AVARONE PLANS 20 SHORT DRILL HOLES ON MOAB LITHIUM BRINE PROJECT
Avarone Metals Inc. plans to commence a subsurface sampling program to test brine sediments on its 100-per-cent-owned Moab lithium project in the Big Smoky Valley, Nevada, directly adjacent to claims controlled by Ultra Lithium.
The property wide program is to consist of up to 20 short drill holes, to be drilled to a depth of up to 4m, to test for lithium and other commercial elements in the upper layers of the playa. The drilling will be conducted utilizing Vibracore electric drills, pulling large diameter NQ2 core, which should provide a much better and accurate profile versus traditional hand augers. The Company is currently in the process of permitting the program and anticipates being on the ground at the end of April 2016. In December of 2015, Ultra Lithium completed surface sampling of its Big Smoky Project (which lies in the same enclosed basin and adjoins the Moab Project) confirming the presence of anomalous lithium, boron and potassium, as well the presence of lithium in the South Big Smoky hydrogeological system. Access to the Moab Lithium Project is excellent and lies adjacent to highway 95.
The primary target at Moab is a horseshoe shaped gravity low anomaly that has been interpreted as an in filled basin. Exploration of the Big Smoky Valley by the USGS in the 1970's culminated in the drilling of two Reverse Circulation holes, both of which encountered anomalous concentrations of lithium that were highly similar to those encountered in the Clayton Valley, just to the south, and where the Silver Peak Mine is located. Hole BS-13, which is located just 2.4 kilometers east of the Moab project border was designed to test the same basin covered by the Moab Project and Ultra Lithium's Big Smoky Valley Project. Hole BS-13 was terminated at 675 feet, and geochemical analysis revealed lithium in sediments ranging from 48ppm - 365ppm and averaging 160ppm. This is considered significant, as the cut-off grade used by Pure Energy for their resource calculation is only 20ppm.
"We are excited to start our initial phase of exploration work on the Moab project. Based on the initial results of this program, we intend to further define our next phase of an aggressive deep hole drill program. Tesla has taken over 325 ,000 reservations for the Tesla Model 3, which corresponds to about $14 billion in implied future sales. This supports the growing need for increased lithium production. Avarone's Moab brine project, located in Nevada near the Tesla Gigafactory, has the potential to deliver excellent returns for our stakeholders over the longer term.," said CEO Marc Levy.
About Lithium in Nevada
Lithium is a scarce and technologically important element produced primarily from brines and pegmatites. Although it is a non-renewable resource, it is used in conjunction with renewable energy technologies and hybrid automobiles, primarily in the form of Li-ion batteries, currently the most widely applied battery technology in many electronic devices. The consumption of lithium carbonate is on the rise and so far global production has kept pace with demand.
Located in the Range Province in southern Nevada, the Big Smoky Valley, which is approximately 3km wide and 14km long, is an internally drained, fault bounded and closed basin. Geological modeling suggests that lithium-rich brines have been transported and deposited in the both the Clayton and Big Smoky valleys since the Pleistocene era. The primary exploration model is to identify and map basins with ground gravity surveys and evaluate the chemistry of salts and sediments therein with RC or rotary-mud drilling. In the later stages of exploration, downhole geophysics and seismic reflection surveys are also utilized to define lithium bearing aquifers.
The technical contents of this news release have been prepared under the supervision of Peter Born P. Geo., a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101.