Sonora Lithium Project Update

RNS Number : 7010P

Rare Earth Minerals PLC

21 August 2014

 



21 August 2014

Rare Earth Minerals Plc.

("Rare Earth Minerals", "REM" or "the Company")

Sonora Lithium Project Update

Rare Earth Minerals (AIM: REM) advises that Bacanora Minerals Ltd ("Bacanora"), have today announced an update on the Sonora Lithium Project.

REM has an 11.90% shareholding in Bacanora, its joint venture partner in the Sonora Lithium Project in Mexico. This interest, when aggregated with REM's 30% direct interest in the Fleur El-Sauz Lithium Joint Venture and the 30% direct interest in the Megalit Joint Venture, results in a total economic interest in the Fleur El-Sauz and Megalit Joint Ventures of approximately 38.3%. 

The full news release from Bacanora is shown below.

Highlights from the Bacanora release include:

·      Plant design is progressing well for a production facility with a capacity of up to 50,000 tonne per annum of Lithium Carbonate.

·      Lithium bearing clay units on the Buenavista Concession (part of the Megalit joint venture) have been confirmed to be exposed at surface for 6 km along strike and outcrop over 1.25 km across dip and have returned surface samples of up 1,700 ppm Lithium.

·      Detailed drill programme being planned for the Sonora Lithium Project to delineate the open pit design.

·      Drilling results from the Megalit Joint Venture have intersected lithium bearing clay units  10 km south of the 2.01 million tonne indicated lithium mineral resource on the Fleur El-Sauz joint venture.

·      A drill programme is being designed to expand to expand the current Lithium resources in to the Megalit Joint Venture.

David Lenigas, the Company's Chairman commented:

"This update on the Sonora Lithium project further shows the excellent progress that is being made toward the commercialisation of these assets. The true extent and size of this Lithium province is becoming more apparent, which along with the metallurgy, which confirmed that better than battery grade can be achieved, and the progression of the plant design for up to a 50,000 tonnes per annum Lithium Carbonate, underpins our belief that the Sonora Lithium Project has the potential to be the a globally significant Lithium producer."

- Ends -

For further information please contact: 

Rare Earth Minerals plc                                                                   [phone]

David Lenigas

Kiran Morzaria

WH Ireland Limited (NOMAD & Joint Broker)                               [phone]

James Joyce

Nick Field

Hume Capital plc (Joint Broker)                                                     [phone]

Guy Peters

Jon Belliss

Square1 Consulting

David Bick                                                                                           [phone]

Mark Longson

NEWS RELEASE

BACANORA PROVIDES UPDATE ON THE SONORA LITHIUM PROJECT

BACANORA MINERALS LTD. ("Bacanora" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has received $US1,000,000 from its joint venture partner, Rare Earth Minerals, PLC ("REM") in connection with the exercise by REM of its second stage option in respect of Joint Venture #2 and provides an update on general exploration activities on the Sonora Lithium Project in northern Mexico.

Joint Venture #2 - REM increases its interest to 30%

As REM has now fulfilled all of its obligations in connection with the exercise of its second stage option REM's ownership in Megalit S.A. de C.V. (the company holding the Buenavista, Megalit and San Gabriel concessions that form part of the Sonora Lithium Project in Mexico) is hereby increased from 10% to 30%. Bacanora continues to own the remaining 70% interest in Megalit. For further information on Joint Venture #2, please refer to the Company's press releases dated March 12 and May 26, 2014.

The funds received from REM will be used for exploration and drilling expenditures over the following year on the concessions held by Megalit. As noted in its August 18 press release, the Company is collecting surface bulk samples from trenches excavated in lithium-bearing clay horizons on the Buenavista concession, where lithium bearing clays have now been identified at surface with an exposure of over 6 kilometres in length and widths of over 1.25 kilometres. Metallurgical test work to determine lithium solubility and recovery from the clays there will be conducted as part of an initial program of drill testing of the clay units. Prospecting, geological mapping and rock sampling of lithium bearing clay horizons on the San Gabriel and large Megalit concessions are ongoing, with the focus of delineating basin configuration and planning the next drilling campaign to test the lithium-bearing clays found as a result of this ongoing work.

Additional Results Update

Results of the first four drill holes from the Megalit concession have been received. The drilling tested exposures of clay units 10 kilometres to the south of the lithium resource on El Sauz. The drill holes intersected faulted intervals of the sandstone and clay altered tuffaceous sediments that ranged from 0.91 to 5.79 metres in length. Samples from the clay intervals range from 352 to 1,470 ppm Li. The intercepts are interpreted to be proximal to the edge of a basin hosting lithium-bearing clay. Further work is required to determine if clay horizons intercepted in the holes are part of the basin containing the El Sauz - Fleur - La Ventana lithium deposit or are part of a separate basin and if there are thicker intervals of lithium bearing clays within that basin. Surface sampling on the Buenavista concession, which is part of the Megalit holdings, have returned lithium values up to 1,700 ppm in clay units there. The lithium-bearing sediments on Buenavista strike north-south and are exposed for a length of 6 kilometres across the concession. The sediments dip, in general, gently to the east and crop out over 1.25 kilometres in an eastwest direction. In addition, results from the last hole drilled on the Fleur concession have been received. The drill hole was collared 1.7 kilometres to the west of the La Ventana lithium deposit. The hole intersected 29.06 metres of the tuffaceous, clay-rich sediments. Samples of the sediments ranged up to 438 ppm Li. The sequence is interpreted to be proximal to the basin edge and to correlate with the Upper Clay Unit of the lithium deposit.

Martin Vidal, President of Bacanora, commented:

"We are very pleased with REM's continued support of exploration and development of the concessions that make up Sonora Lithium Project. Results to date continue to demonstrate the potential for finding additional lithium resources within the Sonora Lithium Project area".

"Work is progressing well on the plant design for a Lithium Carbonate project with a production target of up to 50,000 tonnes per annum and we are now planning a much larger drilling program on Sonora to not only provide detailed open pit design information, but to expand the lithium resources into Megalit. Further updates will be made on these developments in due course."

Carl G. Verley, P.Geo. is the Qualified Person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") that has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release.

 

END

 

 

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