LithiumOre Strategically Partners with 3PL Operating Inc. for Lithium Brine Exploration in Railroad Valley, Nevada
Planned On-Site Exploration Targeted to Begin Over Next Few MonthsINCLINE VILLAGE, April 18, 2018 - LithiumOre (http://lithiumore.net) (the "Company"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oroplata Resources Inc. (OTCQB: ORRP), a lithium resource exploration and development company, today announced that it has executed a strategic partnership with 3PL Operating Inc. ("3PL") for exploration of the Company's Western Nevada Basin lithium brine project in the Railroad Valley in Nevada. 3PL has a wealth of experience in drilling, development and production of oil and gas, which is similar to lithium development since the metal is contained in liquid brines and also produced from shallow wells. 3PL will drill on the Railroad Valley for the purpose of obtaining brine samples and evaluating lithium concentrations at the Western Nevada Basin project.
LithiumOre Chairman and CEO Doug Cole, commented, "LithiumOre is pleased to form a strategic partnership with 3PL Operating Inc. to progress our Western Nevada Basin lithium brine project in the Railroad Valley, Nevada. 3PL has a wealth of experience in oil drilling and production, for which similar techniques are used for brine exploration. The Railroad Valley has emerged as potentially the largest brine deposit in Nevada, and is more than six times the area of Clayton Valley, in a similar closed basin. Based on 3PL's work to date within the Railroad Valley, 3PL believes that the Railroad Valley brine pool could potentially be several times larger than the Clayton Valley due to the significant brine host formation thickness, up to 3,000 feet total, based on well log data obtained from surrounding oil wells."
3PL is a privately held mining development firm engaged in the exploration and development of lithium brine deposits within the Western Nevada Basin. 3PL owns 2,843 claims, covering an area of 94 square miles (244 km2). 3PL has mapped a large sub-surface brine pool (~ 300 m thick and ~ 300 m deep), which underlies the Railroad Valley Playa. Over 90 oil and gas well geophysical logs were used to define a large and significant electrical conductivity anomaly, which is interpreted to be a concentrated brine deposit. Recently discovered saltwater leakage from a water well on the 3PL ground indicates that the brine pool exists and that lithium is a component of the brine. The exact concentration of the lithium in the brine is unable to be determined at this time however.
3PL's management team has an aggregate of over 70 years global oil and gas exploration, development and production experience. 3PL's team has a proven track record of successfully exploring for oil and gas. 3PL's aim in the Railroad Valley is to delineate a drilled-out brine resource capable of producing 30 billion barrels of brine. The lithium content of this hypothetical resource is unknown at this time, and future exploration drilling will be required to determine this.
Western Nevada Basin Project
Railroad Valley is a large topographically closed playa basin (dry salt lake bed). The basin is fault-bounded with numerous active thermal springs (anomalous in lithium) emerging along the faults. The fault sets have strike lengths of 25-30 miles (42-50 km) and are parallel to each other, about 8-12 miles apart (13-19 km). The faults that bound the basin form an elongate rectangular shaped basin of about 300 square miles (777 km2) in size.
Numerous thermal springs emerge along the basin bounding fault systems, which form the North-West and South-East flanks of the playa basin. Thermal waters which discharge from the springs carry moderately anomalous values of Lithium.
The mountains that surround the basin contain outcropping rock units also anomalous in lithium. This closely matches the geologic criteria for the United State Geological Survey ("USGS") ore deposit model for Clayton Valley type lithium brine deposits.
LithiumOre holds 260 accepted lithium mineral claims, totaling 5,200 acres, located in the Western Nevada Basin, situated in Railroad Valley in Nye County, Nevada. Railroad Valley is approximately 112 miles northeast of Clayton Valley and can be accessed by paved highway directly from U.S. Route 6. Railroad Valley is one of Nevada's largest trapped basins and is noted to hold all the necessary commercial and engineering prerequisites for a massive lithium brine deposit. The Company's claims have been evaluated by experts and the BLM and are targeted for planned on-site exploration expected to begin by mid-2018.
LithiumOre, Corp.
LithiumOre (http://lithiumore.net), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oroplata Resources Inc. (OTCQB: ORRP), is a lithium resource exploration and development company, whose primary focus is the establishment of a low cost production base to supply the rapidly growing lithium-ion battery industry for both mobile devises and laptops, as well as the burgeoning EV (electronic vehicle) industry. LithiumOre is focused on becoming a substantial, profitable lithium producer via the timely development of valuable production-grade lithium brine deposits in Nevada.
For more information, please visit: http://lithiumore.net
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, including those with respect to the expected project economics for Western Nevada Basin (Railroad Valley), including estimates of life of mine, average production, cash costs, AISC, initial CAPEX, sustaining CAPEX, pre-tax IRR, pre-tax NPV, net cash flows and recovery rates, the impact of self-mining versus contract mining, the timing to obtain necessary permits, the submission of the project for final investment approval and the timing of initial gold production after investment approval and full financing, metallurgy and processing expectations, the mineral resource estimate, expectations regarding the ability to expand the mineral resource through future drilling, ongoing work to be conducted at the Western Nevada Basin (Railroad Valley), and the potential results of such efforts, the potential commissioning of a Pre-Feasibility study and the effects on timing of the project, are "forward-looking statements." Although the Company's management believes that such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee that such expectations are, or will be, correct. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Company's future results to differ materially from those anticipated. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, interpretations or reinterpretations of geologic information, unfavorable exploration results, inability to obtain permits required for future exploration, development or production, general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries in which the Company operates; the uncertainty of regulatory requirements and approvals; fluctuating mineral and commodity prices, final investment approval and the ability to obtain necessary financing on acceptable terms or at all. Additional information regarding the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements is available in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2016. The Company assumes no obligation to update any of the information contained or referenced in this press release.
Contact Information
Hayden IR
Stephen Hart
(917) 658-7878
hart@haydenir.com
SOURCE: Oroplata Resources Inc.
