Vancouver-based American Salars (CSE:USLI) has negotiated an all-scrip deal to buy the 61km2 Leduc East Lithium Project in Québec.
This is the second deal in a week after the explorer announced it was acquiring 1447377 BC, which wholly owns the 180km2 Jaguaribe Project – a lithium-cesium-tantalum deposit also hosting rare earth elements (REE) and a suite of critical minerals – in northern Brazil.
American Salars has now signed a mineral claims purchase agreement with Quartier Minerals for the 101 claims that make up the Leduc East Project in exchange for the issue of 50,000 shares.
Located 275km southwest of Bécancour’s Battery Metal Park and lithium downstream concentrator and foundry, the project covers part of a belt that hosts over 35 mapped pegmatites and 15 historical pegmatite-borne felspar showings.
Thirteen of the historical showings are former feldspar and mica mines operated from the early 1900s to the 1940s.
Mica is one possible source for lithium. Additionally, of the 13 past producers, five produced tourmaline, which is a key indicative mineral for lithium.
The Leduc East Project sits 4.5km east of the historic Mine Leduc property that covers a small lithium-bearing body hosting about 230 tonnes @ 5.39%.
The project is also located 300km southeast of Sayona Mining’s (ASX:SYA) North American Lithium Mine which restarted production in March 2023 and has produced 140,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate since then.
CEO Nick Horsley says the 35 mapped pegmatites were never assayed for lithium.
“We have never been more optimistic about lithium’s future and American Salars is well positioned to capitalise on its growing demand,” Horsley says.
“With highly prospective projects throughout Québec, Nevada, Brazil and Argentina we are strategically located in some of the premier jurisdictions throughout North and South America.”
American Salars is reviewing additional projects that it will disclose once due diligence and a deal is completed.
The company’s portfolio includes two NI 43-101-compliant inferred resources comprising 457,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) at the Candela II Lithium Brine Project and a shared resource at the Pocitos 1 Lithium Brine Project of 760,000 tonnes LCE. Both projects are located in the Salta Province of Argentina.
American Salars’ primary focus is on the expansion and development of its 3,000-hectare Candela II Project.
The company will be exhibiting at this year’s Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) event being held from 2-5 March in Toronto, Canada.
The convention brings together up to 30,000 attendees from over 130 countries for its educational programming, networking events, as well as business and investment opportunities.
Mining.com.au is an official media partner for the upcoming event.
To register for PDAC 2025 click here.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: American Salars
