Drilling Commences at Phase 1 of the McDermitt Lithium Project in the United States

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 5, HiTech Minerals, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jindalee Lithium, commenced Phase 1 drilling at the McDermitt Lithium Project in Oregon, United States. This phase involves up to 100 drill sites and is part of an overall staged drilling program of 168 drill sites. In 2026, approximately one-third of the approved Phase 1 drill sites are planned to be drilled first, with initial results expected to be announced in the first quarter of 2027.

This round of work includes infill drilling, environmental drilling, and hydrological monitoring well construction. High-priority infill drilling has commenced in the central part of the project. Reverse circulation drilling will obtain hydrogeological data, while diamond drilling will be used to obtain fresh drill core for geotechnical studies and metallurgical testwork. The 2026 drilling program will also provide data for the geological, hydrogeological, geotechnical, and metallurgical models required for the feasibility study.

The current year's drilling program is expected to be completed by the end of November 2026, primarily covering high-priority infill locations, environmental data collection, and monitoring wells required for the hydrological model. The project proponent plans to use this round of data to further refine the existing resource classification and provide baseline data for the subsequent feasibility study.

Phase 1 drilling at McDermitt is being conducted under the Exploration Operations Plan approved by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in December 2025. The project previously completed a 2024 pre-feasibility study. Under Jindalee's current JORC-compliant reporting, the project's combined indicated and inferred resources total approximately 3 billion tonnes at an average lithium grade of 1,340 ppm, corresponding to approximately 21.5 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent; the probable reserves announced in 2024 are 251 million tonnes at an average lithium grade of 1,751 ppm, corresponding to approximately 2.34 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent.

The 2024 pre-feasibility study adopted a design capacity of approximately 47,500 tonnes per annum of lithium carbonate, a project design life of approximately 63 years, and estimated development capital expenditure of approximately US$3.021 billion. The project proponent plans to advance the feasibility study based on this round of drilling and subsequent technical studies, and to continue federal permitting work.

HiTech Minerals currently still holds a 100% interest in the McDermitt Project. Under the business combination agreement signed in April between Jindalee and Constellation Acquisition Corp I, upon completion of the transaction, HiTech Minerals will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of US Elemental, and US Elemental plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "ULIT". The transaction also contemplates a PIPE financing of approximately US$20 million to US$30 million, of which US$4 million in binding investment commitments have already been secured. The parties currently continue to target completion of the transaction in the fourth quarter of 2026.