Frontier Lithium Hires Lithium Expert Dr. Naizhen Cao as Vice President of Technology
SUDBURY, ON, Feb. 22, 2021 /CNW/ - Frontier Lithium Inc. (TSXV: FL) (OTCQB: LITOF) (FSE: HL2) is pleased to announce the hiring of Dr. Naizhen Cao as Vice President Technology. Dr. Cao is an industry veteran having worked both in China and Canada as senior technical leader with expertise in lithium and battery materials. During his career, he held several key positions within the lithium industry including: Chief Scientist at Tianqi Lithium, a global lithium producer, where he managed the Technical Division and established the Key Lab of Lithium resources and lithium materials of the Sichuan Province of China. In addition, Dr. Cao launched and led key project on lithium materials production. Most recently Dr. Cao was Chief Technology Officer for a subsidiary of CATL, where he participated in all aspects of lithium mining and concentrate production. Mr. Cao published more than 50 scientific papers and filed more than 60 patents with particular proficiency in battery materials with specific focus on lithium chemicals and metal/alloys. Dr. Cao holds a Ph.D., from Tsinghua University, China, in Materials Science and engineering and held a Postdoc at Laval University, Canada in Chemical Engineering.
"Dr. Cao will be assuming the new role of VP Technology at Frontier Lithium as we grow and transition from an exploration company towards development of lithium chemicals from the Great Lakes region of North America." commented Trevor Walker, President & CEO of Frontier Lithium. "Dr. Cao brings a rare combination of technical and operational skill sets that perfectly suits our current and future stages of development. He will be working closely with our technology partners on our patent pending process which is currently being piloted, as well future demonstration and commercialization stages. We have built very strong technical partnerships and now with the addition of Dr. Cao we are significantly de-risking our project execution with the goal of producing premium chemicals."
Other Matters
The Company also announces that pursuant to its "Stock Option Plan" it has re-established 6,813,334 stock options, previously cancelled on September 9, 2020, to certain employees, officers, directors and strategic advisors. The options are set for a period of five years, expiring on February 23, 2026. The options are priced at $1.05 and are subject to regulatory approval.
About Frontier
Frontier Lithium ( TSX.V: FL ) ( OTCQB: LITOF ) ( FSE: HL2 ) is a Sudbury Ontario based, publicly listed, junior mining company with the largest land position in an emerging premium lithium mineral district located in the Great Lakes region of northern Ontario . The company maintains 100% interest in the PAK Lithium Project which contains one of North America's highest-grade, large tonnage hard-rock lithium resources in the form of a rare low-iron spodumene. The Project has significant upside exploration potential. Frontier is a pre-production business that is targeting the manufacturing of battery quality lithium hydroxide in the Great Lakes Region to support electric vehicle and battery supply chains in North America. Frontier maintains a tight share structure with management ownership approximately 30% of the Company.
About PAK Lithium Project
The PAK Lithium Project encompasses 26,774 hectares at the south end of Ontario's Electric Avenue, the largest land package hosting lithium bearing pegmatites in Ontario. The Project covers 65 km of the Avenue length and remains largely unexplored; however, since 2013 the company has delineated two premium spodumene bearing lithium deposits located 2.3 km from each other at the southwestern end of the project. The recent Preliminary Economic Assessment initial results announced an post-tax NPV(8%) of USD 974M with a 21% IRR.
The PAK deposit hosts a rare "technical grade" spodumene maintaining low inherent iron levels (below 0.1% Fe2O3) and contains a pit constrained mineral resource in the measured and indicated categories of 5.4 million tonnes averaging 1.99% Li2O and a pit constrained inferred mineral resource of 0.60 million tonnes averaging 1.97% Li2O. The PAK deposit also contains an underground constrained mineral resource in the measured and indicated categories of 1.3 million tonnes averaging 2.15% Li2O and an underground constrained mineral resource in the inferred category of 2.1 million tonnes averaging 2.38% Li2O. The Spark deposit is located only 2km northwest of the PAK deposit and contains a pit constrained mineral resource estimate of 3.3 million tonnes averaging 1.59% Li2O in the indicated category and a pit constrained mineral resource of 15.7 million tonnes averaging 1.31% Li2O in the inferred category., as per the initial results supporting an upcoming NI 43-101 Technical Report, "2020 Preliminary Economic Assessment, Fully Integrated PAK Lithium Project" by BBA Engineering Ltd.
Frontier has also confirmed the presence of spodumene with the Bolt pegmatite, between PAK and Spark deposits and the Pennock Lake pegmatite occurrence a further 30 km along the Project. Frontier's premier Great Lakes location is advantaged by favorable geology, proven metallurgy with access to intermodal hubs, infrastructure, power, and mining along with downstream lithium processing expertise and auto OEM's.
SOURCE Frontier Lithium Inc.
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