Hains Tech Report for Lithium Project
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
HAINS ENGINEERING COMPANY LIMITED TECHNICAL REPORT ON THE PANAMINT VALLEY LITHIUM PROJECT, PANAMINT VALLEY, CALIFORNIA Prepared for BATTERY MINERAL RESOURCES LIMITED Report for NI 43-101 Effective Date: November 16, 2017 Qualified Person: Donald H. Hains, P.Geo. March 25, 2018 Hains Engineering Company Limited Report Control Form Document Title Technical Report on the Panamint Valley Lithium Project, Panamint Valley, California Client Name & Address Battery Mineral Resources Limited Level 36, Governor Philip Tower, 1 Farrar Place Sydney NSW 2000, Australia Document Reference Status & Project #17-011 Issue No. Version 2 Issue Date March 25, 2018 Lead Author Don Hains (name) (signature & date) Peer Reviewer (name) (signature & date) Project Manager Approval (name) (signature & date) Project Director Approval (name) (signature & date) Report Distribution Name No. of Copies Client 1 pdf Hains Engineering Filing 1 (project box) Hains Engineering Company Limited 2275 lakeshore Blvd. West, Suite 515 Toronto, Ontario M8V 3Y3 Canada Tel: +1 416 971-9783 Fax: +1 416 971-9812 [email protected] HAINS ENGINEERING COMPANY LIMITED TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................... 1-1 1.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 1-1 1.2 Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 1-2 1.3 Recommendations ..................................................................................................... 1-3 1.4 Technical Summary .................................................................................................. 1-4 2 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 2-1 3 RELIANCE ON OTHER EXPERTS ........................................................................... 3-1 4 PROPERTY DESCRIPTIONS AND LOCATIONS ..................................................... 4-1 5 ACCESSIBILITY, CLIMATE, LOCAL RESOURCES, INFRASTRUCTURE AND PHYSIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................ 5-1 6 HISTORY .................................................................................................................. 6-1 7 GEOLOGICAL SETTING AND MINERALIZATION ................................................... 7-1 8 DEPOSIT TYPES ...................................................................................................... 8-1 9 EXPLORATION ......................................................................................................... 9-1 10 DRILLING .............................................................................................................. 10-1 11 SAMPLE PREPARATION, ANALYSES AND SECURITY ..................................... 11-1 12 DATA VERIFICATION ........................................................................................... 12-1 13 MINERAL PROCESSING AND METALLURGICAL TESTING ............................... 13-1 14 MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE ....................................................................... 14-1 15 MINERAL RESERVE ESTIMATE .......................................................................... 15-1 16 MINING METHODS .............................................................................................. 16-1 17 RECOVERY METHODS ....................................................................................... 17-1 18 PROJECT INFRASTRUCTURE ............................................................................ 18-1 19 MARKET STUDIES AND CONTRACTS................................................................ 19-1 20 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES, PERMITTING, AND SOCIAL OR COMMUNITY IMPACT ..................................................................................................................... 20-1 21 CAPITAL AND OPERATING COSTS .................................................................... 21-1 22 ECONOMIC ANALYSIS ........................................................................................ 22-1 23 ADJACENT PROPERTIES ................................................................................... 23-1 24 OTHER RELEVANT DATA AND INFORMATION ................................................. 24-1 25 INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS ............................................................ 25-1 Battery Minerals Resources Limited Technical Report NI 43-101 – March 25, 2018 Page i HAINS ENGINEERING COMPANY LIMITED 26 RECOMMENDATIONS ......................................................................................... 26-1 27 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................... 27-1 28 DATE AND SIGNATURE PAGE ............................................................................ 28-1 29 CERTIFICATE OF QUALIFIED PERSON ............................................................. 29-1 30 APPENDICES ....................................................................................................... 30-1 LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1-1:Recommended Exploration Budget – Panamint Valley Property1 ............................... 1-3 Table 5.1: Average monthly temperatures and precipitation data from Trona, California........... 5-2 Table 11-1: Panamint Valley Sampling by BMR – Rock Samples ............................................ 11-1 Table 11-2: Panamint Valley Sampling by BMR – Water Samples .......................................... 11-2 Table 11-3: BMR Sample Assay Results – Rock Samples ........................................................ 11-5 Table 11-3 cont’d: BMR Panamint Sample Assays – Water Samples ....................................... 11-6 Table 12-1: Due Diligence Samples – Assay Methods .............................................................. 12-1 Table 12-2: Due Diligence Sample Assay Results ..................................................................... 12-2 Table 19-1: Key Attributes of Brine and Hard Rock Lithium Deposits ..................................... 19-1 Table 19-2: New Vehicle Build by Engine Type ....................................................................... 19-5 Table 19-3: Global Mine Production of Lithium by Company - 2015 ....................................... 19-6 Table 26-1: Exploration Budget1 – Panamint Property .............................................................. 26-1 Battery Minerals Resources Limited Technical Report NI 43-101 – March 25, 2018 Page ii HAINS ENGINEERING COMPANY LIMITED LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1-1: Property Location Map ............................................................................................ 1-45 Figure 2-1: BMR Corporate Structure .......................................................................................... 2-1 Figure 4-1: Panamint Property Location Map .............................................................................. 4-2 Figure 4-2: Panamint Property Claim Map 4-3 Figure 7-1: Panamint Regional Geology ...................................................................................... 7-2 Figure 7-2: Pleistocene Drainage Systems in Owens Lake – Death Valley Region .................... 7-4 Figure 7-3: Late Cenozoic Deformation in Central Panamint Valley .......................................... 7-5 Figure 7-4: Panamint Valley Major Structural Features .............................................................. 7-7 Figure 7-5: Schematic diagrams showing slip directions and fault interactions for the Searles Valley, Manly Pass, Panamint Valley, and Ash Hill fault zones. .............................................. 7-10 Figure 7-6: Panamint Property Geology ..................................................................................... 7-12 Figure 7-7: Cross Section A-A’ and B-B’ across Panamint Valley property ............................. 7-14 Figure 7-8: USGS Drill Holes in Owens Lake – Panamint Valley Region ................................ 7-15 Figure 7-9: USGS Panamint Valley Drill Logs .......................................................................... 7-17 Figure 8-1: Schematic Deposit Model for Lithium Brines ........................................................... 8-2 Figure 8-2: Clayton Valley Lithium Brine Deposit Model ......................................................... 8-4 Figure 8-3: Clayton Valley Geology ............................................................................................ 8-5 Figure 9-1: Gravity Survey Coverage – Panamint Valley Property ............................................. 9-2 Figure 9-2: Intrepreted Faults Based on Gravity Survey – Panamnit Project .............................. 9-3 Figure 9-3: Intrepreatted Horst blocks based on gravity survey – panamint project .................... 9-4 Figure 9-4: Intrepreted sub-surface Drainage pattern based on gravity survy – Panamint ......... 9-5 Figure 11-1: Panamint Valley Sample and Drill Hole Locations .............................................. 11-4 Figure 19.1: Lithium Supply by Country and Forecast Supply to 2025 ..................................... 19-2 Figure 19.2: Global Lithium Demand – 2013 – 2025 ................................................................ 19-3 Figure 19.3: Electric Vehicle Demand to 2025 .......................................................................... 19-5 Battery Minerals