ACME Lithium Inc said it has contracted KLM Geoscience of Las Vegas, headquartered in Nevada, to carry out an induced polarization (IP) survey on the company’s Warm Springs lithium brine project near Nevada border in southern Harney County, Oregon.
The Carson City, Nevada-based mineral exploration company said KLM mobilized on March 26, 2022, and results are expected within 45 days. The survey will be used to locate a drill test, said the company.
The Warm Springs project claims are situated regionally in a "nested" cluster of calderas northwest of Lithium Americas' Nevada Thacker Pass lithium project and Jindalee Resources Oregon JRL project.
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ACME Lithium noted that the Warm Springs project adds to its growing lithium portfolio with two projects in southwest Nevada and two in southeast Manitoba, Canada.
The US and Canada both currently import most of their lithium for lithium-ion battery construction and ACME's vision is to provide a significant, long life supply of lithium for both domestic consumption and export. Lithium is deemed as a critical mineral for the large US economy.
Acme's Warm Springs project is interpreted to be a lithium brine play. The company explained that geologically that requires two conditions to be met: lithium must be “mobile and there has to be a reservoir with cap rock to retail lithium.”
In this case, the evidence for lithium being mobile comes from structurally controlled warm springs with alteration and geochemically anomalous water lithium analyses, noted the company. Surface geochemical expressions are 'leakage' of a geologic process and can be up to a few miles laterally from the subsurface reservoir/cap which are the exploration target.
To secure that lateral potential, Acme has now staked 340 placer claims covering approximately 6,727 acres covering gently rolling terrain transected by a well-maintained road, pointed out the company.
According to the company, while the drill target is brines based on current knowledge, drill sampling will also be mindful of lithium-bearing tuffs and fine sediments. Both water and cuttings will be analyzed for a complete test of the potential, noted the company.
ACME said lithium brines are by definition salty and good electrical conductors and “a commercial brine deposit will have a significant areal footprint.” IP and resistivity should give good definition of any significant brine accumulations, it added.
The IP survey as planned should yield a depth penetration of 500 meters. Traverses are laid out to broadly test across the claim block. While significantly below the budget cost of detailed geophysical surveys, the intent is to locate a stratigraphic test hole where it also has a reasonable chance of clipping any brine bodies present.
Permitting applications for drilling will immediately follow, said the company.
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
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