Future Battery Minerals is set to launch a second round of drilling at its 80 per cent-owned Nevada lithium project (NLP) in a fortnight as it looks to build on its latest hits from its Western Flats prospect.
Management says its next round of exploration will target three prospects with 3000m of drilling across the ever-expanding project. Previous results from its maiden drilling campaign in March featured 109.7m at 766 parts per million lithium from 135.6m, including 29m grading 1010ppm from 210m, with the mineralisation remaining open. Another hit returned 44.2m going 570ppm from 169m.
Given the company’s promising earlier results, it has secured a bigger drill rig to allow its next probe to reach greater depths. The company has beefed up its Nevada ground, with 36 claims being staked next to the Western Flats and Lone Star prospects.
With permitting now approved, we look forward to commencing drilling within the next two weeks. In addition to planning and preparation works, the team has staked highly prospective ground contiguous to Western Flats and Lone Mountain. The plus 100m thick intercept at WF23-011 remains open to the south and west at depth and given the hole ended in mineralisation, provides the potential for the NLP prospects to host large scale, high tonnage mineralisation. Future Battery Minerals technical director Robin Cox
In June last year, Future Battery Minerals acquired an 80 per cent interest in the NLP from the shareholders of Nevada Australia, who will retain the remaining 20 per cent interest.
The project is situated in prime lithium real estate, with several big sedimentary-hosted deposits calling the area home. They include Ioneer Resources’ Rhyolite Ridge and American Lithium Corporation’s TLC Lithium Project. Albemarle’s Silver Peak operation, which is currently the only producing lithium mine in North America, lies about 45 km to the west of the NLP.
Despite its hotspot location, management says there has been subject to only limited lithium-focused exploration to date. But all that appears set to change.
Additionally, the NLP is located within close proximity to the Tesla Gigafactory and has access to United States ports on the West Coast, providing a clear downstream processing path for any future lithium mineralisation.
And it is not only Tesla that will be keeping a close tab on any lithium that Future Battery Minerals pulls out of the ground. Start-up rival Rivian last week looked set to add about $700 million to its market valuation after the electric vehicle (EV) maker reiterated its annual production forecast and beat quarterly revenue estimates.
Amazon-backed Rivian made 9395 vehicles between January and March, a figure which needs to be kept in perspective given Tesla produced 440,808 in the same period.
However, with Ford also flexing its muscle in the EV space in the US, it is a good time to be fossicking about with the white gold.
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