Canadian junior explorer Spearmint Resources can add its name to the list of companies with an in-ground resource estimate in Clayton Valley, Nevada, which continues to attract global attention as a sought-after lithium address in the US, hosting the only producing lithium deposit in North America.
The company has unveiled a maiden resource estimate of one-million tonnes of lithium-carbonate equivalent (LCE) at its Clayton Valley Lithium Clay project. The estimate includes 815 000 indicated tonnes and 191 000 inferred tonnes.
“This is a monumental milestone for Spearmint as we now have our initial maiden resource for the Clayton Valley Lithium Clay project. We have only drilled a minor number of holes to date to achieve this maiden resource, and we anticipate that additional targeted drilling could increase this initial calculation. We are already formulating a plan to achieve this goal,” said president James Nelson.
Spearmint’s recently completed drill programme, that discovered lithium in all ten out of ten holes, was drilled directly into the shared blanket-like claystone deposit where neighbour Cypress Development Corp already has total measured plus indicated resource estimates of 929.6-million tonnes averaging 1 062 ppm lithium, or 5.2-million tonnes LCE.
Spearmint’s project is located directly between Cypress Development and Pure Energy. Pure has a partnership with Schlumberger and is building a brine pilot plant with $30-million being spent in developments. On the other side of Spearmint’s property, Cypress has recently closed a private placement for $19.55-million to develop their claystone deposit.
“This is a huge benefit to Spearmint to have two major adjacent projects being funded for over $50-million, allowing Spearmint the benefit of a significant outlay of research and development spending on either side of our property, without Spearmint having to commit our own money,” noted Nelson.
“Lithium prices remain high as we continue to see insatiable demand in batteries for electric vehicles without any sign of slowing down, therefore causing a massive demand for ethically sourced, domestic lithium production.”