Patagonia Lithium (ASX:PL3) has seen its shares spike up more than 42% following its release of a maiden inferred mineral resource estimate (MRE) of 3.8 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) for the Formentera lithium brine project in Argentina.

The MRE, which is specifically measured at 3,816,000 tonnes of LCE based on an in-situ lithium metal resource of 717,000 tonnes, puts Formentera in a strong position among other Argentinian lithium plays.

Also revealed in the MRE announcement was the fact the project contains 173,000 tonnes of LCE in free-flowing and capillary areas, enabling Patagonia to plan for a 15-year mine life for the project, producing 10,000 tonnes a year.

Crucially, 85.82% of the MRE’s total brine volume is above a 100-ppm lithium cut-off grade (COG), of which the surface siliciclastics domain comprises 0%, the main salar domain comprises 86.07% above COG, and the high porosity salar domain comprises 100% above COG.

Drilling work is ongoing to enable upgrades, with a focus on the Cilon concession where sub-surface samples of 1,122 parts per million (ppm) lithium have been collected.

Patagonia will be undertaking infill drilling and a range of surveying activities – including a differential global positioning system (DGPS) survey and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) surveying – to upgrade the resource from the inferred category.

Executive chairman Phillip Thomas said the MRE numbers provided Patagonia with optimism and a robust resource to work with.

“We are delighted to announce this robust maiden JORC resource estimate of 3.8 million tonnes LCE,” he said.

“With 717,000 tonnes of lithium metal insitu which confirms our Formentera project as one of the best-undeveloped projects in Argentina with superior brine volumes, specific yield (Sy), high porosity and lithium grades.

“The board will now progress its exploration, application for a demonstration plant, ascoping study and then definitive feasibility study with results from further exploration.”

Patagonia shares last traded at 12 cents each after rising 42.48%.

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