Anson Resources Ltd (ASX:ASN, OTCQB:ANSNF) is gearing up for a drilling program at the Green River Lithium Project in the Paradox Basin of south-eastern Utah, USA, after receiving all requisite approvals.
The approvals enable Anson to begin resource definition drilling on recently acquired industrial-use land at the Green River Project immediately as a drilling rig has been secured.
Approvals
A Notice of Intent (NOI) to drill has been approved by the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining (UDOGM), Minerals Division.
In addition, an Application Permit to Drill (APD) was required to be submitted for the program due to the planned drilling depths and this has also been granted.
Regulatory environmental, cultural and land surveys have already been completed over the planned drill site area.
Aim of drilling
Drilling will target the highly porous horizons of the Pennsylvannian Formation Clastic Zones and Mississippian Units, which have resulted due to the geological structures in the region.
This drilling will be the first phase in Anson's JORC mineral resource definition plan at the Green River Project.
Plan showing the proposed drill hole locations on the privately owned Green River property.
Bosydaba 1 well will be adjacent to the Utah Sample Demonstration Plant (USDP) and drilling will be to a total vertical depth of around 3,292 metres (10,800 feet).
The drill hole and pad are on flat, sparsely vegetated ground that will require minimal earthworks prior to the commencement of drilling.
It has previously been recorded that the Clastic Zones and the Mississippian Units contain supersaturated brines, but no assaying for lithium has been carried out.
Towards resource estimate
Anson’s drilling through these zones of supersaturated brines and sampling of the horizons which host the brines will allow the brines to be collected.
This will also enable coring to be carried out on the major horizons of interest and the core will then be used for laboratory test work.
Anson will use the resultant data, such as specific yield, to delineate a JORC mineral resource at the Green River Project.
Upon completion of the well, it is expected that brine will be able to flow directly to the demonstration plant which consists of both the Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) and the downstream purification process.
This will result in the plant being capable of operating 24/7 and producing a high-purity lithium carbonate product.
About the formation
The Pennsylvannian Formation, which is the primary target, consists of 29 evaporite cycles. The evaporites of the entire formation act as an impermeable layer, constituting a sealed water boundary from the two groundwater flow systems.
Section showing the proposed well and the formations that will be intersected and the impermeable layers.
Salts within each evaporite cycle are 'plastic' and can flow and then re-seal. Research has shown that as little as 150 metres of overburden is sufficient to start plastic deformation of the halite and as a result, they don’t transmit water between the clastic zones and do not interact with surface waters.
This protects the surface waters from any interaction with the supersaturated brines.
The majority of the geological rock units above the evaporite beds, which are mostly sandstone and limestone, are unsaturated containing minimal volumes of water. Consequently, the aquifers that are in the area are overlain by impermeable rock units.
No interaction
Anson’s exploration drilling progam has been designed so that there is no interaction between the surface waters and the supersaturated lithium brines as the well will be steel-cased and cemented in place.
The program targeting the Clastic Zones and the Mississippian Units will drill through the impermeable sandstone and limestone formations as well as the 29 evaporite cycles to reach its total depth of 10,800 feet.