Lithium Americas Enters Collaboration Agreement with Arena Minerals (yahoo.com)

"Americas Corp. (TSX: LAC) (NYSE: LAC) ("Lithium Americas" or the "Company") has entered a Pastos Grandes Technical Collaboration Agreement (“Collaboration Agreement”) with Arena Minerals Inc. (TSX-V: AN) ("Arena"). The intention of the Collaboration Agreement is to share technical information and explore opportunities for collaborating on potential development alternatives with the overall objective of optimizing the production profile of the Pastos Grandes basin."

Read the entire PR for all the details, but I will pick out one to focus on in relationship to the recent subject review here on the Discussion Forum:  DLE.

I know I also posted that we should bump the topic of DLE over to the Off Topic Forum, however, I had no idea at the time I posted comments about DLE that the subject of DLE would come up almost immediately thereafter in an LAC Press Release, but... it did!

One of the points of reference in the LAC PR above is as follows:

"potential alternative direct lithium extraction technologies"

I am glad to see that DLE is "on the table" for development and review by LAC.  I would have been quite disappointed had LAC management taken any other view than "let's see if it floats".  It certainly doesn't mean that LAC is immediately going to change directions and switch over to DLE with all of their brine mining, not in the least, but it looks like they are definitely keeping their nose to the wind about this technology as it winds through the process of moving from lab to the field over the years to come.  

I don't see how DLE would be pertinent to Thacker Pass since Thacker Pass will be a lithium clay mine instead of a lithium brine operation, but LAC now has its fingers in multiple pies that include more than one lithium brine extraction location and it almost looks like Jon Evans intends to continue the growth phase of LAC and what LAC might morph into such as at least 2 separate companies in relationship to finding even more lithium mining locations to acquire in the future.  That future may include the possibility of DLE in those pertinent lithium brine situations.... "maybe".  Time will tell.

Moving back to today's PR, there is a lot more in there besides my cherry picked subject out of that PR.

Another paragraph out of that PR really stuck out for me:

"Information to be shared under the Collaboration Agreement includes environmental baseline data, drill hole and sampling databases, processing methodologies and concentration paths, and existing extractive model, including resource and dynamic brine models. However, neither Lithium Americas, Arena or SdlPH will provide, transfer, grant or license any intellectual property to the other, including patents, inventions and know-how."

"patents, inventions and know-how"  How does that jive with everything in the PR that is mentioned as being shared?  If everything itemized in the PR as being "shared" isn't 
"know-how", then what is it?  I am having trouble making these seemingly contradictory statements into a congruency.  What are the opinions of the other members here on this Hub?

Overall, despite the early morning today, fall in LAC share price, I still view this PR as a positive step for the future of LAC.  It would seem that there are multiple benefits to LAC from this close association with Arena Minerals.

On the other hand it would also  seem, at least to me, that the close association with Arena Minerals ( and with it a reinforced closer association with Ganfeng Lithium )  may just increase the chances for a split in the LAC corporate structure into 2 different companies, as annnounced a short time ago as a possibility in the future when Jon Evans threw it up against the wall to see if it would stick in the eyes of LAC investors (present and future investors).

JMO  What is yours?

Okiedo