Spearmint hits Nevada lithium resource milestone
Spearmint Resources Inc. [SRJ-TSXV; SPMTF-OTCBB; A2AHL5-FSE] on Friday June 11 released a maiden resource estimate for its 100%-owned Clayton Valley lithium clay project in Nevada.
The Clayton Valley project is estimated to contain 815,000 indicated tonnes and 191,000 inferred tonnes for a total of just over 1.0 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE).
Spearmint’s property portfolio includes lithium prospects in the Clayton Valley of Nevada, comprising two claim blocks covering 1,160 acres. The claim blocks border properties held by Cypress Development Corp. [CYP-TSXV; CYDVF-OTCBB; C1Z1-FSE] and Pure Energy Minerals Ltd. [PE-TSXV; HMGLF-OTC; AHG1-SE].
Pure Energy has a partnership with Schlumberger Ltd. [SLB-NYSE] and is planning to build a brine plant as part of developments that are expected to cost of around US$30 million.
Spearmint’s Clayton Valley project is located 55 kilometres west of the town of Tonopah. It consists of 26 contiguous unpatented placer claims covering 360 hectares and is accessible via a paved highway.
Spearmint President James Nelson said the maiden resource announcement is a “monumental milestone” for the company. “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 the initial calculation. We are already formulating a plan to achieve this goal.”
Nelson said Spearmint’s recently completed drill program discovered lithium in all of the 10 holes, intersecting lithium values as high as 1,840 ppm Li.
The holes were drilled directly into the shared blanket-like claystone deposit where neighbour Cypress Development Corp. already has a measured plus indicated resource estimates of 929.6 million tonnes averaging 1,062 ppm Li or 5.2 million tonnes.
The maiden resource has been announced after Spearmint recently received preliminary metallurgical test results from the Clayton Valley project.
The company said preliminary results from a composite claystone sample indicate lithium extractions of 80% with a sulfuric acid addition of 500 kilograms per tonne and 83% with a hydrochloric acid addition of 375 kilograms per tonne.
Further testing is being planned to optimize leaching conditions, the company said in a press release.
“Lithium prices remain high as we continue to see insatiable demand in batteries for electric vehicles without any sign of slowing down, therefore causing massive demand for ethically sourced domestic lithium production” said Nelson.
He said the company has $3.5 million in the treasury and is fully funded for all upcoming work/drill programs on three other projects. They are the Goose gold project in Newfoundland, the Perron-East gold project in Quebec and the Escape Lake North PGM project in Ontario.