One World Lithium Inc (CSE:OWLI) (OTCQB:OWRDF) said Tuesday that drilling is about to start again at its Salar del Diablo lithium brine property in Mexico.
The company said that its contractor, Layne Drilling, will mobilize the diamond drill rig and equipment to San Felipe this week along with three drill crews.
Each four-person crew will operate in shifts to drill a continuous 24 hours per day, the Vancouver-based exploration company said.
READ: One World Lithium to resume Phase III drilling program at Salar del Diablo lithium brine property in April
Drilling is expected to begin on April 15 at DDH-3, which is located around 50 kilometres south of DDH-2 on the Salar del Diablo property in the State of Baja California.
According to OWL, the project’s operator Mike Rosko from Montgomery & Associates expects that DDH-3, and possibly DDH-4 will be more cost-effective than previous holes drilled, thanks to a more aggressive drill bit. DDH-3 and DDH-4 may only require total depths between 300 and 400 meters, Rosko said, as DDH-1 and DDH-2 reached an average total depth of 624 meters.
The prospective area of possible hydrothermal activity may cover 20,000 hectares, Rosko noted.
OWL told shareholders that all samples will be assayed for drill holes DDH-1 through to DDH-4 and released at the same time. Once Phase Three is completed, OWL will have increased its working interest in the Salar del Diablo property from 60% to 80%.
Novel lithium technology
Also in Tuesday’s release, OWL relayed a number of recent trends that could spell good news for the lithium junior.
“An ecosystem of junior mining companies are looking to take market share from major producers to meet the demand for high-quality lithium chemicals and new resources to obtain these has become one of the most important emerging themes in lithium over the last five years,” the company told shareholders. “Accordingly, many of these new technologies can be developed and used in house by junior mining companies.”
OWL has the right to purchase 100% of a lithium separation technology, which is subject to a proof of concept testing that it “hopes” will be successful within two months. The technology has the potential to separate lithium carbonate from a brine, which OWL told investors could be a “potential industry game-changer.”
Benefits may include eliminating evaporation ponds to separate lithium carbonate as well as returning the waste brine back to its producing brine formations that may stabilized the brine formation and extend a mine’s life.
The company noted: "Given the renewed investor interest in the lithium sector which is driven by significant increases in the price of lithium carbonate equivalent, it has impacted OWL as its previous private placement was oversubscribed by 50% or $750,000 and its secondary market trading volume also increased over 421% to 23.4 million shares from the three-month period ended December 31, 2020, compared to the three-month period ended March 31, 2021."
“This is in response to the increase in demand for lithium-ion batteries,” it added.
Contact Angela at angela@proactiveinvestors.com
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