Oronegro SA has applied for exploration licences for 54,000ha (540km2) of prospective lithium districts within the San Luis and Cordoba provinces;
The pegmatite fields of San Luis and Cordoba have an important past record of producing mica, beryl, spodumene, tantalite (tantalum oxide), columbite (niobium oxide), and recently K-feldspar, albite and quartz. The fields contain more than 95% of the granitic pegmatites of the country, with mineral resources that have been mined during the past 80 years, producing the majority of the feldspar, quartz and mica plus Be-, Li-, Ta-, Bi- and Rb-bearing minerals.
Oronegro SA also holds significant mines in San Luis and Cordoba provinces:
Las Cueves Mine
Las Tapias Mine
Las Cuevas Mine
Oronegro entered an Exclusivity Agreement to acquire 100% of the Las Cuevas Mine in San Luis province, which is considered one of the most important spodumene mines in Argentina. Las Cuevas is one of the largest historical beryllium, lithium and tantalum mines of Argentina (Angelelli and Rinaldi, 1966). Las Tapias Mine
A significant producer of beryl, a mineral associated with lithium, during several periods from 1938 to 1965. The mine contains zones of up to 80% spodumene with some crystals up to 3 metres long. The spodumene contains an average grade of 5.5% Li2O. Since 1978, the mine has been in sporadic production of quartz, feldspar and mica. Dark Horse intends to investigate the existing mine dumps and tailings for significant spodumene contents.
