Column: Electric dreams turn into a nightmare for battery metals
A sector that was once racing to build new supply has been closing mines and deferring projects as low prices bite into the cost curve.
Spearmint Resources (CSE: SPMT) announced that it has encountered visual clay in each of the first six holes it has drilled at its Clayton Valley lithium prospects in Nevada.
Based on these results, the Canadian miner said it has decided to extend the drill program to two additional holes and has already received approval from the Bureau of Land Management to do so.
According to James Nelson, president of Spearmint, this is the most ambitious drill program the company has undertaken so far.
Spearmint says this is the most ambitious drill program the company has undertaken so far
“We are very optimistic about what we have encountered to date. We eagerly look forward to the first rushed assays on this project,” Nelson said in a media statement.
“We feel that battery metals will have a strong resurgence in 2021, especially in light of the explosive growth of the EV sector globally in 2020. Not only has the massive boom started to fully take hold, but Elon Musk stated at the Tesla Battery Day on September 22, 2020, his desire to acquire lithium clay deposits in Nevada. These comments have put a large microscope on the few known lithium deposits in Nevada, of which Spearmint is the only company currently drilling into one of these known formations.”
The Clayton Valley prospects comprise two claim blocks known as the Elon property and the McGee property which cover an aggregate area of 1,160 acres and border Pure Energy Minerals & Cypress Development Corp.
In this area, previous Spearmint drill results have intersected lithium values as high as 1670 ppm Li.
