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Location: 72 km NE from Wells, Nevada, United States
300-1455 Bellevue Avenue WestVancouverBritish Columbia, CanadaV7T 1C3
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Deposit TypesLithium-bearing clays at the Nevada North Lithium Project (NNLP) share characteristics with the closed hydrologic system diagenesis (CHSD) model. A closed hydrologic system refers to a basin environment where hydrologic inputs are exceeded by evaporation. Closed hydrologic systems in the Great Basin are formed by either caldera collapse or divergent tectonic activity, both resulting in graben blocks suitable for lake formation. Hydrothermal circulation within the basin may contribute to the development of lithium-bearing claystone strata.Property Area GeologyOutcrop exposures are rare in the main part of the property as the Tertiary basin-filling sediments and felsic ash fall tuffs are easily weathered and form rolling hills. Abundant sage scrub and juniper vegetation further conceal the surface rock units. A prominent exposure of felsic ash fall tuff (with possible fluvial scouring and re-working of certain beds) from 10 km west of the NNLP on BLM 1099 provides a suitable visual example.Prominent outcrops of lithium mineralization-hosting claystone are rare and these stratigraphic units are best understood from core drilling. A hill that is capped by tuff unit Ty1 overlying lithium mineralized claystone unit Cu3 provided the best field example of claystone exposure during the site visit of October 8, 2024.Regional mapping by Coats (1987) shows an undifferentiated package of Tertiary tuffs and sediments with the patch of flows and domes on the northeast comer. Mapping by Redfern (1977) used the older term "Idavada Formation to describe primarily the felsic flows and tuffs now more associated with the Cougar Point Tuff. The unit descriptions and measured sections by Redfern are still valid locally, as well as measured sections and age dates by Camilleri et. al. (2017). Redfern's Opal Springs Volcanic unit is likely a member of the Cougar Point Tuff but further work including radiometric age dating is needed to confirm this and place the subunits of the Opal Springs into the regional sequence.There is a major change in the tuffs and clastic rocks in the Redfern measured sections in Texas Spring Canyon south of the Prince Mine and the dark claystone on the NNLP property. Tuffs in the eastern part of the canyon are nearly flat-lying while those on the property have a shallow west dip. The claystone units are not seen in the eastern part of the canyon, and stream sediment analyses suggest these rocks are devoid of significant lithium.As known from core drilling, the sedimentary sequence in the main part of the property consists of a welded ash-flow tuff overlain by a sequence of interbedded clay-rich siltstone and shale punctuated by apparent air-fall tuff beds. The clay-rich sequence is capped by a layer of tuff and tuffaceous sediments with thin silicified beds. On the west and south, these rocks are covered with alluvial material derived from the Contact Pluton and associated metamorphosed Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks. A small igneous dome is found on the east and northeast edge of the claim block; the exact nature of the body is not well known but it appears to pre-date the mineralized claystone.Mineralization is found in three distinct horizons of silty, weakly calcareous claystone with seams of blue-grey clay. The depositional environment is lacustrine. Rocks between the lithium mineralized claystones are mostly reduced felsic air fall tuffs and tuffaceous siltstone. Holes targeted completion in a basal coarse cobble to pebble conglomerate, ash flow tuff, or a Paleozoic phyllite. The lower tuff shows moderate propylitic alteration with replacement of mafic minerals by chlorite and disseminated pyrite. The basement in hole NNL-007 has coarse quartz and metamorphic rocks derived from the Contact Pluton and associated metamorphic rocks to the west. This would be consistent with a localized basin as proposed by Camilleri, et. al (2017).In the northern part of the property, several white ash units form outcrops that cap the mineralized claystone. Superficially, these resemble the dated tuff beds in Bell Canyon measured and dated by Camilleri et al. (2017) and are exposed at a similar elevation. If these can be shown to be the same horizons, the host units (if not the mineralization in general) can be shown to have been laid down around 11 Ma.MineralizationIn plan view, the northwest-southeast long dimension of the NNLP lithium inferred resource is 5.0 km. The widest portion is 2.8 km near the southern limit while the narrowest portion is 0.8 km near the northern limit.Lithium mineralized claystone is typically olive green to dark green and may contain seams of a more intense blue-grey color. When wet, this clay is plastic with a potter's clay texture.Visual clues to possible lithium enrichment in claystone include dominance of the clay fraction over the coarser clastic component in the claystone / siltstone, the presence of megascopic disseminated white calcite crystals, and the presence of thin silica lenses or laminae which can sometimes preserve trona crystals or crystal casts; Surge geologists interpret these lenses as indurated lakebed silica gel accumulations.Preliminary screen testing of mineralized claystone demonstrates that 98% of the lithium endowment reports to the minus 200 mesh fraction (Kappes, Cassiday & Associates, 2023). While this observation supports the conclusion that lithium resides in clay mineral(s), neither the specific mineral species nor the preferred site(s) for lithium within the clay crystal lattice are known at present.Enrichment in cesium and rubidium correlates strongly with lithium enrichment. Somewhat weaker positive correlation is seen for magnesium and boron. Tungsten shows positive correlation with lithium content only at highest lithium grades and preferentially in the claystones of the Upper Mineralized Sequence. A correlation of molybdenum with lithium content is weak and equivocal. There is no evidence of arsenic or antimony enrichment associated with elevated lithium content.
