Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
This was Prairie Lithium testing the first targeted lithium well in Saskatchewan in late October, 2021. Among the vendors on site were Independent Well Servicing (service rig), Latus Oilfield Rentals (black and green tanks) Captive Rentals (grey tanks), Summit ESP (ESP installed in well) TestPro (well testing), Campbell Energy & Environment Services(shacks). The well was drilled by Panther Drilling. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
EMERALD PARK – Arizona Lithium Limited (AZL), an Australian company whose key focus up until now has been the sustainable development of the Big Sandy Lithium Project in Arizona, announced on March 27 that it has completed the acquisition of Emerald Park-based Prairie Lithium Corporation.
Prairie Lithium has been the widely-acknowledged leader in the race to develop lithium within Saskatchewan. It drilled the first targeted lithium well in Saskatchewan just northwest of Torquay in the fall of 2021. Since then it has acquired a test well within a few hundred metres of the U.S. border and three more wells in the Torquay area for subsequent testing. The company’s
The deal closed on the same day Saskatchewan announced its Critical Mineral Strategy, of which lithium is an important part.
On 21 December 2022, the Arizona Lithium announced that it had entered a binding pre-acquisition agreement with its wholly-owned subsidiary, 2477827 Alberta Corporation (“CallCo”), its wholly-owned subsidiary, 2477955 Alberta Corporation (“CanCo”), and Prairie Lithium Corporation, a privately held company, pursuant to which AZL agreed to acquire, either directly or indirectly through CanCo, all of the shares of Prairie Lithium.
Here’s the legalese describing the deal, according to Arizona’s press release: “The consideration payable for the Prairie Lithium Shares under the Acquisition Agreement and the Offer will be satisfied, at the Prairie Lithium Shareholder’s election pursuant to the Offer, by cash and either: (a) exchangeable shares in the capital of CanCo (and voting rights attaching to a special voting share to be issued to a third party independent agent) (“Exchangeable Shares”); or (b) ordinary shares in the capital of Arizona Lithium (“AZL Shares”). Cash consideration will be $40 million CAD and the number of Exchangeable Shares, or AZL Shares issuable for each Prairie Lithium Share will be calculated based on an exchange ratio using 500,000,000 AZL shares equally distributed to Prairie shareholders.”
If the deal hadn’t worked out, there was a reciprocal break fee of $4 million CAD.
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Zach Maurer, founder and chief executive officer of Prairie Lithium, will join the board of directors of Arizona Lithium as an executive director. Maurer graduated with a BSc in Geology from the University of Regina and is based in Regina.
AZL Managing Director, Paul Lloyd, said in a release, “We are very pleased to have completed the Acquisition of Prairie Lithium including Prairie’s JORC Inferred Mineral Resource of 4.1 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) at 111 mg/L Li, which represents the highest quality inferred lithium brine resource in Canada discovered to date. With the acquisition now complete, AZL holds resources totalling 4.4MT of LCE (inferred and indicated) making it a globally significant dual resource company.”
Arizona Lithium has also acquired Prairie’s proprietary direct lithium extraction technology that removes lithium from brines and ore bodies. The company reported it is already having encouraging results using the technology with material from its Big Sandy clay lithium project in Arizona. “By combining the lithium experience of both AZL and Prairie, we aim to further advance this technology, with C$1.074m (approx. A$1.2m) recently received in Canadian government grant funding, which will be matched with funding from AZL, and is to be invested into Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology development,” Arizona Lithium said.
“Prairie’s board and management team have significant experience in lithium processing and technology, which will further bolster AZL’s team as we continue to focus on and expedite the sustainable development of the Big Sandy Lithium Project in Arizona in tandem with the Prairie brine project in the Williston Basin. We welcome the whole Prairie Lithium management team to the Arizona Lithium team, and welcome Zach Maurer to the board of directors of Arizona Lithium,” the release added.
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Arizona Lithium reported it has been approached by and has engaged with multiple North American Investment banks in relation to its proposed NASDAQ listing. “AZL’s now globally significant LCE resource is perfectly positioned to attract attention from major off-takers in the auto and battery manufacturing sectors in North America and the company finds itself in a rare position of not only having ownership of a large resource but owning and controlling its own Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) Technology.”
As announced on 20 June 2022, Arizona Lithium signed a 5-year lease to establish a “world class Lithium Research Centre” to be located on a 9,700m2 property in Tempe, Arizona, approximately 15 kilometres southwest of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
“The acquisition strongly complements AZL’s strategy to develop a Lithium Research Centre, which will function as a technology incubator focused on the extraction of lithium from a variety of ores and brines, as well as the production of battery-grade lithium chemicals for current and future battery technologies.”
Big Sandy Lithium Project (Arizona)
The Big Sandy Project, a very shallow, flat lying mineralised sedimentary lithium resource and with excellent available infrastructure, has the potential to be developed with a “very low environmental footprint,” the company said.
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Lithium in Saskatchewan series to date: