Significant Mineral Resource Expansion at Basin

Bradda Head Lithium Ltd

28 September 2023

 

28 September 2023

Bradda Head Lithium Ltd

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

Further Significant Lithium Mineral Resource Expansion at The Basin Project in Arizona 

Bradda Head Lithium Ltd (AIM:BHL, TSX-V:BHLI, OTCQB:BHLIF), the North America-focused lithium development group, is pleased to announce an updated Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") at the Company's Basin Project, Arizona (see Table 1 below).  The updated MRE was prepared in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 (Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects) ("NI-43-101"). As per the Gross Overriding Royalty Agreement ("Royalty Agreement") with the Lithium Royalty Company ("LRC"), this new contained LCE Tonnage which is well over the contracted threshold of 1Mt, has enabled the Company to trigger the payment of US$2.5 million from LRC. The Company has requested this payment be made.

 Highlights:

·    Based on a further 2,355.20m of sonic drilling, completed in 2023, Bradda Head has added 729 kt of Lithium Carbonate Equivalent ("LCE") to the Inferred Mineral Resource, for an updated total Inferred LCE content of 1.0 Mt. The total new Mineral Resource now comprises 17.0 million tonnes in the Indicated category at 940 ppm carrying 85kt LCE and 210 million tonnes in the Inferred category at 900 ppm, carrying 1,000 kt LCE

·    As per the Royalty Agreement, BHL has formally requested payment of US $2.5 million from LRC; documentation has been submitted per verification by SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd ("SRK").

·    The continued step out drilling success at Basin East Extension and Basin North has increased the Company's confidence levels in achieving the next milestone of 2.5Mt of LCE in situ, that enables BHL to receive a further US$3.0 million payment from the Royalty Agreement.

·    SRK applied a new cut off grade of 550ppm Li to report Mineral Resources and demonstrate reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction ("RPEEE"). This cut off grade is higher than the cut-off grade used to report the previous Mineral Resource (300 ppm; effective 13^th October 2022). This higher cut off grade more accurately reflects the recognised metallurgical processing input parameters and takes into account operating costs presented in the public domain by more advanced peer group projects.

·    The average in situ grade of the Inferred Basin East Mineral Resource has increased from 694 to 900 ppm Li, a 30% increase.

·    The results of the 2023 drilling programme demonstrate extensive lateral continuity of the Basin East clay package as well as impressive consistency in the stratigraphic position and grade profile of a high-grade clay-rich sub-unit, over an approximately 2.7 x1.8 km area.  It's important to note that the Upper Clay Unit includes a continuous High-Grade layer which has an average grade of some 1,300 ppm Li, and is on average 15m thick. This higher-grade portion of the Upper Clay Unit is strategic as it could potentially form part of a phased mining processing operation and would clearly enhance early stages of mining and overall project economics.

·    Mineralisation is open to the north of the MRE model in the Basin East and Basin North license blocks, and geological mapping, surface Li samples. Geological mapping and geophysical surveys indicate that similar clay strata may also be present across the majority of the Basin West license block. The previous drilled area only covered 1.4km² of Bradda's total 41km² of sedimentary claims in Basin and Wikieup. The 2023  resource expansion drill programme has increased this drilled area to 2.5km² or 14% of BHL's claims in the Basin district only (see map https://www.braddaheadltd.com/media/image-library/). The next phase of drilling is planned for early 2024 at Basin North under an existing notice of intent ("NOI") permit. Bradda is also permitting an 80-hole programme at BWE and BW with the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) where it expects significant resource growth stemming from geological work done to date by our geologists. BW and BWE cover an 11km² area, which is considerably larger than the BE (1.5km²), BEE (2.3km²) and BN (2.3km²).

·    SRK were selected to complete the Mineral Resource Update analysis and applied a stringent approach to both the in-situ density measurement and the cut off grade utilised. A lower in situ density and higher cut off grade than previously reported resulted in a more robust estimate. A significant and pragmatic building block to develop the on-going test-work plan.

·    Table 2 below highlights the 'grade vs. tonnage' relationship with the orebody and reflects a significant amount of flexibility in potential open pit mining scenarios

·    The full study completed by SRK will be available on the Company's website and SEDAR before November 10, 2023.

Ian Stalker, Chairman of Bradda Head, commented:

"The increase in LCE at Basin East Extension and into Basin North highlights the impressive potential that we have always believed is inherent at the Basin Project. The total drilled area at Basin East/Basin East Extension/Basin North still only covers 2.5km² of our 41km² license area at Basin and Wikieup.

"We believe that 2024 is going to be another exciting year of resource growth for Bradda Head, hopefully in both projects areas - San Domingo Pegmatites and the Basin Clays. We remain well funded, even more so following the royalty payment. More drilling  is already planned at Basin North and Basin West upon receipt of the Environmental Assessment ("EA") from the BLM in H2 2024. The area we are permitting is over 11km², which is considerably larger than BE, BEE, and BN combined (c.6km²). BHL is excellently placed to take full advantage of the near-term resource growth potential at our sedimentary lithium assets in Arizona. The BHL team on site has done a remarkable job and showed persistence in delineating the Basin Project to date.

"We have a compelling 12 months ahead with what we believe are a number of material catalysts and we look forward to providing further updates in 2023, including our ongoing work at our San Domingo Pegmatite district as well as in 2024 in what we believe is going to be another exciting year of resource growth for Bradda both at San Domingo and Basin."

Mineral Resource Estimation

The updated 2023 Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") at Basin authored by SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd ("SRK"), is reported in accordance with the terminology and definitions given in the JORC Code (2012) and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum guidelines, comprises: an Indicated Mineral Resource of 17 Mt at an average grade of 940 ppm Li and 3.4% K for a total of 85 kt LCE and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 210 Mt at an average grade of 900 ppm Li and 2.8% K for a total of 1.0 Mt LCE. The statement, presented in Table 1, was prepared by Mr. Martin Pittuck of SRK, who is considered a Qualified Person for this style of mineralisation.

SRK has applied basic technical and economic assumptions for open pit mining (mining and selling costs, mining recovery and dilution, pit slope angles) and processing factors (Li recovery, processing costs), to determine which portion of the block model has reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction as required by the JORC Code. To achieve this, the Mineral Resource has been subject to a pit optimisation study and cut-off grade analysis.

The 2023 Q3 Mineral Resource follows the completion of a 14 hole 2,355.2m sonic drilling programme which was completed in Q2 2023. Drilling covers double the area compared with the previous estimate giving new relatively wide spaced intersections in Basin East Extension and the southern part of Basin North.

2023 Mineral Resource Statement

Table 1:  Mineral Resource Statement for Basin East, Basin East Extension and Basin North effective 1 September 2023.

Classification	Domain	Tonnes	Mean Grade		Contained Metal
		Mt	Li (ppm)	K (%)	LCE (kt)	K (kt)
Indicated	Upper Clay	11	720	3.5	42	380
	Upper Clay HG	6	1350	3.2	43	190
	Lower Clay	-	-	-	-	-
	SubTotal	17	940	3.4	85	570
Inferred	Upper Clay	143	790	2.7	600	3,800
	Upper Clay HG	48	1290	3.1	330	1,500
	Lower Clay	19	690	2.8	70	530
	SubTotal	210	900	2.8	1,000	5,800
o  Mineral Resource statement has an effective date of 1 September 2023. o  The Mineral Resource is reported using a cut-off grade of 550 ppm Li and is constrained to an optimised open pit shell, which was generated using the following assumptions: lithium carbonate metal prices of 22,000 USD/tLCE; State of Arizona royalty (selling cost) of 6%; operating costs of 40 USD/ tore; Li recovery of 72%; mining dilution and recovery of 0% and 100%; and pit slope angle of 45°. o  Tonnages are reported in metric units. o  Rounding as required by reporting guidelines may result in apparent summation differences between tonnes, grade and contained metal content which are not considered material. o  Conversion factor of Li metal to lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) = 5.323 o  The figures above are reported on a gross basis given Bradda's 100% interest in the property

High Grade

Over one third of the contained LCE is in a High-Grade zone within the Upper Clay zone with an average grade of some 1,300 ppm Li. This High-Grade zone gives Bradda Head further optionality and could have important economic implications for a potential future mining operation. The shallow nature of the High-Grade zone, which crops out in Basin East, would likely result in a low strip ratio, enabling High-Grade ore to be scheduled early in a possible mine plan as it sits in the upper part of the deposit.

Exploration Potential

The Upper Clay zone and Higher-Grade zone show remarkable extent and continuity throughout the drilled parts of the Basin Project and remain open to the north, indicating significant exploration potential in the Basin North license. Geological mapping, surface samples assayed for lithium, and geophysical (Ground Penetrating Radar) survey work also indicate similar clay layers are likely present throughout the majority of the Basin West license area. As such, with further wide-spaced drilling Bradda Head sees excellent potential to increase the resource base substantially with the goal of reaching and exceeding 2.5MT LCE.

For the prospective parts of Basin East, Basin West, Basin West Extension and Basin North claims, SRK has determined a JORC compliant Exploration Target of 250 to 830 Mt of additional material grading between 750 to 900 ppm Li. This is equivalent to a range of between 1 to 4 Mt contained LCE. This Exploration Target is based on an assessment of the updated Mineral Resource LCE per unit area, an estimated range of likely grades based on the MRE and an assessment of the extent of mapped clay and hangingwall lithologies, together with surface sample Li grades, in the undrilled parts of the Basin Project licence areas. See map (https://www.braddaheadltd.com/media).

Related Tables

The following table is for information and context, comparing Q4 2022, Q1 2022 and 2018 totals in relation to the areas on which work had been conducted at each time.

Comparison of updated 2023 to Q4 2022 MRE to Q1 2022 MRE to 2018 MRE:

2023 model sensitivity of LCE to cut-off grade:

Table 2: Grade-Tonnage sensitivity* to cut-off grade

Li cut-off grade (ppm)	Indicated			Inferred
	Tonnage above cut-off	Average grade above cut-off	Contained metal above cut-off	Tonnage above cut-off	Average grade above cut-off	Contained metal above cut-off
	Mt	Li (ppm)	LCE (kt)	Mt	Li (ppm)	LCE (kt)
650	15	990	77	190	910	940
750	11	1100	61	140	990	750
850	8	1220	49	80	1120	500
1000	6	1290	42	50	1270	340
*This table does not constitute a Mineral Resource, as defined by the JORC Code, but is an expression of the sensitivity of the average grade and contained tonnage of LCE to a selection of different Li cut-off grades

Other Comments

Remarkably, the resource was developed in 4 separate programs over the span of 5 years, drilling 62 holes for a total of 6,730 meters, extremely high value for share holders, resulting in over 1.0MT of LCE.

For further information please visit the Company's website: www.braddaheadltd.com

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.

Qualified Person SRK

The Mineral Resource statement has been authored by Mr. Martin Pittuck, CEng, MIMMM, FGS who works for SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd, an independent mining consultancy. Mr. Pittuck has over 25 years' experience undertaking and reviewing Mineral Resource Estimates and has worked on lithium clay estimates for over 5 years. Mr. Pittuck consents to the inclusion of the technical information in this release and context in which it appears. 

Qualified Person (BHL)

Joey Wilkins, B.Sc., P.Geo., is Head of North America at BHL and the Qualified Person who reviewed and approved the technical disclosures in this news release. Mr. Wilkins is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a B.Sc. in Geology with more than 37 years of experience in mineral exploration and is a qualified person under the AIM Rules and a Qualified Person as defined under NI-43-101. Mr. Wilkins consents to the inclusion of the technical information in this release and context in which it appears.

Reference is made to the report entitled "Independent Technical Report On The Basin And Wikieup Lithium Clay Projects, Arizona, USA" (the Report) dated October 18 2022 with an effective date of June 10 2022. The Report was prepared by Martin Pittuck, CEng, MIMMM, FGS, and Kirsty Reynolds MSci, PhD, FGS and reviewed by Nick Fox MSc, ACA, MIMMM. The Report is available for review on SEDARplus (https://www.sedarplus.ca) and the Company's website www.braddaheadltd.com.

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES 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 VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS INSIDE INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND SUCH PERSONS SHALL THEREFORE CEASE TO BE IN POSSESSION OF INSIDE INFORMATION.

ENDS

Contact:

Bradda Head Lithium Limited	[phone]
Ian Stalker, Executive Chairman Denham Eke, Finance Director
Beaumont Cornish (Nomad) James Biddle/Roland Cornish	[phone]
Panmure Gordon (Joint Broker)	[phone]
John Prior / Hugh Rich
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 / Adam Baynes	[e-mail]

About Bradda Head Lithium Ltd.

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 Basin Project (Basin East Project, and the Basin West Project) and the Wikieup Project.

The Basin East Project has an Indicated Mineral Resource of 17 Mt at an average grade of 940 ppm Li and 3.4% K for a total of 85 kt LCE and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 210 Mt at an average grade of 900 ppm Li and 2.8% K (potassium) for a total of 1.0 Mt LCE. In the rest of the Basin Project SRK has determined an Exploration Target of 250 to 830 Mt of material grading between 750 to 900 ppm Li, which is equivalent to a range of between 1 to 4 Mt contained LCE. 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 of Bradda Head's licences are held on a 100% equity basis and are in close proximity to the required infrastructure. Bradda Head is quoted on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange with the ticker of BHL, on the TSX Venture Exchange with a ticker of BHLI, and on the US OTCQB market with a ticker of BHLIF.

Technical Glossary

kt	Thousand tonnes
ppm	Parts per million
Exploration Target	An estimate of the exploration potential of a mineral deposit in a defined geological setting where the statement or estimate, quoted as a range of tonnes and a range of grade (or quality), relates to mineralisation for which there has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource.
Inferred Mineral Resource	That part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity and grade (or quality) are estimated on the basis of limited geological evidence and sampling. Geological evidence is sufficient to imply but not verify geological grade (or quality) continuity. It is based on exploration, sampling and testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes.  An Inferred Mineral Resource has a lower level of confidence than that applying to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to an Ore Reserve.  It is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration.
Indicated Mineral Resource	That part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity, grade (or quality), densities, shape and physical characteristics are estimated with sufficient confidence to allow the application of Modifying Factors in sufficient detail to support mine planning and evaluation of the economic viability of the deposit.  Geological evidence is derived from adequately detailed and reliable exploration, sampling and testing gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes, and is sufficient to assume geological and grade (or quality) continuity between points of observation where data and samples are gathered.

Forward-Looking Statements

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements" which are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "intends to", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, following: The Company's objectives, goals or future plans. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: failure to identify mineral resources; failure to convert estimated mineral resources to reserves; delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required regulatory, governmental, environmental or other project approvals; political risks; future operating and capital costs, timelines, permit timelines, the market and future price of and demand for lithium, and the ongoing ability to work cooperatively with stakeholders, including the local levels of government; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future; changes in equity markets, inflation, changes in exchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices; delays in the development of projects, capital and operating costs varying significantly from estimates; an inability to predict and counteract the effects of COVID-19 on the business of the Company, including but not limited to the effects of COVID-19 on the price of commodities, capital market conditions, restriction on labour and international travel and supply chains; and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, and those risks set out in the Company's public documents filed on SEDARplus. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

 

END