GLOSSARY

Definitions, Geological Terms & Useful Conversions

  1. Anomaly

Something that deviates from what is standard or expected.

  1. Aquifer

An underground layer of water or brine bearing permeable rock, or unconsolidated material with the potential to contain lithium bearing brines.

  1. Bankable feasibility study

A feasibility study is ‘bankable” if it has been prepared in enough detail and with enough objectivity That the Company could submit to investors or lenders when seeking financing for the project

  1. Basement

The basement varies by location, but is usually intrusive, metamorphic, or volcanic rocks.  At the Salar del Diablo, a gravity survey may determine the basement’s depth as well as its surface features, which is estimated by prior gravity surveys to be approximately 8,000 feet deep.

  1. Closed Basin

Water flowing into a closed basin is trapped with no outflow, due to structural or topographic constraints involving the geologic development of the basin itself.

  1. Conversions

a.) Troy weight measurements – Troy weight is the traditional system of weight measurement in the British Isles.  It is based on the grain, pennyweight (24 grains), ounce (20 pennyweights), and pound.  Troy weights have been used since the Middle Ages to weigh gold, silver, and other precious metals and stones.

      • 1 pound = 12 ounces
      • 67 pounds = 32.151 ounces
      • 1 short ton = 2,000 pounds
      • 1,000 ppm = 0.1% = 2 lbs./short ton
      • 1 troy ounce = 31.1 grams

b.) Imperial or avoirdupois

      • 1 pound = 16 ounces
      • 2046 pounds= 1 kilogram = 1,000 grams

c.) Metric

      • Water has the density of 1 gram/ cubic centimeter (cm)
      • Brine has an approx. density of 1.1 gram/ cubic cm
      • 1 cubic meter of water = 1 metric tonne
      • 1 cubic meter of brine = 1 metric tonne
      • 1 gram in 1,000 milliliters = 1,000 ppm

A hectare is a unit of surface area measurement. One hectare is equal to 10,000 square meters. 

        • One hectare is also equal to 2.471 acres
        • 75,400 hectares = 754 square kilometers = 290 square miles
        • 640 acres = 1 square mile = 1 section
        • 36 sections = 1 township
  1. Costs (estimated) of producing lithium
    • in brine ………….may be $ 2,000 per ton of lithium or more
    • in clay……………may be $ 3,500 per ton LiCO3 or more
    • in pegmatite ……may be $ 4,000 per ton of lithium carbonate or more.
  1. Deposit Types – Lithium

Lithium Brine Deposits – lithium in brines occurs in a variety of situations, including oilfield waters, geothermal waters, and brines constrained in closed basins in regions of high heat flow with lithium-bearing source rocks to leach and concentrate lithium.

Lithium Clay Deposits – Lithium clay deposits are very fine-grained sedimentary deposits, which sometimes contain the clay mineral hectorite.  Hectorite is a type of smectite clay, the name given to a group of clays with a similar mineral consistency. In the case of Hectorite, this particular clay contains lithium, sodium and magnesium.  However, significant research is being done to develop new separation or replacement technologies which may lower the costs.

Lithium-bearing pegmatite deposits – Lithium pegmatite deposits are igneous or hard rock deposits that contain the lithium bearing mineral spodumene. They are the primary source of lithium. The deposits are generally open pit mines and the cost of producing lithium is high.

  1. Lithium carbonate

Lithium carbonate (LiCO3) is the product created by the evaporation of lithium bearing brines at the mine site. Lithium is 18% of lithium carbonate by weight. 

  1. Lithium hydroxide

Lithium hydroxide (LiOH) is preferred over lithium carbonate in the production of electric vehicles as lithium hydroxide can be more efficiently used in the battery’s cathode.   It is more expensive than lithium carbonate. as a result.  In this regard, the producers of lithium carbonate can switch over to production of lithium hydroxide easily.

  1. Magnesium

Magnesium is an element and number 12 on the periodic table. It is an alkali metal.

Its presence in brine can increase the cost of separating lithium, 1% is considered low and over 7% often makes separation too expensive for economical production of lithium. The average grade of magnesium at the Salar del Diablo is 1.3%.

  1. ohm

Ohms measure electrical resistance.  One ohm is a unit used to measure the electrical resistance of a material in a circuit that transmits electrical current of one ampere when subjected to a potential difference of one volt.  Lower resistance means a material has higher conductivity.  A rock formation with a resistance of one ohm is extremely conductive.   High conductivity may indicate the existence of rock formations that could contain saline brine, which could contain lithium.

  1. Ohm.m

Ohms measure electrical resistance over a distance of one meter.  Lower resistance means a material has higher conductivity.  A rock formation with a resistance of one ohm is extremely conductive.   High conductivity may indicate the existence of rock formations that could contain lithium in a brine.

  1. Open ended

Refers to a condition where exploration is not complete and the zone or occurrence of interest has not been completely defined.  The mineral occurrence or anomaly of interest remains open in one or several directions.

  1. Other definitions
    • CEO: Chief Executive Officer
    • CFO: Chief Financial Officer
    • COO: Chief Operating Officer
    • CSE: Canadian Securities Exchange
    • OTC: QB Exchange: This is also called the Venture Exchange and is the middle tier of OTC markets with OTC: QX exchange being the top tier and the OTC Pinks being the bottom tier.  The OTC: QB Venture Exchange has a majority of its listed companies in the start-up development stage with significant reporting requirements.
  1. ppm (parts per million)

As an example, a sample that contains 1,000 ppm equals 0.1%, which is equivalent to 2 pounds per short ton.  Typically, potentially economic lithium grades in brine are more than 300 ppm = 0.03% or 6 pounds per ton.

  1. Reverse circulation drilling

Reverse circulation (RC) drilling uses dual wall drilling rods with the outer rod used to drill with a rotary bit and the inner rod is used to return chip samples to surface in a continuous flow.

RC drilling is considerably faster than diamond drilling, which provides considerable cost savings. 

During and after drilling, a geologist records the attributes and physical information obtained from drilling, a process called logging the hole.  After logging the hole, zones of interest such as aquifers can be isolated with packers above and below the zone to allow testing of any aquifers encountered to determine water chemistry, hydro-geological conditions including porosity, permeability, sustainable flow rates and pumping conditions, etc.

  1. Rhyolitic tuff source rock

Rhyolite is produced by volcanoes or volcanic activity that can be an explosive event throwing rhyolite particles in the air that subsequently settle as volcanic ash, breccia, or other igneous rocks which are known as tuffs. 

  1. Salar

A salar is a Spanish word for a salt flat.  It is a dry lake in a desert environment where incoming water including rain evaporates faster than the water inflows.  A salar also is a closed basin, which means there is no drainage out of the salar.  After evaporation of surface waters, the residue is salt and a variety of minerals.

  1. Satellite imagery

High resolution pictures taken from satellites to identify geological features including structures, faults, cross faults, and linear features.

  1. Time domain electromagnetic survey (TEM or TDEM)

Time Domain electromagnetic surveys are a geophysical exploration technique in which electric and magnetic fields are induced by transient pulses of electric current and the subsequent decay response measured. TEM / TDEM methods are generally able to determine subsurface electrical properties, but are also sensitive to subsurface magnetic properties in applications. TEM/TDEM surveys are a very common surface EM technique for mineral exploration.

The Volterra TDEM utilizes a moving loop array to identify changes in conductivity in underlying rocks to delineate the conductivities of various rock units.  TDEM has successfully been used to identify highly conductive zones that may be brine aquifers that could also contain elevated concentrations of lithium. 

  1. Working and carried property interests

A working interest defines the percentage of program costs one party is funding to earn or maintain a property interest.  Carried interest defines the percentage of the property interest that pays no costs.  For example, One World Lithium Inc paid 100% of the costs and earned a 60% property working interest, leaving the property owner (Energy Metals Discovery Group), a 40% carried property interest.  On completion of the initial drilling program, One World Lithium will have earned an additional 20% property interest for a total of an 80% property working interest.

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John E Hiner, a Registered SME Member and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure contained in this glossary.