Bradda Head Lithium Limited (AIM:BHL, OTCQB:BHLIF) commenced the second stage of metallurgical testwork at the Basin East project in the USA, working towards producing a final battery quality lithium product, and associated economic co-products.

The results of this work are expected in the second half of 2022.

The company already has a 305,000 tonne lithium carbonate equivalent compliant JORC resource and an exploration target of up to six million tonnes at its Basin Project.

The metallurgical testwork will take roughly three months to complete.

Consultant RDi will sample 150kg of lithium clay from Basin East with a view to producing lithium sulphate in a pregnant leach solution.

Bradda will then decide whether to proceed to the production of either lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate from the pregnant leach solution.

"The commencement of this test-work is another key milestone towards becoming a producer of lithium carbonate equivalent to the US market,” said Charles FitzRoy, chief executive of Bradda Head Lithium.

“We are delighted to be using RDi, which is extremely well-respected in its field, to be carrying out the work, and are confident of its expertise to produce high quality PLS from our Basin East sample. Bradda has a 44-hole programme planned at its Basin Project in 2022, and the results from the programmes will potentially form a larger resource at the end of the year which, when combined with the metallurgical work, will feed into a preliminary economic assessment study for 2023, which will help demonstrate the economics around the Basin project.”