Archive

September 2024

Browsing

China’s Shanghai Composite Index ($SSEC) surged higher last week by roughly 13%, which was one of its largest 1-week gains over the past decade. There were solid economic reasons for the surge as China’s central bank approved measures to accelerate recent sluggish growth. The People’s Bank of China on Tuesday announced plans to lower borrowing costs, inject more funds into the economy, and ease households’ mortgage repayment burdens. Despite these fundamental positives for the China economy, I’d argue that the index remains challenged technically, however, as overhead price resistance and trendline resistance suggest the most difficult levels to overcome remain:

The top price chart shows trendline resistance near 3100 and the most recent price high at 3200, so it’s fair to say that this 3100-3200 range is critical in the near-term. If it holds as resistance, it leaves little upside potential for China stocks from here.

The bottom panel is a 10-day rate of change (ROC) and illustrates that this recent 2-week pop is just about as strong as any over the past 10 years. The black-dotted vertical lines highlight other similar 2-week surges and, in just about every case, the initial rallies weren’t very sustainable.

From a longer-term perspective, though, this is a chart that really bothers me with respect to the Shanghai Composite’s relative performance:

Can we really trust the recent rally? This is nearly 10 years of significant underperformance by the Shanghai Composite. Will last week’s fundamental developments really change China’s long-term relative performance? I don’t know, but I need to see more than one or two weeks of strength to be convinced.

There were many stocks that benefited from this China strength and I discussed some of those and much, much more on my weekly market recap video, “China Stocks EXPLODE Higher.” Check it out and be sure to “Like” the video and “Subscribe” to our channel.

Happy trading!

Tom

Odessa Minerals Limited (ASX:ODE) (“Odessa” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce it has received firm commitments from professional and sophisticated investors for a Placement to raise $1,112,500 (before costs) (“Placement”) by way of a two tranche placement of fully paid ordinary shares (“New Shares”).

Highlights:

Oversubscribed Placement to sophisticated investors raises $1.1M via two tranche placementProceeds to be utilised to continue exploration and drilling the Lyndon Uranium project, including key targets at Relief Well and Baltic Bore.

Tranche 1 comprising of 225 million New Shares will be issued immediately utilising the Company’s existing placement capacity under ASX Listing Rule 7.1/7.1A. Tranche 2 comprises 331.25 million New Shares which are subject to shareholder approval at the Company’s AGM in November, including a subscription by Non- Executive Chairman Mr Zane Lewis for $100,000 of New Shares.

The issue price of A$0.002 per New Share represents a discount of nil to the last closing price of $0.002 on 25 September and a 23.9% discount to the 15-day volume weighted average price of $0.0263.

Proceeds from the Placement will be utilised to continue exploration at Odessa’s projects including:

Exploration and drilling of the Company’s Lyndon Uranium ProjectGeneral working capital purposes.

Zane Lewis, Chairman of Odessa, said: “I am very pleased to receive commitments for $1.1M from highly supportive group of long term investors, who share our vision at Odessa. This placement will ensure Odessa is well funded for the upcoming exploration and drilling program at Lyndon.”


Click here for the full ASX Release

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

Interim Results for six-month period ending 30 June 2024

CleanTech Lithium PLC (AIM:CTL)(Frankfurt:T2N)(OTCQX:CTLHF), an exploration and development companyadvancing sustainable lithium projects in Chile for the clean energy transition, is pleased to announce its unaudited Interim Results for the six-month period ended 30 June 2024 (‘1H 2024’ or ‘the Period’).

The Company has made significant progress with the Pre-Feasibility Study (‘PFS’) at the flagship project, Laguna Verde, and seen encouraging results from the Direct Lithium Extraction (‘DLE’) pilot plant in Chile and will be producing battery-grade lithium carbonate for potential strategic partners to evaluate. The Company is also pursuing a dual listing on the Australian Stock Exchange (‘ASX’) and aims to be trading on the ASX in Q4 2024.

Highlights of the Period:

Operational:

Health & Safety:

Zero-harm safety culture focused on continuous improvement to achieve an injury free and healthy work environment – no LTIs, major incidents or near misses recorded in 1H 2024.

Laguna Verde Drilling Programme:

Five-well resource drilling programme commenced. Work designed in collaboration with Montgomery & Associates, a leading hydrogeology and resource evaluation consultancy.

Programme aims to produce a maiden reserves estimate using modifying factors from the Pre-Feasibility Study (‘PFS’) which is underway and targeted for completion by the end of 2024.

DLE Pilot Plant:

Operational and producing high quality lithium chloride eluate with low impurities.

Eluate is being converted to produce batches of battery-grade lithium carbonate which will be made available to potential strategic partners in Q4 2024 to start product qualification.

Inauguration event was held in May 2024 where local communities and government officials were in attendance.

Project Licences:

CTL entered into a sale and purchase agreement (‘SPA’), now taking full ownership of certain Laguna Verde licences that were previously held by way of an option agreement

The licences held in the Salar de Atacama basin, which we understand are located outside the salar area defined as strategic by the Government and have been re-named the ‘Arenas Blancas’ project, are a potentially very promising opportunity.

CEOL Contracts:

Expressions of Interest (‘RFIs’) for a total of five lithium projects have been submitted to the Chilean Government. CTL is very well positioned as the most advanced exploration stage company progressing DLE based projects in Chile.

Francisco Basin project has been renamed Viento Andino, in line with the RFI submission, to highlight the project area is outside a national park of a similar name located in the basin.

Corporate:

Board changes:

Executive Chairman Steve Kesler assumed the duties of CEO on an interim basis, following the resignation of CEO, Aldo Boitano in April.

The search for a new CEO is well underway and the chosen candidate will be announced in due course.

·Cash position:

The Company’s cash position at the period end, including proceeds received from Loan Notes shortly after period end, was £2.1 million.

Post-period Highlights:

Operational:

Pump tests and a reinjection well at Laguna Verde, planned to be undertaken in Q4 2024, will help define the brine extraction and reinjection wellfield design and the sustainable production rate required for the PFS.

A plant location study was completed by Worley for the Laguna Verde project and concluded that the DLE and eluate concentration should be undertaken at project site and the purification and carbonation close to Copiapo which is at a lower elevation with good technical support locally available. This latter plant would be expanded in the future to also process concentrated eluate from the Viento Andino project.

Completion of the first stage of production of concentrated eluate from the Company´s DLE pilot plant which has been shipped for conversion to battery-grade lithium carbonate by process partners in North America.

Corporate:

ASX Listing:

The Company is seeking to dual-list on the Australian Securities Exchange (‘ASX’). Although the Company announced an extension to the ASX IPO timetable on 20 September 2024, to allow it to address some procedural matters raised by ASX, the intention remains to complete the IPO before the year end. An associated capital raise is planned to enable completion of the PFS and continuance of other work programmes. Notwithstanding, the Company continues to consider its funding options on an ongoing basis as a part of its normal practice.

·CEOL Process:

The Government has streamlined the CEOL process, announcing an update at the end of Septemberprioritising six salt flats for lithium development including Laguna Verde, the Company’s flagship project, as having the most favourable conditions to advance lithium exploration and extraction. CEOL applications to be submitted by 31st December 2024.

Local stakeholders:

CTL attended a seminar organised by CESCO alongside local indigenous communities. The President of the Colla Pai-Ote community publicly endorsed CTL’s Laguna Verde project as the way forward for the lithium industry in Chile, which was widely reported in the Chilean media.

CTL’s DLE carousel equipment is now installed at the University of Atacama as part of an ongoing partnership. The DLE equipment will be available for research programmes. The long-term collaboration between the University and CTL will help nurture the skills required for fostering the lithium industry in the Atacama region.

Steve Kesler, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, CleanTech Lithium said:

‘The first half of 2024 has seen significant operational and strategic progress on our lithium projects in Chile. This includes the production of high quality lithium chloride eluate with low impurities from our DLE pilot plant, which has a capacity to produce one tonne per month of lithium carbonate equivalent. A drilling, pump testing and reinjection programme was started at Laguna Verde aimed at updating the JORC resource estimate, providing data for the PFS and developing of a maiden reserve estimate.

‘The Company is also in the process of listing on the ASX exchange, which will support its future development, as it enters potential strategic partner discussions and progresses towards production. Whilst this process has been delayed, the ASX market is well versed in the lithium sector and a meaningful number of the Company’s existing shareholders have Australian links.

‘With the PFS well underway and project development ongoing, backed by the strong support from local indigenous communities and aligned with the objectives of Government’s National Lithium Strategy, we look forward to the future with confidence.’

CHAIRMAN AND INTERIM CEO REVIEW

The following review is a look back at the highlights from the first half of 2024:

Business Strategy

CleanTech Lithium continues to make great strides in meeting the objective of becoming a leading supplier of battery-grade lithium carbonate to support the world’s transition to clean energy. The progress made towards building sustainable lithium projects in Chile where the Company is planning to use Direct Lithium Extraction (‘DLE’) powered by renewable energy directly addresses the Chilean Government’s ambition to drive positive change in sustainability and social and economic development.

The ‘National Lithium Strategy’, proposed by the President of Chile in late April 2023, aims to ensure Chile remains a top producer and supplier of lithium – a critical component for batteries in Electric Vehicles and energy storage systems (‘ESS’). The established mining jurisdiction is currently the largest supplier of copper in the world and one of the largest suppliers of battery grade lithium. To move to a world run on clean energy, new lithium projects are needed, and Chile has the established infrastructure, industry expertise and workforce to bring projects like CleanTech Lithium’s into production in the next few years.

New projects must be built in the right way and the Government has prescribed the use of DLE (or similar sustainable technologies) for all new lithium development projects going forward. CleanTech Lithium’s strategy is to play a significant role in assisting the Chilean government to achieve this ambition. The Company believes it is most the advanced development stage DLE company operating in Chile and the achievements made in the first half of 2024 is evidence of this. It is very encouraging to see the Company’s DLE Pilot Plant producing samples of battery-grade lithium carbonate which will soon be tested by potential strategic partners.

The Company’s business strategy is focused on delivering long-term sustainable growth and returns for all stakeholders, built on four pillars:

develop the Company’s advanced lithium projects (Laguna Verde, Viento Andino) and progress the early-stage exploration projects (Arenas Blancas and Llamara) in Chile;

utilise innovative technologies, including DLE and, where possible, renewable energy to sustainably produce lithium carbonate;

produce commercial battery-grade lithium carbonate with high lithium recoveries and short production time; and

To this end, the Company’s immediate objectives are as follows:

update the JORC resource estimate for Laguna Verde on completion of the 2024 drilling campaigns and declare a maiden reserves estimate;

complete planned hydrogeological studies and metallurgical tests at Laguna Verde, including completing a new reinjection well and pump tests to provide the data required to further advance modelling of the sub-surface aquifer and design the extraction and reinjection wellfields;

complete the process test work at the DLE Pilot Plant and make battery grade lithium carbonate available for supply to potential offtake and strategic partners to start product qualification;

continue the required work to complete the environmental baseline studies that commenced in 2022 and undertake the studies required to enable submission of the EIA in 1H 2025;

enter into a Special Lithium Operation Contract (CEOL) with the Chilean State in relation to the Laguna Verde and Viento Andino Projects to commercially sell lithium;

continue to collaborate with the local indigenous communities, universities and other local stakeholders to ensure long-term support for the projects, and

enter into substantive discussions with potential offtake and strategic partners with a view to reaching agreement on a future business relationship, including establishing a funding package for the construction phases of the Laguna Verde Project, including equity participation, debt and other structures, to bring the project on stream and start selling lithium carbonate at the earliest possible opportunity.

Summary of Company Activity

In the first six months of the year, CleanTech Lithium made further progress toward delivering its PFS. This included commencing a five-well drilling programme at Laguna Verde, the commissioning of its DLE pilot plant and first production of highly concentrated eluate for further processing to make battery-grade lithium carbonate. The PFS is instrumental to support discussions with potential strategic partners. The Company is also seeking to dual-list on the Australian Securities Exchange (‘ASX’). Although the Company announced an extension to the ASX IPO timetable on 20 September 2024, to allow it to address some procedural matters raised by ASX, the intention remains to complete the IPO before the year end. Notwithstanding, the Company continues to consider its funding options on an ongoing basis as a part of its normal practice.

Operations

Health and Safety

The Company maintains a zero-harm safety culture focused on continuous improvement to achieve an injury free and healthy work environment, with no lost time incidents (‘LTIs’), major incidents, or near misses reported in the first half of 2024.

Five-Well Drilling Programme at Laguna Verde

The Company commenced a five well drilling programme at Laguna Verde largely aimed at converting Inferred resource to additional Measured & Indicated resource which will then have technical and economic modifying factors applied from the PFS to determine a maiden reserve. The programme was designed in collaboration with Montgomery & Associates, a leading international hydrogeology and resource evaluation consultancy.

The drill programme began in Q1 2024, with the commencement of wells LV07 and LV11 and suspended in May on the onset of the winter shut-down period, with the plan to recommence in October. The programme will also include additional pump testing and reinjection testing in Q4 2024 with results helping to calibrate the hydrogeological model of the basin. This model will help further define the brine extraction and reinjection wellfield design and the sustainable production rate from Laguna Verde. Montgomery & Associates have been engaged to manage the drill programme, JORC resource and reserves reporting and design of the extraction and reinjection wellfields.

Laguna Verde is the Company’s most advanced project and has a total JORC resource of 1.8 million tonnes LCE, of which 1.1 million is in the Measured and Indicated category. Laguna Verde’s Scoping Study, announced in January 2023, highlighted robust economics, with an NPV8 of US$1.8bn, an IRR of 45.1%, net cashflows of US$6.3 billion and a low operating costs of US$3,875/t for 30 years of production at 20,000 tpa LCE.

Drilling programmes at Laguna Verde since 2022

DLE Pilot Plant Commissioning and Production

The Company´s one-tonne per month DLE pilot plant (supplied by Sunresin) is located in Copiapó, Chile, approximately 250km from Laguna Verde, and finished commissioning in late March. At the R&D centre where the pilot plant is located, brine from the Laguna Verde project is stored in a large 243,000 litre vessel outside the pilot plant and then fed into an indoor tank having passed through filtration to remove suspended solids. It is then fed into the DLE columns shown in the image below, which are filled with adsorbent designed to be selective for lithium molecules. Lithium, as lithium chloride, is adsorbed from the brine, before desorption with water to create a purified lithium chloride eluate.

DLE Pilot Plant at R&D Centre in Copiapó, Chile (30 x approx. 3m columns to produce up to 1 tonne per month of LCE)

Testing of a wide range of commercially available adsorbents identified that the adsorbent supplied by Lanshen performed the best on the Laguna Verde brine resulting in the selection of this adsorbent. The DLE Pilot Plant commenced operation in Q2 2024, producing high quality concentrated eluate. In May, the Company reported the key DLE performance metrics for the first batch of 24m3 of concentrated eluate produced at the pilot plant. The recovery of lithium from the brine was 94% in the adsorption stage and 88% into the eluate. The lithium grade in the feed brine of 197mg/L was concentrated to 710mg/L in the eluate, or a 3.6X concentration factor. These results exceeded the Company’s expectations. The eluate was further concentrated by reverse osmosis to 2,194mg/l.

For the first stage of production, a total volume of 1,196m3 of brine from the Laguna Verde Project was processed at the DLE pilot plant with a total of 14 cycles completed. Each cycle represents a volume of brine being fed first through filtration to remove suspended solids, then into DLE columns which are filled with adsorbent designed to be selective for lithium molecules. Lithium, as lithium chloride, is adsorbed from the brine, before desorption with water to create a purified lithium eluate.

Averaged across the 14 cycles, the recovery rate achieved by adsorption of lithium from the brine was 95% and the recovery rate of desorption from the adsorbent was 93%. The total recovery rate into eluate averaged 88% and was highly consistent as shown in the figure below. The temperature of the brine and desorption water, using the average ambient temperature in Copiapó during the March to June period of operation, was in the range of 20oC to 25oC indicating that good performance was achieved without the need to heat solutions in either adsorption or desorption.

Pilot Plant Total Recovery Rate

The eluate production rate was relatively stable after the initial ramp up period achieving an average of 2.8 kg LCE per hour demonstrating that the design capacity of the pilot plant of 1 tonne LCE per month was comfortably achieved. Selectivity of the adsorbent is another key performance parameter for a DLE operation. DLE primarily acts as a purification stage, recovering lithium chloride from the brine whilst rejecting other impurities. For all the major ions in the brine, apart from boron, the rejection rate was very high, exceeding 99%.

DLE Performance – Rejection of Major Impurities

The downstream conversion of lithium chloride solution to battery grade lithium carbonate is well established in the lithium industry. Rather than spending capital on constructing a lithium carbonate conversion plant, the Company decided to partner with Conductive Energy, an Alberta, Canada company to undertake this conversion at its existing facility in Chicago.

An initial 200L batch of concentrated eluate, was shipped to Conductive Energy in May. This batch was used as a trial before setting up the conversion process that would be used for processing larger volumes of eluate produced by our DLE pilot plant into battery grade lithium carbonate. Conductive Energy completed the set-up test-work producing lithium carbonate of 99.75% purity which is battery grade. This process comprises concentration of the concentrated eluate to 18,000mg/l Li by forward osmosis followed by ion exchange to remove the trace impurities of calcium, magnesium and boron and then carbonation with sodium carbonate to produce battery grade lithium carbonate.

On completion of this trial, the Company subsequently shipped batches of concentrated eluate from the pilot plant, with a total of 88m3 shipped by late July, which is equivalent to approximately one tonne of lithium carbonate.

The downstream plant is being commissioned with lithium carbonate production expected in October 2024. This will provide the Company with the capacity to supply significant quantities of battery-grade lithium carbonate samples to potential strategic partners and offtakers to commence product qualification.

Pilot Plant Inauguration

In May, the DLE pilot plant was officially inaugurated in Copiapó with a ceremony attended by various regional authorities, indigenous community leaders, academics, and business representatives. Attendees at the ceremony included the Presidential Delegate of the Atacama Region, Luis Pino, Regional Councillor Javier Castillo; CORFO Director Rosa Roman, CORPROA President Andres Rubilar; miners’ union president Joel Carrizo; indigenous community representatives Christian Milla and Ercillia Araya.

DLE Pilot Plant Inauguration May 2024

DLE inauguration event May 2024 with Steve Kesler, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO and Ercilia Araya, President of the Colla-Ote community

Pre-Feasibility Study at Laguna Verde

The PFS will define the optimal configuration for the Laguna Verde project, paving the way for a DFS and discussions with strategic partners. Data from the DLE pilot plant and the drilling and field programmes are being incorporated into the PFS which is being led by Worley, an international engineering services company, from their Santiago office.

As part of that process, in July, Worley completed a plant location study, and CTL has engaged various consultants to conduct studies on port access, water supply, power access and lithium market dynamics. The plant location study identified the ideal configuration for a production facility capable of generating 20,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium carbonate per annum. This provided a trade-off analysis between locating the entire plant at Laguna Verde versus splitting plant facilities between Laguna Verde and the nearby mining centre of Copiapó. The option of locating the DLE plant and eluate concentration stages at the Laguna Verde site, and the carbonation plant at Copiapó was highly favourable, resulting in the decision to proceed with this option. A concentrated eluate with 6% lithium, the maximum concentration before lithium salts begin to precipitate, will be transported to Copiapó for impurity removal and carbonation stages. This configuration results in a minor increase in volumes transported while taking advantage of Copiapó’s well-developed infrastructure and better access to a skilled workforce. According to the plant design, approximately 70% of the operational workforce will be employed at the carbonation plant, therefore locating it in Copiapó provides major advantages in hiring a local work force including diversity outcomes such as greater female participation, while contributing to the local economy. The footprint at the project site, which is at 4,300m above sea level, will be greatly reduced, from power supply, storage, camp and plant facilities, construction phase impacts, and environmental impacts.

The carbonation plant in Copiapó would eventually be expanded to also treat concentrated eluate from the Viento Andino project.

Corporate Developments

Special Lithium Operating Contracts (CEOLs)

Following the declaration of the National Lithium Strategy in April 2023, the Government clarified that it would seek majority control of strategic lithium assets in the Salar de Atacama and Salar de Maricunga but that non-strategic salars could be developed by private sector interests without the need for state company participation. As a result, the Chilean Government requested that the Company withdraw its initial application for CEOLs for Laguna Verde and Viento Andino (formerly Francisco Basin) and apply through the new formal process. CTL´s project areas were defined as non-strategic and the Company entered the process in June 2024 on a 100% ownership basis for Laguna Verde and Viento Andino. Applications for RFIs has also been made for three other lithium prospects in joint ventures with other parties which are currently subject to confidentiality.

The Government provided a further update to the CEOL application process at the end of September, prioritising six salt flats for lithium development including Laguna Verde, the Company’s flagship project, as having the most favourable conditions to advance lithium exploration and extraction. The Government is expected to announce a further update later this year on additional salt flats for lithium development. The Ministry of Mining will award one CEOL per salt flat with companies only considered if they meet certain criteria. CTL´s Expressions of Interest (‘RFI‘) application directly addressed each of these key criteria and as the Company has a dominant licence position in the Laguna Verde basin it is the only Company that meets the mining concession area requirement. The criteria set out by the Government recognises the status of the Company´s progress at the Laguna Verde project and puts in place a clear path to award a CEOL and the project’s development into production, which is targeted for 2027.

The Chilean Government will now commence indigenous community consultations related to these six salars. Additional to other criteria, CTL has developed a strong relationship with indigenous communities located in the surroundings areas, based on early engagement including a collaborative alliance signed in December 2023 to co-design the project´s EIA. The Company is also working with the regional University to promote local opportunities for future projects. The next stage of the CEOL process is for companies to submit CEOL applications by December 31st 2024.

Acquisition of Laguna Verde LicencesIn April 2024, the Company completed the acquisition of 23 Laguna Verde licences, previously subject to an option agreement. This now gives the Company full ownership and control over all 108 mining licences within Laguna Verde. The Board believes this acquisition enhances potential returns to shareholders and de-risks the project as it advances. Full ownership of these licences has also facilitated the planned ASX listing.
Renaming of Francisco Basin and Salar de Atacama

In June the Company announced it had renamed the Francisco Basin project as Viento Andino. This was to clarify the project is located outside a nearby national park of a similar name. During the period, the Company also announced the Salar de Atacama licences have been renamed the ‘Arenas Blancas’ project to recognise that these fall outside of the Salar de Atacama area considered by Government as ´strategic´ to be controlled by the State entity Codelco. These Arena Blanca licences are shown here.

Map of licence areas in Arenas Blancas

ESG and Community Engagement:

In January, the Company hosted an international seminar at the Universidad de Atacama titled ‘Lithium: Global Challenges. Local Issues, Decarbonization, Sustainability and Participation’ brought together renowned international academics and industry leaders to explore the crucial role lithium plays in global decarbonization and the transition to a green economy.

The Company has also partnered with the University of Atacama, which has seen the installation of the Company’s laboratory DLE carousel on the campus. This initiative allows students to conduct their own testing and research, supporting the development of a workforce for the future and regional economic development.

Post-period end, CTL participated in the Centre for Copper and Mining Studies (‘CESCO’) seminar in Santiago, a prominent annual seminar for the mining sector in Chile and received public support from the local indigenous community for its Laguna Verde project. Local and national media covered the endorsement made by the President of Colla-Ote Communities, Ercilia Araya, as seen in the press cutting below. At the seminar the Company stated if the Government want to see three to four new lithium projects in construction by 2026, Laguna Verde can be one of these projects. To achieve this, the Company continues it engagement with the Chilean Government as part of the CEOLs applications and in a timely manner for the EIA permitting process.

President of the Colla-Ote Community publicly endorses CleanTech Lithium’s Laguna Verde project at CESCO Seminar, August 2024

The Company remained a signatory of the UN Global Compact aligning with the 10 guiding principles. The annual ‘Communication of Progress’ report was submitted in May 2024.

ASX dual-listing:

On 20 September the Company announced an extension to the Australian Securities Exchange (‘ASX’) IPO timetable to allow it to address certain procedural matters raised by ASX. Although it is expected the ASX IPO will complete prior to the year-end, there can be no certainty over the timing. Consequently, as a part of normal practice, the Board continues to consider other available funding options to provide the necessary ongoing working capital and to maintain progress on the Company’s various capital programmes as described above.

The ASX is a natural fit as a dual-listing for CTL given the high proportion of its shareholder base designated as Australian domiciled; that base includes Regal Funds as a significant sharesholder which holds approximately 15% of the Company’s shares in issue.

It is clear that an Australian listing will broaden the shareholder base, increase the Company’s profile in Australia and expose the Company to a deep pool of capital from investors with a good knowledge of investing in resource, and lithium, companies.

The Company will continue to keep the market informed of progress as appropriate.

Board Changes:

In addition to my duties as Executive Chairman, I assumed the role of Interim CEO in April following Aldo Boitano’s resignation. The search for a new CEO is ongoing, and we look forward to announcing the selected candidate in due course.

Lithium Market:

While the international lithium market remains subdued with current oversupply and low prices, there is clear expectation that market conditions will have improved significantly by the time the Company comes into first production in 2027. Some current high-cost production is suspending production, new projects are being deferred whilst demand for lithium for use in batteries, for Electric Vehicles and ESS continues to grow. The expectation is that lithium prices will start to recalibrate to a medium and longer-term price that allows new projects to be financed. Cannacord Genuity forecasts that pricing to be in excess of US$22,500/t lithium carbonate from 2028 onwards. The scoping studies for Laguna Verde and Viento Andino indicate that these projects will be in the lowest quartile of costs and economic even at today´s low prices and highly attractive at forecast long-term prices.

The Company has specific advantages in operating in Chile which has a free trade agreement (‘FTA’) with the USA and preferential trade arrangements with the EU for critical minerals such as lithium. The ability to supply battery grade lithium carbonate directly into these markets without intermediate processing in China will be important for the Company in those markets. Meanwhile Chinese companies are investing in battery supply chain production in FTA countries to maintain access to the US market and will increasingly seek lithium carbonate from FTA compliant countries for those projects. The Company is well placed to take advantage of this dynamic.

Financials:

The Company’s cash position at the period end, including proceeds received from Loan Notes shortly after period end, was £2.1 million.

In the six months to 30 June 2024, CleanTech continued to prioritise expenditure on its capital programmes with the following progress noted:

DLE: pilot plant construction, testing and commissioning and initial operation costs

Community Relations: programme and other ESG initiatives.

In addition, the acquisition of 100% of the legal and beneficial interest in the licences in Laguna Verde licences previously held under an option agreement was announced in April 2024. Refer Note 12 to the financial statements for further details.

Administration cash costs of approximately £1.9 million were incurred during the period (1H 2023: £2.0m million). Those cash costs, largely reflect £0.5 million for staff costs (1H 2023: £0.5 million), £0.4 million for promotion public and investor relations and travel (1H 2023: £0.7 million), £0.8 million for legal and professional support including listing and compliance and insurance costs (1H 2023: £0.7 million), the balance of £0.2 million comprises a variety of other and general administrative costs (1H 2023: £0.1 million).

On 30 June 2024, the Company executed a GBP loan note instrument and an AUD loan note instrument pursuant to which it issued loan notes (‘Loan Notes’) to subscribers to raise A$3.995 million, approximately £2.1 million, to finance working capital and costs associated with ASX admission. Refer Note 11 to the financial statements for further details. Prior to entering into the loan note instruments the Company also terminated an agreement to issue a convertible loan note to a high net worth who failed to pay the subscription monies to the Company despite on-going assurances to the contrary.

To support CleanTech’s plans which target initial production from Laguna Verde in 2027 the Board has developed a financial strategy to raise the capital needed. The Company routinely receives approaches from third parties and continues to consider as a part its overall funding strategy. An important tenant of that strategy is the participation and support of strategic partnerships. Although strategic partnership discussions are currently taking pace under non-disclosure agreements, they are expected to progress further once the Laguna Verde PFS is completed and once the initial quantities of battery grade lithium from the DLE pilot plant and downstream processes are available for review.

Outlook:

The Company remains well placed to demonstrate the efficacy of DLE to produce battery grade lithium carbonate from Laguna Verde brine and to deliver the PFS later this year. This is a critical step for securing strategic partnerships and future project funding. The aim to deliver battery-grade lithium carbonate through sustainable, low environmental impact production, utilising the DLE process and renewable energy, aligns the Company with the Chilean Government’s National Lithium Strategy and criteria outlined in the CEOL applications. We are well positioned to be prioritised amongst the private sector potential projects.

Post the period end, the Company filed applications for its admission to the ASX. Alongside the dual-listing, CleanTech Lithium is seeking to raise funds to support the next stage of its development, including the delivery of a strategic partner, as it progresses towards production.

The Board is excited about the opportunities ahead and remain committed to delivering value for our shareholders, partners, and the communities in which we operate.

Steve Kesler, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO
CleanTech Lithium plc

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

Note

Unaudited
six months to
30-Jun-24

Unaudited
six months to
30-Jun-23

£

£

Income

Administrative costs

3

(2,861,194)

(3,263,200)

Operating loss

(2,861,194)

(3,263,200)

Finance costs

(9,806)

Loss before tax

(2,861,194)

(3,273,006)

Income tax

5

Loss for the period after tax

(2,861,194)

(3,273,006)

Other comprehensive income/(loss):

Exchange differences arising on translation of functional currencies

(906,194)

9,128

Total comprehensive loss for the period

(3,767,388)

(3,263,878)

Loss per share basic

6

(0.020)

(0.031)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial statements.

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

Unaudited
as at

30-Jun-24

Audited
as at

31-Dec-23

Note

£

£

Exploration and evaluation assets

7

32,558,090

13,710,413

Non-current assets

32,558,090

13,710,413

Proceeds from Loan Notes issued

11

2,109,986

Cash and cash equivalents

35,976

6,202,028

Trade and other receivables

8

179,989

610,898

Current assets

2,325,951

6,812,926

Trade and other payables

10

(906,550)

(351,637)

Provisions and accruals

10

(587,646)

(378,713)

Loans notes

11

(2,109,986)

Deferred consideration

12

(984,408)

Current liabilities

(4,588,590)

(730,350)

Deferred consideration

12

(13,565,301)

Non-current liabilities

(13,565,301)

Net assets

16,730,150

19,792,990

Share capital

26,310,625

26,310,625

Capital reserve

(77,237)

(77,237)

Share based payment reserve

9

6,417,807

5,713,259

Foreign exchange reserve

(1,611,569)

(705,375)

Accumulated losses

(14,309,476)

(11,448,282)

Equity and reserves

16,730,150

19,792,990

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these interim unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

Share capital

Capital reserve

Share based payment reserve

Foreign exchange reserve

Accumulated losses

Total

£

£

£

£

£

£

At 1 January 2023

21,076,155

(77,237)

1,578,340

315,695

(5,562,683)

17,330,270

Loss for the period

(3,273,006)

(3,273,006)

Other comprehensive income

9,128

9,128

Total comprehensive loss

9,128

(3,273,006)

(3,263,878)

Share options and warrants

778,935

778,935

Shares issued

396,000

396,000

30 June 2023

21,472,155

(77,237)

2,357,275

324,823

(8,835,689)

15,241,327

At 1 January 2024

26,310,625

(77,237)

5,713,259

(705,375)

(11,448,283)

19,792,990

Loss for the period

(2,861,194)

(2,861,194)

Other comprehensive income

(906,194)

(906,194)

26,310,625

(77,237)

5,713,259

(1,611,569)

(14,309,476)

16,025,602

Share options and warrants

704,548

704,548

30 June 2024

26,310,625

(77,237)

6,417,807

(1,611,569)

(14,309,476)

16,730,150

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these interim unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Consolidated Cash Flows

Unaudited
six months to
30-Jun-24

Unaudited
six months to
30-Jun-23

Note

£

£

Loss after tax for the period

(2,861,194)

(3,273,006)

Non-cash items:

Fair value of Loan Note warrants

592,633

Fair value recognition of share options and warrants

556,896

Equity settled transactions or services

Movement in trade and other receivables

397,320

159,605

Movement in payables, provisions and accruals

835,849

22,964

Finance costs

(9,806)

Net cash used in operating activities

(1,035,392)

(2,543,347)

Expenditure on exploration and evaluation assets

(4,800,040)

(5,481,243)

Net cash used in investing activities

(4,800,040)

(5,481,243)

Proceeds from issue of ordinary shares

396,000

Finance costs

(9,806)

Net cash generated from financing activities

386,194

Net cash flow

(3,725,446)

(7,638,396)

Cash and cash equivalents brought forward

6,202,028

12,368,265

Net cash flow

(3,725,446)

(7,638,396)

Effect of exchange rate changes

(330,620)

(91,120)

Cash and cash equivalents carried forward

35,976

4,638,749

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these interim unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

Notes to the Financial Statements

1. GENERAL INFORMATION

CleanTech Lithium Plc (‘CTL Plc’, or the ‘Company’)

The condensed consolidated interim financial statements of CleanTech Lithium Plc for the first six months ended 30 June 2024 were authorised for issue in accordance with a resolution of the Board on 29 September 2024.

CleanTech Lithium Plc was incorporated and registered as a private company, initially with the name CleanTech Lithium (Jersey) Ltd, in Jersey on 1 December 2021 with registered number 139640. It was subsequently reregistered as a public limited company on 20 January 2022 and on 2 February 2022 it changed its name to CleanTech Lithium Plc.

On 14 February 2022, a share-for-share exchange between the shareholders of CleanTech Lithium Ltd (CTL Ltd, or the U.K. entity) and CTL Plc completed, resulting in CTL Plc acquiring and becoming the parent company of CTL Ltd and its wholly owned subsidiaries, together ‘CleanTech Lithium Group’ or the ‘Group’.

During the six months to 30 June 2024, there have been no changes to the structure of the CleanTech Lithium Group.

2. BASIS OF PREPARATION

The condensed consolidated interim financial statements for the Group have been prepared in accordance IAS 34 ‘Interim Financial Reporting’ per the U.K.-adopted international accounting standards. They are unaudited and do not include all the information required for the preparation of the annual consolidated financial statements and should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2023 of CleanTech Lithium Plc, that can be found on the website: https://www.ctlithium.com. The auditor’s report on those accounts was unmodified but it did make reference to material uncertainties related to going concern.

The amounts in this document are presented in British Pounds (GBP), unless noted otherwise. Due to rounding, numbers presented throughout these condensed consolidated Interim financial statements may not add up precisely to the totals provided and percentages may not precisely reflect the absolute figures

A summary of the significant accounting policies can be found in the Company’s consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2023, on pages 50 to 53. The accounting policies used to prepare these condensed consolidated interim financial statements are consistent with those. Furthermore, there are no new standards or interpretations applicable from 1 January 2024 which have a significant impact on these condensed consolidated interim financial statements.

Significant accounting judgments, estimates and assumptions

In preparing this interim financial report, it has been necessary to make judgments, estimates and assumptions to form the basis of presentation, recognition and measurement of the Group’s assets, liabilities, items of income statements, accompanying disclosures and the disclosure of contingent liabilities. Uncertainty about these assumptions and estimates could result in outcomes that require a material adjustment to the carrying amount of assets or liabilities affected in future periods.

The significant judgments, estimates and assumptions made when applying the Group’s accounting policies are the same as those applied to the consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2023. The significant judgment in assessing the exploration and evaluation assets for the existence of indicators of impairment at the reporting date, which are set out in note 7.

Going Concern

The Group is in a pre-revenue phase of development and until its transition to revenue generation and profitability the Group will be required to rely on externally sourced funding to continue as a going concern, the Board recognises this condition may indicate the existence of material uncertainties, which may cast significant doubt regarding the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern. Notwithstanding, the Directors have a demonstrated record of successfully raising capital raising for projects and ventures of this nature and are confident in being able to secure the funding needed for the Group to deliver on its commitments and continue as a going concern.

3. ADMINISTRATION EXPENES

Administration expenses in the six months to 30 June 2024 totaled £2.8 million, of which approximately £0.9 million reflects non-cash items (2023: £1.2 million). More specifically, approximately £0.6 million reflects a provision made against VAT in Chile which ought to be recoverable once production starts (Note 8 provides further detail) (2023: £0.6 million). In addition to the non-cash VAT provision, approximately £0.6 million has been recorded as a share-based payment for options historically issued and for warrants issued as a part of the Loan Notes issued in the period (further detail is set out in Note 9) (2023: nil), these two items were off-set by the unrealised gain on translation of the deferred consideration of 0.3 million (2023: nil).

Of the £1.9 million in cash costs, approximately £0.5 million relates to staff costs (2023: £0.5 million), £0.4 million relates to promotion, public and investor relations and travel (2023: £0.7 million), £0.8 million relates to legal and professional (2023: £0.7million ) support including listing and compliance and insurance costs, the balance of £0.2 million comprises a variety of other and general administrative costs (2023: £0.1 million).

4. SEGMENTAL INFORMATION

The Group operates in a single business segment, being the exploration and evaluation of mineral properties, activities which are undertaken in Chile where all the Group’s non-current assets are held.

5. INCOME TAX

The accrued income tax expense continues to be £nil as the Group remains in a loss-making position. No deferred tax asset is recognised on these losses due to the uncertainty over the timing of future profits and gains.

6. LOSS PER SHARE

The calculation of basic loss per ordinary share is based on the loss after tax and on the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period.

A diluted loss per share assumes conversion of all potentially dilutive Ordinary Shares arising from the share schemes. Potential ordinary shares resulting from the exercise of warrants and options have an anti-dilutive effect due to the Group being in a loss position. As a result, diluted loss per share is disclosed as the same value as basic loss per share.

Unaudited ix months to

30-Jun-2024

Reviewed six months to

30-Jun-2023

Basic and diluted loss per share

£

£

Loss after taxation

(2,861,194)

(3,273,006)

Basic weighted average number of ordinary shares (millions)

145.16

105.66

Basic loss per share (GBP £)

(0.020)

(0.031)

7. EXPLORATION AND EVALUATION ASSETS

Expenses incurred to date by the Chilean entities on feasibility studies, mineral exploration and delineation were capitalised as ‘exploration and evaluation assets’ within ‘non-current assets’ in accordance with the Group’s accounting policy.

Exploration and evaluation assets

Unaudited

six months ended

30-Jun-2024

Audited

Year ended

31-Dec-23

£

£

Opening balance

13,710,413

5,317,412

Additions

19,795,670

9,383,902

Effect of foreign exchange translations

(947,994)

(990,901)

Closing balance

32,558,090

13,710,413

Of the £19.8 million in additions, approximately £15.9 million relates to the fair value of deferred consideration for licences acquired under the LV Purchase Agreement (refer Note 12), of which approximately £1.0 million was paid during the period. A further £0.1 million reflects non-cash share-based payments made to staff and contractors, about which further detail is set out in Note 9. Other additions reflect the additions associated with the capital programmes being undertaken during the period. These additions have been off-set by unrealised foreign exchange gains of £0.9 million.

Impairment assessments

The Directors assess for impairment when facts and circumstances suggest that the carrying amount of an exploration & evaluation asset (E&E) may exceed its recoverable amount. In making this assessment, the Directors have regard to the facts and circumstances noted in IFRS 6 paragraph 20. In performing their assessment of each of these factors, at 30 June 2024, the Directors have:

reviewed the time period that the Group has the right to explore the area and noted no instances of expiration, or licences that are expected to expire in the near future and not be renewed;

determined that further E&E expenditure is either budgeted or planned for all licences;

not decided to discontinue exploration activity due to there being a lack of quantifiable mineral resource; and

not identified any instances where sufficient data exists to indicate that there are licences where the E&E spend is unlikely to be recovered from successful development or sale.

Based on the above assessment, the Directors are not aware of any facts or circumstances that would suggest the carrying amount of the E&E asset may exceed its recoverable amount.

8. TRADE AND OTHER RECEIVABLES

Unaudited

as at 30-Jun-24

Audited

as at 31-Dec-23

£

£

Prepayments and deposits

144,586

570,936

VAT

17,651

13,385

Other receivables

17,752

26,557

Total

179,989

610,898

Prepayments and deposits largely reflect prepaid insurance and other commercial subscriptions which renew variously and annually as well as office rental deposit amounts paid.

Although VAT shows a balance of approximately £18k at 30 June 2024, at that date approximately £2.4 million in Chilean VAT recoverable is not shown in the table above. Although the Chilean VAT is expected to be eligible for refund in future, due to the uncertainty over the timing of future production and revenues, which would trigger the Group’s eligibility to recover that VAT, the Directors have made full provision against this same amount. Accordingly, approximately £0.6 million provision has been reflected in the income statement for the period ended 30 June 2024 (refer Note 3).

Other receivables comprise multiple smaller working capital balances in Chile.

9. SHARE BASED PAYMENTS

On 30 June 2024, a total of 4,380,181 warrants attaching to Loan Notes issued (refer Note 11) were granted. No other warrants or options were granted, exercised, forfeited or allowed to lapse during the six months to 30 June 2024.

Unaudited

Six months ended

Audited

Year ended

30-Jun-24

31-Dec-23

#

#

Outstanding at start of period

34,362,750

10,984,745

Share options granted

3,283,000

Warrant shares granted

4,380,181

21,876,005

Share options exercised

(1,100,000)

Share options revoked or forfeited

(681,000)

Outstanding at end of period

38,742,931

34,362,750

All options and warrants are granted in Company’s name. Share options granted have a weighted average exercise price of 47 pence and warrant shares granted have a weighted average exercise price of 34 pence.

The fair value of each option granted in the period was estimated on the grant date using the Black Scholes option pricing model. The following assumptions have been used:

Fair value of call option per share

£0.12 – 0.38

Share price at grant dates

£0.39 – 0.55

Exercise price

£0.01 – 0.57

Expected volatility

98%

Vesting period

4.7-5.0 years from vesting

Risk-free interest rate (based on government bonds)

4.16%

The total share option fair value charge during the six months to 30 June 2024 is £198k (2023 £779k), of which approximately £86k has been recorded in the income statement as a non-cash employee expense; the balance has been recorded within E&E. The total warrant shares fair value charge during the six months to 30 June 2024 was approximately £506k (2023: £27k).

As noted, these fair value estimates derived thorough Black-Scholes modelling and Monte Carlo simulations are non-cash accounting entries.

10. PAYABLES, PROVISIONS AND ACCRUALS

Unaudited at

Audited at

at 30-Jun-2024

At 31-Dec-23

£

£

Trade and other payables

(863,526)

(291,369)

Other taxes and social security

(43,024)

(60,268)

Provisions

(99,067)

(106,451)

Accruals

(488,579)

(272,262)

Total

(1,494,196)

(730,350)

Trade and other payables include routine trade creditors.

Other taxes and social security balances largely relate to people-related costs and taxes balances at the period end. Accruals include routine accruals for professional services rendered not invoiced at period end.

11. LOAN NOTES

Shortly after the period end, CleanTech received the cash generated from issuing Loan Notes prior to 30 June 2024.

On 30 June 2024 the Company executed a GBP loan note instrument and an AUD loan note instrument pursuant to which it issued loan notes to subscribers to raise A$3.995 million, approximately £2.1 million, to finance working capital and costs associated with ASX admission. In addition, the Loan Note holders were granted with a total of 4,380,181 warrants valued at approximately GBP £506,000 at the date of grant. As there are no vesting conditions attached to the warrants, the total value has been expensed as a non-cash fair value accounting adjustment (refer Note 9)

Although the Loan Notes have a maturity date of 30 June 2025, the Company shall redeem the Loan Notes at par together with the applicable premium on the earlier of the Maturity Date or 10 days following completion of any equity fundraising by the Company of at least AUD $5.0 million. The premium payable on redemption depends on when redemption occurs as follows: the Loan Notes carry a premium of 15% if the Loan Notes are repaid within three calendar months; or a premium of 25% if the Loan Notes are redeemed between four and six calendar months; or a premium of 40% if the Loan Notes are redeemed between seven and nine calendar months; or a premium of 50% if the Loan Notes are redeemed between ten and twelve calendar months. The Loan Notes are unsecured, however if they are not redeemed on or prior to three months from their date of issue, the Company has agreed to use best endeavours to grant or procure to grant the note holders a first ranking charge over both all the assets and undertakings of the Company and the entire issued share capital of CTL UK.

12. DEFERRED CONSIDERATION

Laguna Verde Option buy-out

On 19 April 2024, CleanTech Laguna Verde SpA, a wholly owned Chilean subsidiary of CleanTech Lithium Plc, entered into a sale and purchase agreement (LV Purchase Agreement) to acquire 100% legal and beneficial interest in the mining licences historically held by CleanTech under option under the terms of the LV Option Agreement. The LV Purchase Agreement had the effect of terminating the LV Option Agreement.

Pursuant to the LV Purchase Agreement the consideration payable comprises fixed payments totaling US$10.5 million, which are scheduled to occur a various annual and semi-annual millstone periods over a period of up to 5 years from the date of the LV Purchase Agreement, and two deferred payments, totaling US$24.5 million, scheduled to occur upon sold production reaching 10k tonnes of LCE and 35k tonnes of LCE respectively or on the 10th anniversary of the date of the LV Purchase Agreement, whichever is the earlier.

The carrying value for the LV licences acquired pursuant to the LV Purchase Agreement, has been designated as an asset acquisition in accordance with the Group accounting policy and assigned a fair value in accordance with the principles of the UK IASs. Similarly, the Group has assigned a fair value to the deferred consideration associated with the acquisition which is allocated between current and non-current liabilities.

In assessing the appropriate basis on which to determine the fair value of the non-current component of the deferred consideration, the Directors have used a discount rate of 8% which they believe is reflective of the factors that market participants would consider in the pricing of such a liability as well as the currency in which the cashflows are denominated. This is consistent with the requirements of IFRS 13 – Fair Value Measurement.

As described above, the two final payments of the deferred consideration, totaling USD$24.5m, are required to be made upon achieving certain production milestones, but in any event, are required to be made within 10 years of execution of the LV Purchase Agreement. Due to the uncertainties surrounding the timing of achieving the production milestones, the Directors have assumed that the remaining two payments will be made on the 10th anniversary of signing the LV Purchase Agreement.

Unaudited

at 30-Jun-24

£

Deferred consideration, current

988,784

Effect of foreign exchange differences on current deferred consideration

(4,376)

Deferred consideration, current

984,408

Deferred consideration, non-current

13,894,931

Effect of foreign exchange differences on non-current deferred consideration

(329,630)

Deferred consideration, current

13,565,301

Total

14,549,709

13. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

Matters relating to events occurring since Period end are reported on in the section entitled Chairman and Chief Executive Officer’s Statement.

**ENDS**

For further information contact:

CleanTech Lithium PLC

Steve Kesler/Gordon Stein/Nick Baxter

Jersey office: +44 (0) 1534 668 321

Chile office: +562-32239222

Or via Celicourt

Celicourt Communications
Felicity Winkles/Philip Dennis/Ali AlQahtani

+44 (0) 20 7770 6424
cleantech@celicourt.uk

Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nominated Adviser)
Roland Cornish/Asia Szusciak

+44 (0) 20 7628 3396

Canaccord Genuity (Joint Broker)
James Asensio

+44 (0) 20 7523 4680

Fox-Davies Capital Limited (Joint Broker)

+44 (0) 20 3884 8450

Daniel Fox-Davies

daniel@fox-davies.com

Notes

About CleanTech Lithium

CleanTech Lithium (AIM:CTL, Frankfurt:T2N, OTCQX:CTLHF) is an exploration and development company advancing lithium projects in Chile for the clean energy transition. Committed to net-zero, CleanTech Lithium’s mission is to become a new supplier of battery grade lithium using Direct Lithium Extraction technology powered by renewable energy.

CleanTech Lithium has two key lithium projects in Chile, Laguna Verde and Viento Andino, and exploration stage projects in Llamara and Arenas Blancas (Salar de Atacama), located in the lithium triangle, a leading centre for battery grade lithium production. The two most advanced projects: Laguna Verde and Viento Andino are situated within basins controlled by the Company, which affords significant potential development and operational advantages. All four projects have good access to existing infrastructure.

CleanTech Lithium is committed to utilising Direct Lithium Extraction with reinjection of spent brine resulting in no aquifer depletion. Direct Lithium Extraction is a transformative technology which removes lithium from brine with higher recoveries, short development lead times and no extensive evaporation pond construction. www.ctlithium.com

Glossary

CLS Pty

Chilean Lithium Salars Pty Limited (Australian overhead company now wound-up and deregistered)

CLSH

Chilean Lithium Salars Holdings Limited (Australian holding company now wound-up and deregistered)

CTL Ltd

CleanTech Lithium Ltd; U.K. registered and tax domiciled company

CTL Plc

CleanTech Lithium Plc; Jersey registered and tax domiciled company

DLE

Direct lithium extraction

EIA

Environmental Impact Assessment

ESG

Environmental, Social and Governance

Group

CleanTech Lithium statutory group

IPO

Initial public offering

JORC

The JORC Code provides a mandatory system for the classification of minerals Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves according to the levels of confidence in geological knowledge and technical and economic considerations in public reports

LCE

Lithium carbonate equivalent, industry standard terminology used to compare different forms of lithium compounds

LSE

London Stock Exchange

MoU

Memorandum of Understanding

mg/L

micrograms per litre

Pro forma Group

Non-statutory pro forma group as defined in the notes to the financial statement

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

SOURCE: CleanTech Lithium plc

View the original press release on accesswire.com

News Provided by ACCESSWIRE via QuoteMedia

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

CleanTech Lithium PLC (AIM:CTL, Frankfurt:T2N, OTCQX:CTLHF), an exploration and development company advancing sustainable lithium projects in Chile for the clean energy transition, is pleased to announce its unaudited Interim Results for the six-month period ended 30 June 2024 (‘1H 2024’ or ‘the Period’).

The Company has made significant progress with the Pre-Feasibility Study (‘PFS’) at the flagship project, Laguna Verde, and seen encouraging results from the Direct Lithium Extraction (‘DLE’) pilot plant in Chile and will be producing battery-grade lithium carbonate for potential strategic partners to evaluate. The Company is also pursuing a dual listing on the Australian Stock Exchange (‘ASX’) and aims to be trading on the ASX in Q4 2024.

Highlights of the Period:

Operational:

· Health & Safety:

o Zero-harm safety culture focused on continuous improvement to achieve an injury free and healthy work environment – no LTIs, major incidents or near misses recorded in 1H 2024.

· Laguna Verde Drilling Programme:

o Five-well resource drilling programme commenced. Work designed in collaboration with Montgomery & Associates, a leading hydrogeology and resource evaluation consultancy.

o Programme aims to produce a maiden reserves estimate using modifying factors from the Pre-Feasibility Study (‘PFS’) which is underway and targeted for completion by the end of 2024.

· DLE Pilot Plant:

o Operational and producing high quality lithium chloride eluate with low impurities.

o Eluate is being converted to produce batches of battery-grade lithium carbonate which will be made available to potential strategic partners in Q4 2024 to start product qualification.

o Inauguration event was held in May 2024 where local communities and government officials were in attendance.

· Project Licences:

o CTL entered into a sale and purchase agreement (‘SPA’), now taking full ownership of certain Laguna Verde licences that were previously held by way of an option agreement

o The licences held in the Salar de Atacama basin, which we understand are located outside the salar area defined as strategic by the Government and have been re-named the ‘Arenas Blancas’ project, are a potentially very promising opportunity.

· CEOL Contracts:

o Expressions of Interest (‘RFIs’) for a total of five lithium projects have been submitted to the Chilean Government. CTL is very well positioned as the most advanced exploration stage company progressing DLE based projects in Chile.

o Francisco Basin project has been renamed Viento Andino, in line with the RFI submission, to highlight the project area is outside a national park of a similar name located in the basin.

Corporate:

· Board changes:

o Executive Chairman Steve Kesler assumed the duties of CEO on an interim basis, following the resignation of CEO, Aldo Boitano in April.

o The search for a new CEO is well underway and the chosen candidate will be announced in due course.

· Cash position:

o The Company’s cash position at the period end, including proceeds received from Loan Notes shortly after period end, was £2.1 million.

Post-period Highlights:

Operational:

o Pump tests and a reinjection well at Laguna Verde, planned to be undertaken in Q4 2024, will help define the brine extraction and reinjection wellfield design and the sustainable production rate required for the PFS.

o A plant location study was completed by Worley for the Laguna Verde project and concluded that the DLE and eluate concentration should be undertaken at project site and the purification and carbonation close to Copiapo which is at a lower elevation with good technical support locally available. This latter plant would be expanded in the future to also process concentrated eluate from the Viento Andino project.

o Completion of the first stage of production of concentrated eluate from the Company´s DLE pilot plant which has been shipped for conversion to battery-grade lithium carbonate by process partners in North America.

Corporate:

· ASX Listing:

o The Company is seeking to dual-list on the Australian Securities Exchange (‘ASX’). Although the Company announced an extension to the ASX IPO timetable on 20 September 2024, to allow it to address some procedural matters raised by ASX, the intention remains to complete the IPO before the year end. An associated capital raise is planned to enable completion of the PFS and continuance of other work programmes. Notwithstanding, the Company continues to consider its funding options on an ongoing basis as a part of its normal practice.

· CEOL Process:

o The Government has streamlined the CEOL process, announcing an update at the end of September prioritising six salt flats for lithium development including Laguna Verde, the Company’s flagship project, as having the most favourable conditions to advance lithium exploration and extraction. CEOL applications to be submitted by 31st December 2024.

· Local stakeholders:

o CTL attended a seminar organised by CESCO alongside local indigenous communities. The President of the Colla Pai-Ote community publicly endorsed CTL’s Laguna Verde project as the way forward for the lithium industry in Chile, which was widely reported in the Chilean media.

o CTL’s DLE carousel equipment is now installed at the University of Atacama as part of an ongoing partnership. The DLE equipment will be available for research programmes. The long-term collaboration between the University and CTL will help nurture the skills required for fostering the lithium industry in the Atacama region.

Steve Kesler, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, CleanTech Lithium said:

‘The first half of 2024 has seen significant operational and strategic progress on our lithium projects in Chile. This includes the production of high quality lithium chloride eluate with low impurities from our DLE pilot plant, which has a capacity to produce one tonne per month of lithium carbonate equivalent. A drilling, pump testing and reinjection programme was started at Laguna Verde aimed at updating the JORC resource estimate, providing data for the PFS and developing of a maiden reserve estimate.

‘The Company is also in the process of listing on the ASX exchange, which will support its future development, as it enters potential strategic partner discussions and progresses towards production. Whilst this process has been delayed, the ASX market is well versed in the lithium sector and a meaningful number of the Company’s existing shareholders have Australian links.

‘With the PFS well underway and project development ongoing, backed by the strong support from local indigenous communities and aligned with the objectives of Government’s National Lithium Strategy, we look forward to the future with confidence.’

CHAIRMAN AND INTERIM CEO REVIEW

The following review is a look back at the highlights from the first half of 2024:

Business Strategy

CleanTech Lithium continues to make great strides in meeting the objective of becoming a leading supplier of battery-grade lithium carbonate to support the world’s transition to clean energy. The progress made towards building sustainable lithium projects in Chile where the Company is planning to use Direct Lithium Extraction (‘DLE’) powered by renewable energy directly addresses the Chilean Government’s ambition to drive positive change in sustainability and social and economic development.

The ‘National Lithium Strategy’, proposed by the President of Chile in late April 2023, aims to ensure Chile remains a top producer and supplier of lithium – a critical component for batteries in Electric Vehicles and energy storage systems (‘ESS’). The established mining jurisdiction is currently the largest supplier of copper in the world and one of the largest suppliers of battery grade lithium. To move to a world run on clean energy, new lithium projects are needed, and Chile has the established infrastructure, industry expertise and workforce to bring projects like CleanTech Lithium’s into production in the next few years.

New projects must be built in the right way and the Government has prescribed the use of DLE (or similar sustainable technologies) for all new lithium development projects going forward. CleanTech Lithium’s strategy is to play a significant role in assisting the Chilean government to achieve this ambition. The Company believes it is most the advanced development stage DLE company operating in Chile and the achievements made in the first half of 2024 is evidence of this. It is very encouraging to see the Company’s DLE Pilot Plant producing samples of battery-grade lithium carbonate which will soon be tested by potential strategic partners.

The Company’s business strategy is focused on delivering long-term sustainable growth and returns for all stakeholders, built on four pillars:

· develop the Company’s advanced lithium projects (Laguna Verde, Viento Andino) and progress the early-stage exploration projects (Arenas Blancas and Llamara) in Chile;

· utilise innovative technologies, including DLE and, where possible, renewable energy to sustainably produce lithium carbonate;

· produce commercial battery-grade lithium carbonate with high lithium recoveries and short production time; and

· supply directly into the EV and battery storage market via strategic partners and offtake agreements.

To this end, the Company’s immediate objectives are as follows:

· update the JORC resource estimate for Laguna Verde on completion of the 2024 drilling campaigns and declare a maiden reserves estimate;

· complete planned hydrogeological studies and metallurgical tests at Laguna Verde, including completing a new reinjection well and pump tests to provide the data required to further advance modelling of the sub-surface aquifer and design the extraction and reinjection wellfields;

· deliver a Pre-Feasibility Study (‘PFS’) at the Laguna Verde Project and commence the Definitive Feasibility Study (‘DFS’) soon afterwards;

· complete the process test work at the DLE Pilot Plant and make battery grade lithium carbonate available for supply to potential offtake and strategic partners to start product qualification;

· continue the required work to complete the environmental baseline studies that commenced in 2022 and undertake the studies required to enable submission of the EIA in 1H 2025;

· enter into a Special Lithium Operation Contract (CEOL) with the Chilean State in relation to the Laguna Verde and Viento Andino Projects to commercially sell lithium;

· continue to collaborate with the local indigenous communities, universities and other local stakeholders to ensure long-term support for the projects, and

· enter into substantive discussions with potential offtake and strategic partners with a view to reaching agreement on a future business relationship, including establishing a funding package for the construction phases of the Laguna Verde Project, including equity participation, debt and other structures, to bring the project on stream and start selling lithium carbonate at the earliest possible opportunity.

Summary of Company Activity

In the first six months of the year, CleanTech Lithium made further progress toward delivering its PFS. This included commencing a five-well drilling programme at Laguna Verde, the commissioning of its DLE pilot plant and first production of highly concentrated eluate for further processing to make battery-grade lithium carbonate. The PFS is instrumental to support discussions with potential strategic partners. The Company is also seeking to dual-list on the Australian Securities Exchange (‘ASX’). Although the Company announced an extension to the ASX IPO timetable on 20 September 2024, to allow it to address some procedural matters raised by ASX, the intention remains to complete the IPO before the year end. Notwithstanding, the Company continues to consider its funding options on an ongoing basis as a part of its normal practice.

Operations

Health and Safety

The Company maintains a zero-harm safety culture focused on continuous improvement to achieve an injury free and healthy work environment, with no lost time incidents (‘LTIs’), major incidents, or near misses reported in the first half of 2024.

Five-Well Drilling Programme at Laguna Verde

The Company commenced a five well drilling programme at Laguna Verde largely aimed at converting Inferred resource to additional Measured & Indicated resource which will then have technical and economic modifying factors applied from the PFS to determine a maiden reserve. The programme was designed in collaboration with Montgomery & Associates, a leading international hydrogeology and resource evaluation consultancy.

The drill programme began in Q1 2024, with the commencement of wells LV07 and LV11 and suspended in May on the onset of the winter shut-down period, with the plan to recommence in October. The programme will also include additional pump testing and reinjection testing in Q4 2024 with results helping to calibrate the hydrogeological model of the basin. This model will help further define the brine extraction and reinjection wellfield design and the sustainable production rate from Laguna Verde. Montgomery & Associates have been engaged to manage the drill programme, JORC resource and reserves reporting and design of the extraction and reinjection wellfields.

Laguna Verde is the Company’s most advanced project and has a total JORC resource of 1.8 million tonnes LCE, of which 1.1 million is in the Measured and Indicated category. Laguna Verde’s Scoping Study, announced in January 2023, highlighted robust economics, with an NPV8 of US$1.8bn, an IRR of 45.1%, net cashflows of US$6.3 billion and a low operating costs of US$3,875/t for 30 years of production at 20,000 tpa LCE.

Drilling programmes at Laguna Verde since 2022

DLE Pilot Plant Commissioning and Production

The Company´s one-tonne per month DLE pilot plant (supplied by Sunresin) is located in Copiapó, Chile, approximately 250km from Laguna Verde, and finished commissioning in late March. At the R&D centre where the pilot plant is located, brine from the Laguna Verde project is stored in a large 243,000 litre vessel outside the pilot plant and then fed into an indoor tank having passed through filtration to remove suspended solids. It is then fed into the DLE columns shown in the image below, which are filled with adsorbent designed to be selective for lithium molecules. Lithium, as lithium chloride, is adsorbed from the brine, before desorption with water to create a purified lithium chloride eluate.

DLE Pilot Plant at R&D Centre in Copiapó, Chile (30 x approx. 3m columns to produce up to 1 tonne per month of LCE)

Testing of a wide range of commercially available adsorbents identified that the adsorbent supplied by Lanshen performed the best on the Laguna Verde brine resulting in the selection of this adsorbent. The DLE Pilot Plant commenced operation in Q2 2024, producing high quality concentrated eluate. In May, the Company reported the key DLE performance metrics for the first batch of 24m3 of concentrated eluate produced at the pilot plant. The recovery of lithium from the brine was 94% in the adsorption stage and 88% into the eluate. The lithium grade in the feed brine of 197mg/L was concentrated to 710mg/L in the eluate, or a 3.6X concentration factor. These results exceeded the Company’s expectations. The eluate was further concentrated by reverse osmosis to 2,194mg/l.

For the first stage of production, a total volume of 1,196m3 of brine from the Laguna Verde Project was processed at the DLE pilot plant with a total of 14 cycles completed. Each cycle represents a volume of brine being fed first through filtration to remove suspended solids, then into DLE columns which are filled with adsorbent designed to be selective for lithium molecules. Lithium, as lithium chloride, is adsorbed from the brine, before desorption with water to create a purified lithium eluate.

Averaged across the 14 cycles, the recovery rate achieved by adsorption of lithium from the brine was 95% and the recovery rate of desorption from the adsorbent was 93%. The total recovery rate into eluate averaged 88% and was highly consistent as shown in the figure below. The temperature of the brine and desorption water, using the average ambient temperature in Copiapó during the March to June period of operation, was in the range of 20oC to 25oC indicating that good performance was achieved without the need to heat solutions in either adsorption or desorption.

Pilot Plant Total Recovery Rate

The eluate production rate was relatively stable after the initial ramp up period achieving an average of 2.8 kg LCE per hour demonstrating that the design capacity of the pilot plant of 1 tonne LCE per month was comfortably achieved. Selectivity of the adsorbent is another key performance parameter for a DLE operation. DLE primarily acts as a purification stage, recovering lithium chloride from the brine whilst rejecting other impurities. For all the major ions in the brine, apart from boron, the rejection rate was very high, exceeding 99%.


DLE Performance – Rejection of Major Impurities

The downstream conversion of lithium chloride solution to battery grade lithium carbonate is well established in the lithium industry. Rather than spending capital on constructing a lithium carbonate conversion plant, the Company decided to partner with Conductive Energy, an Alberta, Canada company to undertake this conversion at its existing facility in Chicago.

An initial 200L batch of concentrated eluate, was shipped to Conductive Energy in May. This batch was used as a trial before setting up the conversion process that would be used for processing larger volumes of eluate produced by our DLE pilot plant into battery grade lithium carbonate. Conductive Energy completed the set-up test-work producing lithium carbonate of 99.75% purity which is battery grade. This process comprises concentration of the concentrated eluate to 18,000mg/l Li by forward osmosis followed by ion exchange to remove the trace impurities of calcium, magnesium and boron and then carbonation with sodium carbonate to produce battery grade lithium carbonate.

On completion of this trial, the Company subsequently shipped batches of concentrated eluate from the pilot plant, with a total of 88m3 shipped by late July, which is equivalent to approximately one tonne of lithium carbonate.

The downstream plant is being commissioned with lithium carbonate production expected in October 2024. This will provide the Company with the capacity to supply significant quantities of battery-grade lithium carbonate samples to potential strategic partners and offtakers to commence product qualification.

Pilot Plant Inauguration

In May, the DLE pilot plant was officially inaugurated in Copiapó with a ceremony attended by various regional authorities, indigenous community leaders, academics, and business representatives. Attendees at the ceremony included the Presidential Delegate of the Atacama Region, Luis Pino, Regional Councillor Javier Castillo; CORFO Director Rosa Roman, CORPROA President Andres Rubilar; miners’ union president Joel Carrizo; indigenous community representatives Christian Milla and Ercillia Araya.

Source

Click here to connect with CleanTech Lithium PLC (AIM:CTL, OTCQX:CTLHF, Frankfurt:T2N), to receive an Investor Presentation

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

EMU NL (“EMU” or “the Company”) is pleased to provide an update on recent exploration work at the Company’s newly named Yataga Copper Project1, located within the Yataga Igneous Complex near Georgetown in North Queensland.

Recent surface Geochemical surveys have updated EMU’s Ecological modelling and identified multiple intra-pluton porphyry copper centres close to surface within the Yataga Copper Project at Georgetown in Far North Queensland.EMU’s consultants have advised that these porphyry centres are concentrated along a “structural belt” and modelled to be near surface and their advice is that the unusual character of these intra-pluton copper centres nay be analogous to the Highland Valley Copper Mine, where a series of porphyry copper deposits host Canada’s largest open pit copper nine which produced more than 130kt in 2021.Dr Gregg Morrison, Queensland-based Geological Consultant with 45 years’ experience, has accepted an invitation to be appointed Technical Advisor to the Project. His authority and significant knowledge of the metallogenic systems of northern Queensland adds substantial value to the developing discovery.EMU’s recent work has identified a combined area of 8km2 of copper-in-soil anomalism with significant potential for expansion.Additional work includes;a 220-line km airborne electromagnetics survey (results pending).A 20-line km ground-based Pole-Dipole Induced Polarisation (PDIP) and Magnetotelluric (MT) survey currently underway.These geochemistry and geophysics survey results will provide an optimized low risk drilling programs to be carried out in the near future.

EMU Non-Executive Chairman Peter Thomas commented:

“Whilst it is still early days, results from EMU’s field work continue to provide encouragement that this project has the potential to be a Global Tier 1 scale copper discovery.

EMU has undertaken a meticulous, methodical and measured exploration programme guided by the best available expertise. EMU has carried out important Geophysical and Geochemical survey work that is assisting Ecological assessment of what appears to be high grade surface mineralisation indicating the presence of multiple Cu-bearing intrusive centres close to surface. EMU is determined to do a professional job driven by fundamentals and first principles.

Accordingly, EMU remains focused on establishing sound compelling drill vectors that give the project its best chances of success

Prudent and diligent field and desktop work being pursued is a comparatively low-cost avenue to optimise drilling efforts.

We are absolutely delighted and honoured to have secured the services of Dr Gregg Morrison, an expert in the style of mineralisation we are encountering at the Yataga Copper Project. Dr Morrison has already added value with his input to recent exploration and modelling. His technical knowledge on ore controls and hydrothermal system Geometry will be invaluable in defining and building confidence in drill targets as we seek to unlock the potential large-scale economics of the project.

Our recent 27km2 Geochemistry field survey, has demonstrated vast copper-in-soil anomalism over an area of 8km2 in aggregate reflecting very large potential. Our exploration team believes that the abundant and pervasive surficial expression of copper cannot be explained other than that there simply MUST be a near surface local concentrated source. Our goal is to find that source.

The team is working with preliminary pXRF Geochemistry to delineate the likely mineralisation fluid- flow geometry leading to defining priority structural/geological drill targets. Meanwhile, we continue to take samples for Geochemical analysis and to gather Geophysical data directed at providing compelling vectors for drilling at Yataga and, additionally, to assess bonanza grade gold occurrences across the broader 850km2 project.

EMU will prepare an appropriate drilling program the project once its team is comfortable that a higher level of confidence in targets can be achieved.”

Exploration Activity

EMU’s discovery team has made significant progress with the latest Geochemistry field work. The termite mound sampling methodology has proven to be highly reliable and productive.

The 27km2, grid controlled pXRF (Portable X-Ray Fluorescence analyser) programme sampled 1152 termite mounds. The combined area of highly anomalous copper has been substantially extended with copper mineralisation surface expression now covering a vast area – approximately 8km2 including the original discovery prospect – Fiery Creek. (See Figure 1). The potential to extend the area of copper mineralisation even further is possible and will follow from in field geochemistry and geophysics surveys currently in progress.

The areas of copper-in-soil anomalies delineated in this first-pass programme are defined as pXRF values ranging between 150 – 76͘ ppm Cu, equivalent to 5 – 25 times the average crustal abundance (or background values) for copper in Granodiorites.

Modelling of the surface mineralisation indicates the presence of multiple Cu-bearing intrusive centres close to surface. Planned geophysical surveys to be conducted during September and October are targeted to “nap” the 3-dinensional aspects of the mineralised pluton and provide information on mineral pathways and mineralisation signatures. The surveys will provide a depth component to the surface field data collected to date, enhancing the definition of the erosional level of the mineralised system and the depth extent of the pluton roof and the location of the stocks and dykes that are the source of mineralisation.

Click here for the full ASX Release

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

Perth, Australia (ABN Newswire) – QX Resources Limited (ASX:QXR) announces changes to its Board and Management, reflecting current market conditions for junior exploration companies.

Effective today, Steve Promnitz has transitioned from Managing Director to strategic advisor and consultant . In his new role, Steve will continue to help oversee and advise the Company on its US lithium projects and exploration activities across the Company’s gold, lithium and iron ore projects.

‘Now that QXR is in a solid position with the agreement renegotiated and expanded on its investment in US lithium brine projects, it is the appropriate time to change the board and management’ stated Steve Promnitz.

About QX Resources Ltd:  

QX Resources Limited (ASX:QXR) is focused on exploration and development of battery minerals, with hard rock lithium assets in a prime location of Western Australia (WA), and gold assets in Queensland. The aim is to connect end users (battery, cathode and car makers) with QXR, an experienced explorer/developer of battery minerals, with an expanding mineral exploration project portfolio and solid financial support.

Lithium hard rock portfolio: QXR’s lithium strategy is centred around WA’s prolific Pilbara province, where it has four projects in strategic proximity to some of Australia’s largest lithium deposits and mines. Across the Pilbara, QXR’s regional lithium tenement package (both granted or under application) spans more than 350 km2.

Lithium brine: QXR drilling and geophysics indicate the existence of a large brine basin at the Liberty Lithium Brine Project USA and geological similarities confirmed with the nearby Silver Peak lithium brine producer Albemarle, in Clayton Valley Nevada. QXR holds an Option to Purchase Agreement to earn-in to 75%.

Gold portfolio: QXR is developing Central Queensland gold projects through a 70% agreement with Zamia Resources Pty Ltd and also on a 100% basis. The gold and copper-gold-moly projects are strategically located within the Drummond Basin, a region that has a >8.5moz gold endowment.

Nickel sulphides: QXR has a significant 39% shareholding in unlisted public Australian company Bayrock Resources Limited, which has a portfolio of highly prospective battery minerals assets in Sweden, primarily in nickel, cobalt and copper. QXR is assisting Bayrock with project development and financing initiatives.

Source:
QX Resources Ltd

Contact:
Maurice Feilich
Executive Chairman
T: +61-411-545-262

Sam Jacobs
Six Degrees Investor Relations
T: +61-423-755-909

News Provided by ABN Newswire via QuoteMedia

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

An eerie calm fell over the Lebanese capital in the hours after Israeli warplanes pummelled its southern suburbs, Hezbollah’s seat of power where hundreds of thousands of civilians live.

The Iran-backed group’s long-time leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed on Friday in a massive bombardment that was the first of the nearly 48 hours of incessant airstrikes. Scores of top commanders and officials were killed alongside him as well as in the attacks that followed. Many civilians are also believed to have been killed.

More than 24 hours after Nasrallah’s body was recovered from the deep pit left behind by the heavy bombs that killed him, a funeral for the militant leader is yet to be scheduled – highly unusual in Islamic tradition where the dead receive a quick burial.

The group is also yet to appoint a new secretary general, defying long-held expectations that the group would rapidly unfurl a succession plan after Nasrallah’s death.

This has added to a pervading sense that Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia militant group which for decades dominated the country’s politics, had swiftly become a ghost organization. In one fell swoop, Israel seemed to remove not just the group’s leadership, but perhaps also all its contingency plans, further evidence of the profound scope of Israel’s infiltration of the group’s ranks.

“It’s fabricated. There’s no proof that he’s dead,” said Hassan, a Hezbollah supporter leaning on a parked moped, his eyes glassy with tears. “He’s going to appear soon and he’s going to surprise us.”

Abu Mohamad, a middle-aged Shia man displaced from southern Lebanon to a sidewalk in central Beirut, said, “It doesn’t matter if he’s alive or dead, because a leader like Nasrallah lives in us always,” he said. “We will continue on the path he set, and we will return to our homes.”

Nasrallah inspired strong feelings in the Lebanese – revered and reviled in equal measure. But Lebanese across the divide are reeling from the tectonic shifts to the country’s political landscape, and the humanitarian devastation that it has wreaked.

Lebanese authorities believe just under 1,100 people have been killed and around 1 million have been displaced by Israel’s intensified bombardment campaign since it began last Monday. A response, Israel says, to the rocket attacks from Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas attacked on October 7, and which have forced 60,000 people from their homes in northern Israel.

Lebanon’s border villages have also been emptied of around 100,000 villagers by Israeli attacks in turn. Still, Hezbollah has vowed to keep up its border rocket fire until the end of Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

Now, large parts of the densely populated southern suburbs have been devastated. The displaced have taken to the relatively affluent, and still untouched, western parts of the capital where they have camped out on sidewalks, parks, schools, churches and mosques.

Mattresses and blankets for displaced families cover the Corniche, the city’s seaside boardwalk, known for its views of the eastern Mediterranean against the backdrop of verdant green mountains.

When Israeli bombs hit the south of the capital on Friday, the streets of west Beirut filled with people throughout the night. Some of the displaced were chatting on the curb, a few lay asleep on benches. Women cradled sleeping babies and toddlers. Children wandered the streets in their pajamas, snaking aimlessly through double parked cars.

On the city’s commercial Hamra street, a crowd outside an abandoned building forced the traffic to a near stop. A man knocked down the iron gate, allowing a flood of displaced people in for shelter.

It was 3 o’clock in the morning. Nasrallah had only recently been assassinated – though not yet confirmed by his group – and many of his supporters were trying to put on a brave face.

“We’re ok! I’m sure our home is ok. There’s nothing to worry about,” one woman in her early 60s told a group of people around her.

Days later, the sense of dread is more palpable. Many of the country’s displaced have lost loved ones but can barely find the time to grieve as they scramble for shelter and food. Those not yet personally impacted by the bombardment must contend with the unknown territory into which the death of Nasrallah and his cadre of senior leaders has thrust the country.

“The assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah came to open a wound in the heart of the Lebanese,” the Patriarch of the Maronite Church, Bechara Boutros al-Rahi said at Sunday Mass.

Rahi has long been one of Hezbollah’s most prominent critics. In January he implicitly criticized Hezbollah for dragging the south of Lebanon into conflict with its cross-border rocket and drone attacks on Israel. Hezbollah has repeatedly vowed not to cease fire on its southern border until the end of Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza.

Rahi had also condemned “the culture of death that has brought nothing but imaginary victories and shameful defeats to our country.”

Nasrallah’s main Sunni foes have also condemned the assassination. “The assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has brought Lebanon and the region to a new phase of violence. It was a cowardly act that we condemn in every way,” Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Saad Hariri said in a post on X.

“We disagreed a lot with the late (Nasrallah) and with his party, and we met infrequently. However Lebanon serves as a tent for all, and in these extremely challenging times, our unity and our solidarity remains foundational,” Hariri continued.

Lebanon’s complex confessional power-sharing structure has mean that divisions frequently spark internal strife, political paralysis and even violence. But Israel, technically classified in Lebanon as an “enemy state,” has historically brought the fragmented country together, albeit temporarily.

Meanwhile, civilians wandering the streets for safety have borne the cost of this new war.
At central Martyr’s Square in central Beirut, against the backdrop of a poster that read in big letters “Beirut will not die” barefoot children were smeared in black dirt and families slept on straw mats. An elderly woman who fled her neighbourhood, leaving all possessions behind, was selling tissue boxes.

“We sleep on sidewalks because we have no choice,” said Umm Fawzi, from southern Beirut. “I swear that we fled only with the clothes on our back. There was not a living soul left in the neighborhood.”

This post appeared first on cnn.com

The Freedom Party secured the first far-right national parliamentary election victory in post-World War II Austria on Sunday, finishing ahead of the governing conservatives after tapping into anxieties about immigration, inflation, Ukraine and other issues. But its chances of governing were unclear.

Preliminary official results showed the Freedom Party finishing first with 29.2% of the vote and Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s Austrian People’s Party was second with 26.5%. The center-left Social Democrats were in third place with 21%. The outgoing government – a coalition of Nehammer’s party and the environmentalist Greens – lost its majority in the lower house of parliament.

Herbert Kickl, a former interior minister and longtime campaign strategist who has led the Freedom Party since 2021, wants to be chancellor.

But to become Austria’s new leader, he would need a coalition partner to command a parliamentary majority. Rivals have said they won’t work with Kickl in government.

The far right has benefited from frustration over high inflation, the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also built on worries about migration.

In its election program, titled “Fortress Austria,” the Freedom Party calls for “remigration of uninvited foreigners,” for achieving a more “homogeneous” nation by tightly controlling borders and suspending the right to asylum via an emergency law.

The Freedom Party also calls for an end to sanctions against Russia, is highly critical of Western military aid to Ukraine and wants to bow out of the European Sky Shield Initiative, a missile defense project launched by Germany. Kickl has criticized “elites” in Brussels and called for some powers to be brought back from the European Union to Austria.

“We don’t need to change our position, because we have always said that we’re ready to lead a government, we’re ready to push forward this change in Austria side by side with the people,” Kickl said in an appearance alongside other party leaders on ORF public television. “The other parties should ask themselves where they stand on democracy,” he added, arguing that they should “sleep on the result.”

Nehammer said it was “bitter” that his party missed out on first place, but noted he brought it back from lower poll ratings. He has often said he won’t form a coalition with Kickl and said that “what I said before the election, I also say after the election.”

More than 6.3 million people were eligible to vote for the new parliament in Austria, an EU member that has a policy of military neutrality.

Kickl has achieved a turnaround since Austria’s last parliamentary election in 2019. In June, the Freedom Party narrowly won a nationwide vote for the first time in the European Parliament election, which also brought gains for other European far-right parties.

Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders, whose party dominates the Netherlands’ new government, congratulated the Freedom Party on social network X Sunday. So did Alice Weidel, a co-leader of the Alternative for Germany party.

The Freedom Party is a long-established force but Sunday’s result was its best yet in a national parliamentary election, beating the 26.9% it scored in 1999.

In 2019, its support slumped to 16.2% after a scandal brought down a government in which it was the junior partner. Then-vice chancellor and Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache resigned following the publication of a secretly recorded video in which he appeared to offer favors to a purported Russian investor.

The leader of the Social Democrats, a party that led many of Austria’s post-World War II governments, positioned himself as the polar opposite to Kickl. Andreas Babler ruled out governing with the far right and labeled Kickl “a threat to democracy.”

While the Freedom Party has recovered, the popularity of Nehammer’s People’s Party declined sharply compared with 2019. Support for the Greens, their coalition partner, also dropped to 8%.

During the election campaign, Nehammer portrayed his party, which has taken a tough line on immigration in recent years, as “the strong center” that would guarantee stability amid multiple crises.

But crises ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and resulting rising energy prices and inflation also cost it support. The government also angered many Austrians in 2022 with a short-lived coronavirus vaccine mandate, the first in Europe.

But the recent flooding caused by Storm Boris that hit Austria and other countries may have helped Nehammer slightly narrow the gap as a crisis manager.

The People’s Party is the far right’s only way into government, and now holds the key to forming any administration.

Nehammer repeatedly excluded joining a government led by Kickl, describing him as a “security risk” for the country, but didn’t rule out a coalition with the Freedom Party itself — which would imply Kickl renouncing a position in government. But that looks very unlikely with the Freedom Party in first place.

The alternative would be an alliance between the People’s Party and the Social Democrats — with or without the liberal Neos, who took 9% of the vote.

A final official result will be published later in the week after a small number of remaining postal ballots have been counted, but those won’t change the outcome substantially.

About 300 protesters gathered outside the parliament building in Vienna Sunday evening, holding placards with slogans including “Kickl is a Nazi.”

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Days of heavy monsoon rains in Nepal have triggered widespread flooding and landslides across the Himalayan nation, killing almost 200 people and causing widespread destruction.

Images from the capital show much of southern Kathmandu and nearby cities underwater or buried in thick mud as incessant torrential rains caused major rivers to swell far above danger levels.

The floods and landslides have destroyed hundreds of homes, cut off highways, and downed power lines, which hit just months after the country experienced deadly record rainfall and flash flooding that scientists say has intensified as a result of the climate crisis.

Search and rescue teams have struggled to reach residents buried under their homes or trapped by flooding in remote areas.

In hard-hit Lalitpur, south of Kathmandu, images showed the Nepal Armed Police Force using zip lines to traverse a flooded river, while elsewhere rescue teams could be seen digging with their bare hands to free residents buried under mud and rubble, or using boats and helicopters to reach people stranded on rooftops.

More than 3,700 people have been rescued, police said, but authorities believe the death toll will rise as rescue teams reach more remote and cut off areas.

Floods and damage from landslides have also affected much of the central and eastern parts of the country.

The bodies of 16 people were recovered Sunday from two buses that had been traveling along a key road out of Kathmandu when they were hit by a huge landslide, according to Reuters. One image showed a tourist bus partially submerged in mud with its windshield smashed in.

Video posted by Nepal Police shows the moment a two-year-old boy was rescued from his collapsed house in Bhimeshwor, Dolakha district, following a landslide. According to police, the boy’s parents and brother died.

Parts of the capital reported rain up to 322.2 millimeters (12.7 inches), pushing the level of its main Bagmati river up 2.2 meters (7 feet) past the danger mark, Reuters reported.

Further west of the capital, one international student described how “water was rushing through the streets in Pokhara,” the country’s second most populous city and a popular tourist destination known as a gateway for trekking in the Himalayas.

On Sunday, rains had eased in several areas allowing a major clean-up operation to begin. However, Kathmandu remained cut off with three highways into the city blocked by landslides, Associated Press reported. Schools have also closed for three days, according to Reuters.

Nepal is no stranger to heavy annual monsoon rains, but experts say this year was particularly bad.

“I’ve never before seen flooding on this scale in Kathmandu,” said Arun Bhakta Shrestha, the environmental risks expert at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), in a statement.

Experts there said in a statement the impacts of the weekend’s extreme rainfall in Nepal have been exacerbated by rampant development and urbanization, including unplanned construction on floodplains and poor drainage.

They have called on the government and city planners to increase funding for underground stormwater and sewage systems and the restoration of wetlands to help cities absorb more water.

South Asia is home to about a quarter of the world’s population and is among the most vulnerable to the impacts of the human-caused climate crisis and its intensification of extreme weather. Recent studies have shown that Asia will only become more vulnerable to extreme rain and flooding by 2030.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

China has taken a step forward in its ambitious plan to land astronauts on the moon by 2030 – unveiling the specially designed spacesuit its crew will don for what’s expected to be a landmark mission in the country’s space program.

The new red-and-white suit – revealed by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) over the weekend – is made to withstand the moon’s extreme temperatures, as well as radiation and dust, while allowing astronauts physical flexibility to perform tasks on the lunar surface, according to state media.

The moon-landing suit is equipped with a built-in long and short-range camera, an operations console, and a glare-proof helmet visor, according to a video shared by state broadcaster CCTV, which featured well-known Chinese astronauts Zhai Zhigang and Wang Yaping demonstrating how astronauts wearing the suit can bend and climb a ladder.

The new technology has caught international attention.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shared a post on the platform X featuring the CCTV video and his own caption.

“Meanwhile, back in America, the [Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)] is smothering the national space program in kafkaesque paperwork!” he wrote, in an apparent reference to the perceived speed with which China has bolstered its space program relative to the US.

SpaceX’s fortunes – and Musk’s personal wealth – have been boosted in recent years by huge government contracts as NASA has sought to tap into the private sector on space exploration and logistics.

Space leader

China’s reveal of the moon-landing spacesuit comes as the country has mounted a significant effort to establish itself a major player in space – a domain that nations, including the United States, are increasingly looking to not only for scientific benefit, but also with an eye to resources and national security.

The China National Space Administration has in recent years carried out a series of increasingly complex robotic lunar missions, including the first-ever return of lunar samples from the far side of the moon earlier this year. It has been angling to become the second country to land astronauts on the moon, saying its first crewed mission will take place “by 2030.”

The US, which has not sent astronauts to the moon since 1972, is also planning to send a crew this decade, though it has delayed its initial timeline for its Artemis III mission. That mission will not take off until at least September 2026, NASA said earlier this year. The agency revealed a protoype of its Artemis III spacesuit prototype, the AxEMU, in 2023.

China’s new spacesuit was hailed across state media as a major step forward in the country’s crewed mission timeline, with experts noting the need for specifically formulated suit for lunar conditions versus those used in spacewalks by astronauts at China’s Tiangong orbital space station.

Thanks to its thin exosphere, the moon is an unforgiving place, exposed to both the sun’s rays and the cold of space. Temperatures near the Moon’s equator, for example, can spike to 250°F (121°C) in the day and then plunge at night to -208°F (-133°C), according to NASA.

“Unlike low-Earth orbit missions, astronauts will be in a harsh natural lunar environment during lunar extravehicular activities. Complex environmental factors such as high vacuum and low gravity, lunar dust and lunar soil, complex lunar surface terrain, high and low temperatures, and strong radiation will have a significant impact on work and protection,” Wu Zhiqiang, deputy chief designer of astronaut systems at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center, told state broadcaster CCTV.

Others also hailed the aesthetics of the suit, with state media describing the red stripes on its upper limbs are inspired by ribbons from the “flying apsaras,” or deities that appear in ancient art in western China’s Dunhuang city, while those on its lower limbs resembling “rocket launch flames.”

Another designer, Wang Chunhui, told state media the suit’s proportions would make the astronauts “look more spirited and majestic” and “make us Chinese look strong and beautiful when we step on the moon.”

Earlier this year, Chinese officials released the name of the spacecraft for the crewed lunar mission – with the spaceship dubbed Mengzhou, or Dream Vessel, the lander, Lanyue, or Embracing the Moon.

The mission is designed as part of a broader set of lunar ambitions, which include China’s plans to establish an international lunar research station at the moon’s south pole by 2040.

This post appeared first on cnn.com