Alluvial Fans at Rincon and Incahuasi may represent a highly absorbent sand sponge similar to GLN

I note that the recently announced, but largely unheralded, VES Geophysics surveys at both Rincon and Incuhuasi have uncovered potential absorbent resource layers below the alluvial aprons on our salars. A separate VES survey is currently underway at Pocitos.

Anyone reading about the huge resource upgrade at Galan would now know that the increase was largely due to the deep absorbent sand layers produced by the alluvial fans at GLN's Hombre Muerte West salar.

Alluvial fans form due to erosion which allows the salar deeps below the fans to fill up with sand/gravel/sediments instead of the compressed rock-hard salt usually found below the upper porous brine salt layer. The sand acts as a sponge and, in GLN's recent case, the 100s of meters of highly absorbent sand increased the lithium resource 2.5 times to 5.8Mt of 866mg/l (a very high grade) LCE.

When combined with its Candelas tenements, GLN at 6.5Mt, is now bigger than Lionstown including both Kathleen Valley and Buldania. Galan's CEO stated this week that the unprecedented resource increase was due to 'the area where we are is a sponge. It allows a lot of lithium to be stored there.' They are expecting an even higher resource upgrade due to the alluvial fan sand factor.

So the recent VES Geophysics announcement at Rincon from 17/10/22 may be quite significant. The announcement states that the survey " indicates continuity of concentrated brines in 100-150 metre thick zones of saturated sand and gravel units within the alluvial apron fans adjacent to the active salar, with a basement estimated at a depth of approximately 200 metres (Figure 3).These positive results highlight the resource expansion potential in this yet to be drill tested area of the Rincon license."

Here is a diagram from the recent PNN Rincon geophysics survey where the areas in brown (the basement) are the potentially absorbent sponges:



A little earlier an announcement from 28/09/2022 revealed that VES geophysical surveys had also been conducted at Incahausi, also with very promising results:

The VES survey at Incahuasi was conducted over 28 geophysics stations (Figure 2). Interpretation of the results indicate that concentrated brines occur to at least 250 meters depth below the surface, with salar basement estimated at ~400-450 meters depth. The VES survey results also indicate continuity of concentrated brine in saturated hydrostratigraphic units, extending under and below the alluvial fan aprons on the eastern side of the license area away from the active salar. This highlights the resource expansion potential in this yet to be drill tested area of the licence.



The same VES geophysics program is now underway at Pocitos. Resource drilling will then begin in these potentially brine-dense areas at all three salars.

Here is a photo of a classic alluvial fan formation. Note that the alluvial fans at the GLN HMW salar lie underneath an upper porous salt layer so would not look like this, but you get the idea of the erosion forming a highly absorbent layer over centuries, depending on the erosion source:




It now seems likely that PNN resource may have considerable scope for increased size. AIMO. DYOR.