Bradda Head Holdings Ltd (AIM:BHL), a North America-focused lithium development group, said it received permission to drill on part of its Wikieup project in Arizona.
The AIM-listed company is allowed to drill 10 holes on a portion of the Wikieup project, which it anticipates will provide sufficient data for an inferred resource due to the deposit style, and it expects to receive approval shortly to drill a further 20 holes in the 7km2 package.
Drilling is expected to start early in the fourth quarter.
"From a geological perspective, the areas of exposed clay observed on the surface at the project contain promising lithium values; grades of up to 1,130ppm [parts per million] have been identified,” said chief executive Charles FitzRoy. “Bradda is confident as to the potential of the lithium deposit underneath the alluvium surface on the rest of the project area."
Bradda Head said it is confident in delineating a JORC-compliant resource at Wikieup to add to its current JORC-compliant inferred resource at Burro Creek East of 185,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent.
"This newly approved drilling programme, added to the recent doubling of our landholding on the Burro Creek-Wikieup Lithium district, will give us the opportunity to increase the size of our resource base and add optionality, and factors like ease of road access mean that we can maximise time and cost-efficiency in progressing the drilling programme," said FitzRoy.