BMG Resources Ltd (ASX:BMG) has started drilling the first hole of a two-hole drilling program testing a highly conductive zone identified at its Salar West Lithium Brines Project in the Atacama region of Chile.
The initial program will go for 200 metres each hole and is anticipated to take 3-4 weeks to complete.
Superex sonic drill rig
Identified using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) geophysics completed in March, the consistent and strongly conductive unit may host a hypersaline lithium-bearing brine.
A Superex sonic drill rig and crew was mobilised to site in the last two weeks and drilling will progress through sampling and assaying of the prospective zones.
Drilling to provide core
Sonic drilling brings the benefit of providing core without requiring the fluid lubrication that would be necessary in a diamond drilling program.
This eliminates the risk of contamination of the downhole brine samples taken as the hole is drilled, which in this case are typically at 10-15 metre intervals.
Project in South America’s ‘Lithium Triangle’
BMG’s project area spans more than 20,000 hectares across three claims in the Salar de Atacama, Salar de Pajonales and Salar de Tuyajto-Natalie.
This lies in the Chilean region of the ‘Lithium Triangle’, an area of the Andes encompassing parts of northern Chile, southwest Bolivia and northwest Argentina, host to more than 50% of the world’s lithium resources and the largest and highest-grade lithium brine deposits in the world.