According to American Lithium Corp., the first of three permits from Peruvian authorities has been obtained for drilling close to Quelcaya, which is roughly 5–6 km to the west of the company’s Falchani deposit. The company also announced that drilling will begin immediately.
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This is a very significant development for the Company which validates recent supportive comments from the new government in Peru and enables us to target the discovery of new lithium mineralization on some of the best previously identified targets on the Macusani Plateau. With momentum building, the Company continues to advance its projects in Peru and Nevada with PFS work being fast-tracked on both of our large-scale lithium projects.
Simon Clarke, Chief Executive Officer, American Lithium Corp.
This is a significant accomplishment for the company since it signifies the successful end of the application procedure for the drill permit that allowed the company to test several new, high-priority lithium targets.
Additionally, it confirms previous statements made by Peru’s new administration that the mining industry is again operating “as normal” once more and supporting the growth of the lithium projects and the industrialization of lithium as a new mineral in Peru.
Given these recent events, the company also predicts that final permits for expansion and infill drilling at the Macusani uranium project, as well as the Falchani lithium deposit, will soon be issued.
At Falchani, where drilling for the ongoing environmental impact assessment (EIA) started in 2022 and is well underway, the company has four diamond drills on the property.
The current plan is to finish drilling at both Falchani and Quelcaya before beginning drilling at Macusani, most likely after the project has successfully been spun off into its own listed vehicle, as was previously stated.
Highlights:
- MINEM has granted a permit for the discovery and exploration of Quelcaya; community access agreements and other permissions are already in place; drilling will begin right away on priority targets
- In the next weeks, the final Falchani extension and infill drill permit is anticipated
- Up to 8,000 m of diamond drilling (40 drill holes) is planned, including:
- Recent fieldwork discovered outcrop grab samples1 of up to 3,272 ppm Li; discovery and exploratory diamond drilling at Quelcaya on three main target locations 5–6 km west of the Falchani resource area
- Drilling to extend the Falchani deposit west of Tres Hermanas and to the northwest of the resource footprint on previously untested land
- Drilling for infill inside the Falchani resource region to upgrade the substantial inferred and indicated mineral resources measured and indicated
- Work on the pre-feasibility study (PFS) for Falchani is well underway. Its completion is anticipated for late 2023 or early 2024, and it will include an update to the current PEA by mid-2023, which will contain:
- Cesium and potassium by-products which are not currently included
- Updated long-term LCE pricing from the original outdated $12,000/t to $20,000/t
- Updated mineral resource estimate from the current drill program