Drilling Completed at Basin and San Domingo Update
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Bradda Head Lithium Ltd (AIM:BHL, TSX-V:BHLI), the North America-focused lithium development group, is pleased to provide an update on work at its Basin Project in Arizona. The lithium-in-clay, resource-expansion drilling programme has concluded with the completion of eight drill holes on the Basin North target portion of the Basin project. A resource expansion from 1.08 million tons (MT) to a minimum of 2.5 MT of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) would generate a US$3 million royalty payment to Bradda Head from Lithium Royalty Company (LRC).
To date, partial results have been received, with the remainder still pending and the Company will make further announcements as these are received in full.
The Company has also been working on the next phase of exploration at San Domingo hard rock Pegmatite Project and is excited to present a brief description of the next work program where several high-profile pegmatite targets have received little if any exploration and present excellent opportunities for growth. In addition, follow-up on last year's drilling and this year's channel sampling are planned.
Highlights:
Basin Project
- Average hole depth of 285 meters (934 feet) with a range of 231 to 387 meters (757 to 1,269 feet) in a total of 2,353 meters (7,720 feet) drilled This was less than the 2,682 meters (8,800 feet) initially envisaged as a result of finding shallower clay targets than anticipated
- Further resource increase anticipated following the definition of a window 900 meters wide (east-west) by 1,780 meters in length (north-south), consistent continuous lithium-bearing Upper and Lower Clay units, it has the potential to continue expanding, being wide open in all directions
- Thickest Upper Clay unit at 103 meters in the center of the drill pattern discovered at hole BND24-19
- Two holes were drilled on State Lands and designed to capture lower clay; substantially increasing the lower clay reach from Basin East to the northern end of Basin North, a linear distance of 3.3km
- Program was successfully completed under budget and without any environmental or safety incidents
- Completion of this program has produced promising visual results, Bradda Head's geology team are now able to recognise that the clays contained strong characteristics of high lithium values, and are greatly encouraged by the clays seen in the past eight drill holes
- The Qualified Person (QP) has made a site visit and was provided with all the geological and technical information, and the geologic block model has been revised to reflect the new intervals from drill hole lithologies and peripheral surficial geology
Figure 1. Basin drill hole distribution, land, geology, 2023 resource boundaries (inferred and indicated).
Basin Project Permitting Update
A Basin West drilling permit kick-off meeting was also held with the BLM in April and organised to initiate the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process for development of the EA (Environmental Assessment) Report that, once approved, will allow the Company to commence drilling. This process follows the BLM's letter of EPO (Exploration Plan of Operations) completeness which the Company received earlier this year, and marks an important step on expanding our ability to extend exploration over the very promising Basin West target.
San Domingo Pegmatite Project
- A well thought out, and detailed exploration programme is planned for the second half of this year on the Company's San Domingo Project, building on the success of the two previous drilling campaigns. At this moment the plans include a design to offset 2023 drill hole high-grade intercepts at Morning Star, White Ridge, and Midnight Owl, surface sampling (channel, rock, soil) on new targets accompanied by detailed geologic and structural mapping, then access review for drill hole permitting
- A summer program of planned geologic/structural mapping, channel, rock chip, and soil sampling on unexplored soil anomaly/pegmatite targets
- Follow-up drilling to strategically offset last year's high grade drill hole intercepts where feasible
- Exploration of the following greenfield targets: Yellowstone, Thunder, Dragon, Lone Giant, Road Runner, in addition to recently staked lands to the northwest and south where pegmatites and greenstone are present: all targets have excellent upside potential
- Yellowstone is a 900x900 meter undrilled target with multiple lithium-caesium-rubidium anomalies, and where spodumene was identified in the field during cursory reconnaissance
- Dragon is an undrilled pegmatite target with surface grab samples up to 7.99% Li2O and 10 out of 48 surface samples >0.50% Li2O
San Domingo Pegmatite Project Update
The Company is diligently working on the next phase of exploration at the 100% owned San Domingo pegmatite project. The team believe that there is excellent potential to find new lithium bearing pegmatites given the extensive size of the nearly 33 square kilometer property and limited amount of ground coverage to date. In addition, to developing new targets, there will be follow-up on last year's drill hole intercepts, as well as this year's excellent channel sampling at Morning Star, White Ridge, and Midnight Owl. The future plan will be to strategically place drill holes to test channel sample mineralization and offset down-hole mineralization in order to grow resource potential at all three targets.
The summer program is expected to include geologic/structural mapping, channel and rock chip sampling, and additional soil sampling to refine targets for potential drilling, specific details of which will follow later. The Yellowstone target, for example, has multiple lithium-caesium-rubidium geochemical anomalies across a 900 by 900 meter target area where spodumene was identified in the field during cursory reconnaissance and this, as well as other targets, require detailed work to elevate them to drill target status. The Company remains very encouraged by the strong soil geochemistry and presence of spodumene. Additionally, the Company has undrilled targets such as Dragon, where surface rock chip samples detected up to 7.99% Li2O from a mine dump sample with 10 out of 48 rock chip samples containing over 0.50 % Li2O. The Dragon area will be the focus of channel sampling, taking advantage of excellent road access to several historic and shallow lithium prospects.
Ian Stalker, Executive Chair, commented:
"Now that drilling has concluded and the visual aspects of the clays appear promising, we await the geochemical results that we believe will support the MRE expansion from 1.08 MT to over 2.5 MT of LCE. We are confident that this is an exciting and promising clay project in west central Arizona and are proud to be contributing to lithium expansion in the USA.
"We look forward to providing further updates for all our stakeholders as the results come in from Basin, as well as more details on our forthcoming plans for San Domingo."
QAQC
Core samples were cut and sampled at the core shed under the supervision of Joey Wilkins, the Company's COO. The drill core was cut in half and one-half bagged, labelled, and tied-off. Samples were placed in a secure container until the hole was complete then shipped direct to SGS Laboratories in Burnaby, B.C., Canada where they prepped then analysed all samples using 4-acid digest with ICP-AES. Certified standards were inserted into the sample stream to ensure quality control at the laboratory. Mr. Wilkins consents to the inclusion of the technical information in this release and context in which it appears.
Qualified Person (BHL)
For further information please visit the Company's website: www.braddaheadltd.com.
About Bradda Head Lithium Ltd.
The Basin East Project has an Indicated Mineral Resource of 17 Mt at an average grade of 940 ppm Li and 3.4% K for a total of 85 kt LCE and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 210 Mt at an average grade of 900 ppm Li and 2.8% K (potassium) for a total of 1.09 Mt LCE. In the rest of the Basin Project SRK has determined an Exploration Target of 250 to 830 Mt of material grading between 750 to 900 ppm Li, which is equivalent to a range of between 1 to 4 Mt contained LCE. The Group intends to continue to develop its three phase one projects in Arizona, whilst endeavouring to unlock value at its other prospective pegmatite and brine assets in Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. All of Bradda Head's licences are held on a 100% equity basis and are in close proximity to the required infrastructure. Bradda Head is quoted on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange with the ticker of BHL and on the TSX Venture Exchange with a ticker of BHLI.
Technical Glossary
| Kt | Thousand tonnes |
| Ppm | Parts per million |
| Sn | Tin |
| Ta 2 O 5 | Tantalum pentoxide |
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