VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – TSX-V-listed explorer Advantage Lithium on Wednesday announced results from the fourth hole drilled on the Clayton NE project, in the Clayton Valley of Nevada, reporting the highest-yet results obtained through drilling to date.
Bordering the Silver Peak mine that is operated by Albemarle and is North America’s only producing lithium mine, Hole CNE-17-04 on Clayton NE was drilled to a depth of 609.6 m, and intersected multiple aquifer formations, including a total composite of 426.72 m of brine-producing strata averaging 243.44 mg/ℓ lithium between a depth of 140.21 m to 609.6 m, including a higher-grade interval averaging 274.6 mg/ℓ lithium over 79.2 m, from a depth of 530.35 m to 609.6 m.
The hole, part of a second phase of exploration drilling on the property, extended the mineralised brine trend to 4.46 km, building on the successful Phase 1 programme that defined a 3.43 km mineralised trend.
Importantly, Advantage is drilling deeper into potentially untested aquifers. A previous hole, CNE-16-03, from the Phase 1 programme, was one of the deepest boreholes drilled in the Clayton Valley and, based on results obtained, may have hit a previously untested aquifer.
“These latest results are in line with our previous best hole at the project and, once again, we’ve not only encountered lithium brines relatively close to surface but also at greater depths, which suggests we may have again hit previously untested aquifers. All-in-all, we are making excellent progress towards an initial resource estimate at Clayton NE,” Advantage technical adviser and director Ross McElroy stated.
Advantage, which is earning a 70% stake in the property after funding C$3-million in exploration expenditures on a package of five lithium properties optioned from Nevada Sunrise Gold, has now obtained permits and waivers for future development of a lithium brine resource and wells. In November, it received waivers from the Nevada Division of Water Resources for five of the six permitted holes, which allows for reaming a borehole to a larger diameter well, pump testing, and flow rate determination to provide the necessary technical information for development of an initial lithium brine resource at Clayton NE.