One World Lithium Inc revealed drill hole sample results from a four-hole program on its Salar del Diablo lithium brine project in Mexico.
Project operators Montgomery & Associates (M&A) were contracted to oversee drilling on the Salar, a 103,450-hectare property in the State of Baja California.
The exploration company said that, based on the results of chemical analysis, the basin contains fresh water and less than five parts per million (ppm) lithium.
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In 2019, DDH (diamond drill hole) 19-01 reached a total depth of 647 meters. Eighteen groundwater samples were taken at depths of 235 meters, 301 meters, 463 meters, 506 meters and 633 meters and one sample was analysed from each depth.
Also during 2019, DDH-19-02 reached a total depth of 595 meters two groundwater samples were obtained at a depth of 431 meters; one of these was submitted for laboratory analysis. And in 2021, DDH 21-01 reached a total depth of 191 meters but was abandoned as it became unstable. Three groundwater samples were taken at a depth of 183.2 meters and one sample was analysed. Another hole, DDH-21-04, was drilled to a total depth of 518 meters with four groundwater samples taken at depths of 331 meters and 460 meters and one sample from each depth was analysed.
OWL told shareholders that drilling conditions were “challenging” as the fine grained and poorly consolidated nature of sediments that were only moderately cemented resulted in abundant borehole unravelling and “caving” during drilling. However, M&A noted that groundwater in the basin may have significant value for the region because there is typically a high demand for fresh water in arid desert environments and the Salar del Diablo may have one of the larger freshwater aquifer systems in the State of Baja California.
The firm and its operating partners also faced pressure from the local surface rights owners during its drilling campaign, who threatened to blockade the access road to DDH 21-01. As a result, OWL decided to abandon this location and relocate drilling to 16 kilometers to the north, where it drilled DDH 21-04.
Critical fluid separation technology
OWL will now focus on a new critical fluid Separation Technology, which it intends to license or joint venture to current and future lithium carbonate producers pending a successful proof-of-concept program.
The company added it remains focused on prospects of merit that may contain lithium carbonate in a brine or other deposition including volcanic sediments.
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