Cypress Development Clayton Valley

Posted Aug. 4, 2020

The first recorded mining activity in Clayton Valley was in 1864 with the discovery of silver at the town of Silver Peak. The playa in the center of Clayton Valley was mined for salt as early as 1906, and later explored for potash during World War II. Lithium was noted during the 1950s. In 1964, Foote Minerals acquired leases and began production of lithium carbonate at Silver Peak by 1967. Production of lithium carbonate from brine has continued to the present under several companies, currently under Albemarle Corporation.

In 2015, Cypress Development Corp. (Cypress) acquired rights to claims on the south and east side of Angel Island and began exploring the project. Sampling revealed high lithium concentration in surface sediments. The project is in Esmeralda County, Nevada, 6 miles east of the community of Silver Peak and consists of 5,430 acres (2,197 hectares) of U.S. Federal mining claims. The claims are held 100% by Cypress and subject to an underlying net smelter return (NSR) agreement.

In 2016, before drilling, Cypress collected 634 soil and rock chip samples. Results indicated elevated lithium concentrations over most of the project area. Cypress also conducted surface geologic mapping over most of project.

In 2017, Cypress drilled its first holes in the Dean claim block, followed later that year by drilling in the Glory claim block. In February 2018, Cypress reported exploration results on the Dean property and completed additional drilling later in the year. Drilling was completed by Morning Start Drilling of Montana with either a truck- or track-mounted core drill rig.

June 2018 Cypress issued a Mineral Resource Estimate and a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) in September 2018.

July 22, 2020, The Northern Miner published an article relating that the Cypress Development Clayton Valley lithium project is on track to be a potential world-class source of lithium for the global electric vehicle market. Cypress is currently focused on developing a pilot plant which could take six months to complete.

Sources: Historical mining information provided by the Technical Report Prefeasibility Study Clayton Valley Lithium Project by Todd S. Fayram, Terre A. Lane and Daniel W. Kalmbach.

Cypress Development Clayton Valley on Google Maps

Cypress Development website

Cypress Development Property Tour on YouTube