Boardwalk
PEA Expected Q1 2023
The Boardwalk Lithium Brine Project is located in west-central Alberta, approximately 85 km east of the City of Grande Prairie and 270 km northwest of the City of Edmonton. The Project consists of 40 Alberta Metallic and Industrial Mineral contiguous permits covering an area of 572,237 acres, within a LithiumBank total land package of approximately 4 million acres in west-central Alberta
The Sturgeon Lake oil and gas field where the Boardwalk Project sits was first discovered in 1952. Since then, petroleum companies have developed a strong foundation of social and physical infrastructure in the area. This history of continuous hydrocarbon extraction lends to a well trained labour force, networks of all-weather gravel roads, drill sites that can be accessed from Provincial highways, and electrical transmission lines that run through and adjacent to the project.
The LithiumBank Advantage
LithiumBank has used a wealth of historical oil and gas drilling and seismic data in completing a maiden NI 43-101 Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate dated May 18, 2021. Over 550 wells have been drilled into the Leduc formation at Sturgeon Lake by previous and current petro-operators, 65 of which have been historically sampled for Leduc formation brine between 2010-2019. These historical brine sampling programs show that the lithium content in the Leduc Formation aquifer is homogeneous with respect to lithium content over the investigated reservoir portions of the ~50 km long reef complex.
A 3-D closed solid polygon wireframe of the Leduc Formation aquifer domain was used to calculate the volume of the Leduc Formation rock, or the aquifer volume. The aquifer volume underlying the Sturgeon Lake Property, summarized as the total Leduc Formation domain aquifer volume, is of 321.99 km3.
LithiumBank formed a brine access agreement with the major petro-operator in control of the Sturgeon Lake South and Sturgeon Lake North oilfields on May 14, 2021. The agreement permits LithiumBank to obtain brine from the existing oil and gas infrastructure for the purpose of exploration work (i.e., assaying, and mineral processing test work).
Sturgeon Lake Inferred Resource
The Sturgeon Lake Leduc formation Li-brine inferred resource is globally estimated at 1,122,000 tonnes of elemental Li at an average lithium concentration of 67.1 mg/L Li in 16.7 km3 of formation brine volume (Table 1). The global (total) lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) for the inferred mineral resource is 5,973,000 tonnes LCE at an average grade of 67.1 mg/L Li.
Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no guarantee that all or any part of the mineral resource will be converted into a mineral reserve.
Table 1 Boardwalk Leduc Formation Li-brine NI 43-101 indicated & inferred resource estimate presented as a global (total) resource.
| Reporting parameter |
Indicated Leduc Formation Reef Domain |
Inferred Leduc Formation Reef Domain |
| Aquifer volume |
19.833 (km3) |
308.93 (km3) |
| Brine volume |
1.03 (km3) |
16.046 (km3) |
| Average lithium concentration |
71.6 (mg/L) |
68.0 (mg/L) |
| Average porosity |
5.3 (%) |
5.3 (%) |
| Average brine in pore space |
98.0 (%) |
98.0 (%) |
| Total elemental lithium resource |
74,000 (tonnes) |
1,091,000 (tonnes) |
| Total lithium carbonate equivalent |
393,000 tonnes (LCE) |
5,808,000 tonnes (LCE) |
- Note 1: Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no guarantee that all or any part of the mineral resource will be converted into a mineral reserve. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by geology, environment, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues.
- Note 2: The weights are reported in metric tonnes (1,000 kg or 2,204.6 lbs).
- Note 3: Tonnage numbers are rounded to the nearest 1,000 unit.
- Note 4: In a ‘confined’ aquifer (as reported herein), porosity is a proxy for specific yield.
- Note 5: The resource estimation was completed and reported using a cut-off of 50 mg/L Li.
- Note 6: In order to describe the resource in terms of industry standard, a conversion factor of 5.323 is used to convert elemental Li to Li2CO3, or Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (LCE).
LithiumBank has retained Hatch Ltd. to provide expertise in reviewing and selecting a DLE technology. This review process is designed to sort through the many DLE providers and select the most effective providers to conduct DLE test work. LithiumBank expects to work with three DLE providers in parallel. Results of this test work will be implemented by Hatch into the Preliminary Economic Assessment scoping study that is currently underway and expected expected to be completed Q1-2023.
