Voltaic Minerals Corp. said Jan. 27 that it entered a 50/50 joint venture deal with Equitorial Exploration Corp. over the early stage Green Energy lithium project in Utah.

Equitorial will invest C$250,000 in Voltaic through the latter's C$900,000 private placement comprising 15 million units at 6 cents apiece. Each unit will consist of 1 common share and 0.5 of a common share purchase warrant, with each full warrant exercisable at 12 cents per share for three years.

Voltaic will use the proceeds for exploration at Green Energy and to advance its proprietary lithium extraction process, for which Voltaic is finalizing an exclusive right of use with the inventors.

Upon securing the proprietary process, the company expects to begin phase-one work in February, with initial results expected within 90 days of finalizing a definitive agreement.

Equitorial will also reserve 5 million shares for Voltaic, to be issued upon successful production of lithium from Green Energy brine, using Voltaic's lithium process.