Lake Resources Limited (ASX:LKE) Managing Director Steve Promnitz discusses raising $2.7 million after being presented with positive drill results from the company's Cauchari Lithium Brine Project in Argentina, which adjoins Orocobre (ASX:ORE) and Ganfeng.Jessica Amir: Thanks for your company. I'm Jessica Amir for the Finance News Network, and with me today for an update from Lake Resources
(ASX:LKE) is managing director Steve Promnitz. Steve, welcome back and thanks for coming in.
Steve Promnitz: Always great to be here, Jessica. Thank you.
Jessica Amir: So first up, a massive congratulations. We've seen your share price bounce quite tremendously on the back of some really positive news. You've announced successful drill results from your Cauchari Lithium Brine Project in Argentina, which adjoins majors like Orocobre
(ASX:ORE) and Gangfeng. Just recap some of the announcements.
Steve Promnitz: What's been important about Cauchari is simply this. The market has been waiting quite some time for this news. We are drilling in the same basin as the largest defined lithium brine project on the planet, which is what Gangfeng recently paid nearly US$400 million to buy a half of. We're 500 meters away. And the old model was that these things look like a saucer, so they pinched down on the edges and naturally the edges of these basins weren't interesting, but our theory was that they look more like swimming pools, straight sides.
We've now demonstrated with our results we're in the same basin. We've shown we've got the same horizons, so we're going to get the same sort of flow rates, the same sort of a positive results. We've already announced some, we're going to be announcing quite a lot more over the next two, three, four weeks, and then we're going to go on and repeat that at our next door project at Olaroz. So it's pretty exciting times. So the market has responded, but all we've done is come back to about the trading range of last November, December. There's a whole lot more upside, a whole lot more to come.
Jessica Amir: And you've also announced a capital raising as well to accelerate your project. Just take us through that.
Steve Promnitz: That was a really great outcome. We've been marketing in Asia, we've been in marketing in North America, we've been marketing here in Australia. And we were fortunate to find a number of high net worth investors, a number of key offshore investors who decided to come into that capital raise. Some people were a little concerned because the share price picked up for a couple of days, but we took it a slight discount. We added half an option to it. That option is in the money. So, we were fortunate we raised $2.7 million before costs. And the key thing about that is it means that we can now lock in drill rigs for drilling at Olaroz in the future, as well as continuing our work at Cauchari, and we can keep pre-feasibility study pilot plant work going at Cachi. So it's great. Bed things down, keep them all moving in the right direction.
Jessica Amir: And when can investors expect more results?
Steve Promnitz: So we're going to have results coming out every week, every 10 days or so from Cauchari for the next four weeks. So we should get our target horizon in about two weeks' time. It's the sand layer, which has got not as good lithium brine results, but high flow rates in the immediate adjoining project. That's what we're going to be targeting, around 350, 450 meters. And then when the hole's finished, we'll be getting repeat samples as we come back out.
Then we will take the rig across and a little bit further north to Olaroz. And there, we're drilling our very first holes in the 30-kilometre strip of tenements immediately adjoining the production leases of Orocobre
(ASX:ORE). And given that we've already shown that this swimming pool shape being inside the basin, our geophysics showed us we're in the right spot, now we've demonstrated from the drilling, we intend to go and repeat that success over at Olaroz. So it's going to be a pretty interesting next few months. And that capital raising has now financed that so we can just get underway.
Jessica Amir: Brilliant times ahead. Steve Promnitz, thank you so much.
Steve Promnitz: Thank you.
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