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On September 29, Lake Resources announced that its Kachi lithium brine project in Argentina has received an Environmental Impact Declaration (DIA) issued by the Mining Ministry of Catamarca Province. The DIA requires a 200-meter surface exclusion zone around the lagoon shoreline. The company said it is updating mineral resource estimates accordingly, but existing ore reserve estimates and wellfield development plans are not expected to be affected. The project uses Lilac Solutions’ direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology and is designed to reinject more than 95% of processed brine into the native aquifer, isolated from freshwater resources, and to eliminate traditional evaporation ponds. Kachi Phase 1 has a designed capacity of 25,000 tonnes per annum of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), and the company’s planned Phase 2 scheme aims to further increase capacity to 50,000 tpa. Following environmental approval, the project is entering the front-end engineering and design (FEED) stage, advancing engineering definition, long-lead equipment procurement, construction planning, and commercial negotiations, in preparation for a subsequent final investment decision (FID). The company also committed US$1 million to the Catamarca Province Mining Concession Trust Fund to support local community infrastructure.

On September 29, China Union Holdings announced that, as previously announced on August 14, it had received a notice from Canada’s foreign investment review and economic security authority (“FIRES”), which considered that the company’s investment in the Arizaro lithium brine project could affect Canada’s national security and might therefore initiate a further review within 45 days from the date of the notice. On September 29, the company received a notice from FIRES under Section 25.3 of the Investment Canada Act, notifying it of FIRES’s intention to conduct a further review of the transaction. The company and the seller are continuing to communicate with FIRES and are considering feasible options or remedies.