Rm updates
posted on
Mar 29, 2012 09:59AM
Edit this title from the Fast Facts Section
RODINIA LITHIUM PROVIDES OPERATIONAL UPDATE FOR THE SALAR DE DIABLILLOS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Toronto, Canada, March 28, 2012: Rodinia Lithium Inc. ("Rodinia" or the "Company") (TSX-V: RM; OTCQX: RDNAF) is pleased to provide a progress update on the Company’s 100% owned Salar de Diablillos lithium-potash brine project ("Project" or "Salar" or "Diablillos") in Salta, Argentina. Through its continued exploration and testing, the Company continues to advance the project towards Feasibility by adding certainty to the resource estimate, brine extraction processes and metallurgical processing and recovery, including supply of key energy sources such as natural gas. To this latter purpose, the Company has received official confirmation from government agencies in Salta, Argentina, that sufficient capacity of natural gas is available to the Company for further development of the Project. Natural gas supply is anticipated to be one of the key parameters in low cost production of lithium carbonate.
William Randall, Rodinia’s President & CEO, commented, "Our team has been working extremely hard and progressing the Project nicely. The addition of a further drill will ensure timely delivery of an updated resource, pump tests and further hydrogeological characterization of fresh water inflow; all of these are essential components of a Feasibility Study. In addition, securing the availability of natural gas and the accelerated evaporation rates experienced, despite a very wet year, is extremely encouraging."
Geological update
An additional drill has been mobilized to Diablillos from the city of Salta. This drill will focus on drilling additional pump test sites further away from our proposed well field. This information will allow further certainty to the draw down effects of the proposed production wells in the northernmost portion of the Salar. In addition, wells are planned to test the fresh water inflow of the Diablillos river, allowing for further analysis of the effects of fresh water on brine dilution during production, as well as determining a source of fresh water during production.
Final interpreted results on sections covering the entire resource area have been received by Geophysical Exploration & Consulting S.A. ("GEC"). These sections confirm the presence of three distinct brine saturated sedimentary units variably separated by thin clay layers. The overwhelming majority of the sediments in the basement are described as fine to coarse grained sands and gravels, with the fine to medium sands (1,600 m/s to 2,200 m/s) occurring in the upper portion of the basin while the coarse sands and gravels (2,200 m/s to 3,200 m/s) were found in the basal aquifer overlying the basement. The impermeable clay aquitards vary in thickness from <5m to approximately 25m and typically do not extend across the entire Salar. This indicates a hydrological connection between the three aquifers identified, particularly between the two deepest aquifers that hold over 95% of the inferred recoverable resource.
An important component of the seismic survey was the identification of the basement crystalline rocks which define the limit of the resource. The basement tends to occur below the resource estimate model indicating a good possibility of an increase in the resource size once current drilling and seismic results are incorporated in the model. An updated mineral resource estimate is anticipated to be released after the last pump tests are complete, sometime in the second or third quarter of 2012.
Process engineering update
Pilot processing has been progressing with positive results. Evaporation rates experienced during the summer months have exceeded expectations, despite receiving an unprecedented amount of precipitation during the period of approximately 180 mm. These accelerated evaporation rates, averaging 2.5 mm during the months of Dec-Feb, and averaging 10+ mm per day without precipitation, could mean a reduced evaporation cycle timeline than that predicted in the PEA.
The process engineering department has been monitoring the natural evaporation process in both the pools and pans installed on site at approximately 4050 metres above sea level. A first stage of magnesium and sulphate removal has been successfully tested, awaiting final analytical results. This step ensures the successful removal of sylvinite in the ensuing step, further encouragement that potash is going to be a valuable co-product of an eventual lithium carbonate production facility.
About Rodinia Lithium Inc.:
Rodinia Lithium Inc. is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company with a primary focus on Lithium exploration and development in North and South America. The Company is also actively exploring the commercialization of a significant Potash co-product that is expected to be recoverable through the lithium harvesting process.
Rodinia’s Salar de Diablillos lithium-brine project in Salta, Argentina, contains a recoverable resource of 2.82 million tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent and 11.27 million tonnes potassium chloride equivalent. The project contains a recoverable inferred resource of 952,553,000 m3 grading 556 mg/L lithium and 6,206 mg/L potassium. Throughout 2012, Rodinia will focus on continuing to develop the Diablillos project by completing additional drilling and advancing through feasibility study.
The Company also holds 100% mineral rights to approximately 70,000 acres in Nevada’s lithium-rich Clayton Valley in Esmeralda County, and is currently in the process of assessing the size, quality and processing alternatives of this deposit. The Clayton Valley project is located in the only known lithium-brine bearing salt lake in North America, and looks to represent the only new source for domestic lithium carbonate supply.
The Projects are supervised by Ray Spanjers, Rodinia’s Manager of Exploration. Mr. Spanjers is considered a Qualified Person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101, and has read and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this press release.
Please visit the Company’s web site at www.rodinialithium.com or write us at info@rodinialithium.com.
For further information please contact
Aaron Wolfe
Vice-President, Corporate Development
Tel: +1 (416) 309-2696