Arizona Lithium will commence drilling up to 131 exploration holes to grow lithium resources at its Big Sandy project. Pic: Getty Images
Arizona Lithium receives green light for Big Sandy lithium drilling
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- Arizona Lithium secures approval from US Bureau of Land Management for drilling at the Big Sandy Lithium Project
- Drilling to expand JORC Resource of 32.5Mt at 1,850ppm lithium by testing validity of estimated exploration target
- Exploration target of 271.1Mt-483.2Mt at 1,000 – >2,000ppm lithium covers 96% of project area
Special Report: Arizona Lithium has received approval from the US Bureau of Land Management to start drilling at the Big Sandy Lithium Project in Arizona.
Big Sandy hosts a very shallow, flat-lying, mineralised, sedimentary indicated and inferred lithium resource of 32.5Mt grading 1,850ppm lithium for 320,800t lithium carbonate equivalent.
This represents just 4% of the project area, which has an exploration target of 271.1Mt-483.2Mt with a grade range of 1,000ppm to in excess of 2,000ppm lithium, giving Arizona Lithium (ASX:AZL) plenty of room for further growth.
Metallurgical testing has succeeded in producing a 99.8% battery grade lithium carbonate, meeting the specifications of major international battery manufacturers.
It also benefits from its proximity to the major cities of Phoenix and Las Vegas, including 960km by sealed interstate highway from Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada.
Drill approval
The receipt of the Permit of Exploration (POE) allows the company to drill 131 exploration holes and collect bulk samples.
Drilling, which will be managed by the Navajo Transitional Energy Company under the Mining Services Agreement the two parties reached in March this year, will begin in July to expand the indicated and inferred resource by testing the validity of the exploration target.
NTEC is the third largest coal producer in the United States.
“We are extremely pleased to have received approval from the Bureau of Land Management for the long awaited follow up drill program at Big Sandy in Arizona,” confirmed Managing Director Paul Lloyd.
“This represents a substantial development opportunity for a deposit that presently contains a JORC resource of 320,800 tonnes LCE. With only 4% of the project drilled to date, we are looking to expand the existing resource and validate the exploration target.”
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.
