JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Fieldwork on American Lithium’s Borate Hills project, in Nevada, has commenced, with CEO Hugh Aird saying the company was hoping to “rapidly advance” the lithium and boron deposit.

“We are excited to set in motion the process of proving what we believe is a world-class lithium and boron asset,” he added.

Previous surface sampling had returned grades of 2 750 parts per million (ppm) lithium and 10 000 ppm boron.

The Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation had recently agreed to invest up to $4-million in the project, which was located about 3,2 km from the only producing lithium mine in North America.

American Lithium planned to invest $4,5-million to complete an economic prefeasibility study on the project to advance it to feasibility stage by 2011.

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