Hub City Lithium Corporation (HCL), a subsidiary of EMP Metals Corporation, recently signed a wellbore takeover agreement with Calgary-based power firm Epping Energy Inc. EMP Metals effectively owns 67% of the new venture.
According to EMP Metals chief executive officer Rob Gamley, the new development marks a milestone for the company in terms of growing its assets for lithium production. Gamley also expressed optimism that the new well will be a significant lithium resource in the near future.
Located in Tyvan in southeast Saskatchewan, the new well is in a different location from EMP’s now-productive first well in Mansur. The facility was acquired in keeping with EMP’s strategy of testing for lithium in abandoned or shut-in oil and gas wells using a reentry method instead of drilling new facilities in raw, untested land.
EMP has scheduled a multi-zone performance test wherein the well will be tested for inflow potential. The test will also gauge lithium concentrations within the target Duperow zone.
Previously, EMP confirmed lithium concentrations of up to 96.3mg/l in their Mansur 11-2-9-13 W2M wellbore, a location around 50km southwest of the new test well.
EMP’s permit area in Tyvan currently has infrastructure working on over 50 oil wellbores drilled throughout the target formation. This is expected to result in significant cost savings for any future developments in the area. It also enables the company to accurately map and target areas that may have the potential for lithium mining.
EMP’s holdings in Tyvan, Mansur, and Viewfield cover an area approximately 40 miles north and 40 miles east of Weyburn City. Among the assets involved in lithium exploration in the area are more than 100 oil wells that may be useful in terms of geological mapping, aside from lithium testing and production.
Along with the aforementioned oil field and an existing labor pool, the project area is further enhanced by several existing structures, specifically access routes by highway or rail, an existing three-phase electrical supply, and easy access to natural gas.
Meanwhile, lithium brine properties within the target area include 37 permits for a total of 86,050 hectares of subsurface crown mineral dispositions in southern Saskatchewan’s Williston basin. Sampling done in one of the vertical wellbores in the area yielded a lithium concentration of nearly 96.3mg/l.
