Proactive investors

Overview

In Chile, Li3 Energy has signed a letter of intent to purchase options to acquire prime lithium brine acreage on eleven salars, including the Salar de Atacama, which hosts SQM’s producing lithium and potassium brine mines. SQM is the largest lithium producer in the world.

In Argentina, the company has signed a letter of intent to purchase options to acquire prime brine acreage including the Centenario Salar 25 miles immediately north of FMC Corp.’s Fenix mine on the Hombre Muerto Salar in Argentina, the 5th largest lithium producer in the world. The Company has also signed a letter of intent to acquire 4,250 acres (1,720 hectares), comprising 14 claims at the Rincon South Property lithium brine assets in the Puna region of northern Argentina which was previously developed by Rincon Lithium Limited of Australia.

In Peru, Li3 Energy has acquired 100% of the assets of the Loriscota, Suches, and Vizcachas Projects located respectively in the Provinces of Puno, Tacna and Moquegua. The projects are prospective for lithium and potassium and comprise 9 claims that cover a total area of 19,500 acres (approximately 7,900 hectares).

In Nevada, the Company has acquired a 100% interest in 170,000 acres of a strategically located property prospective for lithium brine, located in Big Smoky Valley near Tonopah, Nevada. The Property shares similar geology to Clayton Valley, which lies a few miles south and contains Rockwood Holdings' Silver Peak Mine, one of the world's leading producers of lithium hydroxide, and currently the only producing lithium mine in the United States of America.

The company intends to initiate comprehensive exploration programs on its North and South American assets as soon as possible.


CHILE

In Chile Li3 Energy has signed a letter of intent to purchase options to acquire up to an aggregate 80% interest in eleven prime brine properties covering 123,000 acres located on 9 Chilean salars, including the producing Salar de Atacama where SQM S.A. has production facilities. SQM’s producing lithium and potassium brine mines position SQM as the largest lithium producer in the world and a significant potassium producer on a world scale.

Salar de Atacama currently contains the highest economic lithium concentrations in the world, as well as some of the lowest processing costs due to its low magnesium content, high evaporation rates and ability to operate year round. Li3’s pending acquisition includes the Chilean Chucalao brine property located on Salar de Atacama.



Upon completion of the acquisition Li3 Energy plans to launch a $10.0 million lithium exploration program on its 213,000 acres of Argentine and Chilean salar properties. The results-driven exploration is expected to include brine sampling, a reflective seismic survey, diamond drilling, pumping, hydrogeological and evaporation tests followed in the fourth quarter of 2010 with the preparation of a preliminary economic assessment on properties of merit. The company intends to conduct a feasibility study afterward during the first and second quarters of 2011.



For more information on the Chile project CLICK HERE

ARGENTIA

In Argentina the company has signed a letter of intent to purchase an option to acquire up to an aggregate 85% interest in 90,000 acres on the Centenario, Rincon, Pocitos and Cauchari salars.

These brine properties are located mid-way between SQM’s producing brine mines on Salar de Atacama in Chile and FMC’s producing mine on Hombre Muerto Salar in Argentina, the fifth largest lithium producer in the world.

Upon completion of the acquisition, Li3 Energy plans to launch a $10.0 million lithium exploration program on its 213,000 acres of Argentine and Chilean salar properties. The results-driven exploration is expected to include brine sampling, a reflective seismic survey, diamond drilling, pumping, hydro geological and evaporation tests followed in the fourth quarter of 2010 with the preparation of a preliminary economic assessment on properties of merit. The company intends to conduct a feasibility study afterward during the first and second quarters of 2011.

On February 26, 2010, the Company announced it had signed a letter of intent to acquire lithium brine assets in the Puna region of northern Argentina. known as the Rincon South Property which covers approximately 4,250 acres (1,720 hectares), comprising 14 claims on the southern portion of the Salar ("salt lake") de Rincon, located adjacent to an advanced lithium brine pumping and production project owned by Sentient ("Sentient"), and which was previously developed by Rincon Lithium Limited, a subsidiary of Admiralty Resources NL, of Australia.

On July 23, 2007 Rincon Lithium reported to the Australian Stock Exchange a proved plus probable reserve estimate at their Rincon holdings adjacent to the Rincon South properties of 1.4 million metric tons of lithium (approximately 7.3 million tons of lithium carbonate) and 50.8 million metric tons of potash. Given the known resources and relatively advanced state of development at Rincon, Li3 Energy management believes that this Rincon South project could potentially become the cornerstone of its lithium project portfolio in Argentina.

The Salar de Rincon is located in north-western Argentina near the Chilean border. Detailed analysis undertaken at the Sentient Rincon property indicates ideal chemistry and porosity for producing lithium with some of the highest porosities recorded for a Salar using state-of-the-art geophysics, pumping and hydrology testing techniques. Limited drilling and testing at Rincon South demonstrates the brine is enriched in lithium, potash, and boron.

Tests by Rincon Lithium at the Salar de Rincon have been exceptionally detailed, including high volume pumping tests at 175,000 liters per hour with no noticeable drop in the brine levels. Fourteen observation boreholes were drilled by Rincon Lithium during a geologic study of their Rincon property as part of an extensive assessment of the indigenous hydrometallurgy. Results of the Rincon Lithium studies have shown a commercially viable average grade of 384mg/liter of lithium throughout the project area.

Salar de Rincon is located near the Salar del Hombre Muerto, also on the Argentinean Puna ("high plateau"), where a proven lithium extraction operation is currently underway by FMC Corporation. Salar de Rincon is also close to the Salar de Atacama on the Chilean Puna, where successful lithium extraction operations are being undertaken by both SQM SA, and Chemetall Foote Corp. The locations all share a number of similarities in terms of altitude, geology and depositional environment which provide for a wealth of additional useful data to Company personnel studying the planned acquisition.



For more information on the Argentia project CLICK HERE


NEVADA
Li3 Energy has acquired a 100% interest in the BSV Placer, CSV Placer, LM Placer and MW Placer Mineral Claims plus a large block of staked mining claims comprising a total of approximately 69,000 hectares (170,000 acres). The Big Smoky Valley Lithium Project is located in central Esmeralda County, Nevada, 19 miles west of Tonopah. The claims include historic lithium exploration wells drilled by the United States Geological Survey as part of a regional research program. The drilling intersected rocks similar to those reported at the producing Chemetall Silver Peak lithium mine located on the Clayton Valley Salar. (Coast Mountain Geological Ltd., Canadian National Instrument 43-101 Report, September 2009)



The Big Smoky Valley Lithium Project is located 28 miles west of Silver Peak Mine, one of the world’s leading producers of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide and the only active lithium mine in the United States. Silver Peak has been in production for over 40 years, pumping brines as deep as 600 meters below the surface.

Coast Mountain Geological Ltd prepared a National Instrument 43-101 compliant technical report on the Big Smoky Valley Lithium Project in September 2009 for Next Lithium Corp., the previous option holder on the property. The report recommends a non-contingent multi-staged program be carried out to test the resource potential of the property, having found similar geology to Silver Peak Mine’s Clayton Valley. According to the report, due to an increased interest in lithium and following the start of production at Silver Peak, in the 1970s and 1980s the USGS carried out a series of regional reconnaissance programs which included sampling and drilling programs conducted in several valleys including two holes in Big Smoky Valley. One of those holes is located on the Property. A gravity survey was also completed through Clayton Valley and the saddle connecting Big Smoky Valley. Since then, another more extensive gravity survey was conducted in Big Smoky Valley for the US military. While this work was not done for exploration, the results are directly applicable to lithium exploration.



The Silver Peak Mine and the surrounding area, including the Big Smoky Valley, are located in what is geologically referred to as the Basin and Range Province, which extends from southern Oregon to Mexico. Contained within the Basin and Range Province is The Great Basin, which covers much of Nevada, a significant part of Utah and includes part of California, Oregon and Idaho. The Great Basin has no outlet to the sea; as a result a large lake was formed there in prehistoric times, and through evaporation the region has come to represent the largest evaporation region in the United States. (Coast Mountain Geological Ltd., Canadian National Instrument 43-101 Report, September 2009)

The Basin and Range Province is characterized by sequentially parallel basins and ranges. The boundaries between the basins and ranges are controlled by deep-seated vertical faults. These faults, along with others that cross the valleys, create a complex shaped bedrock floor to the valleys that is often entirely masked by unconsolidated sediments. Local depressions that once formed internal basins for evaporite forming playas (dry lake beds) can be hidden in the valleys. Continuing movement on the faults can also rotate sediments and create traps for brines. (Coast Mountain Geological Ltd., Canadian National Instrument 43-101 Report, September 2009)

The NI 43-101 Report states: "As part of the USGS drill program one hole was drilled on the Property and a second hole was drilled a short distance west of the Property. Both holes intersected geochemically anomalous concentrations of lithium in water and sediments. The gravity surveys over the region confirmed the existence of various structures that may have created topography favorable for evaporite accumulation and subsequent traps, which potentially could host mineral rich brines."

For more information on the Nevada project CLICK HERE

PERU

Li3 Energy, Inc. has recently acquired 100% of the Loriscota, Suches, and Vizcachas Projects (the “Projects”) respectively located in the Departments of Puno, Tacna and Moquegua, Peru.



The projects are prospective of lithium and potassium deposits and are comprised of nine claims that cover a total area of 7,900 hectares (approximately 19,500 acres) at an elevation of 4,300 meters (approximately 14,000 feet) above sea level. The claims are not covered by any restrictions on mining, as they are located in areas designated open to exploration and mining according to Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines information.

The Projects have undergone preliminary sampling and have been found to contain similar values to regional deposits in other more advanced South American operations that are currently under development for commercial production. The mineralization is similar to salt deposits in evaporitic lakes that are recognized producers of lithium.

The Projects are in newly reinterpreted areas previously studied by the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines in 1981, whose survey concluded that the Projects contain lithium and high potassium values and that they do not contain mapped wildlife or archeological reserves, creating no restrictions on lithium production potential.



The deposits offer a typical production scenario based on evaporative brine techniques, which are recognized as the lowest-cost means of extraction and as the most environmentally friendly and energy efficient method to utilize.

Li3 Energy believes the completion of this Peruvian acquisition, together with the company’s ongoing acquisition efforts in Argentina, Chile and the U.S.A., will position Li3 Energy as one of the largest holders of prospective lithium acreages in the world.

For more information on the Peru project CLICK HERE