The investigation follows testwork results on brine from HMW in Argentina delivering a 25% increase in grade to 6% lithium.
The increase was achieved by using reagents to remove impurities, on the advice of consultant Ad-infinitum.
The grade achieved is said by Galan to be more than double the average concentrate grade of Australian spodumene producers, and equivalent to SQM's and Albemarle's concentrate produced from the Atacama basin in Chile.
If results continue to stack up, "Galan may then have the flexibility to place its lithium for downstream products anywhere in the world without the burden of high logistics costs, high CO2 footprint and/or waste management".
Scoping work completed last quarter pointed to HMW costing US$439 million to develop, with the 40-year project to produce 20,000tpa of battery grade lithium carbonate equivalent.
In January Galan raised A$10 million in a placement, at which time it had estimated cash of $14.6 million.
Shares in Galan jumped 11.7% to 52.5c, valuing the company at $126 million.
