REG - Bradda Head Lithium - Further Positive Results at Basin

Bradda Head LithiumAnnouncement

23/08/2023 07:15

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RNS Number : 1379K  Bradda Head Lithium Ltd  23 August 2023

 

 

 

 

23 August 2023

 

Bradda Head Lithium Ltd.

("Bradda Head", "Bradda", "BHL" or the "Company")

 

Further Positive Results at Basin to Lead to Significant Resource Expansion
Potential

 

Bradda Head Lithium Ltd (AIM:BHL, TSX-V:BHLI, OTCQB:BHLIF), the North
America-focused lithium development group, is pleased to announce assay
results from the latest 2 drill holes of the Basin East Extension ("BEE") 2023
drill programme, returning the highest single interval grade so far of
2,791ppm Li over 0.40m and a separate sample of 641 ppm Mo over 1.22m.
Drilling has now finished and Bradda Head is busy working on the upgraded
Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") and anticipated in mid-September.

 

The programme has continued to encounter better-than-expected thicknesses of
clay, further confirming that lithium-bearing clays continue and appear to
thicken to the north into the Company's Basin North ("BN") claims, and likely
west into Basin West ("BW") claims. These positive indicators are expected to
lead to significant resource expansion for the Company this year.

 

Drilling campaign highlights:

 

1.    Notable lithium intercepts:

·    Notable intervals from the next 2 widely-spaced sonic core holes
continue to be encouraging and include:

o  88.70m @ 903ppm Li in hole BES23-11, including 12.51m @ 1,427ppm,

o  75.12m @ 983ppm Li in hole BES23-12, including 27.6m @ 1,339ppm. See Table
1 for highlighted results.

 

2.    High-grade unit

·    The high-grade unit previously found in Basin East ("BE") has similar
grades and maintains strong continuity across all of BEE and now confirmed
into BN, likely extending into BW.

·    This is positive for any future mining operation as the high-grade
unit sits in the upper clay unit which forms the shallowest part of the
deposit and cropping out at BE.

·    The assay results continue to detect high levels of molybdenum
associated with these two drill holes within the high-grade unit such as
289ppm Mo over 8.84m in BES23-11 within 21.04m of 167ppm and 15.56m of 148 I
BES23-12. A detailed XRD analysis of the Basin core is under construction with
the intent of identifying the mineralogy associated with high grade lithium
and molybdenum.

 

3.    Resource Expansion:

·    The first hole in Basin North encountered an intercept of 86.12m of
upper clay, which is very promising for further resource expansion into Basin
North.

·    The remarkable continuity and consistency of the lithium intercepts
in the upper clay suggest the presence of extensive lithium mineralisation
throughout the project area, indicating the potential for a sizeable lithium
deposit.

·    Bradda is targeting a +1Mt lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE)
Resource this year, which would trigger the next royalty payment of US$2.5m
from LRC.

 

 

4.    Further Exploration Potential:

·    The lithium-clay mineralisation remains open to the west and north,
indicating further resource upside, as backed up by the previously reported
1Mt to 6Mt LCE JORC-compliant Exploration Target identified by SRK.

·    The total upper clay unit is 78.40m in width on average in BEE and
the first hole into BN intercepted 86.11m of upper clay. To put that in
context, the average thickness of the upper clay unit at BE is 34.00m in all
the previous 34 holes that intercepted upper clay in the last 3 drill
programmes (2018, 2021 and 2022). See Cross-section Figures 3 and 4.

·    Resource estimation work is now underway to produce an updated
Mineral Resource Estimate, with SRK incorporating this new drill data.

·    The recent drill results on BEE and BN solidify Bradda's belief in a
widespread and continuous lithium-rich stratigraphic sequence with potential
further into BN and across to BW that the Company believes will lead to
significant resource growth and opportunity to become a Tier 1 deposit.

 

 

Charles FitzRoy, CEO of Bradda Head Lithium, commented:

"We are excited about the potential for significant expansion of the resource
at the Basin Project. These latest assays solidify the resource expansion
potential at Basin and the high-grade lithium intercepts encountered in the
recent drilling campaign demonstrate the exceptional potential of the project
and underscore its importance as a potential strategic lithium asset.

 

"The 2023 drilling programme at the Basin Project is focussed on further
expanding the resource base, delineating additional lithium-rich zones, and is
working with SRK to release an updated MRE. Hole 14 is the first hole into BN
and confirms the presence of the upper clay unit.

 

"The Company has now kicked off its Phase 3 drill programme at its 31km(2) San
Domingo pegmatite district in Arizona, with the main aim to delineate a
Resource and also to build on the promising results of the maiden drill
programme which finished earlier this year."

 

Detailed assay results, including additional intercepts and technical details,
will be made available on the Company's website at www.braddaheadlithium.com.

 

Figure 1: Map BEE, BE, and BN

 

 

 

Figure 2: Map of the Basin Project

 

Figure 3: Cross-section A-B West-East through Basin East Extension BES-23-06
to BES-23-13 showing consistent clay stratigraphy. Assays pending for
BES-23-13.

 

 

Figure 4: Cross-section C-D Northwest-Southeast from Basin North across Basin
East Extension to Basin East from hole BES-23-14 to hole BES-23-03. Assay
pending for BES23-14.

 

Background

The successful 2022 drilling at BE led to BHL permitting holes on BEE, then
mobilising a sonic drill rig to drill up to 25 holes in the Company's BEE
State Lease (see PR dated 16 March 2023).

 

The 2022 sonic drilling at BE tested c.1.4km(2) of the overall c.46km(2)
property, including Wikieup.

 

Initial results released on 23 May 2023 at Basin demonstrated the presence of
a complete clay sequence across the Burro Creek, which is absent at BE due to
varying levels of erosion and basin margin thinning.  The dramatically
consistent sedimentary sequences over BEE and into BN demonstrates the
potential for significant resource expansion within the 2.5km(2) BEE Mineral
Exploration Permit (MEP) and southern portion of the 2.6km(2) BN claim.
Bradda's existing compliant Resource is located primarily in the 1.5km(2) BE
state MEP.

 

The Upper Clay sequence, now confirmed to thicken to the west, northwest, and
north extent of the previously drilled area towards and into Bradda's BEE
claim, could potentially form part of a phased mining operation. This could be
mined early in the mine plan as a high-grade lithium zone sits in the upper
part of the current resource.

 

Holes BES-23-05 to 10 (the first drill holes ever drilled by BHL to the north
of the creek, see Figure 1), encountered a completely intact upper and lower
clay sequence preserved by a basalt layer, signifying the continuation of
lithium bearing clays across to BEE from BE and now confirmed into BN with the
completion of hole BES-23-14. See Figures 1, 3 & 4 for cross-sections.

 

BHL released an updated MRE in January this year (see PR dated 16 January
2023), which was the 2(nd) MRE that BHL has released in 18 months since
Listing on AIM in July 2021.

 

BHL obtained drill hole permits for 120 sites on the MEP from the State of
Arizona at BEE in 2022 and 10 holes on its BN Claims (BLM-administered lands),
which is where sonic drilling commenced in late March of this year and was
completed on 10 August.

 

Bradda Head is in the process of permitting exploratory drilling at its BW and
Basin West Extension ("BWE") claims through an Exploration Plan of Operations,
a procedure with the BLM.

 

Bradda is targeting to grow its Resource at its Basin project this year with
the drill programmes at BEE and BN. Bradda has two royalty payments due
through expansion of its clay resources (see PR dated 22 December 2021). The
next payment of US$2.5 million will be paid to Bradda by expanding its
resource base to 1Mt LCE, and then the third payment of US$3 million is
achieved when Bradda expands its resource base to 2.5Mt LCE.

 

Bradda is working with its geologists to hit these targets as soon as is
feasible with the programmes mentioned above and the planned programmes in
2024 at Basin West and Basin West Extension.

 

2023 programme, highlights:

 

Table 1: Basin East & East Extension Highlights

  Hole ID   Total        Upper Clay zone mean grade (Li ppm)  Upper Clay zone interval thickness, in meters *  High-grade Interval grade in Upper zone over 1,000 ppm cut-off (ppm)  High-grade Interval Intersection length in meters*  Lower Clay zone interval mean grade (Li ppm)  Lower Clay zone interval thickness, in meters*

            hole depth
 BES-23-01  77.72        N/A                                  N/A                                              N/A                                                                   N/A                                                 484                                           31.97
 BES-23-02  102.87       826                                  46.24                                            1,005                                                                 13.38                                               596                                           17.49
 BES-23-03  137.92       954                                  63.12                                            1,327                                                                 24.32                                               729                                           34.24
 BES-23-04  111.25       1,077                                66.92                                            1,602                                                                 18.30                                               686                                           15.23
 BES-23-05  191.11       944                                  63.71                                            1,029                                                                 32.93                                               701                                           32.92
 BES-23-06  181.97       867                                  81.98                                            1,363                                                                 20.73                                               657                                           32.33
 BES-23-07  221.28       906                                  82.30                                            1,324                                                                 20.87                                               642                                           21.96
 BES-23-08  205.13       838                                  71.94                                            1,221                                                                 8.99                                                686                                           9.14
 BES-23-09  139.29       812                                  74.21                                            1,262                                                                 11.89                                               Not drilled                                   NA
 BES-23-10  211.23       944                                  81.60                                            1,325                                                                 19.79                                               Not drilled                                   NA
 BES-23-11  197.21       903                                  88.7                                             1,427                                                                 12.51                                               Not drilled                                   NA
 BES-23-12  172.82       983                                  75.13                                            1,339                                                                 27.6                                                742                                           11.12
 BES-23-13  183.79       Not received                         82.30                                            Not received                                                          Not received                                        Not drilled
 BES-23-14  221.59       Not received                         86.11                                            Not received                                                          Not received                                        Not drilled

Note: all lengths represent true thickness as sedimentary sequence is
horizontal and holes are vertical (90 degrees to stratigraphy)

 

 

Related Tables

The following table is for information and context, comparing Q4 2022, Q1 2022
and 2018 MRE totals in relation to the areas on which work had been conducted
at each time.

 

Table 2: Comparison of updated Q4 2022 MRE to Q1 2022 MRE to 2018 MRE

              LCE (kt)  Resource area (km(2))  % of resource area over total 41km(2)  Drilled area (km(2))  % of drilled area over total 41km(2)
 2018 MRE     185       0.58                   1.4                                    0.9                   2.2
 Q1 2022 MRE  305(1)    0.94                   2.3                                    1.1                   2.7
 Q4 2022 MRE  371(2)    1.24                   3.0                                    1.4                   3.4

 1  National Instrument 43-101 compliant technical report filed for the Basin
Project in November 2022

2 National Instrument 43-101 compliant technical report filed for the Basin
Project in March 2023

 

QAQC, Sample Preparation

All core samples have been split in half, bagged on site, numbered in depth
sequence with certified standards added into the sample stream for quality
control. Bags were kept under lock and key prior to their direct shipment to
ISO-certified laboratory, SGS, in Burnaby, BC, Canada. Samples were weighed,
dried, crushed, then split by rotary convention and placed into 250gram
envelopes. The samples were then pulverized to 85% passing 75 microns, then
analysed by 4-acid digest, ICP-AES / ICP-MS.

 

Qualified Person (BHL)

Joey Wilkins, B.Sc., P.Geo., is COO at BHL and the Qualified Person who
reviewed and approved the technical disclosures in this news release. Mr.
Wilkins is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a B.Sc. in Geology
with more than 37 years of experience in mineral exploration and is a
qualified person under the AIM Rules. Mr. Wilkins consents to the inclusion of
the technical information in this release and context in which it appears.

 

Reference is made to the report entitled "Independent Technical Report On The
Basin And Wikieup Lithium Clay Projects, Arizona, USA" (the Report) dated
October 18 2022 with an effective date of June 10 2022.The Report was prepared
by Martin Pittuck, CEng, MIMMM, FGS, and Kirsty Reynolds MSci, PhD, FGS and
reviewed by Nick Fox MSc, ACA, MIMMM. Reference is made to the report entitled
"Technical Report On The Mineral Resource And Exploration Target Estimates For
The Basin Lithium Project, USA" dated February 28 2023 with an effective date
of October 13 2022. The Report was prepared by Martin Pittuck, CEng, MIMMM,
FGS, Kirsty Reynolds MSci, PhD, FGS  and Jamie Price MESci, PhD. The Reports
are available for review on SEDAR (www.sedar.com
(https://www.sedarplus.ca/landingpage/) ) and the Company's website.

 

 

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE MARKET
ABUSE REGULATION (EU No. 596/2014) AS IT FORMS PART OF UK DOMESTIC LAW BY
VIRTUE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018. UPON THE PUBLICATION OF
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS INSIDE
INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND SUCH PERSONS
SHALL THEREFORE CEASE TO BE IN POSSESSION OF INSIDE INFORMATION.

 

ENDS

 

Contact:

 

 Bradda Head Lithium Limited        +44 (0) 1624 639 396
 Charles FitzRoy, CEO

 Denham Eke, Finance Director

 Beaumont Cornish (Nomad)           +44 20 7628 3396

 James Biddle/Roland Cornish

 Panmure Gordon (Joint Broker)      +44 20 7886 2500

 John Prior

 Hugh Rich

 Shard Capital (Joint Broker)       +44 207 186 9927
 Damon Heath

 Isabella Pierre

 Red Cloud (North American Broker)  +1 416 803 3562
 Joe Fars

 Tavistock (PR)                     + 44 20 7920 3150
 Nick Elwes                         braddahead@tavistock.co.uk

 Adam Baynes

 

 

About Bradda Head Lithium Ltd.

Bradda Head Lithium Ltd. is a North America-focused lithium development group.
The Company currently has interests in a variety of projects, the most
advanced of which are in Central and Western Arizona: The Basin Project (Basin
East Project, and the Basin West Project) and the Wikieup Project.

 

The Basin East Project has an Indicated Mineral Resource of 21.2 Mt at an
average grade of 891 ppm Li and 3.5% K for a total of 100 kt LCE and an
Inferred Mineral Resource of 73.3 Mt at an average grade of 694 ppm Li and
3.2% K for a total of 271 kt LCE. In the rest of the Basin Project SRK has
estimated an Exploration Target of between 300 to 1,300 Mt of material
grading between 600 to 850 ppm Li which is equivalent to a range of between
1 to 6 Mt 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, on the TSX Ventures exchange
with a ticker of BHLI, and on the US OTCQB market with a ticker of BHLIF.

 

 

Forward-Looking Statements

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that
term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This News Release
includes certain "forward-looking statements" which are not comprised of
historical facts.  Forward-looking statements include estimates and
statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals,
including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated
condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by
such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may",
"could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are
based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very
nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these
statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the
Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's
expectations.  Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with
forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance,
prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or
implied by such forward-looking information. Forward looking information in
this news release includes, but is not limited to, following:  The Company's
objectives, goals or future plans. Factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not
limited to: failure to identify mineral resources; failure to convert
estimated mineral resources to reserves; delays in obtaining or failures to
obtain required regulatory, governmental, environmental or other project
approvals; political risks; future operating and capital costs, timelines,
permit timelines, the market and future price of and demand for lithium, and
the ongoing ability to work cooperatively with stakeholders, including the
local levels of government; uncertainties relating to the availability and
costs of financing needed in the future; changes in equity markets, inflation,
changes in exchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices; delays in the
development of projects, capital and operating costs varying significantly
from estimates; an inability to predict and counteract the effects of COVID-19
on the business of the Company, including but not limited to the effects of
COVID-19 on the price of commodities, capital market conditions, restriction
on labour and international travel and supply chains; and the other risks
involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, and those risks
set out in the Company's public documents filed on SEDAR. Although the Company
believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the
forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue
reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of
the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events
will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Company disclaims any
intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than
as required by law.

 

Technical Glossary

 kt    Thousand tonnes
 ppm   parts per million
 Li    Lithium
 clay  Lacustrine clay

 

 

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