Eye on Lithium: Mandrake increases its Utah lithium landholding by 31pc

• Mandrake increases acreage by 31% in Paradox Basin region of Utah
• Lithium Energy kicks off study into lithium carbonate in Argentina
• Atlantic begins auger drilling at the Ewoyaa lithium project in Ghana

All your ASX lithium news for Monday, March 20

Lithium explorer Mandrake Resources (ASX:MAN) has increased its Bureau of Land Management (BLM) acreage by 31%, securing a total of 62,745 acres (approximately 254 km2) of lithium brine prospective ground in the Paradox Basin in Utah, USA.

“A JORC-compliant Exploration Target is expected in Q2 2023, which will assist in communicating to the market the scale of the Utah Lithium Project,” MD James Allchurch said. 

“In parallel with this, preparations are advanced for field activities to commence in the short term.” 

The Paradox Basin includes nearby operators such as lithium developer Anson Resources (ASX:ASN), which has a mineral resource of over 1Mt of lithium carbonate equivalent at an average grade of 124mg/L, as well as the biggest potash producer in the US, Intrepid Potash.

Not to mention, ASX lithium developer Galan Lithium (ASX:GLN) has invested $1.5 million for a 5% stake in Mandrake and will be involved in the project on an ongoing basis in a technical advisory capacity.

Here’s how ASX lithium stocks were tracking today:

A total of 26 stocks were in the green, 45 were flat and 65 were red.

Who has news out today? 

LITHIUM ENERGY (ASX:LEL)

LEL has engaged project management and engineering consultancy Hatch to undertake a study for the production of lithium carbonate in Argentina.

The scoping study will include an engineering study to determine the optimal processing methodology for Solaroz lithium brines and, as part of this work, Hatch will undertake a trade-off study to develop alternative flowsheet configurations.

This will comprise a conventional brine evaporation pond process design, as implemented by Solaroz neighbours, including Allkem (ASX:AKE), the owners of the Olaroz Lithium Facility, and NYSE-listed Lithium Americas Corporation of the Cauchari-Olaroz Project.

The company says direct lithium extraction (DLE) will also be considered, which consists of several chemical processes to replace the need of large evaporation ponds.

ATLANTIC LITHIUM (ASX:A11)

The company has commenced auger drilling at the Ewoyaa lithium project in Ghana.

Approximately 20,000m of auger drilling is planned over a five-month period to test multiple targets identified within the project area and broader Portfolio. 

Auger drilling has now commenced at the Assan target in the north of the project area, with four auger rigs active to test for and define pegmatite footprints. 

Concurrently, a 10,000m resource infill and extensional reverse circulation (RC) and diamond core (DD) drilling will be undertaken, along with a passive seismic geophysics survey to test for potential concealed pegmatite targets within the immediate Ewoyaa Mineral Resource Estimate. 

PATRIOT LITHIUM (ASX:PAT)

The company has extended its Canadian lithium portfolio, adding 830km2 to the previous 334km2 through the staking of additional lithium prospective land, including four new Projects – Pak East, Dryden, Bull and Sydney.

The new projects are located in proven and emerging lithium districts in Ontario, and the company has also extended its existing Gorman and Forest projects.

Patriot plans to undertake a systematic evaluation of all data across the new project areas with field work expected to commence as soon as the weather allows and the team can access the ground.

LOYAL LITHIUM (ASX:LLI)

LLI says a 19.2km Magnetotelluric Survey (MT) across 5 traverses at the Scotty Lithium Project in Nevada, USA has implied a 3.6km2 sedimentary basin beneath the strong lithium-boron soils assay results recorded by Loyal in September 2022. 

The MT results also indicate further potential to the south and north of the project MD Adam Ritchie says. 

“Further, the work conducted on the adjacent property gives us additional confidence, as Nevada Lithium’s 2022 drilling campaign reported exceptional lithium-boron results, and their recent testwork has successfully produced battery grade lithium carbonate from core samples,” he said.

“If mineralised, the Target 2 sedimentary basin would indicate a significant quantity of lithium sediments. The implied basin geometry could also support traditional mining methods.” 

AUROCH MINERALS (ASX:AOU)

Auroch has stumbled upon, and confirmed, an LCT-pegmatite discovery at the Kangaroo Hills Lithium Project in Western Australia after hitting spodumene bearing pegmatites in four drill holes.

One of the holes intersected a 35m thick pegmatite and has since been marked for priority analysis.

The assay returned a speccy intersection of 29m at 1.36% Li2O from 38m with the shallow vertical depth highlighting the potential for a large-scale shallow lithium rich pegmatite.

“This is particularly significant for the Goldfields area of Western Australia,” AOU technical director Robin Cox said.

“The wide and rich intercept in KHRC011 remains open and the company looks forward to getting back on the ground to commence follow up drilling.”

LEL, A11, PAT, LLI and AOU share prices today:

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Patriot Lithium and Lithium Energy are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.