22 May
2024
Bradda Head Lithium
Ltd
("Bradda Head",
"BHL" or the "Company")
Drilling Completed at Basin Lithium-in-Clay
Project & San Domingo Pegmatite Project Update
Bradda Head Lithium Ltd (AIM:BHL,
TSX-V:BHLI), the North America-focused lithium development
group, is pleased to provide an update on work at its Basin Project in Arizona. The
lithium-in-clay, resource-expansion drilling programme has
concluded with the completion of eight drill holes on the Basin
North target portion of the Basin project. A resource expansion
from 1.08 million tons (MT) to a minimum of 2.5 MT of lithium
carbonate equivalent (LCE) would generate a US$3 million royalty
payment to Bradda Head from Lithium Royalty Company
(LRC).
To date, partial results have been received,
with the remainder still pending and the Company will make further
announcements as these are received in full.
The Company has also been working on the next
phase of exploration at San Domingo hard rock Pegmatite Project and
is excited to present a brief description of the next work program
where several high-profile pegmatite targets have received little
if any exploration and present excellent opportunities for growth.
In addition, follow-up on last year's drilling and this year's
channel sampling are planned.
Highlights:
Basin Project
·
Average hole depth of 285 meters (934 feet) with a range of
231 to 387 meters (757 to 1,269 feet) in a total of 2,353 meters
(7,720 feet) drilled This was less than the 2,682 meters (8,800
feet) initially envisaged as a result of finding shallower clay
targets than anticipated
·
Further resource increase anticipated following the
definition of a window 900 meters wide (east-west) by 1,780 meters
in length (north-south), consistent continuous lithium-bearing
Upper and Lower Clay units, it has the potential to continue
expanding, being wide open in all directions
·
Thickest Upper Clay unit at 103 meters in the center of the
drill pattern discovered at hole BND24-19
· Two
holes were drilled on State Lands and designed to capture lower
clay; substantially increasing the lower clay reach from Basin East
to the northern end of Basin North, a linear distance of
3.3km
·
Program was successfully completed under budget and without
any environmental or safety incidents
· Completion of this program has
produced promising visual results, Bradda Head's geology team are
now able to recognise that the clays contained strong
characteristics of high lithium values, and are greatly encouraged
by the clays seen in the past eight drill holes
· The
Qualified Person (QP) has made a site visit and was provided with
all the geological and technical information, and the geologic
block model has been revised to reflect the new intervals from
drill hole lithologies and peripheral surficial geology
Figure 1. Basin drill hole distribution, land, geology, 2023
resource boundaries (inferred and indicated).
Basin Project
Permitting Update
A Basin West drilling permit kick-off meeting
was also held with the BLM in April and organised to initiate the
NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process for development of
the EA (Environmental Assessment) Report that, once approved, will
allow the Company to commence drilling. This process follows the
BLM's letter of EPO (Exploration Plan of Operations) completeness
which the Company received earlier this year, and marks an
important step on expanding our ability to extend exploration over
the very promising Basin West target.
San
Domingo Pegmatite Project
· A
well thought out, and detailed exploration programme is planned for
the second half of this year on the Company's San Domingo Project,
building on the success of the two previous drilling campaigns. At
this moment the plans include a design to offset 2023 drill hole
high-grade intercepts at Morning Star, White Ridge, and Midnight
Owl, surface sampling (channel, rock, soil) on new targets
accompanied by detailed geologic and structural mapping, then
access review for drill hole permitting
· A
summer program of planned geologic/structural mapping, channel,
rock chip, and soil sampling on unexplored soil anomaly/pegmatite
targets
·
Follow-up drilling to strategically offset last year's high
grade drill hole intercepts where feasible
·
Exploration of the following greenfield targets: Yellowstone,
Thunder, Dragon, Lone Giant, Road Runner, in addition to recently
staked lands to the northwest and south where pegmatites and
greenstone are present: all targets have excellent upside
potential
· Yellowstone is a 900x900 meter
undrilled target with multiple lithium-caesium-rubidium anomalies,
and where spodumene was identified in the field during cursory
reconnaissance
· Dragon is an undrilled
pegmatite target with surface grab samples up to 7.99%
Li2O and 10 out of 48 surface samples >0.50%
Li2O
San Domingo Pegmatite
Project Update
The Company is diligently working on the next
phase of exploration at the 100% owned San Domingo pegmatite
project. The team believe that there is excellent potential to find
new lithium bearing pegmatites given the extensive size of the
nearly 33 square kilometer property and limited amount of ground
coverage to date. In addition, to developing new targets, there
will be follow-up on last year's drill hole intercepts, as well as
this year's excellent channel sampling at Morning Star, White
Ridge, and Midnight Owl. The future plan will be to strategically
place drill holes to test channel sample mineralization and offset
down-hole mineralization in order to grow resource potential at all
three targets.
The summer program is expected to include
geologic/structural mapping, channel and rock chip sampling, and
additional soil sampling to refine targets for potential drilling,
specific details of which will follow later. The Yellowstone
target, for example, has multiple lithium-caesium-rubidium
geochemical anomalies across a 900 by 900 meter target area where
spodumene was identified in the field during cursory reconnaissance
and this, as well as other targets, require detailed work to
elevate them to drill target status. The Company remains very
encouraged by the strong soil geochemistry and presence of
spodumene. Additionally, the Company has undrilled targets such as
Dragon, where surface rock chip samples detected up to 7.99%
Li2O from a mine dump sample with 10 out of 48 rock chip
samples containing over 0.50 % Li2O. The Dragon area
will be the focus of channel sampling, taking advantage of
excellent road access to several historic and shallow lithium
prospects.
Ian Stalker,
Executive Chair, commented:
"Now that
drilling has concluded and the
visual aspects of the clays appear promising, we await the
geochemical results that we believe will support the MRE expansion
from 1.08 MT to over 2.5 MT of LCE. We are confident that this is
an exciting and promising clay project in west central Arizona and
are proud to be contributing to lithium expansion in the
USA.
"We look forward to
providing further updates for all our stakeholders as the results
come in from Basin, as well as more details on our forthcoming
plans for San Domingo."
QAQC
Core samples were cut and sampled at the core
shed under the supervision of Joey Wilkins, the Company's COO. The
drill core was cut in half and one-half bagged, labelled, and
tied-off. Samples were placed in a secure container until the hole
was complete then shipped direct to SGS Laboratories in Burnaby,
B.C., Canada where they prepped then analysed all samples using
4-acid digest with ICP-AES. Certified standards were inserted into
the sample stream to ensure quality control at the laboratory. Mr.
Wilkins consents to the inclusion of the technical information in
this release and context in which it appears.
Qualified
Person (BHL)
Joey Wilkins, B.Sc., P.Geo.,
is Chief Operating Officer at BHL and the Qualified
Person who reviewed and approved the technical disclosures in this
news release. Mr. Wilkins is a graduate of
the University of Arizona with a B.Sc. in Geology
with more than 38 years of experience in mineral exploration and is
a qualified person under the AIM Rules and a Qualified Person as
defined under NI-43-101. Mr. Wilkins consents to the
inclusion of the technical information in this release and context
in which it appears.
THIS
ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE
MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (EU No. 596/2014) AS IT FORMS PART
OF UK DOMESTIC LAW BY VIRTUE OF THE EUROPEAN
UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018. UPON THE PUBLICATION OF THIS
ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS INSIDE
INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND SUCH
PERSONS SHALL THEREFORE CEASE TO BE IN POSSESSION OF INSIDE
INFORMATION.
For further information please visit the
Company's website: www.braddaheadltd.com.
ENDS
Contact:
Bradda Head Lithium
Limited
|
+44 (0) 1624 639 396
|
Ian Stalker, Executive Chairman
Denham Eke, Finance Director
|
|
|
|
Beaumont Cornish
(Nomad)
|
+44 (0) 2076 283 396
|
James Biddle / Roland Cornish
|
|
|
|
Panmure Gordon
(Joint Broker)
|
+44 (0) 2078 862 500
|
Hugh Rich
|
|
|
|
Shard Capital (Joint
Broker)
|
+44 (0) 2071 869 927
|
Damon Heath / Isabella Pierre
|
|
|
|
Red Cloud (North
American Broker)
|
+1 416 803 3562
|
Joe Fars
|
|
|
|
Tavistock (Financial
PR)
|
+ 44 20 7920 3150
|
Nick Elwes / Josephine Clerkin
|
braddahead@tavistock.co.uk
|
About Bradda Head Lithium
Ltd.
Bradda Head Lithium Ltd. is a North
America-focused lithium development group. The Company currently
has interests in a variety of projects, the most advanced of which
are in Central and Western Arizona: The Basin
Project (Basin East Project, and the Basin West Project)
and the Wikieup Project.
The Basin East Project has an Indicated
Mineral Resource of 17 Mt at an average grade of
940 ppm Li and 3.4% K for a total of 85 kt LCE and
an Inferred Mineral Resource of 210 Mt at an average grade of
900 ppm Li and 2.8% K (potassium) for a total of
1.09 Mt LCE. In the rest of the Basin Project SRK
has determined an Exploration Target of 250 to 830 Mt
of material grading between 750 to 900 ppm Li, which is
equivalent to a range of between 1 to 4 Mt contained
LCE. The Group intends to continue to develop its three phase
one projects in Arizona, whilst endeavouring to unlock value
at its other prospective pegmatite and brine assets
in Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. All of Bradda
Head's licences are held on a 100% equity basis and are in close
proximity to the required infrastructure. Bradda Head is
quoted on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange with the
ticker of BHL and on the TSX Venture Exchange with a
ticker of BHLI.
Technical
Glossary
Kt
|
Thousand tonnes
|
Ppm
|
Parts per million
|
Exploration
Target
|
An estimate of the exploration potential of a mineral
deposit in a defined geological setting where the statement or
estimate, quoted as a range of tonnes and a range of grade (or
quality), relates to mineralisation for which there has been
insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource.
|
Inferred Mineral
Resource
|
That part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity
and grade (or quality) are estimated on the basis of limited
geological evidence and sampling. Geological evidence is sufficient
to imply but not verify geological grade (or quality) continuity.
It is based on exploration, sampling and testing information
gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as
outcrops, trenches, pits, workings, and drill holes. An
Inferred Mineral Resource has a lower level of confidence than that
applying to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted
to an Ore Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the
majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to
Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration.
|
Indicated Mineral
Resource
|
That part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity,
grade (or quality), densities, shape and physical characteristics
are estimated with sufficient confidence to allow the application
of Modifying Factors in sufficient detail to support mine planning
and evaluation of the economic viability of the deposit.
Geological evidence is derived from adequately detailed and
reliable exploration, sampling and testing gathered through
appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches,
pits, workings, and drill holes, and is sufficient to assume
geological and grade (or quality) continuity between points of
observation where data and samples are gathered.
|
Sn
|
Tin
|
Ta2O5
|
Tantalum pentoxide
|
Forward-Looking
Statements
Neither TSX
Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term
is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This
News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements" which
are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements
include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future
plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the
Company or management expects a stated condition or result to
occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms
as "believes", "anticipates", "intends to", "expects", "estimates",
"may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking
statements are based on assumptions and address future events and
conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and
uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information
currently available to the Company, the Company provides no
assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations.
Risks, uncertainties, and other factors involved with
forward-looking information could cause actual events, results,
performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from
those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.
Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is
not limited to, following: The Company's objectives, goals, or
future plans. Factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from such forward-looking information include, but are
not limited to: failure to identify mineral resources; failure to
convert estimated mineral resources to reserves; delays in
obtaining or failures to obtain required regulatory, governmental,
environmental or other project approvals; political risks; future
operating and capital costs, timelines, permit timelines, the
market and future price of and demand for lithium, and the ongoing
ability to work cooperatively with stakeholders, including the
local levels of government; uncertainties relating to the
availability and costs of financing needed in the future; changes
in equity markets, inflation, changes in exchange rates,
fluctuations in commodity prices; delays in the development of
projects, capital and operating costs varying significantly from
estimates; an inability to predict and counteract the effects of
COVID-19 on the business of the Company, including but not limited
to the effects of COVID-19 on the price of commodities, capital
market conditions, restriction on labour and international travel
and supply chains; and the other risks involved in the mineral
exploration and development industry, and those risks set out in
the Company's public documents filed on SEDARplus. Although the
Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing
the forward-looking information in this news release are
reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such
information, which only applies as of the date of this news
release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur
in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Company disclaims any
intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
information, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise, other than as required by law.
Beaumont Cornish
Limited ("Beaumont Cornish") is the Company's Nominated Adviser and
is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Beaumont Cornish's
responsibilities as the Company's Nominated Adviser, including a
responsibility to advise and guide the Company on its
responsibilities under the AIM Rules for Companies and AIM Rules
for Nominated Advisers, are owed solely to the London Stock
Exchange. Beaumont Cornish is not acting for and will not be
responsible to any other persons for providing protections afforded
to customers of Beaumont Cornish nor for advising them in relation
to the proposed arrangements described in this announcement or any
matter referred to in it.