More questions than answers at Lithium Power International

afr.com:

More questions than answers in Lithium Power International’s Monday response to Street Talk’s report on the situation in Chile, where the company is exploring in the mineral-rich region known as the Lithium Triangle.

To recap, the ASX-listed company is working on a project on the Salar de Maricunga in Chile’s north, which analysts expect will be a major source of lithium. Edison Investment Research, which specialises in small caps, expects the project to give Lithium Power a valuation of around $1.8 billion.

The lithium industry is booming in Chile, where Lithium Power International has a project. AP

The only hurdle is Chile’s new lithium policy, which is exceedingly complicated and suggests some licences first handed out before 1979 – like the one held by Lithium Power – may not permit the mining of lithium, at worst, and a forced joint venture with a state agency, at best.

On Monday, Street Talk reported that a local publication, El Mercurio de Antofagasta, had reported that Lithium Power’s licences did not include the right to mine lithium. That was the view of a Chilean lawyer, Carlos Claussen, who said that “the most harmonious and logical interpretation” of the new strategy was that the company could not mine lithium.

Still, Lithium Power told shareholders on Monday that it had provided plenty of information about the legal status of the Maricunga project to investors in an update on April 24. “The standing of its concessions and permitting according to Chilean law is solid,” the company added. Despite this apparent certainty, Lithium Power disclosed it had consulted no fewer than six lawyers, who “confirmed the aptitude” of their licences.

And while the company did provide a brief update to investors in April,