Canadian-based exploration company, NOA Lithium Brines, has announced high-grade results from its lithium project, Rio Grande, located in the province of Salta, Argentina.

By Panorama Minero

The results stem from the fourth drill holes of its drilling program corresponding to Phase 1 of the project's exploration, situated in the northeast of the salar, at an elevation of about 3,600 meters above sea level, and drilled to a depth of 551 meters. A high-grade lithium brine aquifer was intersected, commencing at a depth of only 2.5 meters.

Highlights of the fourth drill hole in the Salar:

-400 meters (2.5 m – 511 m) with an average of 619 milligrams per liter ("mg/l") of lithium -Average concentration of 360 mg/l of Li in the first 100 meters, while the rest of the drill hole averaged a high-grade concentration of 675 mg/l of Li -The highest-grade concentration, 794 mg/l of Li, was found at 333 m.

In the company's statement, Gabriel Rubacha, its CEO, reported: "Our drilling in Rio Grande continues to yield very positive results, confirming the project's future potential. In particular, this fourth hole demonstrates the significant richness of the resource in the north and northeast areas of the salar, where NOA Lithium Brines' concessions cover a large prospective area of the Rio Grande project. We are currently completing our fifth hole, expected to finish in the coming weeks, and we look forward to announcing our first resource estimate, to be completed later this quarter."

Drill hole RG23-004 was completed to a depth of 551 m. Saturated lithium brine formations began at a depth of 2.5 meters. The hole lithology consists mainly of gravel and sand with intercalations of halite and sulfates, varying in thickness throughout the depth. On-site work revealed saturated lithium brine units at almost the entire depth of the analyzed 500-plus meters.

Drill hole RG23-004 was drilled using diamond drilling, allowing for the extraction of core samples from the salt flat formations and the collection of brine samples when possible. The drilling was carried out by Hidrotec S.A, a Salta-based provider, under the supervision of the company's geologists.
Meanwhile, Drill hole RG23-005, the fifth one of the Phase 1 diamond drilling program in the Rio Grande project, is well underway and expected to be completed in the coming weeks. The current Phase 1 drilling campaign will form the basis for the first resource at the Rio Grande Project and is scheduled for release in the first quarter of this year.