Mining News
American Battery Technology says identified one of the largest premier lithium deposits in the U.S.
(Kitco News) - American Battery Technology Company (OTCQX: ABML) today reported that the third-party audited analysis has identified inferred resource of 15.8 million tons of lithium carbonate equivalent at its Tonopah Flats lithium project in Nevada.
The company said that the Tonopah Flats inferred resource is one of the largest known lithium deposits in the U.S.
“The large-tonnage nature of the deposit, combined with the company’s internally-developed lithium extraction and hydroxide manufacturing techniques validated and supported through numerous government awards, makes it a potentially critical source of domestically produced lithium to meet increasing demand for lithium products,” it added.
Importantly, the company said that there is potential to significantly expand the resources with further drilling extending to the north and south property boundaries and at greater depths.
Furthermore, according to a press release, leaching trials were carried out in-house by the company using statistically representative homogenized bulk samples, and these trials demonstrated that over 90% of lithium can be extracted from the Tonopah Flats property claystone within a few hours.
"Having identified one of the largest premier lithium deposits in the U.S. is extremely exciting,” stated CEO Ryan Melsert. “However, the identification of an inferred resource in and of itself is not enough to address our critical challenges of increasing our domestic production of critical battery metals, reducing the costs of manufacturing of these battery metals, and decreasing the environmental impacts of their production.”
Melsert continued, “The development of a resource needs to be paired with the development of targeted technologies for the extraction of these metals, and we are proud to have spent the past several years developing technologies specifically targeted at these Nevada-based claystone lithium resources and to have been recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy for the performance of these technologies through our selection for a competitive R&D scale grant in 2021 and for a competitive grant to construct a commercial scale claystone lithium hydroxide refinery in 2022.”
The company said it intends to take next steps to further advance the project, including preparing a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) to analyze the potential viability of this resource and the related commercial scale lithium hydroxide facility, as well as completing additional infill and extension drilling to further expand the mineral resource.
American Battery Technology Company said it is uniquely positioned to supply low-cost, low-environmental impact, and domestically sourced battery metals through its three divisions: lithium-ion battery recycling, primary battery metal extraction technologies, and primary resources development.
