Bradda Head launches second drilling campaign on rapid schedule

Lithium developer Bradda Head announced the start of exploration drilling at its Wikieup project in Arizona on Tuesday, confirming that drilling has started following it obtaining full drilling permits after bond payment adjudication on 9 December.

The AIM-traded firm said the drilling programme, which commenced on 10 December, was for 28 holes totalling 3,000 metres - roughly three times the size of the recent Burro Creek East drill programme - and would cover portions of its Wikieup Project claims.

It was using sonic drilling, which was more environmentally-sensitive due to the use of very little water compared to diamond core drilling or reverse circulation.

Over the first three days of drilling, Boart Longyear drilled 40 metres per 12 hour shift on average, compared to the previous diamond core drilling programme at Burro Creek East which only achieved 11 metres on average per shift over the whole programme.

The company said the drill rate at Wikieup so far highlighted the shortened drill programme timetable, and the cost efficiency of using sonic drilling at sedimentary projects, as well as the water-saving nature of sonic versus diamond drilling.

It said the results from the programme would likely form a maiden resource in the second quarter of 2022.

Bradda Head recently completed a 10-hole, 1,144 metre diamond drill programme at its Burro Creek East project, also in Arizona, where an updated resource was due in the first quarter of 2022.

The firm had an existing resource of 185,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent at Burro Creek East, and was expecting the updated resource in the first quarter to “significantly expand” on that.

Bradda held 47 square kilometres of sedimentary claims in the US state of Arizona, and so far had only drilled on about 2% of it.

“With exploration already yielding positive results at our other assets in Arizona, we are confident that this drilling programme will support the promising initial results from our 2021 geophysics programme and demonstrate the resource size potential at Wikieup,” said chief executive officer Charles FitzRoy.

“The commencement of a second drilling programme in five months demonstrates our intent to accelerate exploration and fully develop our asset base in Arizona and Nevada, as well as playing a part in the crucial supply of lithium to US end-users.

“We recently announced a conditional royalty with LRC for up to $10m - a deal which would allow us to drill on most of our sedimentary claims and start a scoping or preliminary economic assessment-style technical study without the need for coming to the market for funds.”

FitzRoy noted that Bradda started and completed its first drill programme as a listed company in 2021, and had started a second, far larger, drill campaign before the end of the same year.

“Bradda is committed to fast-track development of its projects and expects to be announcing increases in resources in the first and second quarters in 2022.

“A very exciting year [is] ahead, as our hard work in 2021 comes to fruition.”

At 1225 GMT, shares in Bradda Head Lithium were up 4.87% at 7.32p.