Nevada Lithium shares surge on South Korean partnership for critical mineral extraction
Nevada Lithium Resources saw its stock price jump by 23% on Wednesday following the announcement of a strategic partnership with South Korea’s Hydro Lithium. The collaboration aims to advance extraction techniques at the company’s flagship Bonnie Claire lithium-boron project in Nevada. The surge pushed the Vancouver-based miner’s market capitalization to C$46.8 million ($33.7 million).
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Nevada Lithium shares surge on South Korean partnership for critical mineral extraction
Nevada Lithium Resources saw its stock price jump by 23% on Wednesday following the announcement of a strategic partnership with South Korea’s Hydro Lithium. The collaboration aims to advance extraction techniques at the company’s flagship Bonnie Claire lithium-boron project in Nevada. The surge pushed the Vancouver-based miner’s market capitalization to C$46.8 million ($33.7 million).
The partnership, formalized through a letter of intent signed on September 7, centers on potential implementation of Hydro’s proprietary technologies at the Nevada site. These technologies, developed by Hydro Lithium CEO Dr. Uong Chon, focus on the recovery of lithium and other elements classified as critical minerals in the United States. The agreement extends beyond Bonnie Claire, establishing a framework for collaboration on additional North American projects.
Hydro Lithium brings significant technical expertise to the partnership. The company currently operates a production facility in Geumsan-gun, South Korea, with annual capacity of 3,600 tonnes of battery-grade lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate. Dr. Chon has developed several proprietary technologies at Hydro, including CULH for producing battery-grade lithium chemicals and CULX for extracting lithium from natural resources.
“The US hosts numerous potential sources of critical minerals, including lithium, many of which may pose challenges to economically viable extraction,” Dr. Chon said in a statement. “Our proprietary technology, CULX, addresses these challenges.”
Nevada Lithium CEO Stephen Rentschler indicated the company will evaluate Hydro’s extraction technologies alongside recently updated economic projections for Bonnie Claire. The project has undergone comprehensive assessment over the past three years, with recent work revealing and expanding a deeper mineralized zone.
The company released a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) in early August outlining plans for an underground mining operation using hydraulic borehole methods. The proposed operation would process 2.92 million tonnes of lithium-bearing material annually, with average grade of 4,500 parts per million. This would yield approximately 62,354 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent and 129,533 tonnes of boric acid each year.
The updated economic assessment projects a remarkable 61-year mine life for Bonnie Claire. Using pricing assumptions of $24,000 per tonne for lithium carbonate and $950 per tonne for boric acid, the PEA estimates an after-tax net present value of $6.83 billion (at an 8% discount rate) – representing a fourfold improvement compared to a 2021 assessment. The project shows an internal rate of return of 32.3% with expected payback of the $2.1 billion initial capital investment in less than three years.
“Bonnie Claire has emerged as one of the world’s largest and highest-grade sedimentary-hosted lithium and boron deposits, and remains open for expansion,” Rentschler noted in an August press release. “The potential for even higher grades and volumes could positively impact the PEA economics already demonstrated.”
The partnership with Hydro Lithium adds significant technical credibility to Nevada Lithium’s development efforts. Rentschler highlighted Dr. Chon’s previous work developing PosLX, a lithium extraction technology now utilized by South Korean industrial giant POSCO, underscoring the valuable expertise being brought to the Nevada project.
The Bonnie Claire project represents a potentially significant addition to North American lithium supply at a time when demand continues to grow for battery materials. Lithium remains a critical component in the global transition to electric vehicles and renewable energy storage systems, with prices fluctuating dramatically in recent years as supply struggles to keep pace with projected demand growth.
Nevada Lithium gained complete control of Bonnie Claire in 2023 after previously holding it under a 50/50 joint venture with Iconic Minerals. With consolidated ownership now established, the company is actively pursuing partnerships and technology collaborations to accelerate the project’s development timeline.
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