Anson Resources Ltd’s (ASX:ASN) drilling has intersected a zone of heated and pressurised supersaturated brine resulting in artesian flow at the Skyline well within the Paradox Brine Project in Utah, USA.
The free flow of the brine from 6,220 feet below surface continued for 6 hours until the horizon was temporarily shut-in.
Supersaturated brine free flowing directly from the Skyline well to a storage tank
The flow rate had continued to increase with time until all the onsite storage tanks were filled. The brine will be assayed for lithium, bromine, iodine and other minerals.
In addition, data gained during this drilling program will be used in the future estimation of a JORC resource.
The flow of the supersaturated brine to surface from 6,220 feet without pumping indicates that there is significant pressure within the clastic zone, consistent with the flow experienced by Anson at the Cane Creek 32-1 well, where the pressure has remained constant since the well was re-opened.
READ: Anson Resources' Cane Creek well demonstrates promising high-pressure and temperatures during sampling
The flow to surface is also comparable to that recorded at the nearby Long Canyon No 1 well which has a historical grade of 500 ppm lithium.
Bulk samples were collected in containers while the flow testing was being carried out and stored on site for further test work, following the protocols produced by SRK for lithium brine sampling.
Samples collected will be sent to a certified laboratory in Texas, experienced in oil field brines, for assaying for lithium, iodine, bromine, boron and other minerals, with results expected towards the end of March 2019.
Collecting the brine direct from well to determine the weight
Following the successful re-entry drilling at Cane Creek 32-1 well in 2018, Anson is continuing its exploration program in the southern area of its Paradox Brine Project, where historical high-grade lithium assays were recorded in the 1960’s.
This is the third re-entry of an existing oil well carried out at Paradox to sample brines from numerous clastic zone layers and is part of the work that Anson is conducting to estimate a JORC resource.
In addition, information expected to be gathered during this drilling program will assist in determining the preferred area from which to extract brine for future processing in the industrial scale in-field pilot plant which is currently in design and engineering stage.
READ: Anson Resources achieves high bromine and iodine recoveries from Paradox
Leaving the well open will enable the brine to be collected in the storage tanks recently installed on the site of the pilot plant.
Once the pilot plant is operating, samples will also be continuously fed through the bench top test work, resulting in additional lithium carbonate product becoming available for testing.
This product can then be offered to off-take partners and/or battery manufacturers for analysis as the next step towards commercial off-take agreements.