Nevada Sunrise Metals

(TSX-V: NEV) (OTC: NVSGF)

Lithium & Gold Exploration in Nevada

 

 

Nevada Sunrise Metals (TSX-V: NEV) (OTC: NVSGF) — currently trading undiscovered around C$0.25 per share — is a Canada-based hybrid prospect generator with multiple lithium, gold, and VMS projects in Nevada, USA.  

By way of its intelligent growth strategy, the Nevada Sunrise team has the nimbleness and flexibility to focus on key 100%-owned projects — such as the flagship Geminin Lithium Project — while simultaneously optioning out other projects to be developed on other companies' dimes such as the co-flagship Kinsley Mountain Gold Project. 

Below, you can see the company’s impressive suite of exploration assets… all of which are situated in the mineral-rich and mining-friendly state of Nevada.

With a focus on green-energy metals such as lithium, cobalt, and copper, as well as safe-haven commodities such as gold — Nevada Sunrise is well-positioned to advance multiple properties of merit in a rising commodities market to the benefit of NEV/NVSGF shareholders.

 

The Flagship: Gemini Lithium Project, Esmeralda County, Nevada 

NEV’s flagship is the 100%-owned Gemini Lithium Project, which spans 2,300 hectares (5,700 acres) in the Lida Valley basin of Esmeralda County, Nevada.

A widening supply gap is expected in the global lithium space over the next few years as millions of people around the world part ways with their gasoline-chugging vehicles in favor of efficient hybrids and full-electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries. 

As a result, lithium demand is projected to increase 8-fold by 2030 — making now an opportune time for juniors, like Nevada Sunrise, to be exploring for large-scale lithium deposits in tier-one mining jurisdictions such as Nevada. 

And speaking of prime mining addresses, the Lida Valley — which lays host to the Gemini Lithium Project — is a flat, arid basin with a similar geological setting to the better-known Clayton Valley basin where industry leader Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) operates the nearby Silver Peak lithium brine mine.

That mine has been in continuous operation since 1966, and its size and grade alone demonstrate the robust potential for unlocking other large lithium deposits in the surrounding geology.

2022 Geophysical Survey at Gemini:

In Q3 2022, Nevada Sunrise announced preliminary results of a ground geophysical TDEM (time-domain electromagnetic) survey for Gemini. 

The survey was deployed to outline the lateral extent of the conductive lithium-bearing clay layers that were intersected in drill holes GEM22-01 and GEM22-02 from the Phase-1 program.

A total of 13.0 line kilometers were carried out on three new survey lines.

The survey successfully displayed the conductivity measured to the north and west of the two aforementioned drill holes.

Phase-1 drilling produced significant lithium grades in clays:

  • Hole GEM22-01 returned 327.7 milligrams per liter ("mg/L") lithium over 220 feet (67.07 meters) from 600 to 820 feet with a peak value of 519 mg/L lithium
  • Hole GEM22-02 returned an average of 116.28 mg/L lithium over 460 feet (140.24 meters) from 600 to 1,120 feet (201.22 to 341.46 meters) with a peak value of 286.0 mg/L lithium

Phase-2 drilling is underway:

The Phase-2 program is focused on deeper drilling to test the extent and continuity of wide zones of lithium-bearing clays and water (potential brine) as a follow-up to the two aforementioned holes from Phase-1. 

Hole GEM22-03 was drilled approximately half a mile north of GEM22-01 and more than a mile north of GEM22-02, thereby successfully extending the lithium mineralized zone to the north (as detailed in the property map below). 

Lithium in clays:

  • Hole GEM22-03 intersected 929.8 ppm lithium over 1,130 feet and successfully extended mineralization to the north
  • Hole GEM22-04 is in-progress and has reached a depth of 1,900 feet as of February 2

In addition to lithium in clays, the Nevada Sunrise team is focused on the potential for significant lithium concentrations in groundwater flows at Gemini as proof of a viable lithium brine at Gemini could be a bona fide game changer for the project:

  • Hole GEM22-03 returned two significant flow intervals: 120 milligrams per liter lithium (mg/L) from 1,100 to 1,120 feet and 110 mg/L from 1,200 to 1,220 feet 
  • Hole GEM22-04, which is nearing its target depth, will also be tested for lithium concentrations in both sediments and groundwater

Next steps at Gemini include completing hole GEM22-04, delineating the location of the basement structure, and potentially following that up with some geophysical testing and gravity surveys.

On the personnel front, Nevada Sunrise has engaged Willem Duyvesteyn, M.Sc., of Reno, Nevada, as a metallurgical consultant to the project. 

Mr. Duyvesteyn — principal of Extractive Metallurgy Consultancy LLC and a former executive with BHP Minerals — is developing new processes for the extraction of lithium from sediments and brines in the Silver State.

Nevada Sunrise Metals CEO Warren Stanyer — whom you’re about to hear from directly in our exclusive interview — commented via press release: 

“Nevada Sunrise welcomes Willem Duyvesteyn to our exploration and development team. His contribution to our understanding of lithium extraction methods will be vital to our future exploration success in Nevada.”

As part of the ongoing Phase-2 program, the company will be submitting large clay samples to a lab specializing in extraction technologies, wherein Mr. Duyvesteyn’s vast expertise should play an ever-increasing role in determining next-steps in the overall approach at Gemini. 

Nevada Sunrise also owns 100% of the neighboring Jackson Wash Lithium Project. 

While still very early-stage, the Jackson Wash project consists of 49 unpatented placer claims totaling approximately 397 hectares (980 acres) in the Lida Valley on the east side of the Montezuma Range approximately 30 km southeast of Albemarle's Silver Peak Mine.

Further extending its foothold in the Lida Valley, the company announced — on 14 February 2023 — the acquisition of the Badlands Lithium Project

The 1,080-acre land package is strategically located between the company’s flagship Gemini Lithium Project and the Wash Lithium Project. 

The accretive land package was staked by the Nevada Sunrise team last year — following the company’s 2022 lithium discovery at Gemini — but was not announced at that time due to the highly competitive staking environment in the valley.

Six outcrop samples were randomly selected at Badlands for analysis by the Nevada Sunrise field team, which subsequently returned anomalous values of lithium ranging from 70.0 ppm to 165.8 ppm lithium. 

The company is planning a more comprehensive sampling program at Badlands for later this year, which could lead to an initial drill phase. 

 

Co-Flagship: Kinsley Mountain Gold Project

Nevada Sunrise’s co-flagship is the Kinsley Mountain Gold Project, Nevada, which has a resource and is being advanced via a joint venture with CopAur Minerals (TSX-V: CPAU)(OTC: COPAF).

NEV currently has a 20% interest in the Kinsley project with CopAur holding the other 80%. 

CopAur, as operator, is funding the exploration, which is a hallmark of the prospect generator model. 

Kinsley Mountain boasts current Indicated resources of 418,000 ounces at a grade of 2.63 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and Inferred resources of 117,000 ounces averaging 1.51 g/t gold. 
2020 drilling produced highlight intercepts of:

  • 15.1 grams per tonne (g/t) gold over 7.6 meters at the Western Flank Zone (WFZ)
  • 9.83 g/t gold over 7.6 meters at Main Pit North
  • 1.77 g/t gold over 25.3 meters at Secret Spot 

The CopAur team recently completed a geophysical survey at Kinsley, which generated 8 new high-quality drill targets in the underexplored Kinsley North area. 

CopAur plans to have the drills turning at Kinsley in Q1 2023 as it seeks to build on the strong gold values outlined above.

Potential exists to add ounces via resource expansion drilling in and around the known resource areas along with the potential for new discoveries in underexplored areas including Kinsley North.

 

Exclusive Interview with Nevada Sunrise Metals CEO Warren Stanyer

Our own Gerardo Del Real of Resource Stock Digest sat down with Nevada Sunrise Metals president & CEO Warren Stanyer for an exclusive, in-depth interview. Enjoy!


 

Gerardo Del Real

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

Warren Stanyer: Really well, thanks, Gerardo.

Gerardo Del Real

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Warren Stanyer

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

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

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

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

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

 

The Opportunity

Nevada Sunrise Metals (TSX-V: NEV) (OTC: NVSGF) has kicked off an exciting Phase-2 drill program at the flagship Gemini Lithium Project in northeastern Nevada. 

Lithium has emerged as a key green-energy metal in the global EV boom. And lithium discoveries of significance in stable jurisdictions — such as Nevada, USA — will be richly rewarded by the market for years to come.  

Nevada Sunrise Metals may be onto such a discovery in northeastern Nevada with two drill holes from Phase-1 returning significant lithium grades in clays.

Phase-2 is progressing nicely as the NEV team aims the drills at what could prove to be the existence of a lithium-bearing brine resource below the known mineralization. 

Nevada Sunrise, which has a tiny market cap well below C$25 million, currently has three lithium projects, one gold project, one copper project, and one cobalt exploration project — all in the safe mining confines of Nevada, USA. 

NEV’s co-flagship is the Kinsley Mountain Gold Project, which, as discussed, is being advanced by CopAur Minerals (CopAur, 80%; Nevada Sunrise, 20%). 

Drills are slated to turn at Kinsley in 1H 2023. 

In other words, there are multiple shots-on-goal for Nevada Sunrise in the coming quarters as the company advances 100%-owned and partner-funded exploration projects via its hybrid prospect generator model.

That includes the right to earn a 100% interest in the Coronado VMS Project located approximately 48 km southeast of Winnemucca, Nevada. Plus, a 15% interest in the historic Lovelock Cobalt Mine and the Treasure Box copper properties, each located approximately 150 km east of Reno, Nevada, with Global Energy Metals holding an 85% participating interest.

For speculators, now’s the time to get to know Nevada Sunrise Metals as exploration activities, including drilling, heat up across the company’s well-diversified, Nevada-based property portfolio.

A great place to start is the company’s corporate website where you can sign-up to receive updates directly from the company. Please also feel encouraged to contact the company’s IR department directly at 604-428-8028 or via email at info@nevadasunrise.ca.

And click here for more… including additional exclusive interviews with upper management. 

Nevada Sunrise Metals trades on the Toronto Venture Exchange under the symbol NEV and on the US OTC Bulletin Board Exchange under the symbol NVSGF.


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