Categories: Energy
Topics: General Energy

Nevada Sunrise Metals (TSX-V: NEV)(OTC: NVSGF) CEO Warren Stanyer on Hitting Lithium Values in Clays and Water via the Drill at the Flagship Gemini Lithium Project, Nevada

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the president & CEO of Nevada Sunrise Metals — Mr. Warren Stanyer. Warren, we finally got some numbers. The numbers look really good. We'll talk about it in a sec. How are you doing today?

Warren Stanyer: Really well, thanks, Gerardo.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, let's get right into the news here. You had some news just recently. You intersected 929.8 PPM lithium over 1,130 feet at the 100%-owned Gemini Lithium Project in Nevada. 

There's also some pretty important results on the water front. I spoke to someone this morning who started to speculate that this could be one of the bigger clay lithium deposits of recent times in Nevada, and they were stressing to me how important the water aspect to this story is.

So I wanted to have you on… I wanted to talk about the results. And then, hopefully you can provide a bit of context with the water because I think, look, there's some warrants that are coming up due here, I think on the 12th or 13th of this month. We saw the stock break through the C$0.30 per share level. It’s pulled back a little bit. 

I suspect some of that pressure is people exercising those warrants. And I think within the next week or two, we're going to see a resumption of a rising share price. That's all speculation on my part. Let's talk numbers. Warren, how are you feeling?

Warren Stanyer: I'm feeling great about this hole. When we looked at the geophysics back in the fall and thought… okay, where should our next hole be… because we had drilled two. And the results were really great. I mean, we were excited. So we saw a shallowing… in other words, the conductive horizon was rising towards the north. 

So we thought, okay, let's go there and maybe we'll hit some really good stuff at a shallower depth. Well, that is what happened. But we also believed that we were on the edge of the system at that point. If it was a cereal bowl and you were looking at it from the side, we're starting to go up towards the lip of the bowl.

So what we did see, though, is the clay began sooner, and it was a very long and continuous section of the green clay, and some variations — a little bit of brown — but there were several zones of water in this hole and fairly strong velocities of water as well. 

The two that carried the lithium weren't as strong in gallons per minute but it's all part of the puzzle that we're putting together here because you have to recall that our first two holes stopped well before the basement. And we don't know where the basement is except in hole three where we hit it at, I believe, 1,565 feet. 

So that's the first time we’ve known where the bottom of the bowl is, or at least on that rising edge of it. So in this current hole, we were at 1,920 feet yesterday. How deep will it be and what will we find in the next couple of hundred feet… 300 feet… 400 feet… I don't know. But this is part of being a pioneer in this area.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, listen, it's most definitely exciting times. I think it's very easy to just look at the drill results and get excited about the assays. And of course, we've been waiting for quite some time to be able to quantify this hole, which was a pretty significant step out. 

I think the press release that you had on the 30th of January also was an important one, and I think it went over a lot of people's heads there. You engaged McClelland Laboratories for the Gemini lithium project.

Can you explain the reasoning behind that because it may sound a bit nerdy to those listening out there but that's a release that really, really put a smile on my face because it speaks to the seriousness of the project and the way that you're approaching it. And I love the fact that we're already at this point where we're talking about metallurgical leach testing.

Warren Stanyer: Well, we all have to remember that back in 2016-17 when Nevada Sunrise was first involved in lithium exploration, we were looking only for brine because none of the clay had been successful in extraction. Western Lithium had what's now known as Thacker Pass, and they could not make their process work. So they eventually spun into Lithium Americas, and now they have this big powerhouse, and one would assume that they have a new method that will work.

So all of that being said, there are challenges in the extraction from clay, and that's why we engaged McClelland. And we just have some preliminary results. But our goal is to have an advantage over some of our peer group because of the way that this soft clay actually reacts to the metallurgical processes.

Gerardo Del Real: You mentioned having some preliminary results. Can you speak to those a bit? And when do you anticipate having more advanced results?

Warren Stanyer: Well, I don't want to get into the preliminary results yet. But I know that from what we hear from our consultant, Mr. Willem Duyvesteyn, that he's pleased with how the first tests are going. And he's on vacation right now so I'm waiting for him to get back. 

And we just delivered more samples to McClelland in Reno, and soon we'll be reporting on it. And all I can say is that I'm pleased as well. And what I suspected is that this clay is so soluble in water that it may provide an advantage for us.

Gerardo Del Real: That's exciting news. What comes next, Warren?

Warren Stanyer: More holes. Finishing the fourth hole and finding out where the deeper basement is because we don't know exactly where it is or what kind of water will be running along in certain stratigraphy close to that basement. That's what we saw in hole three. Again, we're the first people to drill in this area. There's no other information. So we may do some geophysical tests; it's possible we can do some gravity. And that might help us.

Gerardo Del Real: Exciting times. I'm looking forward to results from that fourth hole. It's drill, drill, drill. How far a step out is that fourth hole? And just for some context, how far a step out was the third one because we talked privately before, and I mentioned to you that I love the fact that the step outs are significant. You're looking to quickly define scale on this project… and correct me if I'm wrong.

Warren Stanyer: We are and what we're trying to draw here is a polygon with all of the holes at each corner — almost like a big mineral claim. Hole three was nearly half a mile from hole one. I'm just holding the map in my hand here. 

Hole four looks to be about two thirds of a mile from hole two and hole one to the west. So what we want to do is drill either a hole on that string of three, one and two, and it's marked as hole 11 on one of our maps from last month.

We're getting into the very deep part of the basin there, we think. Or we also draw a line straight down from where we are now on hole four, and then we can draw a polygon between one, two, three, four, and hole five. And that's a large area. And there's hundreds of feet of clay. This one was over a thousand feet of pretty rich clay. 

I haven't done the calculation or tried to figure out how much this clay weighs, how many tonnes it might be, and all that stuff. But that's for the engineers to do. It's not for me to do.

Gerardo Del Real: Looking forward to hearing results from hole four. Looking forward to more drilling and really, really looking forward to the metallurgical results here shortly. Warren, as always, it's insightful. I appreciate your time and hopefully we're chatting again soon.

Warren Stanyer: Thanks, Gerardo. All the best to you.