Bradda Head starts drilling at Nevada's Eureka project

North America-focussed lithium developer Bradda Head announced on Thursday that, following the receipt of permits in March, drilling had now started at its Eureka project in Nevada.

The AIM-traded firm also announced the award of share options to certain members of the board and management.

It said drilling began on 19 April on a 23-hole programme designed to test the shallow clay potential at Eureka.

Previous surface sampling carried out by Bradda Head geologists identified grades of up to 550 parts of lithium per million at Eureka.

The board said the programme was designed to test the potential for a shallow clay project at surface, similar to Bradda's other clay assets in Arizona at Wikieup and Basin.

Previous geophysics surveys were carried out by Zonge Engineering and Terravision Exploration, which demonstrated the potential presence of both brine and clay deposits at Eureka, which is in central Nevada near both Tesla's ‘Gigafactory’ battery plant and Albemarle's existing Silver Peak lithium mine.

Silver Peak is the only lithium mine currently in operation in the United States.

Bradda Head said surveys in 2016 also showed geothermal potential at Eureka, which could be used to lower the carbon footprint of lithium production.

The company said the options Issue consisted of 9,200,000 options to certain directors and management, at an exercise price of 18p per share.

“We are delighted to start drilling at Eureka, our third drill programme since IPO, where we have some promising geophysical data, and surface sampling results indicating potential for a clay deposit as well as potentially a brine deposit,” said chief executive officer Charles FitzRoy.

“This reiterates our position as an explorer developing our unique exposure across multiple lithium deposit types.

“Additionally at Eureka, there is some very advantageous geothermally-heated water with anomalous lithium levels at surface, which also presents opportunities for lower carbon lithium production, aligning very well with our environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives.”

FitzRoy said 2022 had already been a “very strong year” for Bradda Head, with the updated Basin mineral resource estimate indicating an exploration target of up to six million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent, the positive metallurgical testwork results from Basin East demonstrating the potential to extract 99% of lithium from leach, and the firm’s recent $12.9m fundraise to fast-track its exploration programmes.

“This continues to be a very busy and exciting time for all of us at Bradda Head as we push forward in this lithium-hungry market space and with our goal of supplying low-carbon lithium to the US battery sector.”

At 1251 BST, shares in Bradda Head Lithium were down 2.72% at 14.3p.