Advance Lithium seeks JV with LitioMx

Advance Lithium announced that it has entered into discussions with Mexico’s national lithium company, LitioMx, to form a joint venture.

“The goals of Advance Lithium and LitioMx are aligned, in that both want Mexico to become a lithium mining country as quickly as possible,” said the company in a statement late Wednesday.

Advance Lithium has 13 salt flats in Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí states, and it is one of the five companies with lithium mining concessions in Mexico, according to a recent report by two mining NGOs.

The government is seeking to redefine the terms under which lithium concessions were granted before nationalizing the soft, white metal exploitation in April last year. 

“I’m excited about entering discussions with LitioMx to form a joint venture. Two large vehicle manufacturing companies have recently announced plans to build battery manufacturing facilities in Mexico, one of which will be located in the state of San Luis Potosi in close proximity to our salt flats,” said Advance Lithium CEO Allan Barry, alluding to German automaker BMW's announcement of an 800mn-euro investment to expand its San Luis Potosí plant.

The lithium and potassium mineralization is in clay deposits that start right at the surface and are not bound up in other minerals, according to the junior exploration company that acquired a 100% interest in the Tabasquena silver mines in 2017 and the Venaditas project in April 2018, both in Zacatecas.

“Advance Lithium has the rights to use a patent-pending lithium and potassium extraction method for its salt flats,” the statement added. 

The miner said the method consists in adding water to the clay and then shaking it to release the lithium and potassium. Then, using electrical separation, a concentrate of lithium, potassium, and water would be produced, followed by adding an organic compound to the concentrate to separate the lithium and potassium from the water.