Macarthur Minerals update

RNS Number : 2184C

Cadence Minerals PLC

11 April 2017

 

Cadence Minerals Plc

("Cadence Minerals", "Cadence" or "the Company")

Sampling to Commence

Cadence Minerals Plc (AIM/ISDX: KDNC; OTC: KDNCY)) is pleased to report that Macarthur Minerals ("Macarthur") in which Cadence currently owns a 16.5% shareholding, has announced that it has commenced its second soil sampling program at its Stonewall Lithium Project ("Stonewall Project") located in Lida Valley, Nevada. The Lida Valley basin is adjacent to Clayton Valley, which hosts North America's only producing lithium mine, Albemarle's Silver Peak Lithium Mine.

The full Macarthur announcement can be found at: http://web.tmxmoney.com/article.php?newsid=6309929504594793&qm_symbol=MMS .

Soil Sampling Program

A shallow auger drilling program was conducted as part of due diligence in October 2016 where all nine shallow auger drill holes reported lithium, with grades up to 145.5 parts per million ("ppm") lithium ("Li") from near surface sediment, confirming that lithium is present in the Lida Valley.

Macarthur has commenced an extensive sampling program across the full extent of the placer claims of the Stonewall Project to provide Macarthur a property wide view of lithium distribution contained in the basin fill sediments. This sampling will also allow for a partial indication of the lithium content of the deeper sediments.  At present, the exact depth and composition of the sediments in the basin are unknown. Macarthur's geological team expects sediments to be at least 92 meters (300 feet) deep, most likely considerably deeper. A stock watering well located approximately 500 meters (a quarter mile) to the south of the claim block was drilled to a depth of approximately 92 meters (300 feet). 

Once the property wide soil sampling program is completed, Macarthur will define areas of interest to be further explored through the use of geophysical methods. A detailed gravity survey may be conducted over areas of interest to determine the depth to a potential brine aquifer. The integration of soil assays with a geophysical interpretation will allow drill sites to be selected for detailed subsurface investigation of the project.

It is expected, that potential aquifers similar in composition and thickness to the upper and lower ash aquifers in the nearby Clayton Valley will be encountered at depth.  The ash aquifers in the Clayton Valley were deposited by continental scale volcanic eruptions from calderas located 150 kilometers to the West (90 miles) and 790 kilometers North West (475 miles) of the Stonewall Project area.  Ash fall from these volcanoes was deposited in the nearby Clayton Valley 52 kilometers to the North West (31 miles) and most likely also in the basins of the Lida Valley, where the Stonewall Project is located.  The ash aquifers are both a host for and a possible source for lithium brines in the Clayton Valley.

Stonewall Project

The Stonewall Project covers an area of approximately 5,460 acres (22.1 square kilometers) and the majority of a playa in Nevada's Lida Valley Basin, a nearby and geologically similar basin to the Clayton Valley Basin, which hosts the United States' only producing lithium mine.

The Stonewall Project is strategically located in the Nevada lithium supply hub, 306 kilometers (191 miles) southeast of Tesla's new Gigafactory, which has a planned production capacity of 35 gigawatt-hours per year by 2020.

The Stonewall Project is located in an intermontane basin and is surrounded by tertiary volcanic rhyolitic rock units, which are anomalously high in lithium.  These rhyolitic units are thought to act as a potential source rock for lithium in the Clayton Valley brines. The potential lithium source rock includes flows and tuffs that likely extend below the alluvial cover.

The Stonewall Project is located in the mining friendly Nye and Esmeralda Counties of Nevada and is serviced by excellent infrastructure with access to power, water, labour and is bisected by the Veterans Memorial Highway Number 95. The regional climate also favours natural and inexpensive evaporation for brine concentration and allows year-round work.

Qualified Person:

Kiran Morzaria B.Eng. (ACSM), MBA, has reviewed and approved the information contained in this announcement. Kiran holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Industrial Geology) from the Camborne School of Mines and an MBA (Finance).

For further information please contact
Cadence Minerals plc	[phone]
Andrew Suckling
Kiran Morzaria
WH Ireland Limited (NOMAD & Broker)	[phone]
James Joyce
James Bavister
Square1 Consulting	[phone]
David Bick
Brian Alexander

About Cadence Minerals:

Cadence is dedicated to smart investments for a greener world. The planet needs rechargeable batteries on a global scale - upcoming supersized passenger vehicles, lorries and buses - require lithium and other technology minerals to power their cells. Cadence is helping find these minerals in new places and extracting them in new ways, which will meet the demand of this burgeoning market. With over £40 million vested in key assets globally, Cadence is helping us reach tomorrow, today.

Cadence invests across the globe, principally in lithium mining projects. Its primary strategy is taking significant economic stakes in upstream exploration and development assets within strategic metals. We identify assets that have strategic cost advantages that are not replicable, with the aim of achieving lower quartile production costs. The combination of this approach and seeking value opportunities allows us to identify projects capable of achieving high rates of return.

The Cadence board has a blend of mining, commodity investing, fund management and deal structuring knowledge and experience, that is supported by access to key marketing, political and industry contacts. These resources are leveraged not only in our investment decisions but also in continuing support of our investments, whether it be increasing market awareness of an asset, or advising on product mix or path to production. Cadence Mineral's goal is to assist management to rapidly develop the project up the value curve and deliver excellent returns on its investments.

 

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