Vancouver, British Columbia — January 7, 2026 — Leads & Copy — Wealth Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: WML) (OTCQB: WMLLF) (SSE: WMLCL) (FSE: EJZN) announced that the Chilean Ministry of Mining issued an official resolution on January 2, 2026, regarding the application acceptance for a Special Lithium Operating Contract (“CEOL”) for the Kuska Project.
The resolution necessitates that the Chilean Ministry of Mining subdivision, responsible for the CEOL process, reach an agreement with Wealth Minerals and its partners, including the Quechua Indigenous Community of Ollagüe (referred to as the “Kuska Consortium”), on the final terms and conditions to be included in the presidential decree that will certify the CEOL. The resolution states that the Kuska Consortium has met all requirements of the CEOL application.
According to Hendrik van Alphen, CEO of Wealth Minerals, the news means the door to Kuska Project development is now open. He stated that the project has a billion-dollar value as per studies done, announced, and filed in 2024. Van Alphen also noted the timely nature of the news, as global prices for Lithium Carbonate Equivalent have recently recovered from market lows and now exceed US$16,000 per tonne. The company intends to complete the CEOL negotiation this month to finalize the CEOL contract as soon as possible.
Wealth Minerals began developing the Kuska Project, located in the Salar de Ollagüe, Antofagasta Region, Chile, in 2019. The company has completed two exploration campaigns, which 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.
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 an 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.
The Kuska Project is owned by Kuska Minerals LLC, a Chilean legal entity, whereby ownership is 95% for Wealth and 5% for the Quechua Indigenous Community of Ollagüe.
Wealth Minerals Ltd. is a mineral resource company with interests in Canada and Chile, focused on the acquisition and development of lithium projects in South America. The company is presently working to diversify its asset base to include precious metal projects.
The company focuses on battery metal projects where it has a peer advantage in project selection and initial evaluation. Wealth believes that lithium market dynamics and a rapidly increasing metal price are the result of structural issues with the industry meeting anticipated future demand. The company is positioning itself to be a major beneficiary of this future mismatch of supply and demand. In parallel with lithium market dynamics, Wealth believes other battery metals will benefit from similar industry trends.
Hendrik van Alphen, CEO
Marla Ritchie, Michael Pound or Henk van Alphen
Phone: 604-331-0096 or 604-638-3886
John Liviakis
Liviakis Financial Communications Inc.
Phone: 415-389-4670
Nancy Thompson
Vorticom, Inc.
Office: 212-532-2208 | Mobile: 917-371-4053
Source: Wealth Minerals Ltd.
