Millennial Lithium Corp. Provides Progress Update on the Pastos Grandes Project, Argentina

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 19, 2019) - Millennial Lithium Corp. (TSXV: ML) (FSE: A3N2) (OTCQX: MLNLF)  is pleased to provide an update of activities at its Pastos Grandes Project in the province of Salta, Argentina. Advances at the project site include ongoing liming and feeding of brine to pilot ponds, pilot plant construction and an additional long-term pumping test. In addition Millennial has made significant progress in securing its "Fiscal Stability" status to establish the tax regime and other benefits for the project for the next 30 years.

Farhad Abasov, President and CEO, commented, "We are very pleased with the progress to date at our Pastos Grandes Project. The commissioning of the pilot plant facility will be an important milestone for the Company as we will produce battery grade lithium carbonate by basically duplication of the commercial design for the company's 24,000 tonne per year lithium carbonate plant outlined in the Feasibility Study. On the corporate level, the Company is encouraged by the consent of the various National, Provincial and local government entities concerning our application for the Fiscal Stability protection allowing us to be confident in government support for our project and the mining sector in general. The Company is also actively advancing financing, offtake and other strategic talks with large industry players."

The liming plant at Millennial's pilot pond complex is fully operational and treating up to 100 m3 of brine per day, directing the partially purified brine to a large holding pond for concentration of the lithium in preparation for treatment at the Company's pilot plant facility. The liming operation has been successful in reducing the sulphate and magnesium content of the brine and lithium plant feed grade is expected to be reached by December, 2019.

The pilot plant facility is currently under construction and is expected to treat plant grade brine in December, 2019. The pilot plant is planned to produce approximately 3 tonnes per month of battery grade lithium carbonate and includes a final bicarbonation purification stage to ensure consistent production of battery grade lithium carbonate. All material components including the solvent extraction system for the removal of boron, reactors for primary and secondary carbonation, ion exchange units and final bicarbonation reactors as well as a reverse osmosis water purification system are on site and assembly and construction are underway. All electrical systems are in place and the pilot plant complex will be powered by the Company's solar hybrid generating system.

To support the Feasibility Study and to gain additional hydrogeological information a long-term, constant rate pumping test of 15 days was completed at well PGPW16-01. Well PGPW16-01 was drilled using mud rotary methods to a total depth of 358m. Well PGPW16-01 was constructed with 10" casing to a depth of 100m and 6" casing from 100m to 351m. The annular space between the borehole and the casing is filled with gravel pack.

A short-term (60 hours) pumping test was completed at PGPW16-01 in 2017 at an average pumping rate of 27.7 litres/second (L/s) and yielded a favorable transmissivity of 550 m2/day (see News Release dated July 10, 2017). The long-term, constant rate pumping test was done at PGPW16-01 for a total of 15 days in 2019, at an average rate of 23.2 L/s. A favorable transmissivity was calculated at 400 m2/day, confirming the robust transmissivity calculated from the 2017 test. Maximum drawdown was approximately 15m and is considered to be very favorable for allowing additional pumping if needed in the future, and for minimizing pumping costs. These results, along with the results from the 2017 testwork, support the previous assumptions that large flow rates are possible in this part of the Pastos Grandes Project. Numerical simulations for possible brine extraction well locations will be further studied to optimize brine extraction performance in the detailed engineering phase of the project.

In addition to technical progress at Pastos Grandes, Millennial continues to advance the project at the corporate level. Recent meetings with national Mining Secretary in Buenos Aires has confirmed that Millennial is covered under the benefits of Fiscal Stability as proscribed under the National Mining Law. Fiscal Stability fixes the maximum overall tax rates and brings additional benefits for Millennial for a period of 30 years allowing for long term planning for the project and protection against potential future political fluctuations. Millennial originally applied for Fiscal Stability in Q4 2018; meetings this week with the Mining Secretary and his deputies indicate final approval has been granted, with the delivery of the final signed resolution in early Q4 2019.

This news release has been reviewed by Iain Scarr, AIPG CPG., Chief Operating Officer of the Company and a Qualified Person as that term is defined in National Instrument 43-101.  [Read More]