Nevada Energy Metals Options-out Second Lithium Project in Nevada

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July 15, 2016 – Vancouver, British Columbia- Nevada Energy Metals (TSXV:BFF) (OTCQB:SSLMF) (Frankfurt: A2AFBV) is pleased to announce that it has agreed to an Option Agreement where Wildcat Exploration Ltd. can acquire a 100% interest, subject to a 3% Net Smelter Royalty, in 348 mineral claims located in Dixie Valley, Churchill County, Nevada.

July 15, 2016 – Vancouver, British Columbia- Nevada Energy Metals (TSXV:BFF) (OTCQB:SSLMF) (Frankfurt: A2AFBV) is pleased to announce that it has agreed to an Option Agreement where Wildcat Exploration Ltd. can acquire a 100% interest, subject to a 3% Net Smelter Royalty, in 348 mineral claims located in Dixie Valley, Churchill County, Nevada.  The Option Agreement is “non-arms’ length” and so constitutes a related party transaction, as the Company’s President and CEO, Rick Wilson, is also a director of Wildcat Exploration Ltd., and is subject to TSX Venture Exchange (the “Exchange“) approval.
The DVA 1 to 348 placer claims, having an area of approximately 2,817 hectares/6,960 acres, covers a significant portion of the Humboldt Salt Marsh playa.  Of the seven characteristics favorable for the formation of a Lithium brine deposit, as outlined in the USGS deposit model, all seven are found in Dixie Valley. The Lithium deposit model for Dixie Valley is a Clayton Valley style brine deposit.
Pursuant to the terms of the option agreement, Wildcat Exploration Ltd has 36 months within which to exercise the option as follows:

  • USD $20,000 non-refundable deposit on signing;
  • USD$ 180,000 payable and 2,000,000 common shares issuable upon Exchange approval;
  • 2,000,000 common shares issuable on the first anniversary date;
  • 2,000,000 common shares issuable on the second anniversary date
  • USD$ 1,250,000 in eligible on or before the third anniversary date of the Option Agreement.

In certain instances and subject to Exchange approval, the Company may pay finder’s fees to eligible persons (“Finders“) in regards to the Option Agreement with Wildcat Exploration Ltd., consisting of cash and or common shares.
Dixie Valley Overview
Dixie Valley is located in west central Nevada, about 160 km east northeast of Reno.  The entire basin is about 98 km long and up to 16 km wide.  Humboldt Salt Marsh occupies the central part of the playa and is about 10 km north-south and 6 km east-west.
Dixie Valley is home to a large and long-lived geothermal system that is still active.  The Caithness Dixie Valley geothermal power plant is producing about 64 megawatts of electricity making it the largest geothermal power plant in Nevada.  The active geothermal system extends about 30 km roughly north – south along the entire west side of the valley.  The heat source appears to be simple very deep circulation into the crust and is not related to igneous activity.
Very little exploration work has been directed at Lithium in this area.  Geothermal water in the basin contains up to 4.89 ppm Lithium and stream sediment samples from the adjacent Stillwater range show values to 80 ppm Lithium. Geologically, recent volcanic ash from the Long Valley Caldera (Bishop Tuff) and Mono craters are expected to be found within catchment area of the basin and within the basin fill sediments.  One major productive horizon in the Clayton Valley brine field is thought to be Bishop Tuff deposited and preserved in the basin (Zampirro, 2004).
Dixie Valley is a closed fault-bounded basin having the lowest elevation point (1031 m, 3383 ft.) in the Northern Great Basin as measured on the Humboldt Salt Marsh playa.  Given the valley has been a closed basin for at least 500,000 years and probably much, much longer, plenty of time has elapsed for evaporative concentration of Lithium bearing geothermal and surface water.  The valley appears to be about 2,000 meters deep, primarily filled with poorly sorted coarse conglomerate, gravel, sand and silt with volcanic rocks, and tuff beds, and finer sediments in the lower third of the section (Blackwell et al, 2014).
The conceptual deposit model is as the basin went through multiple wet and dry periods, Lithium dissolved by deep circulating geothermal fluids or leached from local rock units by surface and near surface water, seeped into the basin where it was concentrated by evaporation.  Heavier brines sink into the deeper levels of the basin or flow downward along tilted permeable beds, potentially forming subsurface pools of Lithium rich fluids.  The process can be likened to an inverted oil field, with the target material being descending fluids caught in gravity traps instead of ascending fluids caught in the tops of structures. This model is somewhat akin to placer gold deposits wherein large areas of very low grade sources are concentrated into economic grades.
The Humboldt Salt Marsh project was acquired for staking cost without royalties and a 200,000 share payment to the locator.
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