First Hole Steps Out 2,800 Feet and Hits Massive Run of Lithium Claystone
RENO, Nev., Aug. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — American Battery Technology Company (ABTC) (OTCQX: ABML), an American critical battery materials company that is commercializing both its primary battery minerals manufacturing and secondary minerals lithium-ion battery recycling technologies, began its third drill program to advance its Tonopah Flats Lithium Project, identified as one of the largest known lithium resources in the United States, and was recently named the ‘fifth largest lithium clay and hard rock project in the world’ by Mining.com. This drill program has commenced core infill and step out drilling to support evolution of this domestic resource towards upgraded ‘measured and indicated’ resource classification.
The company has selected and engaged KB Drilling of Mound House, Nevada for the collection of its infill and step out samples from its third drill program. This latest drill program has already commenced and will consist of sample collections from at least 8 additional drill holes and include initially up to 5,000 feet of total drilling.
ABTC and KB Drilling have already completed sample collections from the first two holes – and have delivered initial samples to Paragon Geochemical, an industry-leading, fully accredited geochemical laboratory located in Sparks, Nevada, providing mineral assays and geochemical analyses. Paragon Geochemical’s third-party characterization assessment results are anticipated within 60-120 days.
“We are excited to have kicked off this third drill program to continue the development and expansion of our Nevada lithium claystone resource,” stated ABTC CEO Ryan Melsert. “This project is crucial for establishing the domestic U.S. supply of critical lithium materials, and the initial visual inspection of the samples from these first two drill holes suggest that this lithium-bearing Siebert Formation extends much deeper than initially suggested. Once these additional samples are characterized by our third-party laboratories, we will be able to quantitatively measure the impact these new sampling efforts have on the valuation and commercialization of this domestic critical material resource.”
The ABTC Tonopah Flats Lithium Project encompasses 517 unpatented lode claims covering over 10,340 acres, and ABTC controls 100% of the mining lode claims comprising the Tonopah Flats claims and the rights to all locatable minerals without any royalties. ABTC began surface sampling of these claims in the Summer of 2021, and subsequently performed multiple subsurface drilling programs at depths of up to 825 feet totaling over 12,000 feet of exploration covering approximately 65% of its claims.
The results of these initial successful exploration programs led to the development and publication of its third-party Qualified Person (QP) audited SK-1300 compliant Inferred Resource Report in February 2023, which concluded that this is one of the largest known lithium resources in the United States containing approximately 15.8 million tons of economically accessible lithium on a carbonate equivalent basis (LCE); and stated that ‘continued infill drilling will likely upgrade resource classification and improve confidence in the mineral resource estimate for the project.”
This drill program aims to expand the lithium mineralization zone with step out drilling and confirm the presence mineralization between step out holes with infill drilling.
“Our current program started with HQ core drilling of drill hole, TF 2323, located over 2,800 feet south from our most-southern previously sampled hole, TF 2218, potentially expanding our deposit to the south significantly,” stated Scott Jolcover, Chief Mineral Resources Officer of ABTC. “Based on the recovered core collected from this hole, the lithium-bearing Siebert Formation claystone found at our Tonopah Flats Lithium Project appears to run continuously from 38 feet to at least 818 feet of the core and remains open at depth.”
In addition to developing this resource, the company has developed its own in-house processes that utilize selective leach extraction to provide a lower-cost, lower-impact solution in contrast to conventional lithium extraction methods. ABTC will continue to conduct geological mapping, sampling, drilling, geochemical analysis, and proprietary extraction trials to characterize this resource and further quantify the performance of its internally developed lithium extraction and manufacturing operations.
“We are intentionally developing our lithium resource in tandem with designing and constructing our co-located lithium hydroxide refinery facility utilizing in-house, first-of-kind manufacturing technologies,” continued Melsert. “Often mineral resources and their corresponding refineries are located on different continents, and a great strength of our current opportunity is to use our in-house developed refinery processing technologies to dramatically reduce material movement, environmental impacts, and supply security obstacles.”
In 2021, ABTC, in collaboration with DuPont and the University of Nevada, Reno, was awarded a $4.5-million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to build and operate a multi-ton-per-day demonstration-scale system to accelerate the commercialization and scale-up of this critical battery-grade lithium manufacturing technology. As a result of the early successes of this project, in October 2022 ABTC was selected for an additional competitively awarded U.S. DOE grant for a $115M project funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support the construction of this commercial-scale primary lithium hydroxide manufacturing facility.
About American Battery Technology Company
American Battery Technology Company, which recently changed its name from American Battery Metals Corporation, is uniquely positioned to supply low-cost, low-environmental impact, and domestically sourced battery metals through its three divisions: lithium-ion battery recycling, primary battery metal extraction technologies, and primary resources development.
American Battery Technology Company has built a clean technology platform that is used to provide a key source of domestically manufactured critical and strategic battery metals to help meet the near insatiable demand from the electric vehicle, electrical grid storage, and consumer electronics industries. This ESG-principled platform works to create a closed-loop circular economy for battery metals that champions ethical and environmentally sustainable sourcing of critical and strategic materials.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are “forward-looking statements.” Although the American Battery Technology Company’s (the “Company”) management believes that such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee that such expectations are, or will be, correct. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Company’s future results to differ materially from those anticipated. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, interpretations or reinterpretations of geologic information, unfavorable exploration results, inability to obtain permits required for future exploration, development or production, general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries in which the Company operates; the uncertainty of regulatory requirements and approvals; fluctuating mineral and commodity prices, final investment approval and the ability to obtain necessary financing on acceptable terms or at all. Additional information regarding the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements is available in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2022. The Company assumes no obligation to update any of the information contained or referenced in this press release.
SOURCE American Battery Technology Company
Source PR Newswire
