Vulcan Energy (ASX:VUL) has successfully collected a bulk (10,000 litre) brine sample from a recently drilled geothermal well in the Upper Rhine Valley of Germany within 6km of Vulcan’s Ortenau Resource and license area.
The bulk brine sample returned a high grade of 214 mg/L Li (n=1 analysis) and will be used in Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) piloting test work.
Managing Director, Dr Francis Wedin, said Vulcan now has brine data stretching back to 1980 showing remarkably consistent Li values in Upper Rhine Valley brine.
Within Ortenau, Vulcan currently has an Inferred and Indicated JORC Resource Estimation of 12.86 Mt contained Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE) at a grade of 181 mg/L Li, and Vulcan’s total Upper Rhine Valley Project has Inferred and Indicated Resources of 15.85 Mt contained LCE at a grade of 181 mg/L Li of which 23% is in the Indicated category, the largest lithium resource in Europe.
The brine analysis also showed exceptionally low impurities (inc. Si, Mn, Fe) relative to other high-lithium geothermal brines worldwide, important for DLE performance.
New data will be incorporated into Vulcan’s resource estimation update work later in the year, as part of Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) work for the Vulcan Zero Carbon Lithium project.
It is encouraging to observe high grade lithium, with exceptionally low impurities, in geothermal brine analysis such as this from our sampling efforts in the URVP,” Dr Wedin said.
“The low impurities are important as this increases the effectiveness of our DLE techniques. Results of this nature will be combined with seismic and historical drilling data, which will be used by our expert in-house geological team for production study work towards the Definitive Feasibility Study.
“This data collection and analysis is an important part of our strategy to become a major supplier of our unique Zero Carbon Lithium to the European battery electric vehicle market.”