Overview:
The electrification revolution has prompted world governments to evaluate and strengthen domestic supply chains for the critical minerals clean technologies require. Lithium is one of the essential entries on the global critical minerals lists, yet countries like the United States are still facing a supply crunch that threatens to undermine its goal to develop a domestic supply chain of battery materials. China controls more than 75 percent of battery cell production, at least 70 percent of processed energy material production, and more than 60 percent of energy materials refinement.
A lithium-brine operation in Nevada is currently the only domestic lithium production operation in the United States. In an effort to boost production, President Biden announced new initiatives to update outdated mining laws, prioritize the federal critical minerals list, and strengthen stockpiling of critical minerals. Creating a domestic supply chain of lithium, alongside other critical minerals, is considered a significant yet feasible undertaking with the US Department of Energy’s Li-Bridge project that aims to develop a strategy for a more sustainable lithium battery supply chain. It’s clear that lithium operations within the United States will have the full support of federal and state governments as the country moves to build a domestic supply of critical minerals.
Bradda Head Lithium (AIM:BHL,TSXV:BHLI, OTCQB:BHLIF) is an exploration and development mining company with lithium assets in Arizona and Nevada in the United States, both Tier-1 mining jurisdictions. The company’s 100-percent-owned assets include all three types of lithium deposits and are near highly prolific operations. Bradda Head’s presence within the US and its potential to serve the growing demand for lithium creates significant opportunity for the company to become a major supplier of low-carbon lithium.
The company’s assets span all three types of lithium deposits: brine, clay (sedimentary) and hard rock (pegmatite). This project diversity gives Bradda Head a unique position with the capability to benefit from the strengths of each deposit type.
The San Domingo project in Arizona, one of the company’s flagship assets, will shortly be undergoing its second exploratory drilling program. The first 7,300-meter program demonstrated the presence of lithium-bearing minerals in roughly 60 percent of its drill holes, and the best intercept was 31.85 meters @ 1.60 percent lithium oxide. Bradda Head has been planning this follow-up program based on recent structural mapping, soil geochemistry and geophysical data to identify areas likely to contain lithium-bearing pegmatites, from the c.1,500 outcropping pegmatites it has in its 23-square-kilometer pegmatite district. The company’s additional assets in Arizona and nearby Nevada create additional opportunities for discovery and development. The Basin project in Arizona is Bradda’s flagship clay asset, and whilst only a small portion of it has been drilled, the project has an indicated and inferred JORC-compliant resource of 305 kt of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) with further resource growth expected this year.
Bradda Head places a strong emphasis on maintaining a positive ESG rating. The company is pursuing sustainable practices at every stage of its projects, is sensitive to cultural issues of Indigenous communities, and works with experts to minimize water usage throughout its operations.
An experienced management and exploration team lead the company toward fully developing its assets. The team has a strong track record of discoveries and executing multi-million-dollar deals. Ian Stalker (non-executive chairman), Charles FitzRoy (CEO), and Joey Wilkins (chief operating officer) have all played pivotal roles in the successful development and acquisition of past projects.
Company Highlights
Bradda Head Lithium is an exploration and development mining company with 100-percent-owned assets in Arizona and Nevada, both Tier-1 mining jurisdictions.The company’s presence within the United States allows them to serve the growing need for domestic lithium as clean technologies become more prominent and significant to the country’s future goals.The company’s asset portfolio includes all three types of lithium deposits: brine, clay (sedimentary) and hard rock (pegmatite), allowing the company to benefit from the strengths of each deposit type.Bradda Head’s operations are in existing mining areas and near known deposits, enhancing the potential for significant discovery.One of the company’s flagship assets, the San Domingo project in Arizona, is currently undergoing exploratory drilling, and assays will be made available soon.Bradda Head is committed to maintaining a solid ESG rating throughout the exploration and development of its assets, prioritizing sustainability and cultural sensitivity at every step.An experienced management team with a track record of success leads the company toward its goals of fully developing its assets and serving the emerging domestic lithium supply chain.
Key Projects
San Domingo Lithium Project
The company’s 100-percent-owned flagship pegmatite asset San Domingo project is located within the Maricopa and Yavapai counties of Arizona. It is close to Phoenix and accessible by a short dirt road directly off Highway 74. The San Domingo asset contains lithium pegmatite deposits and covers 23 square kilometers, after 10 square kilometers of claims and leases recently expanded the project following promising exploration results.
Project Highlights:
3D Modeling Prioritizes Exploration Targets: Bradda Head created a comprehensive geological model of the asset following its 7,000-meter drill program which finished in Q1 of 2023. The company also expanded its landholding following the analysis of recent soil geochemistry.Encouraging Results from Completed Exploration: Rock chip sampling results returned up to 5 meters at 1.97 percent lithium oxide and 3 meters at 1.44 percent lithium oxide. Additional grab sampling returned grades up to 8 percent lithium oxide.
Bradda Head has acquired 100 percent of three inlier lode claims in the middle of its Central San Domingo claim block for the full exploration of the surrounding area where five historic lithium mines are located.
Basin Lithium Project
The 100-percent-owned flagship clay asset, the Basin project, is further divided into Basin East and Basin West, covering 17 square kilometers. The project comprises three mining claim blocks, one Bureau of Land Management-administered land, and two state-administered mineral exploration permits.
Project Highlights:
Nearby Projects and Local Infrastructure: The project area is located in central Arizona and is six miles away from a prolific copper asset, granting access to a strong existing infrastructure and transportation opportunities.Encouraging Drilling Program: In 2021, the company completed a 10-hole drilling program at the Basin East Project with assays of up to 2,150 parts per million (ppm) lithium. An infill program was also completed in 2022.Updated Mineral Resource Estimate: The project has an indicated mineral resource of 17.6 million tonnes at an average grade of 912 ppm lithium and an inferred mineral resource of 57.6 million tonnes at an average grade of 717 ppm lithium.
Bradda Head has mobilized a sonic drilling rig at the Basin project to further add to its existing NI 43-101-compliant mineral resource of LCE. Initial results confirmed that lithium-bearing clay continues and thickens to the northwest and north into its Basin east extension (BEE) lease. This initial analysis awaits confirmation from the core assays, the apparent and complete stratigraphic section in drill hole BES-23-05 should lead to resource expansion for the company in H2 2023. The company further announced the assay results from the first five drill holes of the BEE 2023 drill program delivering the highest grade assays in all four drill programs to date.
The Wikieup Lithium Project
The Wikieup project in Arizona’s Mohave County is halfway between Phoenix and Las Vegas and covers 23.9 square kilometers.
Project Highlights:
Promising Grab Samples: A completed grab sampling campaign including 156 samples produced average lithium grades of 642.2 ppm lithium from all samples collected, with the highest sample recorded being 1,750 ppm lithium.Completed Drilling Program: An initial drilling program has been completed and is pending assays. Results will be announced once the analysis has concluded.
Lithium Brine Projects
Bradda Head has two additional 100-percent-owned lithium brine projects in Nevada. The company has conducted initial exploration on both assets and is moving towards exploratory drilling.
Project Highlights:
Wilson: The asset covers 13.6 square kilometers in Nye County. A completed geophysical study was conducted in the project’s upper 200 to 300 meters. The company plans to conduct a drilling campaign to test brine geochemistry shortly.Eureka: The Eureka asset covers 11.8 square kilometers in Lander County. Completed exploration with a surface auger produced assays up to 550 ppm lithium. A completed geophysical survey has identified a potential basin with a 12-kilometer strike range. The company is currently preparing an exploratory drill campaign to test brine geochemistry.
Management Team
Charles FitzRoy – Chief Executive Officer
Charles FitzRoy, CEO, joined Bradda Head in May 2021 and listed the company in July 2021 on London’s AIM. FitzRoy has a wide range of experience across the metals and mining sector, with most of his focus on M&A, equity research, and strategy gained from working at Citi, BlackRock, Arden Partners and most recently on CMOC’s corporate development and strategy team. He holds degrees in geology (BSc Hons) and metals & energy finance (MSc) and is a fellow of the Geological Society. FitzRoy also brings with him considerable management experience from his five years with the British Army.
Ian Stalker – Non-executive Chairman
Ian Stalker is a senior international mining executive with over 45 years of hands-on experience in resource development. He has directed over twelve major mining projects, from initial exploration drilling to start-up, including gold, base metal, uranium and industrial minerals. Stalker was president and chief executive officer of LSC Lithium Corp, a TSX Venture Exchange quoted company, which was sold to Pluspetrol Resources Corporation B.V. for approximately C$111 million in March 2019. Stalker was also CEO and chairman of PLU ( TxsV) a Peru-based lithium and uranium development company. Before that, Stalker was CEO of UraMin Inc. from 2005 until its acquisition by Areva SA in 2007 for US$2.5 billion. Prior to joining UraMin, he was vice-president of Gold Fields Ltd, the fourth-largest gold producer in the world at the time.
Denham Eke – Chief Financial Officer
Denham Eke began his career in stockbroking before moving into corporate planning for a major UK insurance broker. He is a director of many years standing of both public and private companies involved in the mining, leisure, manufacturing and financial services sectors.
Joey Wilkins – Chief Operating Officer
Joey Wilkins obtained his geoscience qualification at the University of Arizona. He has extensive experience in porphyry (copper, gold and molybdenum), epithermal (gold and silver), magmatic (nickel and copper) and industrial minerals (boron and lithium). He also has extensive knowledge of geologic and alteration mapping, geochemical interpretation, geophysical interpretation and geotechnical applications, corporate finance and project management and in exploration permitting. Wilkins has held positions at a number of mining companies including director of exploration, great basin at Coeur Mining, which had assets in Nevada, vice-president and chief geologist. He was previously the president and CEO of Aztec Minerals, with assets in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico, guiding the company to public company status including a C$4-million initial public offering. He also worked as a principal geologist with Kennecott Exploration (Rio Tinto) in the Western US and Mexico.
James Mellon – Non-executive Deputy Chairman
James Mellon is a visionary entrepreneur with a flair for identifying emerging global trends. Most notably and very publically, he predicted the credit crunch of 2007-08 in a book entitled “Wake Up! Survive and Prosper in the Coming Economic Turmoil.” The book cited catalysts for the impending crisis including unsustainable levels of consumer debt in the western world, a U.S. housing crash, derivative financial instruments and governmental fiscal mismanagement. Mellon has built a worldwide business empire and is consistently amongst the top 10 percent in the Sunday Times Rich List. He holds a master’s degree in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University.
Euan Jenkins – Non-executive Director
Euan Jenkins finished his 31-year career in banking at JP Morgan in London after lengthy periods at ABN Amro and McIntosh Securities. Since then, Jenkins has been involved in a number of capital raisings, seed capital investments and advising companies across a broad range of industries both in Australia and Europe. These include gold, base metals and battery metals industries, biotech, and the property sector. Jenkins has amassed significant knowledge of financial and jurisdictional systems globally, having worked in Melbourne, Sydney, New York, London and Switzerland.
Alex Borrelli – Senior Independent Non-executive Director
Alex Borrelli initially studied medicine and then qualified as a chartered accountant in 1982. He was subsequently active within the investment banking sector and acted on a wide variety of corporate transactions in a senior role for over 20 years, including flotations, takeovers, mergers and acquisitions for private and quoted companies. For the last 15 years, he has been acting as chairman and director of listed companies in a variety of sectors and is currently chairman of Greatland Gold PLC, on AIM.
Adam Hawkins – ESG Officer
Adam Hawkins is an expert in the field of social license to operate and will engender the support needed from the community to develop and sustain Bradda Head’s operations, from early-stage exploration through permitting and closure. He lectures frequently on the subject and has helped clients across the globe develop successful and lasting community partnerships. Hawkins started his career as an intern in the United States Senate, later working for political campaigns, as in-house public affairs for Rio Tinto, and a large national law firm, before launching his own practice. Hawkins has extensive experience working with elected officials and their staff, key federal regulators such as the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Mining Safety and Health Administration, and Army Corps of Engineers, as well as state regulators throughout the western and northern United States. Hawkins was, until 2020, president of the board of the American Exploration and Mining Association.