Wealth Minerals' New Subsidiary Kuska Minerals Is Officially Established and Its Board Meets for the First Time
Wealth Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: WML) (OTCQB: WMLLF) (SSE: WMLCL) (FSE: EJZN) (the "Company" or "Wealth") announces the completion of the formation of its subsidiary Kuska Minerals SpA ("Kuska Minerals"), in which it has partnered with the Quechua Indigenous Community of Ollagüe ("Ollagüe Community") to further advance the development of the Kuska lithium project in the Salar de Ollagüe, Antofagasta Region, Chile (see news release dated May 27, 2025).
Along with the formation of the new company, its board of directors was established and held its first meeting. The board is composed of Mr. Hendrik "Henk" van Alphen, Mr. Marcelo Awad, Mr. Francisco Lepeley, Mr. Stephen Foot, and Mr. Victor Nina Huanca. The latter is the representative designated by the Ollagüe Community, exercising its right to appoint a member of the Kuska Minerals board.
In its first meeting, the board of directors agreed on certain operating rules and elected Mr. Marcelo Awad as chairman. Additionally, the progress of the Kuska project was discussed, as well as all the upcoming tasks the company will undertake. In this regard, the company reports that, according to publicly available information, the Ministry of Mining is leading an indigenous consultation process for Ollagüe and a small number of other locations, where it has decided to prioritize the granting of Special Lithium Operating Contracts (CEOLs) as a precondition for granting such contracts. In the case of Kuska Minerals, the company hopes to have a CEOL in the near-term, in order to complete the second exploration campaign, and initiate the pre-feasibility study and, in parallel, the environmental impact assessment.
Regarding the formation of the Kuska Minerals board of directors, Henk van Alphen, Wealth's CEO and Kuska Minerals' board member, stated, "We are very pleased to see the JV with the Quechua Indigenous Community of Ollagüe become a reality and to share the new board with Víctor Nina. Since our arrival in the Ollagüe territory more than five years ago, we have been planning this joint venture, which will allow us to develop the lithium project with the highest standards of participation and transparency, thus ensuring that the community directly benefits from the project in several ways."
Meanwhile, Víctor Nina Huanca, president of the Quechua Indigenous Community of Ollagüe and new director of Kuska Minerals, said, "Not only are we making history by being the first mining project or operation in Chile to integrate the community into its property, but this association format and my participation on the board of directors will allow us to ensure that the project is carried out with due respect and care for the environment of our territory, always keeping in mind the principles of our Cosmovision. Our community supports the execution of this project and hopes that the required permits, including the CEOL, are granted in a timely manner."
About the Kuska Project
The Kuska Project is located on 10,200 hectares in the Salar de Ollagüe area, Antofagasta Region, Chile. Wealth Minerals Ltd. began developing the Project in 2019 and has completed two exploration campaigns to date, which also led to the publication of an initial resource estimate ("Estimated Lithium Resources Ollagüe Project" published on SEDAR+ on January 13, 2023) under Canadian NI 43-101 standards. The study estimates indicated resources of 741,000 tonnes of Lithium Carbonate Equivalent ("LCE") with an average concentration of 175 mg/L, in addition to inferred resources of 701,000 tonnes of LCE with an average grade of 185 mg/L. Additionally, the Company has advanced the study of various direct lithium extraction ("DLE") technologies and published a preliminary economic assessment ("PEA") in February 2024, prepared by DRA Global Limited, which yielded very attractive profitability values (IRR of 33% and a NPV at 10% discount of US$1.65 billion, pre-tax in both cases) for a 20,000 tonne LCE per year project with a 20-year mine life. In September 2024, the Chilean government announced that Ollagüe had been selected as part of an initial shortlist of salt flats being prioritized for CEOLs. It has opened application processes for this project, in which Wealth participated. From now on, the new company, Kuska Minerals, will take ownership and control of the Project. The Kuska Project has been an example of mining project development with community involvement, which will be reinforced with the formation of the new company.
Wealth Minerals | www.wealthminerals.com
