Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE, OTCQB:LLKKF) has appointed Stu Crow as executive chairman to oversee an operations realignment over the next six months.
The clean lithium developer is repositioning to serve critical energy mineral supply chains in North America and Asia, and Crow will champion that transition throughout 2022.
In the role, Crow plans to appoint a chief executive, managing director and new board members, as well as establish offices in the US to carry out Lake’s strategic vision.
That search is already well underway, and Lake is in touch with candidates who could bring production, operations and market expertise to the table.
Out to become leading global producer
Touching on the company’s operational vision today, Lake’s new executive chair said: “Our aspirational target is to reach capacity of 100,000 tonnes of lithium brine per annum by 2030, which will underpin Lake’s ambition to become a leading global producer of sustainable, high-purity lithium.
“We are now establishing a North American presence to serve our offtake customers, continue to work with our US-based technology partner and engage capital markets,” Crow explained.
“We are aligning project delivery, extraction technology, and operations. We are interviewing candidates with exceptional experience for the CEO and managing director role, and also candidates for the board to reflect growth of the company in the US markets.”
Building from Argentina
Lake now has more than 150 people working across its four lithium brine projects in Argentina. It also owns a lithium pegmatite asset in Argentina’s Catamarca Province.
Based on this portfolio, Crow said the company had one of the largest lithium lease holdings in the country, amounting to more than 2,200 square kilometres.
Lake wholly owns the majority of its leases, although technology partner Lilac Solutions has the right to earn up to 25% of the large-scale Kachi project upon achieving certain milestones.
Managing director Steve Promnitz has played an important role in staking Lake’s Argentinian claims. Now, however, as the focus shifts to US markets, he plans to depart the company.
“We are exceptionally grateful for Steve’s pioneering efforts in project generation to establish Lake’s presence in Argentina,” executive chairman Crow stated.
He went on to say that Promnitz was also key in the early identification of direct lithium extraction and the alignment with Lilac Solutions.
“As project financing becomes increasingly tied to ESG credentials, new lithium projects will need to adhere to strict ESG standards, and Steve recognised this very early on,” he explained.
Signing off, Crow said the market would be fully informed of the transition and appointment of new executives and board members.
To this end, he anticipated that Lake would have news to share in the coming weeks.
