Bradda Head Lithium (AIM:BHL) reported assay results from its first drill hole at the Whistlejacket Lithium Project in Arizona, confirming the spodumene mineralisation previously identified through visual core logging.
The AIM-listed, North America-focused lithium developer said hole WSTL0020 returned a length-weighted average grade of 1.07% Li2O over 31.8 metres, from 161.85m to 193.65m downhole, including a higher-grade 20.47m interval at 1.33% Li2O.
Two narrower pegmatite intervals higher in the hole returned comparable grades: 1.07% Li2O over 2.49m and 1.22% Li2O over 2.96m.
The results also showed a lithium-caesium-tantalum pathfinder suite of tantalum, niobium, beryllium, caesium and rubidium, consistent with the fresh, unweathered spodumene pegmatite logged in the field.
Whistlejacket is held under Bradda's Option to Joint Venture agreement with Rio Tinto subsidiary Kennecott Exploration Company, under which Bradda can earn up to a 60% interest through phased exploration spending and development commitments.
Bradda reported in early October that all three of its first drill holes at the site had logged broad zones of visible fresh spodumene mineralisation, with hole WSTL0022 returning the widest recorded intercept so far at 46 metres, and a fourth hole, WSTL0023, then underway.
The company cautioned at the time that visual estimates were preliminary and that laboratory assays could differ materially from logged widths and grades; the WSTL0020 results now provide that laboratory confirmation.
"These maiden assay results from WSTL0020 are exactly what we hoped to see," said Ian Stalker, Executive Chair.
"Grades of this consistency across more than 30 metres, including individual intervals running at almost 2.0% Li2O, confirm that the visual mineralization logged at Whistlejacket is consistent with laboratory results," he said.
Both the hangingwall and footwall at the mineralised interval consist of mafic schist containing holmquistite, a lithium-bearing amphibole, with intervals up to 2.62m grading 0.83% Li2O.
Assays for the second and third holes, WSTL0021 and WSTL0022, are still outstanding, with samples from those holes shipped to the laboratory in recent weeks.
Current drilling at Whistlejacket is intended to support metallurgical testwork assessing the potential to produce a clean spodumene concentrate, building toward an initial NI 43-101 technical report and a targeted maiden Mineral Resource Estimate by the end of 2027.