AXcess News: Lithium Miner Hits New 52-Week Hi on Chile Prospect
February 22 2010 - 10:30AM
Marketwired
Pan American Lithium Corp. (TSX-V: PL)(PINKSHEETS: PALTF) reached a
new 52-week hi of $0.78 Friday after saying its survey was underway
in Chile at its Laguna Verde project. The company indicated that it
expected to release those results during the first quarter.
The Byron Capital Markets Lithium Index had closed up 0.03 at
1.19 Friday, whose direction supports the market's thirst for
lithium stocks in general and though Pan American Lithium is not
part of the Index currently, investors have been eyeing the company
ever since it announced a deal with Korean-based POSCO, the world's
4th-largest steel maker, which signed a letter of understanding in
January to invest in Pan American's Mexico lithium brine project
pending the outcome of its due diligence on the project. The deal
was extended until April to give PKX time to complete its
feasibility.
Investor interest has grown steadily in lithium mining ever
since the election of Sebastian Pinera in Chile. In a January 28th
story, AXcess News noted that the mineral-rich South American
nation is seen as being more proactive towards foreign mining
concerns -- especially smaller companies -- since Pinera's
presidential upset.
Pan American Lithium's Cierro Prieto project in Mexico requires
an outlay of millions to acquire control, though its option places
the lithium miner in a strategic position. Yet in Chile, PL's
Laguna Verde project is 100%-owned, making its value a potentially
higher return for investors. Chile is also home to the largest
lithium producer in the world, SQM, which according Byron Capital
Market's Jon Hykawy PhD. MBA produces between 35 to 37% of global
demand.
Hykawy is the author of a report on Lithium which was issued in
September 2009. In a telephone interview Monday, Dr. Hykawy said,
"Brines are always the cheapest way to go" in producing lithium
compared to clay-based production.
In the investment bank's report on Lithium, Dr. Hykawy notes
that "Lithium has arisen from nothing to represent the great hope
for electrification of the light vehicle fleet. And this is not an
unsubstantiated hope."
Dr. Hykawy told AXcess News that lithium is considered a "vital
metal," yet there is no exchange-traded market. "That could change
in time, "Hykawy admitted.
Dr. Hykawy said the investment bank would be updating its Report
in mid-April, about the same time as Pan American Lithium is set to
release its Laguna Verde brine survey results.
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