Categories: Energy
Topics: General Energy

Argentina Lithium & Energy (TSX-V: LIT)(OTC: PNXLF) CEO Niko Cacos on Drilling New Lithium Discovery in Red Hot Argentina

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the President and CEO of Argentina Lithium & Energy, Mr. Niko Cacos. Niko, how are you today?

Niko Cacos: I'm doing very well, Gerardo, and thank you very much for having me on your well regarded program.

Gerardo Del Real: I appreciate the kind words. Let's get right into it. Congratulations are in order. The last time that you and I spoke you were thrilled with results from the first two holes at the Rincon West Project. You just released some phenomenal news from hole three and four and we talked a bit off air. It looks like you're on to the pretty significant discovery in the perfect commodity, that being lithium, which is red hot, and you happen to be in a part of Argentina that's also attracting a lot of investment capital. Congratulations, Niko. Let's talk about the results.

Niko Cacos: Yes, thank you very much. We are indeed very excited with the results that we continue to get. When you make a discovery it's nothing short of thrilling. Just a little context on our project, the Rincon West project that we acquired, it's situated in the Rincon Salar or Salt Lake within the very prolific Lithium Triangle in Northwestern Argentina. And our immediate neighbors here are Rio Tinto Mining, which just earlier this year paid $825 million to acquire their project and we're completely adjacent to them. And on the other side of this Salt Lake is another company known called Argosy Minerals, and they too have a significant resource and both of these companies are moving towards production.

So here we come with a more recent acquisition, which was exciting to just to be able to obtain. But as we started to drill out the first couple of holes, always exciting to see that we get the same kind of results with lithium as our neighbors have, but now holes three and four, these are our best holes yet, and they are significantly spaced apart over an area here that's arguably four or five kilometers along strike. So we're testing now with a lot more drilling to see if we can identify how large this footprint is, and we're going to be moving towards a resource calculation in the early part of the 2023.

Gerardo Del Real: The project, though it's early, and I always caution at this early a stage that it is early, but the project is showing the potential for pretty significant scale. The fourth exploration hole in particular produced the best results to date, and I was impressed with the fact that the lithium brines start at 38 meters, but from 95 meters to 227 meters, you're getting lithium values that are absolutely fantastic. You mentioned your neighbors, you mentioned the market caps of some of your nearby neighbors. Where's Argentina Lithium's market cap today, even after the recent increase in share price due to the success from exploration.

Niko Cacos: Our market cap hovers around 25 to $30 million. I don't think it's really, the market has really absorbed the news that we're starting to put out yet, but we are beginning to get some attention. I'm getting phone calls in from funds and from more sophisticated investors who understand the significance of what we've encountered. And I believe that as we continue to do work, especially when we announce our first resource calculation, I think we're going to begin to see the valuations that we see in some our other peer companies in the area here.

Gerardo Del Real: Rincon West is proving itself to be a project of merit, of potential significant scale. You have other projects in the portfolio, how are things there?

Niko Cacos: Well, yes, Rincon West is a very significant project. It's our flagship project right now and I should add that we did acquire two additional pieces of property to add on over the last couple of months. So we're looking to bulk and bolster and increase the size of whatever potential resource we have here. But besides that we have an additional three projects more significantly to the south is Antofalla project, and that's where our project neighbors adjacent to Albemarle is very large discovery in that salt lake. And Albemarle, for those who are not aware, is the world's largest lithium producer so we may be a small junior, but we have a 30 year history there with the Grosso Group and we're extremely well positioned. And I think some of the results as we're putting out today it validates our thesis. And I think we're looking at a, we're going to be very successful here going forward.

Gerardo Del Real: Niko, I suspect you and I will be chatting frequently. Congratulations again and thank you again for your time today.

Niko Cacos: I always look forward to it. Thank you.

Gerardo Del Real: All right, chat again soon. Bye now.

Niko Cacos: Bye, bye.

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