Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE, OTCQB:LLKKF) has strengthened its operational capacity in Argentina with the appointment of Gautam Parimoo as chief operating officer (COO).
Parimoo’s immediate responsibility is to drive the company’s Kachi Lithium Brine Project in Argentina from feasibility through construction and commissioning into steady-state production.
Notably, He comes to Lake from a successful background as project director, having executed the studies, construction and pre-production/start-up of several large-scale projects in South America.
“Invaluable" experience
Lake managing director Steve Promnitz said: “Gautam offers a measured and collaborative approach to project development with vast experience in South America, especially in dealing with local communities and local engagement,”
“This will be invaluable as Lake advances towards delivering on sustainable development goals as part of driving Kachi into large scale lithium production.”
“Lake continues to expand its team to advance its clean lithium development amid rising demand for sustainably produced, battery-quality lithium, with the need for such product highlighted by the COP26 conference and the global drive towards the electrification and decarbonisation of transport and energy.”
South American experience
Parimoo’s South American experience include the Collahuasi Phase III expansion (Glencore-Anglo American-Mitsui), the Mina Justa greenfields construction (Marcobre) and Yanacocha sulphides (Newmont) amongst others.
He has worked in Latin America for more than 25 years and is fluent in Spanish.
Parimoo's background is in Electrical Engineering (University of Thapar), and he is a certified six sigma black belt (Qualtec) and Certified Project Management Professional (Australian College of Project Management).
About the company
Lake Resources is a clean lithium developer utilising ‘clean’ direct extraction technology for the production of sustainable, high purity lithium from its flagship Kachi Project within the Lithium Triangle in Argentina among other projects covering 200,000 hectares.
The Kachi Project is a large lease holding of 70,000 hectares with an expandable resource of 4.4 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent of which only 20% is used for 25 years of production at 25,500 tonnes per annum.
Shares today have been as much as 7% higher to A$0.995, approaching the record high of $A1.00 reached on October 26, while the market cap pre-open was approximately A$1.115 billion.