CLON.L

Clontarf Energy Plc
Clontarf Energy PLC - Bolivia Lithium Update
15th May 2024, 10:23
TwitterFacebookLinkedIn
To continue viewing RNS, please confirm that you are a Private Investor*

* A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:

  1. Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
  2. Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
  3. Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
  4. Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
  5. Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
  6. Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
RNS Number : 5613O
Clontarf Energy PLC
15 May 2024
 

 

15 May 2024                                                                                                   


Clontarf Energy plc

("Clontarf" or the "Company")

Bolivia Lithium Update

Bolivian Brines Qualification for 3rd Phase of the 2024 Convocatoria

 

Clontarf Energy plc (AIM: CLON), continues to progress its activities in Bolivia, and is pleased to report the following update:

Further to the Company's 6 and 18 March 2024 announcements, the Bolivian State Lithium Company ("YLB") received Clontarf's technical materials in relation to Phase 2 of the Call for Bids ("convocatoria") for the seven priority salares (salt pans) in Southern Bolivia.

YLB confirmed on 14 May that Clontarf is one of 21 companies approved to enter Phase 3 of the (5 phase) process.  Phase 2 dealt in detail with the technical aspects of state-of-the-art Lithium extraction technologies, especially emerging Direct Lithium Extraction techniques.

Phase 3 of the convocatoria process will include confirmation of the Clontarf/NEXT-ChemX JV partnership's financial capacity, which include a review of the last 5-years' accounts, and a risk-rating. As a reminder to Shareholders, Clontarf has worked closely with its JV technology partner NEXT-ChemX since 2022.

At the suggestion of the European Commission, Clontarf has now broadened its "Team Europe" partnership to include financing and offtake partners representing key OEM manufacturers in the German Mittelstand.  Endorsement from one of the world's leading groups of high tech, battery-quality Lithium offtakers is heartening.

The Company further acknowledges the European Commission's leadership and strong support for the European companies involved, including initiating high-level negotiations over infrastructure financing, and issuing a Letter of Comfort for the qualified European companies, which may prove critical in overcoming any remaining financial challenges. Clean, Green Lithium from brines may be classified as a strategic project under the EU's Critical Resource Minerals Act.

Further updates will be provided, as appropriate, in accordance with necessary clearances from the authorities.

 

David Horgan, Chairman, commented: "Bolivia offers potential for large volumes of high-purity, cleanly produced battery-grade Lithium for the European market.

We must go where the resources are: there are many sources of hard-rock Lithium worldwide, but their mining and processing is often dirty and expensive. Only Lithium brines offer the potential for clean, Green low-cost and high quality product."

"Europe needs offtake.  Chinese dominance of Rare Earths, and graphite mining, together with Chinese control of Lithium and Cobalt processing, puts western supplies in jeopardy.  We can no longer rely on free markets to ensure supply.  European vulnerability is further exacerbated by protectionist moves in NAFTA, and Japan.  The EU has little choice but to secure its lifelines."

"No one company or country has the weight to grapple with China and NAFTA - it must be a "Team Europe" effort.  Accordingly, we sought EU institutional cover and, where possible, minority investments by Member States' entities to guard against expropriation."

"Finance is best linked to offtake.  We are now cooperating on downstream and financing activities with Germany's leading Mittelstand representative body.  All markets are important, but Germany's OEM market is critical."

"We have worked for many years on Bolivian brines.  But the convergence of fast demand growth, rising standards and geopolitical imperatives now accelerates progress."

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 596/2014.

ENDS

For further information please visit http://clontarfenergy.com or contact:

Clontarf Energy

David Horgan, Chairman

Jim Finn, Director

+353 (0) 1 833 2833



Nominated & Financial Adviser

Strand Hanson Limited

Rory Murphy

Ritchie Balmer

+44 (0) 20 7409 3494

Broker

Novum Securities Limited

Colin Rowbury

        +44 (0) 207 399 9400



Public Relations

BlytheRay

Megan Ray

+44 (0) 207 138 3206

 

Teneo

Luke Hogg

Alan Tyrrell

Fia Long

Alan Reynolds

+353 (0) 1 661 4055

 

 

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.
 
END
 
 
UPDQKPBBKBKDBPD]]>
TwitterFacebookLinkedIn