If you’ve been hankering for a new lithium discovery in 2023, wait no longer – Future Battery Minerals hit a slam dunk on its maiden drilling program at its Nevada Lithium Project, hitting thick high grade lithium claystones at its Western Flats and San Antone East prospects.

Let’s allow the hits to do the talking here.

Hole WF23-011 struck 109.7m at 766ppm lithium from 135.6m deep including a 29m stretch at 1010ppm Li from 210.3m.

That’s not all, with hole WF23-006 hitting 44.2m at 570ppm Li from 169.2m and WF23-001 striking 35.1m at 463ppm Li from 106.7m downhole.

The hole which hit the thickest high grade stuff, WF23-011, remains open to the west and the south, with planning and permitting already under way by Future Battery Minerals (ASX:FBM) for a follow up 2500m RC drilling program in May.

The initial 2900m program wrapped up in March struck significant intercepts of thick, high grade lithium claystones in four holes at Western Flats, which neighbours TSX listed American Lithium Corp’s TLC deposit and American Battery Technology Corps’ Tonopah Flats.

One hole also struck lithium claystone at the nearby San Antone East prospect.

“This is an exceptional start to our early-stage exploration efforts in Nevada! The results at Western Flats, and in particular the thick intercept of 109.7m @ 766ppm Li, has confirmed the discovery of high-grade and thick Li-Claystone at the NLP,” FBM technical director Robin Cox said.

“The aim of the maiden drilling programme was to conduct wide spaced stratigraphic drilling to identify claystone’s analogous to the host units at TLC and Tonopah Flats.

“The results have far exceeded all expectations, which is a credit to our in-country team who have done a remarkable job planning and executing the maiden drill programme.

“The Company is now keenly planning the Phase 2 RC drilling programme, in conjunction with drilling the exciting new West Australian (WA) lithium discovery at Kangaroo Hills.”

 

Future Battery ASX FBM Results
The big lithium claystone hits are in the neighbourhood of some significant deposits. Pic: Supplied (FBM)

 

New direction

The discovery at the NLP lends credence to FBM’s decision to expand beyond its traditional nickel base into other battery metals.

And if it is able to unlock something similar to TLC, which contains 8.83Mt of LCE in measured and indicated resources, it could be onto a winner.

American Lithium Corp boasts a market cap of over $600 million Canadian, with American Battery Technology, which has outlined a lower grade inferred resource of more than 15Mt of LCE in inferred resources at Tonopah Flats, worth around US$500 million.

The company is already progressing to a pre-feasibility study on its Saints nickel project in WA after a positive scoping study this week.

But it has also made lithium discoveries both at Nevada and at its Kangaroo Hill spodumene project in Australia.

 

Congrats all round

“I would like to acknowledge Robin and his technical team for their great work over the past six-months with two new lithium discoveries, being hard rock spodumene bearing pegmatites at the Kangaroo Hills Lithium Project (KHLP) (80%) in WA and lithium bearing clays at the Nevada Lithium Project (NLP) in the US!” FBM executive chairman Mike Edwards said.

“In a short space of time the company has delivered two high potential Li discoveries, cementing our position as an aggressive and effective explorer for lithium.

“With the recent company name change to Future Battery Minerals (FBM), it is signalling to the market an exciting new phase for the Company.

“In addition, we are also continuing work to realise the significant value from the Company’s three WA located nickel sulphide assets.”

 

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Future Battery Minerals, 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.

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