Alpha Lithium Engages Lilac Solutions Inc. for Brine Extraction Study

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alpha Lithium Corporation (TSX.V: ALLI) (OTC: ALLIF) (Frankfurt: 2P62) (“Alpha” or the “Company”), sole owner of one of the last large, undeveloped salars in Argentina’s Lithium Triangle, is pleased to announce it has engaged Lilac Solutions Inc (“Lilac”) to undertake initial Direct Lithium Extraction (“DLE”) engineering work on brine samples from Alpha’s Tolillar Salar. Lilac’s engineering work is intended to complement Alpha’s in-house engineering being done by the principals of Beyond Lithium SA, a world-renowned team of chemical process engineers with decades of lithium chemistry experience.

Lilac has been engaged to commence Stage 1 Engineering. This first stage requires initial brine samples to be sent directly from the Tolillar Salar to Lilac’s offices in Oakland, California. The brine will be passed through Lilac’s proprietary lithium extraction modules for approximately three weeks and the results will be monitored and reported.

This initial test will provide the Company with:

• The lithium recovery rate (what percentage of lithium is able to be recovered from the brine using Lilac’s process)
• Lithium purity assessment
• Determination of lithium chloride chemical analysis
• Initial indications of reagent volumes used
• Indicative range of what operating expenses (“OPEX”) might be in a future commercial production facility
  

Based on the results of Stage 1 Engineering the Company may choose to continue to Stage 2 Engineering, which would involve significantly more brine volumes and time. Stage 2 Engineering would accomplish several things, including:

• Approximately three months of continuous lithium production at lab scale
• Refining of the initial OPEX numbers
• Establish process design criteria and complete lithium extraction test work for a Feasibility Study
• Define a tailored process flow diagram for a pilot plant at Tolillar Salar

Brad Nichol, President and CEO, commented, "Since recently establishing a treasury of more than $35 million, our primary focus on the Tolillar Salar has been on achieving production. This requires a trusted and proven DLE technology partner. It is crucially important to understand that DLE is a bespoke process which is unique to every operation and every salar. Ultimately, a successful DLE implementation will require an absolute understanding of the brine chemistry. Internally, our Beyond Lithium team has been working for months on developing its knowledge base of our brine through in-depth chemical analyses and benchtop studies. Now is the perfect time to combine our brine knowledge with the technology developed by Lilac, who have extensively studied dozens of brines from the Lithium Triangle. They are a well-funded, fast-growing company that has developed a proprietary ion exchange process capable of recovering 80% of the lithium on a timeline measured in hours, not years.”