The Australian firm now has three licences in the Pocitos area of the Argentine lithium brine project; The newly awarded licence is located immediately near the company’s Pocitos 11 licence, and the site of an industrial park planned to be built by the Salta provincial government

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The Salta lithium brine project spans 147.07km² in the lithium triangle of north-west Argentina. (Credit: swm/Freeimages)

PepinNini Minerals, an Australian mineral resources exploration company, has secured the Tabapocitos 01 licence to expand its fully-owned Salta lithium brine project in Argentina.

Tabapocitos 01 is located in the Pocitos area in the southern part of the project. It was won by the company through a multi-company ballot process.

It is immediately near PepinNini Minerals’ Pocitos 11 licence, and the site of an industrial park planned to be developed by the Salta provincial government.

The Australian firm intends to evaluate options to build a plant at the industrial park for potentially producing lithium carbonate (LIC) at a commercial-scale from the brines extracted from the wider Salta lithium project.

PepinNini Minerals stated: “In addition to the site of the proposed industrial park, PepinNini’s Pocitos licences are well located relevant to critical road, rail and water infrastructure. This represents a significant benefit for any future project development.”

The company now holds three licences in the Pocitos area with the earlier two being Pocitos 11 and Tabapocitos 02.

The Salta lithium brine project, which spans 147.07km², is located in the lithium triangle of north-west Argentina. It features five salt lakes that are situated within seven mining leases.

PepinNini Minerals plans to develop lithium brines resources of adequate scale from the Salta project to possibly underpin the development of a lithium carbonate (LIC) producing operation to cater to the lithium battery markets.

Last month, the company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sunresin New Materials, a Chinese lithium extraction company, for evaluating and developing DLE lithium extraction at the Salta lithium brine project.

Under the MoU, the partners will initially undertake a project review and process simulation in addition to direct lithium extraction (DLE) test work as well as a preliminary economic assessment (PEA).

Presently, PepinNini Minerals is in the process of making brine samples available to its Chinese partner to begin the work.

Last month, the Australian firm began the first phase of drilling at the fully-owned Santa Ines copper-gold project in Salta province.