Bradda Head Lithium Ltd (AIM:BHL) said it completed the core drilling programme at its Burro Creek East project in Arizona.
The North America-focused lithium developer planned to drill five holes initially, but increased this number to 10 after receiving positive assays from the first three twinned holes.
Seven of the holes were in new locations and, combined with recent geophysical data, have enabled Bradda’s geologists to increase the knowledge of the deposit significantly, it said.
Recent geophysical work at the project will be included in an updated resource calculation due in the first quarter of 2022, which is expected to be a significantly larger than the current JORC inferred estimate of 185,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent, Bradda said.
Bradda has only drilled about 2% of its 47km2 of claims.
All of the remaining core from the drilling programme has been logged and sent off to be assayed, said the AIM-traded group, although it warned that assay turnaround times have been slow due to the very high volume of exploration in the US.
The drilling programme itself took longer than anticipated due to mechanical rig issues, a change of contractor, adverse weather, and occasional tough drilling conditions.
Bradda has engaged Boart Longyear for the upcoming drilling programme at its Wikieup project, where it will use sonic drilling technology, which is the first choice for drilling in sedimentary material, and uses very little water, thus is more environmentally sensitive.
READ: Bradda Head Lithium gets conditional permission to start drilling at Wikieup project
It was unable to use Boart Longyear's sonic drilling technology at Burro Creek East because of the tight US market for drilling services.
"We are delighted to have now completed the drill programme at Burro Creek East,” said chief executive Charles FitzRoy. “This is an important milestone in the development of Burro Creek East as well as for the company as a whole.”
“The completion of this programme demonstrates Bradda's geologists' ability to get things done despite operational challenges and is the first step to Bradda demonstrating to the market the inherent value in our assets. Work is underway at all of our assets, and 2022 will be a busy results year for Bradda Head Lithium.
"The congestion at the assay laboratory means that the resource update will be out in early Q1 2022. We remain optimistic given our preliminary results from the logged core and the geophysical programme which was carried out across the 47km2 of sedimentary claims in Arizona," he concluded.