October 18, 2023
Galan Lithium Limited (Galan), an Australian company, requested the support of Pares & Alvarez (P&A) to carry out the feasibility study and the capital cost (Capex), operating cost (Opex) estimates and overall economic evaluation for the JORC report required as a company listed on the Australian stock exchange, for the Hombre Muerto West lithium project, located in the Salar Hombre Muerto in the province of Catamarca, Argentina.
The scope of the feasibility study carried out by P&A for phase II of the project, considers the design of a liming plant to process 20 thousand tons per year of lithium carbonate equivalent, which includes the disciplines of civil, structural, mechanical, piping, electrical infrastructure and instrumentation and control.
In November 2020, Galan initiated a brine evaporation test in Antofagasta, which included natural and accelerated evaporation stages, resulting in the production of a high-quality lithium chloride brine with a Li content of 6%.
Subsequently, the Australian company conducted a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) study of the Hombre Muerto West (HMW) project on December 21, 2020, which yielded a positive result by positioning it as a competitive opportunity to establish itself as a new lithium carbonate producer.
Based on the results of the work, Galan’s Board of Directors decided to carry out the feasibility study of the project, to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate using as the main raw material a lithium chloride brine with a Li content of 6%. This study ended with a feasibility development for a plant to process 5,000 tons per year of lithium carbonate equivalent and today P&A is working on scaling it up to increase processing to 20,000.
