What was the reason for American Lithium to acquire Plateau Energy Metals in 2021?

According to American Lithium, Plateau Energy Metals had faced a double setback during the downturn in the lithium industry in the last few years, along with some legal issues they had with their concessions. The two companies had started talking in December 2020, and it became evident that the acquisition made sense as there was a strong alignment between them. American Lithium had a strong and supportive shareholder base, while Plateau had a fatigued shareholder base and lacked the capital to advance its development projects over the past few years. With access to better capital, the assets could move more quickly through the development phase, particularly since Falchani and Macusani were at an advanced PEA stage, and the Plateau team had already produced battery-grade lithium from Falchani. Furthermore, Plateau had a very robust technical team that would complement American Lithium’s team and bring more expertise in-house. Falchani had a different geology to TLC but was near-surface and shared similarities with the flowsheet work done in Nevada, which would be directly relevant.

How will the operational transition from Plateau to American Lithium work in Peru?

One of the key benefits of the acquisition is that American Lithium will be able to add a strong Peru-based team to its organization. At Falchani, the company will shortly be drilling to expand the existing resource and move inferred resources to measured and indicated. In addition, recent work has identified at least two other target areas west of the Falchani deposit that have the potential to be similar in size and scope to Falchani, and exploration drilling will be launched in these areas over the next few weeks. The work done in 2021 at Falchani will enable American Lithium to position the project to move into the feasibility process in the first half of 2022.

What are American Lithium’s plans for the Macusani uranium project?

Although American Lithium is not a specialist in uranium, it sees a lot of potential at Macusani. Uranium is increasingly being recognized as a key energy metal, and Macusani is the fifth-largest undeveloped uranium project in the world. Furthermore, there is scope to add additional resources through further expansion drilling, which American Lithium plans to do in the near term. Macusani has received a significant amount of work and investment historically and had a C$120 million market capitalization when it was the standalone asset in the company in 2008/9. American Lithium has already received a lot of third-party interest in this asset, which is strong validation of its current value and long-term potential. Although American Lithium may not be the ones to move Macusani into production in the long term, the company intends to do more work on it, continue its development, and continue to increase its value to benefit the company and all stakeholders.

What is American Lithium’s final message for the Peruvian mining community about its commitment to developing the Falchani project?

American Lithium acknowledges the need to bring jobs to communities and develop projects in a sustainable manner, especially in a post-COVID world. This is a crucial part of the corporate culture at American Lithium and was also the culture at Plateau Energy Metals. The company is developing all its projects with a focus on implementing the best environmental practices and utilizing local expertise and workforces to the fullest extent possible. Peru has a robust mining sector, and American Lithium is fortunate to have a lot of Peruvian expertise in the company to help advance what it considers first-rate projects.