Exercise of Burro Creek Purchase Option

RNS Number : 8856X

Bradda Head Lithium Ltd

10 January 2022

 

10 January 2022

Bradda Head Lithium Ltd.

("Bradda Head Lithium", "Bradda" or the "Company")

Exercise of Burro Creek Purchase Option

Bradda Head Lithium Ltd. (AIM: BHL), the North America-focused lithium development group, announces that the Company has exercised its option to acquire a 100% ownership interest in the Burro Creek project area.

Highlights:

·Bradda Head Lithium has exercised the option agreement that was in place on a portion of its Burro Creek project area (Burro Creek East (BCE)), and a portion of Burrow Creek West (BCW), see map https://www.braddaheadltd.com/media/image-library/) covering 2.4km² in total.

· Bradda has 47km² of sedimentary lithium claims in Arizona, all 100% owned by Bradda Head Lithium.

· Considering the recently completed BCE drilling program and positive assay results received to date, the Directors believe that exercising the option (known as the Cheto option Agreement) at this time is in the best interests of the Company.

· Upon exercising this option and vesting of title, Bradda will no longer:
- pay annual option payments to Cheto;
- will avoid costly extension payments, and;
- will own the rights to mine the property (when permitted).

· Bradda has a JORC resource on a portion of the area previously under option. The Company's BCE project has a JORC resource of 185kt of LCE and Bradda completed a 10-hole drill programme in December 2021 to upgrade this resource. The results from this will be released in Q1 2022, and indications so far point towards an increase in both size of resource and grade at BCE.

· The exercising of this option is vital for Bradda to develop its Burro Creek project.

Charles FitzRoy, CEO of Bradda Head Lithium, commented:

"Our excitement about the assets we have has grown considerably over 2021. The combination of data from 2021 drilling, geophysical studies and further metallurgical studies have encouraged us to exercise the option, which in turn will reduce our yearly costs and the development risk in the assets dramatically."

"Bradda is fully funded to take its sedimentary assets to an early-stage technical study. From our IPO (July 2021) and the recent royalty transaction with LRC (December 2021) Bradda finished 2021 with $9.9m in the treasury with a further $5.5m expected upon reaching resource expansion milestones as per the royalty agreement with LRC (RNS 22/12/2021)."

"2021 was a very important year for Bradda, and in 2022 the results from this first stage of development will start to show. With a resource update from BCE in Q1 and a Maiden resource from Wikieup in Q2, these assets alone are going to contribute to a huge year for Bradda; even more so given the work that is also underway at our pegmatite and brine assets.  We expect to have significant newsflow over the course of 2022 and look forward to updating all our stakeholders as 2022 progresses."

The Option Agreement

As included in the Company's Admission Document, dated 8 July 2021, the Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary Zenolith (USA) LLC ("Zenolith") holds an option over certain properties pursuant to an option agreement dated 24 October 2016 ("Option Agreement") between St Cloud Mining Inc. ("St. Cloud"), Cheto Partners LLC ("Cheto") and Zenolith. The Option Agreement grants Zenolith the right to acquire ownership of the below properties (the "BC Option Properties") subject to payment of US$600,000 (and the terms and conditions of the Option Agreement) (the "Cheto Option"):

Cheto Option Property
Burro Creek East Lease	means Mineral Lease No 11-86283 granted by the Arizona State Land Department to Cheto on 1 April 2006, with a term of 20 years, expiring on 31 March 2026 over 360 acres of land owned by the State of Arizona to the east of Burro Creek in Mohave and Yavapai Counties
Cheto CP Claims in BCW	twelve unpatented placer claims held by Cheto in respect of certain public land in Mohave County, Arizona (CP 1-12)

Details of the Option Agreement and Exercise Thereof:

• Cheto is the lessee of certain mineral rights granted by the State of Arizona in relation to the lithium clay projects located in BCE.

• Cheto and St. Cloud are parties to a lease dated 9 September 2010 whereby Cheto has granted leasehold mining rights on State land to St. Cloud for a term of up to 30 years.

• To maintain the Cheto Option during its five-year term the Company has made annual payments to St. Cloud and Cheto and undertake minimum work and meet minimum expenditure obligations.

• Under the terms of the Option Agreement Zenolith has the right to acquire 100 percent of the BC Option Properties project by payment of US$600,000 at any time before the earlier of (i) 5 years of the expiry of the due diligence period (which period commenced in January 2017), or (ii) the date upon which commercial production of lithium or other materials from Burro Creek East commences.

• Absent exercise, the five-year period would have expired on 21 January 2022 subject to Zenolith's right to extend.

• Zenolith has the option to extend the term of the Cheto Option for a further 2 years beyond that date by making cash payments to St. Cloud and Cheto of US$50,000 for each year extended; and

• Furthermore, if the Cheto Option is extended then the price payable to exercise the Cheto Option in the extension period is increased to US$750,000 payable at any time before the earlier of (i) 7 years from the expiry of the due diligence period (January 2024), and (ii) the date upon which commercial production of lithium or other materials from BCE commences.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014, as it forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

Contact:

Bradda Head Lithium Limited	[phone]
Charlie FitzRoy, CEO Denham Eke, Finance Director
Beaumont Cornish (Nomad) James Biddle/Roland Cornish	[phone]
Peterhouse (Joint Broker)	[phone]
Charles Goodfellow Duncan Vasey Lucy Williams
Shard Capital (Joint Broker)	[phone]
Damon Heath Isabella Pierre
Red Cloud (North American Broker)	[phone]
Joe Fars
Tavistock (PR)	+ 44 20 7920 3150
Nick Elwes Oliver Lamb Adam Baynes	[e-mail]

 

Notes to Editors

Bradda Head Lithium Ltd. is a North America-focused lithium development group. The Company currently has interests in a variety of projects, the most advanced of which are in Central and Western Arizona: The Burro Creek Project (the Burro Creek East Project and the Burro Creek West Project) and the Wikieup Project.

The Burro Creek East Project has an estimated an Inferred Mineral Resource (JORC) of 42.6 Mt of lithium-bearing clays at an average grade of 818 ppm of lithium for 185,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). The Burro Creek East Project also has additional exploration potential for extensions to the current model of between 50,000 to 300,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent.

The Group intends to continue to develop its three phase one projects in Arizona, whilst endeavouring to unlock value at its other prospective pegmatite and brine assets in Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania.

All Bradda's licences are held on a 100% equity basis.

Bradda Head is quoted on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange with a ticker of BHL.

 

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