Arizona Lithium has added further lithium project management and engineering experience to its team with the appointment of new chief technical officer Brett Rabe.

Rabe’s appointment comes as the company looks to fast-track the development at Big Sandy, a very shallow, flat lying mineralised sedimentary lithium resource with excellent available infrastructure in Arizona.

Arizona Lithium’s (ASX:AZL) successful 2019 drill program at Big Sandy resulted in the estimation of a total indicated and inferred JORC resource of 32.5 million tonnes grading 1,850 ppm Li for 320,800 tonnes Li2CO.

This represents 4% of the Big Sandy Project area that contains an estimated exploration target of between 271.1Mt to 483.15Mt at 1,000 >2,000ppm Li.

Big Sandy development

AZL managing director Paul Lloyd said with Rabe’s significant experience in engineering and project management at Lithium Americas Corp’s Thacker Pass Project, the company is confident he’ll be able to contribute significantly towards the sustainable development of Big Sandy.

“Thacker Pass represents the most similar project to Big Sandy and, through Brett’s appointment, we’ll be able to apply his learnings to fast tracking the project,” he said.

Currently at the project, an application for a permit of exploration including 145 exploration holes and a bulk sample is awaiting Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approval.

The BLM is continuing its evaluation of the company’s drilling application, and once that process has been completed, AZL will receive a decision on its exploration drilling application.

Previous experience

Rabe is the former vice president of engineering and project management at Lithium Americas Corp (LAC) for the Thacker Pass Project in Nevada, the largest known lithium resource in the United States, and most comparable project to Big Sandy in terms of style and mineralogy.

His role with LAC concluded following the submission of technical design documents required for issuance of the Record of Decision by the US Bureau of Land Management.

He is currently the President of Project Development & Assessment Consultants, specialising in project development and assessment for clients involved in the production of lithium battery chemicals, particularly in early stages of project development.

 

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Arizona Lithium, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

 

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.