Western Lithium Commences Additional Drilling in Nevada to Support Long Term Lithium Carbonate Production
Western Lithium Corporation has commenced drilling on the Stage II clay lens of its Kings Valley, Nevada lithium property. The purpose of this drilling is to determine if additional years of National Instrument 43-101 compliant mine life can be added to the proposed project. According to the original Chevron data, the Stage II lens is approximately seven times larger than Stage I lens, so only a portion of the lens will be drilled at this time.
“This drilling program is intended to continue to confirm the earlier Chevron work and support our staged development plan for the project,” said Jay Chmelauskas, Western Lithium’s President. “We are positioning our project in Nevada to become a major center and United States-based strategic supplier of high quality lithium carbonate for the next generation of lithium-ion battery powered transportation and mobile electronics.”
The Stage II drilling is intended to provide additional confirmation of the historical resource originally drilled by Chevron Resources in the 1980s. The drilling, on a portion of the Stage II lens, is expected to take approximately two months to complete and will consist of 38 core drill holes in the main central portion of the lens. Drilling of Stage I in 2008 focused on only one of five mineralized lenses and the results supported the work previously carried out by Chevron. A National Instrument 43-101 resource estimate has been completed for the initial Stage I lens which contains Indicated Resources of 48.1 million tonnes grading 0.27% lithium, or the lithium carbonate equivalent (“LCE”) of 688,000 tonnes LCE and Inferred Resources of 42.3 million tonnes grading 0.27% lithium, for an equivalent of 606,000 tonnes LCE, both at a cut-off grade of 0.20% Lithium.
The cost of this drilling program is expected to be approximately $800,000 and is in addition to the previously announced Stage I drilling and trenching program planned for 2009.
Western Lithium is developing the Kings Valley, Nevada lithium deposit into potentially one of the world’s largest(1) strategic, scalable and reliable sources of high quality lithium carbonate. The Company is positioning itself as a major U.S.-based supplier to support the rising global demand for lithium carbonate that is expected from the increased use of mobile electronics and hybrid/electric vehicles.
