July 5, 2026, 9:05 PM EDT. Patagonia Lithium (ASX:PL3) started drilling Well 8 at its Cilon concession in Argentina after wrapping up an A$11.4 million capital raise. The target depth is 600m. The company got to 38m so far and put in steel casing, with the first porosity test coming at 70m. Patagonia also lodged its EIA response for a demo plant and got a positive ruling over Indigenous rights, moving permitting ahead. Well 8 will feed into an upgrade for the current Mineral Resource Estimate, which is 551,400 tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent at 294 mg/L. The planned demonstration plant is set for 1,000 tonnes annual capacity and is needed to unlock project finance. Next up: approvals from the community and government for construction.