A couple of comments about lithium exploration, and field exploration in general.
1. I cautioned readers of this board to not expect dramatic results from field exploration for lithium-bearing minerals, a few months back, when MaCloud was raising the excitement level about the prospects. Lithium mineralization, e.g. lepidolite or spodumene, are complex mineral crystals with relatively low lithium content. Although the theoretical lithium content in spodumene is a little over 8% Li2O (lithium oxide), it is never found as a pure crystal bed. Instead, spodumene crystals are dispersed within barren rock, as you might imagine gravel in a concrete mixture. Lepidolite is more variable, has a lower lithium grade overall, and is harder to identify in the field. The average grade of extracted lithium-bearing rock must be at or above 1% Li2O to support mine economics, so you generally have to find a large volume of lithiated rock to overcome mining dilution and still hit 1%. And that takes a lot more than field sampling.
Here's a blurb about that: http://www.sgs.com/~/media/Global/Documents/Flyers%20and%20Leaflets/SGS-MIN-WA109-Hard-Rock-Lithium-Processing-EN-11.pdf
2. Getting field exploration teams actually into the field is fraught with all sorts of unknowns. Saying that you plan to get a team into the field in June is nothing more than a best-case estimate. All sorts of things can lead to scheduling changes, and in my experience, once one part of the planning is forced to change, all the rest may have to be looked at as well. Murphy lives, and I wish he would go back to Ireland and retire. LOL
Regards,
Lar
