Companies commit to produce economic, high-quality lithium via joint asset ownership at the Salar de Incahuasi to strengthen global lithium supply to EV manufacturers

CALGARY, August 14, 2023 08:00 AM ET – Summit Nanotech (“Summit”), an award winning sustainable lithium extraction technology company, and Power Minerals (“Power”) (ASX: PNN), a mineral resources exploration company, today announced they have entered into a binding term sheet leading toward a joint venture (JV) agreement to accelerate lithium production through shared asset ownership and development at the Salar de Incahuasi in Argentina. This comes as the lithium market experiences unprecedented growth due to the increasing demand for lithium-ion batteries, particularly in the race to mass produce electric vehicles.  

The JV concession at the Salar de Incahuasi is part of an alluvial fan that has high quality brines with consistent lithium concentrations and a low impurity profile. This shallow, clean salar has the promising potential to contribute to ramping up production of lithium from Argentina and is adjacent to assets owned by Allkem and Ganfeng Lithium.

Commenting on the agreement Power Minerals Managing Director Mena Habib said, “We are delighted with our proposed relationship with Summit Nanotech to expedite the development of the Incahuasi salar, one of our core lithium brine assets within the Salta Project area. Having assessed a range of DLE technology options, we see Summit as the ideal partner to help us unlock and maximise the value of Incahuasi for the benefit of our shareholders. Summit’s combination of leading-edge proprietary DLE technology, which demonstrates excellent environmental and sustainability attributes, and Power’s Incahuasi brines offer the opportunity for the parties to work together to produce commercial-scale volumes of high-quality lithium. We look forward to this being the start of a long and mutually rewarding working relationship with the Summit team.”

Incahuasi salar brines work seamlessly with Summit’s sustainable DLE technology, denaLi^TM, which is a patented process that extracts lithium from brine using a proprietary sorbent and water recovery solution. The transaction combines Summit’s first-in-class technology process with Power’s expertise in systematic exploration and project development.

This marks Summit’s first of many potential similar arrangements through which they will validate the performance of their DLE technology at scale for rapid future deployment at other lithium-rich salars in South America. Summit’s denaLi™ technology and engineering expertise will enable the partnership to efficiently deliver the large volumes of high-quality lithium needed to power the global energy transition in an ecologically conscious and community-oriented way.      

“We’re excited to partner with Power Minerals, a like-minded company that shares our vision and commitment to sustainable development – together, we aim to ramp up lithium production with innovation and responsible mining practices,” said Amanda Hall, Founder and CEO of Summit Nanotech. “We are very confident in the differentiated ability of Summit's technology to unlock this and other resources, effectively and more economically than any other DLE technology.”

Key terms

Summit and Power’s Binding Term Sheet provides for an option and joint venture agreement where Summit will provide to Power their technology and engineering resulting in a combination of pilot testing and US$3M (in two tranches), for funding exploration activities at Incahuasi in exchange for shares in Power and a 30% participating interest in the joint venture. Summit has an option to earn up to 45% in the joint venture by funding a full feasibility study, including providing a viable DLE extraction process. Summit will be awarded 4.9% interest in the joint venture by meeting certain performance targets for a maximum possible interest of 49.9%.

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ABOUT SUMMIT NANOTECH

Summit Nanotech Corporation is a cleantech organization transforming how the world accesses lithium for EV batteries and the global energy transition. Their patented and sustainable direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology, denaLi™, extracts high-quality lithium from brine using a sorbent and water recovery solution, making way for a sustainable alternative to the traditional extraction process.

denaLi ™ will preserve natural resources and ecosystems and optimize operations for lithium producers in Chile and Argentina. Established in 2018 and headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Summit Nanotech has been awarded to the 2022 Future 50 for fastest growing sustainability companies in Canada, the Foresight 50 for most investable cleantech venture, and the Solar Impulse Foundation's Efficient Solutions Label. Learn more at summitnanotech.com.   

ABOUT POWER MINERALS

Power Minerals Limited is an ASX-listed lithium-focused exploration and development company, committed to the systematic exploration and development of its core asset, the Salta Lithium Brine Project in the prolific lithium triangle in the Salta Province in Argentina. It is currently undertaking a major JORC Mineral Resource expansion drilling campaign at Salta and is focused on expediting development of the Project into a potential, future lithium producing operation. Power also has a portfolio of other assets in key, demand-driven commodities including kaolin-halloysite, nickel-copper-cobalt and PGEs.

MEDIA CONTACT:  
Leslie Newell
media@summitnanotech.com