On Friday, the junior has inked a terms sheet for the San Jorge project in Argentina's Catamarca province, offering to issue shares to acquire the vendor Blackearth.

 

Blackearth has an option over San Jorge, which is east of Lithium Power International's proposed Maricunga development. 

 

San Jorge covers some 360sq.km, including 28sq.km of the San Francisco Salar, with early indications the lithium brines should be most concentrated in the centre of the salar or in the south.

 

Consideration for the Blackearth acquisition is an initial 150 million shares, plus further issues at key milestones worth more than A$2 million. 

 

Blackearth's option, if exercised, requires it to invest US$4.5 million and spend $2.95 million until the end of 2025 in a staged earn-in for 100%.

 

Bass will complete due diligence over the next month.

 

It says with forecasts of demand for both graphite and lithium expected to rise substantially, it makes sense to diversify into other battery inputs, to complement its paused Graphmada project in Madagascar, where it is pursuing an expansion.

 

It already has exposure to hard rock lithium, with the virgin Millie's Reward pegmatite project located in central Madagascar.

 

If the brine deal closes, Bass is planning to fund a seismic and geophysical surveys, auger drilling, and pit sampling at San Jorge over the next six months to better understand the prospectivity of the area.  

 

Bass shares, which jumped from 0.7c earlier in the week to 1.2c before a trading halt was called, spiked to a 12-month peak of 1.4c, before dropping 13.6% to 0.9c this morning. 

 

It was trading at 0.2c a year ago.

 

At current levels, the company was worth $36 million. 

 

It started the year with $1.3 million cash.