Impact: Positive
Lake Resources (LKE) provided an update and held a conference call on its 100%-owned Kachi Li-brine project in Argentina, where work is underway for a Phase 1 DFS expected in December. Recent milestones include successful extraction and injection tests followed by positive results from deeper drilling outside the core salar area. This may result in resource expansion and aid in hydrogeological testing (read here and here). Process plant design is underway while the Lilac demo plant continues to operate. LKE is now finalizing a power solution that should allow for an off-grid start-up of Phase 1. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and social licensing are on track and are a priority for 2023 along with the DFS. The DFS completion will allow finalizing discussions with export credit agencies and banks regarding debt funding and off-takes. Having de-risked the project with more realistic estimates, and quelling skepticism around its DLE technology, we believe the new management has brought LKE’s story back on track. Project reset and delays have largely been priced in and we continue to see tremendous upside potential as lithium markets improve.
