(1) LCE is calculated by multiplying the Li value, expressed in percent, by 5.324 to get LCE in percent, then multiplying the total estimated tonnage by LCE % to get tonnes of LCE.
The La Ventana Lithium Deposit forms part of the Sonora Lithium Project, which is 100% owned by Bacanora's wholly-owned subsidiary, Minera Sonora Borax S.A. de C.V., subject to a 3% royalty in favor of an arm's length third party.
The Project is underlain by Oligocene to Miocene age rhyolitic tuffs, ignimbrites and breccias of the upper volcanic complex of the Sierra Madre Occidental. This succession was subjected to Basin and Range extensional normal faulting during Miocene times that resulted in the development of a series of half-grabens. The half-grabens are locally filled with fluvial-lacustrine sediments and intercalated tuffs that contain lithium-bearing clay units. Quaternary basalt flows cover the basinal sediment-volcaniclastic succession.
Initial rock sampling and mapping in the Project by Bacanora located the lithium-bearing clay units. Drilling by Bacanora in 2010 and 2011 on the Project located two lithium-bearing clay units (upper and lower) that average 41 and 22 m in thickness, respectively, and that are separated by an ignimbrite unit varying from 1 to 45 m in thickness. The sedimentary-volcanic sequence dips at approximately 20 degrees to the east and crops out along 3.5 km of strike length. The exposures are in erosional windows looking through overlying basalt that covers much of the area. The lithium-bearing clay minerals have been identified as hectorite and polylithionite.
The drilling results from the Project have been used to estimate an inferred resource for lithium (Table 2) as previously disclosed (please refer to the Company's news release dated September 5, 2012 for further details). The estimate of inferred resources for the upper clay unit is 22,642,000 tonnes averaging 2,632 ppm Li (1.3% LCE). For the lower clay unit the inferred resource is estimated at 20,682,000 tonnes averaging 4,103 ppm Li (2.0% LCE). The inferred resource for both the upper and lower clay units is estimated to total 43,324,000 tonnes averaging 3,000 ppm Li (1.6% LCE or 712,000 tonnes LCE). Both the upper and lower clay units are open down-dip.
New inferred Li resources, additional to the above inferred resources are estimated for an up-dip portion of the lower clay unit. Readers are cautioned that mineral resources are not mineral reserves as they do not have demonstrated economic viability. These new inferred resources are estimated at 16,829,000 tonnes averaging 2,557 ppm Li (1.3% LCE) based on surface sampling, bringing the total for estimated inferred resources for the combined clay units to 60 million tonnes averaging 3,000 ppm Li (1.6% LCE or 930,000 tonnes LCE).
Table 2. Inferred Lithium Resource Estimate Summary - La Ventana Concession
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average Grade---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unit Tonnes Li ppm LCE(i) % LCE tonnes--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Upper Clay 22,642,000 2,632 1.3 292,000----------------------------------------------------------------------------Lower Clay 20,682,000 4,103 2.0 420,000----------------------------------------------------------------------------New Resource: Lower Clay - up-dip 16,829,000 2,557 1.3 218,000----------------------------------------------------------------------------Total: Upper & Lower Clay 60,153,000 3,000 1.6 930,000----------------------------------------------------------------------------
