Argentina Lithium & Energy Corp (TSX-V:LIT, OTCQB:PNXLF) shares rose sharply early Monday after it revealed accelerated exploration plans for 2024 following the recent financing agreement it announced with Stellantis subsidiary Peugeot Citroen Argentina.
Under the revised program, the company said it plans to complete up to 30 drill holes at its large and highly prospective Antofalla North project to bring it to a resource delineation stage.
That will follow on from its flagship Rincon West project, where the 11th of 20 planned exploration drill holes is underway.
"Our 2023 field work focused on drilling Rincon West and was extremely successful in identifying lithium-rich brines and advancing the project,” Argentina Lithium vice president of exploration Miles Rideout said in a statement.
“At the same time, we assembled the large Antofalla North property package adjacent and to the north of Albemarle Corp's lithium project and now that we are funded we will be as aggressive as possible to advance the project alongside Rincon West.”
While Antofalla North is undrilled, the company said previous CSAMT (controlled source audio-frequency magnetotellurics) geophysics show conductive units in horizontal bedding, extending to approximately 500 metres in depth. Based on these results and historic prospective results reported from elsewhere on the salar, it said it hopes to delineate another major source of lithium in brines at Antofalla.
“Our property package at Antofalla is more than twice as large as Rincon West, and exploration success here would be a breakthrough,” Rideout added.
In addition, the company said it has expanded the exploration program plans for its pipeline projects, Pocitos and Incahuasi.
While these are earlier-stage projects, with permits and funding secured the company said it is in the process of mobilizing a geophysics crew to the Pocitos Salar to begin a reconnaissance program of 170 line-km of TEM (transient electromagnetic) surveying on the 26,221 hectares of properties. This program at Pocitos is an increase of approximately 40% from the previous plans, it added.
“We expect 2024 to be a transformative year for the company, one in which we can significantly advance towards resource delineation at our two primary projects,” commented Argentina Lithium CEO Nikolaos Cacos.
“We have cleared the biggest hurdle for any junior today, which is having financing secured for all the planned exploration activity, to the tune of up to US$15 million next year alone if we complete all of our plans.
“In fact, the Stellantis funding is expected to carry us through exploration drilling to potential resource definition and initial engineering study stages at Rincon West and Antofalla North, allowing us to build value with minimal dilution for our investors."
The company's shares traded 12% higher at C$0.38 shortly before midday in Toronto.
Argentina Lithium focuses on acquiring high-quality lithium projects in Argentina and advancing them toward production.
~Updated with share price movement~
Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com