TRUCKEE, Calif., June 17, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oroplata Resources, Inc., (OTCBB:ORRP) (“Oroplata or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the results from the examination of a large geochemical dataset that has confirmed the presence of highly anomalous Lithium values at the 100% owned Western Nevada Basin project (“WNB”).
Oroplata’s team examined a large database of 2,809 dry surface sediment samples taken over a course of five years by the USGS, through the Western Nevada Basin project area, as well throughout a large (115 mile x 100 mile) block of central Nevada, of which a total of 1,640 samples had Lithium analysis conducted. The associated elements of Boron and Potassium were also evaluated and reviewed to enhance the search criterion.
Lithium is highly soluble in water and accumulates in residual brines in the shallow subsurface of depositional basins. Currently Lithium Brine production in the U.S. only occurs at Clayton Valley, Nevada, where the economic grade is 200 milligrams per liter (mg/l) or 200 parts per million (ppm).
Highlights from the large data-set include:
The average concentration in all the sediment samples surveyed through the large area were 36 ppm for Lithium, 31 ppm for Boron, and 17,793 ppm for Potassium
Only 3% of the samples proved to have anomalous to exceptional Lithium and Boron values. These high values were concentrated almost entirely over a 40-by-16 mile section that contains the WNB project. Many of the Lithium values in this region returned 80 ppm to over 200 ppm Lithium.
The maximum values for Lithium and Boron in the dry surface sediments was 247 ppm and 634 ppm respectively, which were located directly at the WNB project area.
"The geologic, the geophysical and the highly anomalous geochemical characteristics of the Western Nevada Basin project all point to a new distinct area for Lithium brine production,” comments CEO, Craig Alford, PGeo. “This is a massive anomaly, and we are all extremely excited by the direct confirmation of essentially economic values of Lithium reported at surface.”
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