The Fish Lake Valley property is located in Esmeralda County, Nevada, and is comprised of a contiguous 1,620 acre package of 81 lode claims. The claims are wholly-owned and unencumbered by royalties or property payments. The property is located approximately halfway between Las Vegas and Reno (approximately 3.5-4 hrs driving time to project location from either city). The claims are in the northeastern corner of Fish Lake Valley (FLV) and accessible by well-maintained gravel roads that connect to the main highway network either along the western edge of FLV (Highway 264), or across the watershed boundary to the east, in Silver Peak (Highway 265). The nearest settlements are in Dyer and Silver Peak, and the main service centre for the area is Tonopah, located approximately 1 hour’s drive away from the project location. Goldfield is the County seat for Esmeralda County, and is located approximately 1 hr from the site.
The claims cover an area of prospective lithium, boron and potassium mineralized sediments. These sediments are part of the late Eocene to late Miocene age Esmeralda Formation, comprising interbedded tuffaceous mudstones, siltstones and coarser tuffaceous siliciclastic rocks, that were deposited in a lacustrine (lake) and associated fluvial setting. The lithium bearing mineralization is typically encountered in finer-grained buff-brown and pale green tuffaceous mudstones and siltstones that typically weather into a a characteristic ‘popcorn’ weathered surface.
The Esmeralda Formation in the area of interest outcrops over a continuous elongated zone on the south-eastern edge of the northern part of Fish Lake valley. The deposits are present on the gentler slopes that rise to the SE edge of the flat-lying Fish Lake playa, and run up in to the low hills that flank the Fish Lake area. The strata are likely similar to those present on the adjacent Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project being explored for lithium and boron by Global Geoscience Limited, and located approximately 4 km to the east and north-east. These adjacent deposits have recently been the subject of a JORC-Compliant Resource Estimate (1), reported by Global Geoscience Limited that estimated a resource of approximately 1.3 million tonnes of Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE) in the indicated category and an additional 2.1 million tonnes in the inferred category (see disclosures released by Global Geoscience Limited on their website dated October 10, 2016). Initial exploration and sampling of the Esmeralda Formation sediments can be completed relatively efficiently, as the mineralized sediments outcrop at surface.
1) Resource reported by Global Geoscience Limited, Rhyolite Ridge deposit, 2016, JORC -compliant (Joint Ore Reserves Committee) mineral resources estimate prepared by RungePincockMinarco)
Bearing entered into an option agreement on September 25th, 2017 with First Division Ventures Inc. whereby First Division will acquire a 100% interest in the Fish Lake Valley claims for $20,000 in cash and 4.02 million shares plus $3.0 million in project expenditures over three years. Bearing will retain a 3% net smelter return royalty which is not subject to a buy-back or repurchase right.
Maricunga Lithium Fish Lake Valley HY / Jay