Altamin release 2 Mt LCE maiden MRE at Lazio geothermal project in Italy

Potash potential

Altamin last month released their maiden MRE for the Lazio Geothermal project, 20km north of Rome, Italy. A total of 2 Mt of LCE was defined grading 100 mg/L Li concentration (70 mg/L Li cut-off). Potential credits include 327 Mt of sulphate of potash equivalent and 140 – 350 MWe of recoverable electrical energy.

The MRE derives from analysis of 16 historic wells from ENEL, the Italian state power company, who explored the Cesano area for geothermal energy potential in the 1970s. The modelled reservoir is a limestone unit, 1,300–3,100m deep, which is sporadically pierced by volcanic pipes.

The indicated resource (where long-term flow data exists) holds 10% of the LCE resource (208 kt LCE) which graded 190 mg/L Li, 84,000 mg/L K and total dissolved solids up to 400 g/L.

Adamas' Meinung:

Lazio is a highly prospective geothermal direct lithium extraction project in the EU, however, given the 1.8 Mt LCE inferred resource is largely uneconomic, there is a decent chance the project could be resource constrained unless more volcanic pipes are proven, which will be expensive.

The mineralized zones of interest (co-incident with geothermal potential) lie within and radially adjacent to the volcanic pipes, implying lateral heterogeneity across the resource. This setting constrains the high grade, salinity, and temperatures (all favorable for DLE) to a modest 3 x 2 km area where two pipes are known to exist from drilling.

Almost half of this area is held within Vulcan Energy’s Cesano tenement. The carbonate reservoir is quite thick, however, modelled at roughly 1,400m thick (from 1,200m depth).

By our estimates, a modest 10 ktpa LCE plant operating for 15-20 years would require at least a 600 kt M&I resource, averaging over 150 mg/L Li. Due to their tight landholding, Vulcan Energy may not be able to reach this scale at Cesano themselves, however Altamin could if they discover 2-3 more volcanic pipes from their nine prospective sites.

The company has resistivity and gravity surveys planned for drill targeting, though drilling will be expensive here. More sensibly, Vulcan and Altamin could merge the landholdings, though this may be tricky since the Italian energy companies ENEL and IREN have already partnered on the respective projects’ development.

[Auszug aus der Mai-Ausgabe des EV Battery Lithium Monthly .]

Chris Williams, Analyst bei Adamas Intelligence

Chris ist Analyst bei Adamas Intelligence und beschäftigt sich schwerpunktmäßig mit der globalen Lithiumindustrie. Er untersucht und analysiert die Lithium-Wertschöpfungskette, um für Kunden umsetzbare Chancen zu identifizieren.

Chris verfügt über elf Jahre Erfahrung in der Optimierung von Bergbau- sowie Öl- und Gasbetrieben und schafft Mehrwert durch die Gewinnung datengestützter Erkenntnisse. Er schloss sein Bachelor- und Masterstudium im Fach Maschinenbau an der University of Queensland ab und absolviert derzeit einen Master of Business Administration an der University of British Columbia.