Anson Resources Ltd (ASX:ASN)’s recent resource expansion campaign is delivering consistent high pressures in the high-priority Mississippian Unit at the Paradox Lithium Project in Utah, USA.
The company has recorded a pressure of 3,785 pounds per square inch (psi) at the Long Canyon No. 2 well.
Drilling successfully targeted the large Mississippian supersaturated brine aquifer, which hosts a substantial lithium-rich zone of between 70 metres and 250 metres in thickness.
Highly positive outcome
The consistent high pressures delivered at the Mississippian Unit during the Long Canyon drilling correlate with historically recorded high pressures across the project area. This gives Anson confidence in “a highly positive outcome” from the current drilling.
The results, combined with drill stem test (DST) data from historic wells within the project area, indicate that the Mississippian strata has a high permeability across a large area.
The combination of permeability, high pressure as well as porosity is expected to:
• deliver continual strong flow at the extraction well location, over the life-of-mine of any future lithium producing operation; and
• indicate that the pressure will remain constant over the life of a proposed future lithium project.
Executive chairman and CEO Bruce Richardson said: “Our drilling at Long Canyon No. 2 has established that the pressures in both the Paradox and the deeper Mississippian Unit are very high.
“This is expected to allow the brine to flow from an area with a radius of 10 kilometres and is why the company is confident that the pressure will not drop or the flow will slow down over distance and time, as is known to occur with oil wells.”
Off to the lab
The first brine samples from the Long Canyon Unit 2 well from the Mississippian Unit and Clastic Zones 33, 29,19 and 17 have been sent to certified laboratories to assay for lithium, bromine and other minerals.
The company’s resource expansion drilling program has now progressed to the high-priority Cane Creek 32-1 well, where drilling aims to convert a large portion of the Paradox exploration target into indicated and inferred resources.