Mar 25 2015
BACANORA MINERALS LTD. is pleased to provide an update of activities on its wholly owned La Ventana concession as well as on concessions held by Mexilit S.A. de C.V. and Megalit S.A. de C.V., companies owned 70% by Bacanora and 30% by Rare Earth Minerals PLC in Sonora, Mexico.
Highlights of programs are as follows:
Exploration and Resource Development:
La Ventana concession:
- A total of 2,100 metres have been drilled in 14 in-fill holes on La Ventana, a further nine holes remain to be drilled in the ongoing program.
- Intercepts of the Upper Clay range from 26.1 to 50.8 metres in length and those for the Lower Clay range from 12.98 to 22.5 metres on La Ventana.
- Analyses received for the first three holes indicate that weighted averages for lithium content in the Upper Clay Unit varies from 955 ppm over 41.6 metres (hole LV-19) to 2,264 ppm Li over 7.75 metres (hole LV-21); for the Lower Clay Unit lithium content varies from 1,618 ppm over 23.84 metres to 2,649 ppm over 12.80 metres. Individual 1.5 metre long samples of clay range up to 5,130 ppm Li.
- As previously announced (press release: March 16, 2015), the Company has retained SRK Consulting (UK) Limited to provide an updated independent lithium resource estimate.
Mexilit S.A. de C.V. (El Sauz and Fleur concessions):
- Drill hole ES-42, a hole that was sited to target further possible expansion in mineral resources, intersected 7.8 metres of the Upper Clay Unit at a depth of 16 metres below surface and 23.0 metres of the Lower Clay Unit at 38.7 metres below the surface.
- The intercepts from hole ES-42, represents an additional mineral resource target area, which Bacanora intends to pursue through further drilling.
- The proximity of this new discovery to the current mineral resource on La Ventana and El Sauz and Fleur, may allow it to be included as part of the mine planning and mine design work currently being carried out.
Minera Megalit S.A. de C.V.(Megalit, Buenavista and San Gabriel concessions):
- First stage reconnaissance geological mapping, prospecting and sampling on the Megalit ground continues on the property.
Lithium Plant and Process Design Work:
- Hatch Pty Ltd. ("Hatch"), Bacanora' s engineering consultant, have completed their initial work and provided Bacanora with several optimization and process engineering recommendations for the production of Lithium Carbonate and Lithium Hydroxide.
- Hatch will continue to work with the Company, in particular they will be involved in the quality assurance and quality control of work produced by the other processing engineering consultants involved in the Sonora Project;
- Process Engineering, LLC, of Tucson, Arizona, in association with Ernest Burga, a lithium process engineer, is continuing work on plant design, scale-up and process certification; at this time the "Process Development and Engineering General Design Criteria for Lithium Carbonate Production" document has been prepared and is being populated with the test work results and parameters used as part of the basic engineering data acquisition.
- Sonora Resources, LLC, of Yuma, Arizona, a private engineering consultancy, has been contracted to provide the pre-feasibility study for the proposed lithium mining and lithium carbonate production facility;
- Ore-to-product metallurgical test work continues on one tonne bulk ore samples taken from surface exposures on the Sonora Lithium Project. This test work is part of the optimization work on lithium carbonate recovery and is required to provide design criteria for full size plant and equipment. Process optimization studies at the Company's pilot plant in Hermosillo have been aided by the addition of a gas-fired rotary calcining unit for roasting lithium-bearing samples as well as resin columns in the lithium carbonate recovery circuit.
Colin Orr-Ewing, Chairman of Bacanora, commented:
"We are very pleased by the intercept of clay units in hole ES-42 on the Fleur concession as this clearly opens up the area to expansion of the lithium resource on both La Ventana and Fleur, an exciting discovery for a step-out hole, as the resource potential in this area could be developed by open pit mining methods. . It demonstrates that faulted blocks exist on other parts of the property and the bounding faults have the potential to bring the clay units into an economic envelope. Progress on mine and plant design and process certification is advancing quickly."
Source: http://www.bacanoraminerals.com/