In light of the Paymaster Project’s close proximity to existing Lithium production in Clayton Valley, NV, a preliminary report on the Paymaster property (GeoXplor Corp, Nov. 25, 2009) recommended Seismic and Gravity geophysical surveys to determine the basin’s depth and delineate the depth and thickness of the project’s Lithium-rich layers.
Clayton Valley is home to the only US-based Lithium producing plant, operated by neighboring Chemetall Foote Corporation, an international specialty chemistry company headquartered in Germany with a worldwide network of roughly 40 subsidiaries (Chemetall is a subsidiary itself of Rockwood Holdings, Inc.). The plant has been in production since 1967, producing an estimated 50 million kg (55,000+ tons) of Lithium to date from the region’s rich brines.
Because Lithium compounds are only produced in the US by a single company (i.e., Chemetall’s Clayton Valley-based Lithium producing plant), the reported production is withheld from publication to avoid disclosing proprietary company information (USGS, 2010).(4) As for the mineral endowment of the neighboring Clayton Valley, in 1975 I.A. Kunasz of the American Institute of Mining estimated 750 million kg (826,000+ tons) of Lithium, while a 2000 study by Price, Lechler, Lear and Giles suggested that the weathering of high Lithium-bearing rocks has released significantly more Lithium into the Clayton Valley catchment.
PAYMASTER PROJECT EXPLORATION PROGRAM
AmeriLithium will utilize a 3-stage exploration program for the Paymaster Project:
Complete a gravity survey over the claim area to determine the depth of the basin and define areas of maximum potential for Lithium brine concentrations (additional details below).
Complete a 2d seismic survey over the claim block to delineate the depth and thickness of the Lithium rich layers.
If results from the gravity and seismic surveys are successful, a drill program would be recommended to define reserves and establish the grade of Lithium mineralization within the delineated basins that contain anomalous amounts of Lithium.
Matthew Worrall, AmeriLithium’s CEO, commented: "From the start, our focus has been to develop into one of the leading American players in the global Lithium industry, and I can’t think of a more fitting accomplishment toward that goal than the beginning of our Paymaster Project exploration program in Nevada. We have the funding we need, the location we need, and soon we’ll have the data we need to determine how and when we can take our next steps toward producing domestic Lithium to meet the growing market demand."
Lithium deposits are currently mined to the immediate south of AmeriLithium’s Paymaster Project in Clayton Valley via an environment-friendly and economic solution-mining technique, pumping brines from aquifers only a few hundred meters beneath the valley.
Such subsurface brines currently represent the dominant raw material for Lithium carbonate production worldwide due to the lower production costs when compared with hard-rock ore mining and processing.
Recovery costs are further reduced through the absence of royalty fees on mining in Nevada; a quicker and easier permitting process for placer (alluvial deposit) mining than hard-rock mining; and lower recovery costs due to the brine’s low manganese content when compared to the high-manganese brines found in Chile, which represent 63% of America’s Lithium imports (USGS, 2010).
ADDITIONAL GRAVITY SURVEY DETAILS
Mr. Jim Hasbrouck, Hasbrouck Geophysics, Inc., Prescott, Arizona, has recommended one kilometer line spacing and 250m stations for a total of about 100 gravity stations (based on approximately 25 line kilometers). The project, including mobilization-demobilization, should take approximately 15 days for field completion and another 30 days for the interpretation and final report. The gravity data will be acquired with a leased LaCoste and Romberg Model G gravity meter by Jim Hasbrouck, Hasbrouck Geophysics, Inc., Prescott, Arizona, and/or Lorin Stieff of GeoXplor Corp. with infrastructure and support supplied by GeoXplor Corp.
The data will be processed using the GravMaster computer software developed by GeoTools Corporation with field estimation of terrain corrections to Hammer Zone C and the use of DEMs to Hammer Zones M. Deliverables will include Bouguer Anomaly sections along each line, a three-dimensional compilation of those results, and a final report detailing the methodology, data acquisition, processing and interpretation. Mr. Hasbrouck will process and interpret the data, and prepare the final report.
Lithium is a lightweight metal used in a wide range of consumer products the world over: the medical industry uses Lithium as an anti-depressant; industrial uses include glass, ceramic and porcelain enamel manufacture; the aviation industry uses Lithium in alloys. Of particular interest is the use of Lithium for battery production, which has expanded significantly in recent years due to rechargeable Lithium batteries being used increasingly in electrical tools and in the rapidly expanding portable electronics market.
Furthermore, the next generation of hybrid and electric vehicles are being designed to use high-capacity Lithium-ion batteries as environmentally-friendly fuel alternatives while the Obama administration has introduced $5 billion in funding and incentives for the development of a secure, domestic battery industry with special focus on Lithium-ion batteries.
AmeriLithium is a publicly traded (NASD OTC BB: AMEL), mining company committed to progressively developing into one of the leading American players in the global Lithium industry. The Company is headquartered in Lake Tahoe, NV. AmeriLithium has amassed a Lithium portfolio consisting of ~710,000 acres, including a Nevada-based project adjacent to the only Lithium producing plant in the US, a large project in Alberta, Canada, and a project in Western Australia.
