newly-named Bashaw District.
The company said that the Bashaw District combines and expands the Clearwater Resource and Exshaw Resource areas into a consolidated resource that contains an estimated total of 59 billion m3 (59 km3) of brine formation water at an average grade of 74.5 milligram/Litre (mg/L) lithium.
E3 added that as a result of the significant work completed by its team, the resource area has now been defined as the combination of the previously published Clearwater and Exshaw Resource Areas, and the expansion of resource area to include additional area of the Bashaw reef trend (3,033 km2 of additional aquifer) for a new total of 5,931 km2.
"This increase clearly establishes E3 Lithium, and the Leduc Aquifer in this region, as being a globally-significant source of lithium," commented CEO Chris Doornbos. "With the combination of the resource, and the company's ion-exchange direct extraction technology, E3 continues to lead Alberta on the path to becoming a major lithium producing jurisdiction."
He added, "With E3's significant resource, established social licence to operate, supportive government policy, low-risk and transparent regulatory processes, and stable tax and royalty systems, E3 is well-situated to realize commercial production of battery-grade lithium."
E3 Lithium is a development company with total of 24.3 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent inferred mineral resources in Alberta. As outlined in E3's Preliminary Assessment, the Clearwater lithium project has an NPV8% of USD 1.1 billion with a 32% IRR pre-tax and USD 820 million with a 27% IRR after-tax.
The company also indicated that through the successful scale up of its DLE technology towards commercialization, E3 Lithium's goal is to produce high purity, battery grade lithium products.
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