Summary

Mine Type	In-Situ
Study Completed	Preliminary Economic Assessment
Stage	Permitting
Commodities	Lithium
Mining Method	Brine mining
Mine Life	...
Snapshot	The Viento Andino (formerly known as Francisco Basin) Project is a greenfield project, where a new lithium discovery was made in 2022. A Scoping Study was published in September 2023 showing robust economics for a commercial DLE lithium operation from the current resource, which has significant potential to increase. Application for obtaining a permit for operation Francisco Basin was submitted in September 2023 and is currently being updated according to a new administrative procedure announced by the government after the end of the period April 2024. It was decided to suspend further work at Francisco Basin at the present time and utilise available funds to advance the Laguna Verde project as rapidly as possible. Further resource development is to be carried out when funds are available as priority is currently on Laguna Verde. Even with the current resource a scoping study in September 2023 indicated robust economics.

Deposit type

• Sedimentary

Summary:

The main structural system in the Project area is the one represented by the Negro Francisco high angle normal fault with NNE-SSW orientation, which is inclined to the east and puts in contact the basement block of Morandez Sierra to the west with mid-Miocene lavas from La Laguna volcano. This type of faults is common to the east and south of Negro Francisco lagoon and would be formed during one extension – trans - tension event occurred in the extreme south of the preAndean plateau during the Mid to Late Miocene (Mpodozis et al., 1990, 1995).

The mineralization of the Project consists of a lithium-enriched brine that is contained within the pore spaces of the basin fill sedimentary strata. The boundaries of the mineralization are suspected to be the basin hard rock, fault-bounded boundaries, although some lithium-enriched brine may be contained in the fractures and/or pores of the rocks that form the basin boundary.

The aquifer sediments that contain the lithium-rich brine in the Francisco Basin are classified as the “Salar Marginal Facies” of a hyper saline lagoon that approaches to an immature clastic salar classification (Negro Francisco lagoon), with the lagoon corresponding to the “salar nucleus.” The transition from brine to fresh water occurs at a relatively medium distance outside the lagoon perimeter.

Clastic sediments tend to be inhomogeneous and anisotropic, permeability being highly dependent on lithology. Fissures are largely absent, so permeability may range anywhere between 10–2 and 102 m/d and decline only slightly with depth (over the likely depth range for extraction). According to the geological model, Francisco Basin sediments are coarse grained sands, gravels and clays, thus moderate to high specific yield values are expected in the resource area.

Francisco Basin is classified as an immature clastic salar characterised by greater moisture regimes and a sediment profile with higher porosities than mature halite salars. The Francisco Basin is an elongated basin aligned on a NW-SE axis bounded on all sides by volcanic mountain ranges. The surface of the salar is at an elevation of approximately 4,136m. To the south-east the basin forms a gently rising plain which forms the focus area of the project. The basin fill is characterised by sedimentary deposits that can be separated into three general units:
1. An upper unit of fine to coarse sands intercalated with fine gravels, minor clay and tuff levels;
2. A middle unit of clay beds intercalated with minor levels of fine sands and gypsum;
3. A basal unit of moderately consolidated gravels and sands, transitioning to silt beds.

The brine aquifer is contained mainly from the middle unit down to the basement.

Dimensions
The Brine Resource is a sub horizontal lens with an approximately area of 9 km x 5 km and 320 m wide

Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Processing

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Commodity Production

Operational metrics

Metrics
Annual processing capacity	....
Annual brine extraction	....

Personnel

Job Title	Name	Profile	Ref. Date
.......................	.......................		Aug 20, 2025

Employees	Year
......	2023