Drilling Program At Basin East Extension
BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS - Bradda Head Lithium Ltd reported on the next five drill holes of the Basin East Extension (BEE) 2023 drill program. The program has continued to encounter better-than-expected thicknesses of clay confirming that lithium-bearing clays continue and thicken to the west, northwest and north into the Company's BEE lease with probable extensions into adjoining Basin North (BN), and Basin West (BW) claims. These positive indicators are expected to lead to significant resource expansion for the Company this year.
Notable intervals from the next 5 widely spaced sonic core holes continue to be encouraging and include: 81.60m @ 944ppm Li in hole BES23-10, including 19.79m @ 1,325ppm; 82.30m @ 906ppm Li in hole BES23-07, including 20.87m @ 1,324ppm; and 81.98m @ 867ppm Li in hole BES23-06, including 20.73m @ 1,363ppm.
The high-grade unit previously found in Basin East (BE) has similar grades and maintains strong continuity across all of BEE, likely extending into BN and BW. This is very positive for any future mining operation as the high-grade unit sits in the upper clay unit which forms the shallowest part of the deposit, essentially cropping out at BE. The assays have also identified high levels of molybdenum associated with drill holes BES23-06, 07, 09, and 10 and within the high-grade unit of between 109ppm over 22.56m in hole 06 and 187ppm over 16.44m in hole 10. To put that in context, Freeport's Bagdad copper mine (c.6 miles from Basin) which extracts a healthy molybdenum by-product credit has a molybdenum Proven and Probable Reserve grade of c.200ppm.
The new drill results demonstrate the potential for a substantial expansion of the lithium-bearing clay zone at the Basin Project, significantly increasing the potential resource base. The remarkable continuity of the lithium intercepts suggest the presence of extensive lithium mineralisation throughout the project area, indicating the potential for a sizeable lithium deposit. Bradda is targeting a +1Mt LCE (lithium carbonate equivalent) Resource this year, which would trigger the next royalty payment of US$2.5m from LRC.
The lithium-clay mineralisation remains open to the west, and north, indicating further resource upside, as backed up by the previously reported 1Mt to 6Mt LCE JORC Exploration Target identified by SRK. Holes BES23-05, 06, 07, 08, 09 and 10 encountered a thicker and more consistent upper clay thickness on BEE than found at BE. Drilling to date has demonstrated the upper clay gradually thickens to the north, northwest, and to the west towards BW, which is very positive for resource expansion potential into BW. The total upper clay unit is 78.41m in width on average in BEE. To put that in context the average thickness of the upper clay unit at BE is 34.00m in all the previous 34 holes that intercepted upper clay in the last 3 drill programmes (2018, 2021 and 2022). Resource estimation work is now underway to produce an updated Mineral Resource Estimate, with SRK incorporating this new drill data. The recent drill results on BEE solidify Bradda's belief in a widespread and continuous lithium-rich stratigraphic sequence with potential across BN and BW that the Company believe will lead to significant resource growth and opportunity to become a Tier 1 deposit.
Charles FitzRoy, CEO, commented: "We are extremely excited about the potential for significant expansion of the resource at the Basin Project. The high-grade lithium intercepts encountered in the recent drilling campaign demonstrate the exceptional potential of the project and underscore its importance as a potential strategic lithium asset. The 2023 drilling programme at the Basin Project is focussed on further expanding the resource base, delineating additional lithium-rich zones, and is working with SRK to release an updated MRE.
"The Company will soon be kicking off its Phase 3 drill programme at its 23km2 San Domingo pegmatite district in Arizona, with the main aim to delineate a Resource and also to build on the promising results of the maiden drill programme which finished earlier this year."