Overview

Mine Type	In-Situ
Stage	Preliminary Economic Assessment
Commodities	Lithium
Mining Method	Brine mining
Production Start	...
Mine Life	...
Snapshot	Viewfield project is a world class Lithium asset. Hub City Lithium has completed its Treatability Study with Koch Technology Solutions. The Study was done in preparation for a Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) field pilot (one of the first in Canada) on the Hub City Lithium well. The pilot, scheduled to begin in Q1 2024, will treat Viewfield brine and convert it into a highly concentrated lithium chloride eluent. It's expected to run for 3 to 4 months and will operate 24/7, processing approximately 6,500 - 9,000 litres of feed brine per day.

Deposit type

• Brine
• Evaporite

Summary:

Hub City Lithium’s (HCL) primary target for lithium-enriched brines are the Devonian-aged carbonates. At Viewfield, these regionally extensive carbonate sequences were deposited within a shallow water and commonly evaporitic environment at the end of a long succession of evaporitic deposition. This depositional history appears favorable for the leaching of lithium from aquifers as brines concentrate over time. Multiple shallowing upward sequences characterize the deposition of the Souris River and Duperow carbonates. Thisrepeated depositional pattern separates the porous limestone and dolostone layers into several regionally extensive reservoirs. Recent production testing and water analysis support the hypothesis that they are hydrodynamically isolated.

The Duperow is broken into 8 distinctive zones, all of which were tested via swabbing and/or flow testing in the Company’s exploration program in 2022 and 2023. The zones, in order of increasing depositional age, are: Wymark F, Wymark E, Wymark D, Wymark C, Wymark B, Wymark A, Saskatoon B, Saskatoon A.

Property Geology
Viewfield Block
Geological evaluation of the Duperow at Viewfield was carried out utilizing 22 wells within and surrounding the Viewfield project area.

Petrophysical evaluation of all wells in the region confirms the high amount of dolomitization that is prevalent within all zones of the Wymark and Saskatoon members.

The spatial distribution of the higher porosity and net reservoir isopachs is concentrated in a semi circular pattern surrounding the Viewfield Crater. Effective porosity values for all zones averaged 10.8 to 15%, with a combined total isopach for all zones averaging 81m. Total net isopach is similar to the Mansur permit area, however total brine volume per section is higher at Viewfield due to the increased porosity in most zones. Expected permeability is also likely higher due to the increased porosity and dolomitization of the reservoir.

Brine Mineralization
The source of the lithium-rich brines is still poorly understood; however, a comprehensive study of Li-rich oil-field brines in Israel by Chan et al. (2002) suggested that these Li-rich brines evolved from of seawater and diagenetic reactions between the brine and the basin sediments. This process involves mineral reactions, evaporation, and dilution. In southern Saskatchewan, it is believed that the long period of evaporitic conditions resulted in highly concentrated lithium brines within the Souris River and Duperow formations. Rostron et al. (2022) has extensively researched the brine chemistries of the Devonian and by using the ratio of Chlorine to Bromine versus Sodium to Bromine ratios from Devonian brines that supports the theory that brines are not just the result of dissolved evaporites. The water chemistries of the Duperow suggest that the long history of evapo concentrated Devonian Sea water may be partially or fully responsible for the high lithium concentrations occurring in the Duperow formation of Southern Saskatchewan.

Post-depositional rock fluid interactions are also believed to play a crucial role in controlling lithium presence (Jensen et al. 2020). Lithium concentration within the brines may have been further enhanced by the dolomitization process, which could have involved the absorption of magnesium ions and the expulsion of lithium into the brine during the dolomitization process. Recent testing results by Rostron et al.(2022), combined with HCL’s brine testing results, suggest that each zone will have individual lithium concentrations based on fluid movements and interactions within each reservoir.

DEPOSIT TYPES
The deposit is Geothermal and basinal brines. In this deposit type the lithium is extracted from the lithium rich brines from the subsurface through a chemical process. These subsurface brines are the targeted deposit type are the brine being targeted by HCL.

Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Processing

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Production

Commodity	Units	Daily	Avg. Annual	LOM
Lithium	t	....	12,175	282,090

Operational metrics

Metrics
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Personnel

Job Title	Name	Phone	Email	Profile	Ref. Date
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