Well Drilling Preparation At The Columbus Project
VANCOUVER - Canter Resources Corp. has commenced gravel transport and stockpiling in preparation for well drilling at its Columbus Lithium-Boron Project located near Tonopah, Nevada.
"Our field activities continue to ramp up with our first phase of gravel work commencing concurrent with our Geoprobe drilling, so our technical group can oversee both contractors simultaneously. I'm pleased to report that the Company's ongoing 10-hole Geoprobe campaign has encountered two distinct aquifer zones within the upper 30 metres at Columbus," said CEO, Joness Lang. "We have collected two brine samples at similar depths in each hole across a north-south strike length of 1.2 kilometres to-date and hope to see this pattern continue as we aim to demonstrate lateral continuity of these shallow brine generating layers."
The Company is targeting anomalous lithium, boron and potassium mineralization in both the sedimentary clays and shallow brine units from this first phase of shallow Geoprobe drilling. There are distinct differences in composition between the two brine generating zones encountered to-date, with the upper zone at approximately 10-metre depth returning a darker brine within a relatively confined zone and a second significantly broader zone yielding a nearly clear brine at depths between 15-25 metres. The Company's larger-scale target at Columbus remains for testing at greater depths where lithium and boron enriched brines are likely to follow subvertical structures, trap and concentrate; however, the Geoprobe drilling accomplishes multiple objectives by providing valuable geologic and geochemical subsurface profiling across a greater lateral footprint while testing for lithium and boron mineralization within the shallow conductive layers produced by previous MT surveys.
The 10-hole program is expected to take approximately one more week to complete, with results and interpretations from the Geoprobe program to be released once assays are received and vetted by the Company's technical personnel. The Company is following strict QA/QC protocol and procedures for brine sampling. The initial phase of gravel work is expected to also conclude later this week with a total of 1,500 cubic yards of gravel being stockpiled at a designated site at the Project. Once the Company has completed its Geoprobe drilling it will turn its attention to drill site preparations for the first planned exploration well.
Once a favourable lithology depth has been encountered, the advancement of the borehole is paused to commence groundwater sampling. Care is taken so the hole does not advance past the target zone before sampling. A drive-point screen sampler is then driven into the formation at the bottom of the borehole, and the protective sheath around the screen is pulled up to expose the screen. Groundwater is then lifted to the surface using a 20 to 50 mL stainless steel bailer with a check valve, which rests flush within the screen sampler. Approximately two initial bails are lifted to purge the sample depth, and general geochemical parameters (Temperature, pH, TDS, and Specific Conductivity) are measured and recorded from each bail. Sampling using the bailer continues to obtain the necessary 350 mL of groundwater for sampling. All bailed groundwater is collected in a separate container to blend the sample prior to filling the sample bottles, and a second suite of general geochemical parameters of the blended sample is recorded. The sample set consists of one 250 mL bottle filled to the brim, and two additional 250 mL bottles filled to at least 50 mL. No field filtering occurs. The bailer line is kept clean during each lift to prevent contamination of the samples.