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TORONTO, June 27, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arena Minerals Inc. ("Arena" or the "Company") (TSX-V: AN) is pleased to announce that brine processing at the Company’s pilot facilities has successfully reached concentration levels of 35% lithium chloride (“LiCl”) in Phase I and II testing. The LiCl product was produced by treating raw brine from the Sal de la Puna lithium brine project (“SDLP”), located in the Pastos Grandes basin, Salta, Argentina, with a calcium chloride reagent produced at the Company’s 100% owned Antofalla project in Catamarca, Argentina (“Antofalla”). The treated brine was subsequently evaporated at the Company’s on-site pilot facilities until the intended concentration levels were reached.   

William Randall, President & CEO of Arena, said, “Reaching a 35% LiCl product with low impurity levels at SDLP is the key step to successfully deploying our business model. At Arena, we recognize the technical, execution, and financial risks of embarking on a business plan that contemplates building and operating both a ponding facility and battery grade lithium carbonate chemical plant. Our approach is to produce a battery grade lithium product directly from a ponding facility that reduces the environmental impact, time frame to cashflow, minimizes operational risk and lowers the capital requirements.” He continued, “Realizing a 35% LiCl product in our on-site facilities is the most important cornerstone in achieving this vision.”

Eduardo Morales, Executive Chairman of Arena, stated, “We are very pleased with the concentration profiles of the SDLP brine and production of 35% LiCl directly from evaporation ponds. The impurity levels in the final product from our Phase I and II testing are very low, indicating that we can indeed produce a high purity product suitable for the battery and lithium metal markets.” He added, “We observed trends and reached product specifications similar to those achieved and commercialized at Atacama. We will continue pilot testing, focusing on process optimization, particularly on maximizing reagent efficiencies and recoveries.”

A full breakdown of the composition of the 35% LiCl product obtained from Phase II pilot testing can be found below in Table 1. The high LiCl concentrations and low impurity levels demonstrate the quality required for a battery grade lithium carbonate plant feed. Of note are the low concentrations achieved for magnesium, sulphate, and boron, three influential elements for obtaining a competitive cash cost in a chemical plant.

Table 1 - Analytical results for Phase II pilot processing sample at SDLP. Density of the sample was measured at 1.308 G/ML.

The LiCl product was attained by treating raw SDLP brine with calcium chloride reagents produced at the Company’s Antofalla project. The reagent used contains >11% calcium, 1200 ppm Li, and less than 100 ppm Mg. Antofalla’s reagent contributes lithium to the system that translates into additional lithium head feed with a very negligible magnesium contribution.

The metallurgical program is jointly designed and supervised by the Company and BarryMor Ingenieria consultants. All brine samples are sent to SGS Laboratories, Salta, Argentina, an independent and fully international accredited laboratory for analysis for lithium multi-element Induction Coupled Plasma Spectroscopy. Arena has a regimented Quality Assurance, Quality Control program where at least 10% duplicates, blanks and standards are inserted into each sample shipment.

About Arena Minerals Inc.

Arena owns 65% of the Sal de la Puna Project covering approximately 11,000...