Noram Ventures Inc (CVE:NRM) says it's "very pleased" with its initial inferred resource at the south block claims at Clayton Valley, Nevada.
The firm has published the details of an NI 43-101 report, which puts the resource at around 17mln tonnes at a grade of about 1,060 parts per million (ppm) lithium.
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As previously reported, the estimate is on the Zeus, Zeus XT and Hades lithium claims.
Noram drilled 46 shallow holes into the lithium-rich sediments previously identified through surface sampling and the results are the basis of the resource.
"The model generated for the inferred resource estimate indicated a zone of higher lithium grades trending northwest-southeast through the area of the resource.
"The deposit remains open in several directions and at depth, and the drilling only tested a very small portion (113 acres) (46 hectares) of the area covered by the extensive (17,739-acre) (7,178-hectare) claim holdings.
"There is considerable upside potential for increasing the size of the deposit," the firm said.
Noram president Mark Ireton added: "We are very pleased with the results of the phase 1 drilling and the initial inferred resource estimate.
"The area of the resource covers less than 1 per cent of the total area under claim, leaving huge upside potential for this exciting project."
Previous testing has shown that extraction of the lithium from sediments is feasible using a new membrane technology.
Preliminary test results indicate that the process may recover around 90% of the lithium with a processing cost of US$2,000 plus or minus 25%, not including mining costs, to recover a tonne of lithium carbonate with the ability to recycle a major portion of the acid and water used in the process.
Testing is in progress and a more definitive statement about the results are expected in the near future.
Noram shares are unchanged in Toronto at C$0.03.