VANCOUVER, April 27, 2016 /CNW/ - Wealth Minerals Ltd. (the
"Company" or "Wealth") - (TSXV: WML; OTC: WMLLF; Frankfurt: EJZ),
announces that it has executed a Letter of Intent (the "LOI") to
acquire an option agreement giving it the right to acquire a 100%
royalty-free interest in the Puritama 1 to 8 exploration
concessions located in the Salar de Aguas Calientes (the
"Property"), located in Region II, northern Chile.
"This acquisition is one of several potential acquisitions that
Wealth management has been negotiating in the past weeks. The
acquisition of this interest in the Salar de Aguas Calientes gives
Wealth a real foothold in Chile,
outside of the recently announced proposed transaction with Li3 in
the Salar de Maricunga." stated Henk van
Alphen, Wealth's President & CEO, "Wealth's aim is to
continue seeking quality acquisitions over the coming weeks."
Property Details
The Salar de Atacama is currently the only salar in Chile which produces lithium.
Chile's Sernageomin (Servicio
Nacional de Geologia y Mineria) has published a list of 15
other high-potential Chilean Salars, and the Aguas Calientes Norte
Salar is included in this list.
Exploration concessions at the Salar de Aguas Calientes cover an
area of approximately 25km2 (Figure 1) with
20km2 subject to the option agreement to be acquired by
Wealth and the remaining 4km2 held by Sociedad Química y
Minera de Chile ("SQM"), which is
the largest lithium producer in Chile. The exploration
concessions are in the process of being constituted and have
preferential rights over the area that they cover. Once
constituted, they will be valid for 2 years, and may be extended
for an additional two years upon relinquishment of 50% of the
area. Wealth anticipates that the concessions will be finally
issued within the next 60 – 75 days.
Historical surface sampling of brines and springs on the
Property was completed in 1993 and results are outlined fully in
the table 1 below. Results in 1993 suggested a lithium
concentration ranging up to 169 mg/l. This initial sampling
is broadly in line with independent analysis published by signum
BOX (June 2015), which suggests
an expected lithium concentration of 205 mg/l to 290 mg/l.
The exploration concessions are located 320km from the port of
Antofagasta. Access to the Property is via Route 27, a
highway located at the western edge of the claim block.
The Company is treating the Property as a greenfields
exploration project. Although the limited earlier work noted
here suggests that the Property has potential to host a lithium
deposit, the Property has not, to the knowledge of the Company, yet
been explored with modern lithium brine exploration methods and
there has been insufficient exploration to define a lithium deposit
and it is therefore uncertain if further exploration will result in
a lithium deposit being delineated on the Property.
Accordingly, the initial program to be carried out by the Company
will consist of a program of prospecting and sampling to determine
the existence, nature, extent and distribution of lithium at the
Property.
Table 1: 1993
Sampling Results, Puritama Project Area
|
Sample
|
Medium
|
K (mg/l)
|
Li (mg/l)
|
Mg (mg/l)
|
AC1-1
|
Hot Spring
|
185
|
33.0
|
159.0
|
AC1-4
|
Hot Spring
|
54
|
8.7
|
23.1
|
AC1-6
|
Lagoon
|
805
|
145.0
|
705.0
|
AC1-8
|
Test Pit
|
1180
|
169.0
|
501.0
|
AC1-11
|
Hot Spring
|
13
|
2.8
|
25.0
|
Acquisition Terms
Under the LOI, Wealth has the right to acquire all of the right,
title and interest of Minera MyMinerals Limitada, a private Chilean
company ("MYM") in and to an option agreement dated April 18, 2016 ("Option Agreement") between MYM
and Virtud Minerals SpA, a private Chilean company, ("VMS").
Under the Option Agreement, MYM can acquire a 100% royalty-free
interest in the Project by making the following payments to
VMS:
|
|
|
|
|
Date
|
|
Payment
|
|
|
|
|
|
Upon
signing
|
|
USD 150,000
(paid)
|
|
|
|
|
|
April 18,
2017
|
|
USD
500,000
|
|
|
|
|
|
April 18,
2018
|
|
USD
1,000,000
|
|
|
|
|
|
April 18,
2019
|
|
USD
1,000,000
|
Subject to satisfactory due diligence by Wealth, which will be
completed within 60 days, Wealth and MYM will execute an assignment
agreement whereby MYM will assign all of its rights under the
Option Agreement in consideration of reimbursement of the
USD 150,000 initial payment and
issuance to MYM of 100,000 Wealth Shares. There are no work
commitments under the Option Agreement. VMS has agreed to
provide ongoing mining property consultancy services, in order to
secure the completion of the constitution process of the
concessions comprised in the Property and keep them valid and in
good standing throughout the option period, for a monthly fee of
USD 2,000.
The completion of the acquisition of an interest in the Option
Agreement by Wealth is subject to the acceptance for filing thereof
by the TSX Venture Exchange.
Qualified Person
EurGeol Keith J. Henderson, P.Geo., a qualified person as
defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed the scientific
and technical information that forms the basis for this news
release and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Henderson
is a consultant to Wealth, but does hold common shares and
incentive stock options in the Company.
About Wealth Minerals Ltd.
Wealth is a mineral resource company with interests in
Canada, Mexico, Peru
and Chile. The Company's main focus is the acquisition of
Lithium projects in South America,
including interests in the Maricunga Salar in Chile. The Company also maintains a
portfolio of precious and base metal exploration-stage projects,
including Yanamina (Peru) and
Valsequillo (Mexico).
For further details on the Company readers are referred to the
Company's web site (www.wealthminerals.com) and its Canadian
regulatory filings on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors of
WEALTH MINERALS LTD.
"Hendrik van Alphen"
Hendrik
van Alphen
President & CEO
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this press release, which has been prepared by
management.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements and
forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking
statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and US
securities legislation. All statements, other than statements
of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation,
statements regarding the anticipated content, commencement, timing
and cost of exploration programs, anticipated exploration program
results, the discovery and delineation of mineral
deposits/resources/reserves, the Company's expectation that
it will be able to enter into agreements to acquire interests in
additional mineral projects, including lithium projects, the
proposed acquisition by the Company of Li3 and the shares of Li3,
and thereby an interest in the Maricunga Lithium Project; the
proposed execution of formal agreements for the acquisition of an
interest in the Option Agreement and thereby the right to earn an
interest in the Salar de Aguas Calientes; and the anticipated
business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, are
forward-looking statements. Although the Company
believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no
assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.
Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such
as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and
similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to
future events. The Company cautions investors that any
forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of
future results or performance, and that actual results may differ
materially from those in forward looking statements as a result of
various factors, including, but not limited to, the state of
the financial markets for the Company's equity securities, the
state of the commodity markets generally, variations in the
nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be
located, variations in the market price of any mineral products the
Company may produce or plan to produce, the inability of the
Company to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations
required, including TSXV acceptance, for its planned activities,
the inability of the Company to produce minerals from its
properties successfully or profitably, to continue its projected
growth, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to
implement its business strategies, and other risks and
uncertainties disclosed in the Company's latest interim Management
Discussion and Analysis and filed with certain securities
commissions in Canada. All of the Company's Canadian public
disclosure filings may be accessed via
www.sedar.com and readers are urged to review these
materials, including the technical reports filed with respect to
the Company's mineral properties.
Caution Regarding Adjacent or Similar Mineral
Properties
This news release contains information with respect to
adjacent or similar mineral properties in respect of which the
Company has no interest or rights to explore or mine. Readers
are cautioned that the Company has no interest in or right to
acquire any interest in any such properties, and that mineral
deposits, and the results of any mining thereof, on adjacent or
similar properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on the
Company's properties or any potential exploitation thereof.
SOURCE Wealth Minerals Limited