Rain City Resources (CSE:RAIN) has entered a technology evaluation agreement with South American boric acid producer Quiborax for its El Aguila Lithium Recovery Project in Chile.
The agreement establishes a framework to evaluate Rain City’s AC²ME extraction, separation, and processing platform using Quiborax materials and process streams at El Aguila, located in Chile’s Arica and Parinacota Region.
Quiborax obtained Contraloría approval of its governing decree under Chile’s Contrato Especial de Operación de Litio (CEOL) framework. The process represents the first CEOL involving a wholly private company under Chile’s current lithium policy expansion. Because lithium is a non-concessionable mineral in Chile, private parties require specific state authorisation for commercial exploitation.
Studies referenced in the CEOL identify potential for 19,775 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) contained in historical processing residues at the site. The CEOL permits the processing and sale of up to 20,000 tonnes of LCE, or operation through 31 December 2046, whichever occurs first.
Unlike conventional greenfield salar developments, El Aguila recovers lithium from material already extracted and accumulated through industrial activity. The CEOL framework mandates projects to employ selective extraction and recovery technologies, specifically identifying direct lithium extraction and other innovative combinations.
Head of Latin America Sebastián Quiñones says the importance of El Aguila “goes beyond the size of the initial opportunity”.
“[El Aguila] demonstrates that Chile is creating pathways for private capital, technology, and industrial operators to participate in the next generation of lithium projects under a rigorous regulatory framework,” Quiñones says.
“For Rain, this is precisely where our technology can create value. Quiborax has advanced the regulatory pathway, identified lithium within an existing industrial material, and established a real project context.
“Our responsibility is to demonstrate, through disciplined testing, how AC²ME can provide a technically and economically compelling solution.
“If successful, we believe this model — recovering strategic minerals from existing industrial materials rather than relying exclusively on new primary extraction — could have relevance well beyond a single project.”
The framework agreement allows the relationship to progress if technical results justify further development. The parties may then negotiate separate agreements covering testing, pilot or commercial facilities, technology licensing, engineering, mineral recovery, investment, financing, supply, offtake, and joint ventures.
CEO Benjamin Hill says the collaboration provides an experienced operator, existing infrastructure, an identified lithium opportunity, and substantial regulatory progress.
“Rain’s strategy is to convert technical capability into validated industrial opportunities. El Aguila provides a combination we consider particularly valuable,” Hill says.
Rain stresses the current agreement remains a scientific and technological evaluation framework and does not constitute a commercial production agreement or joint venture. Any commercial deployment remains subject to successful technical evaluation, regulatory approvals, and separate definitive agreements.
Rain City Resources is a Canadian public company focused on advancing next-generation mineral extraction and processing technologies and developing strategic opportunities across the global lithium and critical minerals value chain.
Write to Paula Fabe at Mining.com.au
Images: Rain City Resources
