Positive Preliminary Economic Assessment For The Arizaro Project

CALGARY - Lithium Chile Inc. reported the results of its Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the production of lithium carbonate from its Salar de Arizaro lithium brine project in the Salta Province of Argentina. The PEA provides an independent economic assessment of the potential of Arizaro, based upon the lithium resources outlined in the July 2023 Resource Estimate.

PEA Highlights: 1) Pre-tax Net Present Value (NPV) US$1.8 billion. 2) LOM Average LiCO price of $21.396 per tonne. 3) After-tax NPV $1.1 billion. 4) Pre-tax Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 29.3%. 5) After-tax IRR of 24.1%. 6) PEA mine and processing plant produces25,000 LCE LOM over 19.1 years. 7) Pre-tax initial capital payback period 3.5 years; after-tax payback 3.6 years. 8) Average LOM annual pre-tax cash flow over operating period:$329 million;annual after-tax cash flow: $229 million. 9) Initial Capital Costs (Capex) estimated at $823 million. 10) Operating cost (Opex) estimated at $5,197/t LCE. 11) The assessment includes and demonstrates that the Arizaro project has the potential of a 25,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) commercial-scale operation to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate (LCE or Li2CO3).

President Jose de Castro said, “We are very proud of our entire Argentinian team, whose previous unique experience in starting up other Lithium projects has worked in creating real value for all stakeholders in the Arizaro project, including communities in which we work, as well as all shareholders of Lithium Chile. We have achieved in less than 2 years this important step and we are confident in advancing quickly to eventual production.”