ASX-listed Fulcrum Lithium has announced a maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) for its wholly-owned Alkali Flats project, in Esmeralda County, in Nevada, in the US.

The company says this is a major milestone, with a large-scale lithium resource estimate delivered within 12 months from discovery.

Fulcrum says the total resource defined by the maiden MRE of 10.7-million tonnes of contained lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) represents a resource of globally significant scale and comparable in size to several advanced lithium claystone projects in Nevada.

The company says this includes American Battery Technology’s Tonopah Flats project (18.7-million tonnes LCE) and American Lithium Corp’s TLC project (ten-million tonnes LCE) and currently is the seventh largest reported estimate of domestic lithium resources in the US.

Fulcrum adds that the high degree of geological spatial continuity of the Alkali Flats lithium deposit, assessed from the 44 drill hole penetrations, combined with higher density drill spacing (about 600 m) in the core of the deposit, have strongly supported a significant proportion of the resource estimate to have a higher confidence resource classification.

The total measured and indicated resource of 4.3-million tonnes LCE represents 40% of the total resource.

Accompanying the large resource estimate, the company says opportunities for future drilling to further upgrade the resource, focusing on the shallower, higher-grade domains of the resource, which vector to the south-east of the deposit, provide clear targets for future growth of higher confidence and higher value resources.

Following this major milestone, Fulcrum says work will continue to focus on identifying the lowest-cost processing options through the multi-pathway metallurgical testwork programme that is already under way, building off the positive results from the initial metallurgical programme, which achieved lithium extractions of up to 96%.

“The Alkali Flats maiden MRE is an outstanding result for Fulcrum. To deliver such a large-scale resource, that the company set out to deliver from initial public offering, is a credit to the team that identified the potential of the project and efficiently delivered the exploration and appraisal programmes over the last 18 months,” says Fulcrum COO Scott Keenan.

He adds that the maiden MRE further instils confidence that Alkali Flats has the potential to be a significant future domestic source of lithium for the US.

“Alkali Flats possesses multiple natural advantages for accelerated development and, being situated in a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction and the most active and prolific hub of advanced lithium deposits in the US, provides a strong platform to support future development potential,” Keenan adds.