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Surge Battery Metals Northern Nevada: First Outcomes of the Lithium Exploration Programs
SURFACE MINING
Surge Battery Metals: Northern Nevada: First Outcomes of the Lithium Exploration Programs
Surge Battery Metals Inc. stated last month that the Northern Nevada Lithium Project (NNLP) in Elko County, Nevada, has completed a weather-shortened soil sample program.
Rangefront Exploration provided a four-person crew to collect 445 samples on 100-meter and 50-meter lines spaced 100 meters apart. The project was initially set to collect 1,000 samples. However, due to delays caused by Covid difficulties and a lack of workforce, full-scale sampling was postponed until November 29, 2021.
Early December snowfall and following storms brought the sampling program to a close early for this winter season. When ground conditions allow in the spring of 2022, the Company intends to resume this exploratory program.
Global sample processing facility in Elko, Nevada. The soil sample program was created to follow up on lithium levels of up to 1,980 ppm Li in stream sediments collected by their Nevada-based geologist in the district.
The geologist was guided to the drainage, where the follow-up samples were taken by high lithium values (74.8 and 780 ppm Li) in a public US Geological Survey database. The Northern Nevada Lithium Project currently comprises 95 unpatented lode claims covering approximately 770 hectares.
The geology consists of a series of air and water-lain tuffs that are protected by a thick layer of welded ash-flow tuff. Lithium-rich claystone or hydrothermally altered ash and ashy sediments are the NNLP's primary targets.
Surge Battery trades under the symbol NILI on the TSX Venture Exchange, where it is listed as a Tier 2 Issuer. Surge Battery has been permitted to trade on the Pink Markets under the symbol NILIF, at the request of the Company, beginning December 30, 2021.
Mergent Manuals and News Reports list the Company, and it trades on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the ticker FRA:DJ5C.
UNDERGROUND MINING
The Gold Search Story Continues!
Following preliminary findings from a series of local exploratory activities, mineral exploration company Geophysx Jamaica Limited has advanced to phase three of the project, in which it looks to confirm commercial deposits ranging in gold, copper, and rare earth minerals.
We have now completed the first two phases and know what we are looking for in the areas of interest," said Robert "Bobby" Stewart, chief executive officer of Geophysx, in response to questions from the Jamaica Observer following a press briefing held at the Ministry of Transport and Mining.
The project was started last year
in April 2018. It is dubbed the most extensive exploration program in the mining business outside of bauxite. It possesses exploration licenses for copper, zinc, gold, and other minerals. Over 40,000 geochemical investigations have been performed to date across local terrain — both virgin and limestone-covered lands — to establish the presence of minerals in areas of interest, which are now limited to gold, copper, and rare earth occurrences.
"Phase one and two have revealed us numerous places where we will focus since we know there is something there but aren't sure how to characterize it yet; therefore, phase three is expected to define it based on the samples acquired." We'll start getting information from that in the next three months, and work will continue throughout the year as we make further discoveries in an environmentally sound and non-disruptive manner," Stewart added.
The privately-held project, funded by the company's founder, has already spent over $1 billion to cover costs related to exploratory activities, including general assessments of the island's mineralogy and geochemistry. The project, which now employs 28 people, including geology graduates from the University of the West Indies (UWI), is also being carried out with the help of international consultants that include geophysicists, geologists, explorationists, and geochemists.
"As a local company, we focus on developing local talent," Stewart said, adding that while he couldn't calculate potential returns on investment at the present, substantial developments in remaining exploratory efforts will undoubtedly add significant value to the local economy.
"I believe the kinds of discoveries we're looking for will generate a lot of money locally and within the communities where they're discovered," he said.
Minister of Transport and Mining Robert Montague said he was "overly impatient" for confirmations on the current advances in the mining sector. "There was some scepticism when I introduced the initiative in Parliament because people thought just limestone and bauxite would be present, but surveys have showed that there is'something else,' and we are now working to confirm that something else."
He highlighted that, despite the effects of the new coronavirus epidemic, the mining industry had remained a powerful cash source for the country, contributing considerably to national GDP and generating billions of dollars in revenue annually.
"We consequently hope that these additional explorations would improve employment prospects for our people, as well as foreign exchange profits for the country," the minister remarked.
