Future Battery Minerals (ASX:FBM) has begun resource drilling to target lithium clay mineralisation at the Lone Mountain prospect within its Nevada Lithium Project in the US.
The $58.63 million market capitalisation company plans to complete a combination of diamond and reverse circulation (RC) drilling, with the aim of delivering a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the project in Q1 2024.
Drilling will also test an ‘exciting’ discovery made at Lone Mountain, as announced on 13 July 2023.
A diamond drill rig is now on-site collecting core samples at Lone Mountain. Future Battery says this will provide an accurate control on geology and will further test a number of locations where previous drill techniques failed to reach the planned target depth.
Core samples taken will also be used for comparative analysis to RC samples and to investigate any potential grade discrepancies between the RC and diamond core sampling techniques.
Future Battery notes the RC drilling is scheduled to kick off in November this year, following completion of permitting to the south of Lone Mountain, and will cover over 2km of additional prospective strike.
Commenting on the ongoing exploration activities, Future Battery Minerals Technical Director Robin Cox says: “Future Battery Minerals is excited to be back drilling again in Nevada, where previous programs at Lone Mountain successfully discovered a significant scale of lithium claystone highlighted by the current mineralised east-west strike of 3km and north-south strike of 1.3km, which still remains open to the south for a further 2km.
The company is now on track towards establishing a maiden MRE at the NLP, and the current drilling program is the crucial next step in achieving this milestone.”
“The company is now on track towards establishing a maiden MRE at the NLP”
The Nevada project is 80% owned by Future Battery Minerals and encompasses 4 prospects: Traction, San Antone, Western Flats, and Lone Mountain. Lone Mountain lies near the mining hub of Tonopah in Nevada, US.
Future Battery Minerals is a battery minerals exploration company focused on its US and Australian assets. The company’s portfolio of assets is prospective for nickel, copper, cobalt, lithium, zinc, and gold.
As of 30 June 2023, the company had $3.04 million cash at hand, according to its latest quarterly report. On 15 September 2023, the company conducted a placement to raise $7.6 million, and it has received the first tranche of the placement, totalling $5.2 million.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Future Battery Minerals
