Mexico

Source: Geology.com

Source: Geology.com

• Alset Minerals Corporation (TSXV: ION) is a Canadian resource explorer that is focused on discovering and developing high grade lithium deposits. The company’s main project is in central Mexico where it currently has a 100% interest in seven salars containing high-grade lithium and potassium. These salars are in the states of Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi. In total, the seven salars cover an area of approximately 3,480 hectares (8,600 acres).Alset Minerals reported further results on 2 October 2017 from sampling of the Company’s 100% owned salars located in the states of Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi, Mexico. All of these salars returned positive lithium and potassium results. Upon completing the drilling at the La Salada salar, a reconnaissance auger sampling program was initiated on 13 additional salars to investigate mineralization of soils in the first 1 metre layer. The Company is very encouraged by the results with all the salars being mineralized including some with very promising grades of lithium and potassium. Of the 13 salars sampled, 9 had average lithium grades exceeding 200ppm, with 4 salars averaging lithium grades of around 400ppm and higher. Santa Clara, the largest salar, had an average lithium grade of 392ppm with a high of 890ppm. At Chapala salar, lithium grades reached a high of 530ppm with an average of 416ppm. Hernandez salar returned a high of 670ppm and average of 556ppm. The highest maximum and average lithium grades came from the Caliguey salar with a high of 1820ppm and an average of 769ppm. Sampling also returned encouraging results for potassium (K). The average potassium grade for all 13 salars range from 1.20% to 3.38% K, with 9 of the salars exceeding an average grade of 2.00% K. At Caliguey, Santa Clara and El Salitral the average grade exceeded 3.38% K. Caliguey returned a maximum grade of 5.29% K, with an average grade of 3.38% K. Santa Clara, returned a maximum grade of 4.60% K. El Salitral returned a maximum grade of 4.28% K and an average grade of 3.78% K.

• Bacanora Minerals (TSX:BCN), a Canadian miner developing a lithium mine in Mexico, Sonora, first to enter in a conditional supply agreement with Tesla (NYSE:TSLA) The Sonora Lithium Project is comprised of the following lithium properties: La Ventana lithium concession, which is 100 percent owned by Bacanora, and the El Sauz and Fleur concessions, which are held by Mexilit S.A. de C.V. ("Mexilit"). The Megalit concession, which is held by Megalit S.A de C.V ("Megalit"), is not included in the Sonora Project Technical Reports at this time. Mexilit and Megalit are owned 70 percent by Bacanora and 30 percent by Rare Earth Minerals Plc (now Cadence Minerals plc). With an Indicated Mineral Resource estimate of 4.5 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (‘LCE’) and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 2.7 Mt of lithium carbonate equivalent (‘LCE’), Sonora is regarded as one of the world’s larger known clay lithium deposits. Hanwa acquired an initial 10% interest in Bacanora following a private placement.

• Lithium Australia NL
  (ASX:LIT) believes disruptive lithium chemical production will power the energy revolution that is transforming the world as we know it. To that end, the Company has developed SiLeach™, an exclusive technology that can process all lithium silicates into battery-grade materials without the need for ‘roasting’. The Electra project (LIT 49%, Alix resources Corporation 51%) Sonora, Mexico, is a farm-in and joint venture in which LIT can earn up to 65% of the project from its partner Alix Resources Corporation. LIT is currently working towards lifting its 49% equity to 65%. LIT has formed a technology alliance with MetalsTech Limited (‘MTC’) in Quebec, Canada The latter company aims to identify, acquire, explore and develop high-grade hard-rock lithium projects in Quebec, Canada. LIT was a seed investor in MTC, with a view to establishing a partnership and collaborative agreement for the use of LIT’s proprietary lithium-extraction technologies, including further development of the technology specific to the spodumene at MTC’s projects in Quebec. A technology licence agreement exists between the companies and LIT was issued a further 1 million shares when MTC listed on the Australian Securities Exchange on 24 February 2017. LIT now holds a total of 2 million shares (2.62%) in MTC, with the ability to increase that holding subject to certain milestones under the technology licence agreement. LIT has entered into a memorandum of understanding (‘MoU’) and now a joint venture agreement with unlisted Tin International AG (a subsidiary of German-listed Deutsche Rohstoff AG) to form the Tin International Joint Venture, which pertains to the Sadisdorf deposit in Saxony, Germany. To date, Tin International AG has received a one-off payment of €50,000 and 1.72 million LIT shares. LIT has the right to earn 15% of the proposed incorporated joint venture company by spending a total of €750,000, either on exploration or as a cash payment to Tin International AG by 30 June 2018. By investing a further €1.25 million over a 3-year period, LIT earns the right to increase its interest in the joint-venture company to 50%. Tin International AG (TIN), a subsidiary of Deutsche Rohstoff AG (ETR: DR0), dated 28 February 2017 and 6 April 2017, Lithium Australia NL (LIT) announced that it has signed the Joint Venture Agreement with Tin International following the completion of a due diligence by LIT on the Sadisdorf project and by TIN on the Sileach™ process respectively. The Joint Venture will initially focus on the Sadisdorf Project which is located in the Erzgebirge of Saxony, Germany , where tin mining has been widespread since the Middle Ages.The Joint Venture aims to extend and upgrade the existing Sadisdorf JORC (2012) resource (3.36 Mt inferred resource grading 0.44% Sn at a cutoff of 0.25% Sn) initially by the addition of lithium data to quantify a poly metallic Resource. TIN and LIT intend to expand that resource by further drilling in the first year of the Joint Venture. The tin ore body is thought to contain the order of 15% zinnwaldite. LIT and Pilbara Minerals Limited (‘PLS’) have entered into an agreement to establish a Sileach™ joint venture on a 50:50 basis, the aim being to produce lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide from a Sileach™ processing plant fed by spodumene concentrates from PLS’s Pilgangoora project, Pilbara, Western Australia. LIT and Venus Metals Corporation (‘VMC’) have an agreement to jointly explore certain exploration licences (and current applications) in Australia. LIT will undertake exploration primarily with respect to evaluating the lithium mica potential of the area controlled by VMC, using, among other things, advanced proprietary exploration techniques developed by LIT and the LIBZ^® technology provided by SciAps (USA). Using the latter, real-time lithium assays can be undertaken in the field. The area the subject of the joint venture contains abundant pegmatites, which will be evaluated both for their lithium potential and for the possibility of both parties benefiting from any lithium mica occurrences within the project area. LIT has applied for four exploration licences – 102 square kilometres (‘km²‘) in total – covering prospective geological terrain 80 km south-west of Marble Bar in Australia.. Historic workings within the project are documented as containing the lithium minerals lepidolite, zinnwaldite and spodumene. Despite the reported lithium mineralisation, there has been no focused exploration to date to evaluate the lithium potential of the ground. LIT has agreements with Focus Minerals Limited (‘FML’) and Cazaly Resources Limited (‘CAZ’) to explore lithium prospective holdings in the southern Goldfields region of Western Australia. The area contains extensive pegmatite swarms and has a long history of tantalum mining. Under the terms of the Coolgardie Rare Metals Venture (‘CRMV’)with Focus Minerals Limited (‘FML’), LIT will sole-fund exploration to the point of committing to a definitive feasibility study within 5 years of the commencement date, at which time the CRMV will be replaced by a contributing joint venture (80% LIT, FML 20%). In May 2016, LIT and CAZ announced the formation of the Goldfields Lithium Alliance (‘GLiA’), in which they would combine their present and future lithium mineral interests within a 100 km radius of Kalgoorlie, initially for a period of 5 years. The alliance will significantly enhance the technical and land management resources available to advance lithium projects within the Goldfields region. Equity in the GLiA will be 50% LIT, 50% CAZ. The GLiA will encompass all LIT and CAZ interests within the designated area, including the Coolgardie and Widgiemooltha projects, thereby providing LIT with immediate access to further prospective ground. Coolgardie project – comprising CAZ’s Kangaroo Hill tenements, this project adjoins the CRMV. Having recently completed reconnaissance fieldwork within the tenements, CAZ has confirmed the presence of pegmatites. Widgiemooltha project – this covers an area of approximately 81 km² unexplored for lithium to date. The project does, however, host extensive pegmatites identified by the Geological Survey of Western Australia. The Seabrook Rare Metals Venture (‘SRMV’)(LIT 80%, Tungsten Mining NL 20%) consists of five exploration licences located 385 km east-north-east of Perth. Tungsten mineralisation is associated with extensive skarn mineralisation that exhibits strong alkali metal halos, similar to those around lithium pegmatites identified further south. LIT’s 100% owned Ravensthorpe lithium project consists of one exploration licence located within a 20-km long structural corridor that also contains the Mt Cattlin lithium and tantalum mining operations of Galaxy Resources Limited. LIT plans a 35-hole reverse circulation drill programme during 2017 to test for lithium mineralisation at the Horseshoe pegmatite. LIT’s 100% owned Greenbushes project comprises four exploration licences, another five exploration licence applications and seven prospecting licence applications. Located 200 km south of Perth – adjacent to the world’s largest lithium mine, which currently produces around 40% of global lithium supply – the LIT tenements overlie some 50 km of the prospective Donnybrook-Bridgetown Shear Zone, a regional structural feature that controls pegmatite emplacement at the nearby Greenbushes operations of Talison Lithium Australia. LIT’s 100% owned Gascoyne project consists of five granted exploration licences. Lithium, rubidium and niobium geochemical anomalies, as well as tantalum, tungsten and tin occurrences, have been documented within the holdings. These early-stage prospects, which have not been explored in recent times, will be the focus of preliminary geological reconnaissance, to assess the lithium potential of the area. At Lake Johnston, LIT holds the rights to lithium discovered within the area of two exploration licences held by Lefroy Exploration Limited (‘LEX’). In return, LEX has taken gold and nickel rights over ground held by LIT. Ground reconnaissance at the tenements has confirmed the presence of extensive swarms of lepidolite-bearing pegmatites with assays to 3.94% lithium oxide (‘LiO2‘). A strategic move to jointly evaluate the known lithium potential of the Lake Johnston region in southern WA as a source for feedstock supplying into a locally - sited lithium concentrate plant, has been announced by advanced lithium processing technology developer, Lithium Australia NL and Poseidon Nickel Ltd (ASX: POS). Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) announced LIT and POS will undertake due diligence and negotiate key commercial terms to underpin a proposed final agreement to jointly explore for lithium hosted pegmatites on tenements held by both Poseidon and LIT at Lake Johnston and Ravensthorpe. LIT’s early-stage Cobalark project lies 670 km north-east of Perth and 60 km east-south-east of Meekatharra. LIT has applied for two exploration licences covering 355 km² over the interpreted Cobalark structural corridor, which is characterised by scattered, late-stage Archean biotite-adamellite granitoids, intruded in places by muscovite pegmatites with the potential for greisen-style mineralisation along the contacts. LIT has established a substantial ground position in Queensland’s emerging lithium exploration and development sector with three projects in the Cape York region – the Cape York, Amber and Cobree projects, which have a combined area of 2,699 km². Cape York and Amber are early-stage exploration plays covering large areas of leucogranites (light-coloured granitic rocks thought to have been derived from the partial melting of sedimentary rocks) in an environment favourable for pegmatite emplacement. Extending over an area of 1,380 km², the Cape York project tenure was acquired to explore the margins of a leucogranite in an environment geologically favourable for late-stage alteration and pegmatite emplacement. The four permits comprising LIT’s Amber project, which have a combined area of 994 km², secure a favourable tectonic setting over fertile granitic intrusions. Although no lithium exploration has been recorded to date, the region exhibits the geological hallmarks of many of the world’s most prominent lithium provinces. Comprising a single permit covering 325 km², LIT’s Cobree project lies 100 km east-south-east of Ingham. Several mineral occurrences have been recorded in the area, including tungsten, gold and tin. Of significance to LIT, however, is the lithium potential of a new type of mineralisation found at the Bitumen and Cobree prospects central to the tenure. LIT’s attention was drawn to reports of bulk rock concentrations of up to 0.5% LiO2 in samples collected in a 1989 field survey of the Bitumen occurrence. There has been no subsequent follow-up exploration of any significance. At Bynoe, LIT has established a foothold in the Bynoe Pegmatite Field, located 50 km south-south-west of Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory. Close to infrastructure, LIT’s exploration licence is part of the wider, 200-km long Litchfield Pegmatite Belt, which has been intruded by a suite of highly differentiated S-type granites, the probable source of the pegmatites and mineralisation. Only very recently has the possibility of significant lithium mineralisation there been considered. In line with its strategy of pursuing potential lithium development opportunities throughout Australia, LIT has made application for two exploration licences on Kangaroo Island, some 100 km south-south-west of Adelaide, the state’s capital. LIT’s focus is the pegmatite intrusives into the Tapanappa Formation. These form dykes and sills of predominately feldspar-quartz-muscovite, with varying amounts of topaz, tourmaline, graphite, citrine and apatite. The project contains the Dudley mine, which was operational during the 1890s and early 1900s; it was mined for gem tourmaline, ceramic-grade feldspar, silica and kaolin for brick-making. On 30 August 2017, Lithium Australia announced the intent to procure advanced Li-ion battery cathode production technology, by way of the acquisition of the Very Small Particle Company Limited (VSPC). Successful acquisition of VSPC will provide LIT with access to the technologies required to participate in all sectors of the energy metal cycle. VSPC is an Australian materials technology company established in 1999 to develop and commercialise a unique manufacturing process to produce complex metal oxides at the nanoscale. The versatile process produces metal oxides that are superior compared to competitor materials in terms of complexity, reproducibility and small size. This small size of particles and corresponding high surface area of the cathode material shortens the distance over which lithium ions must travel, making for a powerful battery capable of high-speed power delivery.
  
  
• Rare Earth Minerals plc (RARMF) is an UK-based mining company engaged on identification, investment and development of upstream exploration projects and assets related to rare earth minerals, especially lithium. In Latin America, the company owns stakes in the Sonora Lithium Project, which is a group of ten exploration, mining and production concessions, located 190km northeast of Hermosillo, Mexico. The concessions cover an area of approximately 104,064ha, with mineral resources estimated a 259Mt with average content of 3,200ppm Li for 4.5Mt of Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE). The company has indirect stakes in some of these concessions through its , and also through joint ventures with the latter company, and in other, it holds a 30% direct interest. Rare Earth Minerals was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in London. 
  
  
   

• Zenith Minerals Ltd (ZNC:AU) is a Perth based company with lithium projects in the USA and Mexico. The Wilson Salt Flat Project ( Zenith 100%, Bradda Head Ltd earning initial 55%) is located in Nye County, Nevada 140km east from the lithium production area of Silver Peak- Clayton Valley. The Project is 100% owned by Zenith and is located in the Railroad Basin. The property is comprised of 168 unpatented placer claims in a single claim block totalling 3,360 acres that were located in November 2016 to encompass highly anomalous lithium in surface sediment samples coincident with a salt lake and discrete gravity low interpreted to be a closed basin. Both aeromagnetic and gravity modelling indicate complex basement geology indicative of major faults capable of channelling and focusing lithium enriched geothermal fluids and Infill surface sampling and ground based electrical geophysical surveys are planned prior to drill testing. The Spencer Project is located in Lander County, Nevada near the lithium production area of Silver Peak-Clayton Valley . The Project is 100% owned by Zenolith (USA) Inc (“Zenolith”) a wholly owned subsidiary of Zenith Minerals Limited, and is located in the North Smoky Basin northwest of White Mountain. The property is comprised of 146 unpatented placer claims in two claim blocks totalling 2,920 acres that were located in November 2016 to encompass highly anomalous lithium in surface sediments and water samples, in close proximity to the Spencer hot spring that lies on the eastern margin of the North Smoky Valley basin, coincident with inferred major basin margin faults. Zenith has staked concessions over salt lake brine targets in the Zacatecas area of central Mexico. Three areas; San Juan, San Vincente and Illescas (covering a total of 26,440 acres) have been applied for with Zenith to hold 100% interest through a Mexican subsidiary. Lithium brines to 2.1% lithium have been taken from small scale, salt production solar evaporation ponds on an adjacent salt lake located 10km west of Zenith’s new tenure. The Burro Creek lithium project in Arizona (Zenith Option to acquire 100%, Bradda Head Ltd earning initial 55%) is a large scale lithium (Li) clay target under exclusive option Follow-up surface sampling returned high-grade lithium results of widths up to 33.6m metres at 980 ppm Li, and 15m @ 1427 ppm Li. These results are comparable to competitor lithium clay projects in USA and Mexico that are subject to feasibility studies and trial processing plants respectively; Recent geological mapping and seismic geophysical surveys confirm extensive zones of shallow dipping lithium bearing clay with true thickness up to 50 metres; Based on the positive outcomes of work completed during the initial due diligence period Zenith has resolved to exercise its option to proceed with the project. Metallurgical test work is ongoing to assess ease of extracting lithium. The San Domingo project in Arizona covers a 9km by 1.5km lithium-bearing pegmatite dyke swarm that intrudes Proterozoic mafic gneiss host rocks that are in turn locally overlain by Tertiary age volcanic and sedimentary rocks. Initial mapping and sampling by Zenith’s consultants to date has identified 10 lithium bearing pegmatite dykes ranging in outcrop size up to 60m in width and up to 600m in length within the area subject to Zenith’s tenements. Initial continuous rock chip sampling conducted within the new applications has returned very encouraging results up to 5m @ 1.97% Li2O including 2.4m @ 2.49% Li2O, and sampling of Lithia King workings returned up to 1.44% Li2O over a 3 metre composite.  A further 3 lithium bearing pegmatite dykes are known to occur at least partly within small claims that are believed to be excised from the land recently applied for by Zenith.