VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Following the successful first phase of exploration drilling at the prospective Clayton NE lithium property, in Nevada, exploration partners Nevada Sunrise Gold and option holder Advantage Lithium have started a second phase of drilling on the property.

Located next to North America’s only producing lithium operation, Albemarle’s Silver Peak operation, in the coveted Clayton Valley, drilling will entail about 1 800 m in three reverse circulation holes, expected to test depths of at least 600 m each.

Using a similar approach to the Phase 1 programme conducted in 2016, which hit wide intercepts of lithium brine with strong brine flow rates, the new holes will focus on high-priority conductive horizons identified and imaged in the 2016 three-dimensional resistivity survey and confirmed by drilling to be lithium-bearing brines, close to several of Albemarle’s current production wells. 

"Advantage Lithium has made the decision to proceed with additional drilling at Clayton NE, and we are pleased that this work is under way. Good results from the Phase 2 programme will bring us a step closer to evaluating the potential lithium brine resource on the property,” Nevada Sunrise president and CEO Warren Stanyer stated on Tuesday.

The 2017 exploration programme will aim at expanding the 3.43-km-long mineralised brine trend, defined by the initial phase of drilling to a potential strike length of 5.6 km.

The exploration campaign will also target a deep-lying potential new and previously untapped aquifer, discovered during the first-phase programme.

Meanwhile, the partners have obtained the required permits and waivers that will assist in developing the lithium brine resource and commercial wells. In November, Nevada Sunrise received waivers from the Nevada Division of Water Resources for five of the six permitted holes, which allow for reaming a borehole to a larger diameter well, pump testing, and flow rate determination in order to provide the necessary technical information for development of a lithium-brine resource at Clayton NE, the company advised.

The Phase 1 programme encountered strong brine flows of up to 455 litres a minute and should a larger diameter hole be drilled to further develop an exploratory borehole, the company expects that brine flows will increase significantly. High brine flows are important for economic lithium production from brines.

The Clayton NE project is subject to an option earn-in agreement where Advantage can earn up to a 70% interest in the project after fulfilling C$3-million in exploration expenditures on a package of five lithium properties optioned from Nevada Sunrise. Nevada Sunrise is the project manager at Clayton NE on behalf of Advantage Lithium, the operator.