Lithium Exploration Group, a US-based exploration company, has declared a maiden resource estimate for its Valleyview potassium, magnesium, lithium, boron, calcium, bromine and sodium brine project around the area of Valleyview town in west-central Alberta, Canada.
The Valleyview project includes 29 metallic mineral and industrial permits that outline an adjacent land package of about 514,000 acres. The company holds 100% mineral rights for the property, which encloses a major part of the Sturgeon Lake South and Sturgeon Lake oilfields, wherein petroleum products are made from dolomitized reefal carbonates from the Leduc Formation. The Leduc aquifer system includes sodium-chloride brines that are rich in lithium, potassium, boron, bromine magnesium and calcium. These brines are pushed to the surface as waste byproducts of oil and gas production.
APEX Geoscience was engaged by the company to perform the resource estimate for the Leduc aquifer system on the Valleyview property, as per the National Instrument 43-101 standards. The southeastern and eastern parts of the company’s permits covering the Sturgeon Lake oilfield were targeted. The Resource Estimate and the area of interest cover about 44% or 227,000 acres of the entire Valleyview property permit holdings.
The Resource Estimate is based on a number of factors. They include:
- An evaluation and compilation of stratigraphic and formation water data from petroleum well databases.
- A hydrogeological analysis to measure the overall brine underlying the company’s property and to explore how hydraulic parameters like storativity and gtransmissivity may influence the resource extraction.
- The geochemical results of the company’s 2011 formation water sampling campaign where 40 wells were sampled in a region, which offered an average sample well density of 0.5 wells/km2.