Greenwing Resources (ASX:GW1) has selected four direct lithium extraction (DLE) pilot partners for its San Jorge Lithium Brine Project in Argentina’s Salar de San Francisco.
The four pilot partners cover three DLE technology classes: adsorption, ion exchange, and solvent extraction. Greenwing reviewed over 30 DLE technology providers and engaged 11 directly, assessing technical performance, engineering capability, commercial maturity, financial strength, and commercial reference projects.
Greenwing says the selection moves the program from desktop shortlisting into partner-based testwork on representative San Jorge brine.
Each partner will complete a combined desktop evaluation and bench-scale testwork package on representative bulk brine. The staged evaluation program aims to generate project-specific recovery, impurity rejection, and engineering data to establish validated testing pathways for extended testwork planned in the Prefeasibility Study (PFS) phase.
Managing Director Peter Wright says commencing DLE testwork on San Jorge brines is another important step in defining the development potential and value of the project.
“By progressing an initial DLE pathway alongside the Scoping Study, we are building the technical and economic understanding required to determine the most appropriate development pathway for San Jorge,” Wright says.
“Importantly, this work will be undertaken using our own brines, allowing technology selection to be based on actual project data.”
The company’s flowsheet trade-off study, completed as part of the Scoping Study program, confirmed DLE as the required extraction pathway for the San Jorge brine.
Wright says the company is advancing this work as strategic interest in lithium assets returns and the longer-term lithium outlook strengthens.
“Our objective through 2026 is straightforward: systematically define the potential of San Jorge and establish the technical foundations required to advance the project into its next stage of development and valuation,” Wright says.
Greenwing intends to dispatch representative brine to pilot partners, with evaluation programs expected to take three months. Testwork outcomes will then be integrated into the Scoping Study.
The company also plans to develop an extended PFS testwork program based on partner results.
The San Jorge Project sits in Catamarca Province, where Argentine lithium policy remains constructive under the US-Argentina Critical Minerals Framework and the Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI) offering 30 years of fiscal stability to qualifying projects.
Greenwing Resources is a critical minerals explorer and developer with lithium and graphite assets across Madagascar and Argentina.
Write to Paula Fabe at Mining.com.au
Images: Greenwing Resources
