The property is located approximately 7 miles (12 km) northeast of Rockwood Lithium's Clayton Valley lithium operation, the only producing brine based lithium mine in operation in North America. The Rockwood Lithium operation was recently acquired by Albemarle Corp., the world's largest producer of lithium products, as part of a $6.2 billion transaction.
Like Clayton Valley, Alkali Lake is a classic, fault bounded closed basin where evaporation exceeds precipitation. Alkali Lake is in a known geothermal area and contains volcanic rocks with high lithium values. Just as with circulating basin waters, deep fluids, particularly hot ones associated with the geothermal resource, dissolve rocks, liberating boron, lithium and other elements such as sodium and chloride. These minerals are brought to the surface as springs emanating from the faults bounding the playa. The location of a closed basin in an arid environment with a geothermal system and plentiful sources of Lithium suggest that Alkali Lake may host significant Lithium rich brines.
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