Maria del Huerto EIR The company has received notification that...

Maria del Huerto EIR The company has received notification that the Environmental Impact Report submitted in March for its wholly owned Maria del Huerto project has been accepted and approved by the San Luis Mineria Department. Accordingly the way is now clear for LRS to undertake exploration and resource development drilling at the property. Further detailed mapping and sampling has been completed at the site which has allowed the generation of a targets for the initial exploration and resource development drilling. Approximately 1,200m of diamond drilling and 3,000m of reverse circulation drilling has been planned to target the sheeted pegmatite mineralisation. The target zone contains at least three possibly four closely spaced pegmatites that are separated by 20 – 30 meters, dip at 50 – 60 degrees and extend over a strike length of approximately 400m (See Figure 1). Abundant spodumene is evident in the abandoned historic quarry which was the first lithium mine in San Luis, commencing operations in 1936.  It is the company’s intention to carry out the drilling at Maria del Huerto in conjunction with another project to reduce and share the cost of mobilising rigs and drill crews

Spodumene mineralisation is the best the Latin technical team has explored in Argentina  with main pegmatite up  to 18m thick, more than 200m long and gently dipping at 20‐30 degrees. The area contains multiple similar  unexplored pegmatites

Geminis Final Agreement On Thursday the 26th October the Final Agreement was signed with the owners of the Geminis Mine and Don Gregorio exploration concessions. This solidifies the company’s pathway to 100% ownership of the prized historic lithium mine and allows the continuation with certainty the steps required for the permitting to allow the resource development work to commence at the project. Under the terms of the Final Agreement LRS now has six months to gain the approval of the EIR and the reactivation plan. This is a maximum time frame however and it is the company’s intention to fast track this process to gain the approvals as quickly as possible.

I know you guys think management have been slow in getting approvals for land and drilling, but I believe it was the Argentina government that made it almost impossible, but things are now changing for the better, see below

t  A battle for supremacy in the lithium triangle - The white gold rush
It has been decades since anyone thought of Argentina as business-friendly. Cristina Fernndez de Kirchner, a populist who governed until December 2015, made things harder. Currency controls to prop up the peso stopped foreign companies from repatriating dividends. Export taxes reduced profits and import controls made it hard to bring in machinery. Investors had to apply to the tax authority for permission to import, and then to the central bank for hard currency, which dwindled as Ms Fernndezs administration wore on. It would usually take months to get drilling equipment and pumps into the country, says David Sidoo, chief executive of Advantage Lithium, a Canadian firm.
Under the constitution, provinces, not the federal government, own the countrys minerals. Mining firms had to find their way through a confusion of provincial rules and regulations. It was like the Tower of Babel, says Daniel Meiln, the countrys current mining secretary. Investors found it difficult to work out which companies had already been awarded concessions, while provincial governments often muscled their way into projects. JEMSE, a mining firm owned by the province of Jujuy, demanded an equity stake of 20% in Sales de Jujuy before settling for 8.5%, financed with a loan from the company.
Argentina's newish president, Mauricio Macri, has tried to unblock investment, including that in lithium. In his first week in office the former businessman eased currency controls and started to scrap export taxes. His entrepreneurial zeal has influenced provincial governments, which are approving permits for exploration and extraction much more quickly. much faster to get equipment into the country now, says Mr Sidoo. Jujus government has created a database to make it easier for investors to figure out who holds mining concessions.
The federal government is trying to harmonise provincial regulations. It has hammered out agreement on a standard royalty (3% of revenue, plus 1.5% to improve local infrastructure), which must now pass through provincial and federal legislatures. Mr Macri has ambitious plans to improve the countrys lousy infrastructure, although that will take more time.
These advances have started to unfreeze investment in lithium. In 2016 the sector attracted $1.5bn; production rose by nearly 60%. in expansion mode, says Alex Losada-Caldern, the chief operating officer of Sales de Jujuy, which is investing $160m in new equipment. The country expects to produce 145,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate in 2022, five times last years output. But Mr Meilán remains cautious. Argentina lost the confidence of investors over many years, he says. It will take more than a day to recoup it.