Hawkstone Mining Limited (ASX:HWK) has moved a step closer to further confirming the potential of Big Sandy Lithium Project in Arizona, USA, following the acceptance of environmental assessments of proposed drill hole locations on the property.
The company reported that the Phoenix, Arizona office of multinational environmental consultants ERM has completed field work consisting of cultural and biological surveys, constituting the environmental assessment of hole locations and access, for the proposed Phase 3 drill programme of Blocks B & C at Big Sandy.
Hawkstone Managing Director, Paul Lloyd, said the survey met US Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Arizona State Historic Preservation Office and Arizona State Museum (ASM) standards.
“We are very pleased to see the completion of the field work by ERM bringing the Company another step closer in the process of obtaining the POE for Phase 3 drilling to commence,” Mr Lloyd said.
“We have also commenced our community, partner and supplier engagement process, with stakeholders involved in the development of what they often termed a green, high tech project, with Hawkstone receiving extremely encouraging feedback from all parties.
We look forward to developing the Big Sandy project for the creation of opportunities for the people of Arizona and delivering value for Hawkstone Shareholders.”
ERM are now in the process of completing a report on the field work that will be submitted to the BLM as part of the Plan of Exploration process.
The Phase 3 drill program covers Blocks B and C in the Northern Mineralised Zone (NMZ) and Southern Mineralised Zone (SMZ) 1, which is shown in the SMZ.
Hawkstone is seeking approval to commence diamond drilling of these target areas on a 100m x 100m grid to convert the Exploration Targets to resources.
The finalisation of this process should allow the company to commence drilling in the first half of 2020. Drilling completed in Phases 1 and 2 in Block A of the NMZ resulted in a conversion of a target ranging from 21.6Mt to 36Mt, with an estimated grade range of 1,000 – >2,000 ppm lithium, to Indicated and Inferred Resources totalling 32.5 Million tonnes grading 1,850 ppm Li equating to 320,800 tonnes Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE).
The Exploration Targets covered by Blocks B and C total between 109.8Mt and 171.45Mt with a grade range of 1,000 – >2,000 ppm lithium, while SMZ 1 covers a target of between 83.7Mt and 167.4Mt in a grade range of 1,000 – >1,500 ppm lithium. These blocks form a portion of a larger Exploration Target between 271.1Mt and 483.15Mt.
