VUL Boosts Total Indicated JORC Resource by 131% Ahead of PFS

In a materially significant development, Vulcan Energy Resources (ASX: VUL| FRA: 6KO) has released an updated and reclassified Ortenau Indicated JORC Resource Estimation of 2.06 Mt contained Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE) at a grade of 181 mg/l Li.

This resource estimate for its Ortenau License in the Vulcan Zero Carbon Lithium^TM Project area in the Upper Rhine Valley represents a 131% increase in the total Upper Rhine Valley Project (URVP) JORC Indicated Resource Estimate.

Importantly, 23% of Vulcan’s total URVP lithium-brine (Li-brine) Resource is now in the Indicated category.

This development comes approximately one month after the company upgraded the Taro Resource, an initiative that was also facilitated by advancing newly acquired and reinterpreted seismic data to advance the 3-D geological model, along with other aspects of the proposed project.

The Indicated Resource portion of Ortenau – along with Taro – is being integrated into Vulcan’s Prefeasibility Study (PFS) which is approaching completion.

Ortenau’s Inferred JORC Resource Estimation has been revised to 10.8 million tonnes contained LCE at a grade of 181 mg/l Li and the updated total URVP Inferred and Indicated Resources are now 15.85 Mt LCE at a grade of 181 mg/l Li, the largest in Europe.

The large resource size is significant in that it gives Vulcan the potential to become a major supplier of Zero Carbon Lithium® chemicals into the European Union (EU) market, leveraging the recently announced regulations to set CO₂ limits for lithium-ion battery production in Europe.

Will Vulcan be a 20-bagger by year-end

It is worth noting that when Vulcan revised the Taro resource along similar lines, shares in Vulcan surged.

Given this is further information that will feed into the PFS due in January 2021 it could well provide share price momentum for a company that is currently trading at about 16.5 times where it was 12 months ago.

Commenting on the updated and reclassified resource estimate, as well as the highly beneficial implications of regulations made by the European Commission last week, Vulcan managing director, Dr Francis Wedin said, “As with Taro, at Ortenau we have used newly acquired and reinterpreted seismic data to advance the 3-D geological model, and well data to advance fault zone hydro-dynamics, allowing us to upgrade a significant portion of the Ortenau Resource to the “Indicated” category.

‘’This higher confidence resource area will form an important part of our PFS, further validating our strategy to become a supplier of Vulcan’s unique Zero Carbon Lithium® hydroxide to the European battery electric vehicle market.

‘’The European Commission regulations announced last week, setting limits on CO2 footprints for lithium-ion battery production in Europe, places Vulcan in the prime position to be a lithium supplier of choice for the European market.

''With the majority of the PFS work completed, we expect final review to be concluded by January, so we look forward to an exciting start for shareholders in 2021.”