Lithium Americas (LAC.T), a Canadian-based mineral explorer advancing lithium projects in Argentina and United States, announced today that it had suffered two fatalities at its Cauchari-Olaroz lithium project in Jujuy, Argentina on Sunday, October 23, 2022.
The incidents occurred separately at the project camp and are not believed to be workplace related. An investigation is underway, and authorities have been notified.
Cauchari-Olaroz is a JV project with Lithium Americas owning 44.8% working interest, Ganfeng Lithium 46.7% interest and JEMSE 8.5%. The project is a conventional brine operation with an annual production capacity of 40,000 tpa Li2CO3.
The project has an expected 40-year life and is situated in the Salar de Olaroz and Salar de Cauchari, adjacent to Orocobre’s Olaroz facility when has been in production since 2015.
Lithium mineral reserve levels at Cauchari-Olaroz, assuming 53.7% processing efficiency is 276,250 tonnes LCE proven and 1.68 million tonnes LCE probable.
Lithium Americas released Q2 2022 results back at the end of July, stating that construction continued toward production at the project in key areas of the processing plant and was preparing to commence commissioning shortly.
The company also noted that construction was over 90% complete, focused had shifted toward production over completion of all purification circuits. Therefore, a portion of the purification process designed to achieve battery-quality is being deferred until early 2023.
At the time of reporting, Lithium Americas announced it had reached a milestone of 6.0 million total person hours without a lost time injury. With today’s announcement, that datapoint may change.
Jonathan Evans, Lithium Americas’ president and CEO, commented on today’s announcement, “It is with deep sadness that we report the tragic loss of two contractors and colleagues at Cauchari-Olaroz. Our thoughts are with their families and friends and our team in Argentina at this difficult time. The health and safety of our employees and contractors remains our highest priority.”
The company continues to work with the Cauchari-Olaroz team to ensure proper support, including access to grief counselling services.
Lithium Americas recorded $440.82 million USD in cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, 2022, with an aggregate total of $12.79 million in exploration and evaluation expenditures for the three months ending June 30, 2022.
There was a share of loss at Cauchari-Olaroz of $71.51 million included on the company’s financial statement for Q2 2022.
The lithium resource developer has two other assets in its portfolio, Pastos Grandes, also in Argentina, and Thacker Pass located in Nevada USA.
As of June 2022, Pastos Grande had an approved development plan and a budget of approximately $30.0 million to take the project toward production.
On June 28, 2022, the State Environmental Commission unanimously rejected an appeal of the February 2022 issuance of a Water Pollution Control Permit for Thacker Pass by the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection. Then on July 20, 2022, the company’s Lithium Technical Department Center was officially opened in a ceremony attended by Lithium Americas’ management team, Nevada Governor and University of Nevada, Reno president.
Currently, Lithium Americas trades at $34.73 CAD per share for a market cap of $4.68 billion.
