Rodinia Minerals says lithium projects making encouraging progress

In an operational update, Rodinia Minerals (TSX-V: RM, OTC: RDNAF) said it is encouraged by its progress so far in 2010. The company is currently developing two lithium-brine projects, Clayton Valley in Nevada, US, and Salar de Diablillos in Argentina. The ongoing exploration work at Clayton Valley is progressing as planned, whilst in Argentina Rodinia has been adding to its land package and has begun exploration at the Diablillos salt flat.

Rodinia anticipates that the respective drilling programmes will assist in establishing a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate at both Clayton Valley and Diablillos. The company said it expects to update investors regarding this in the coming weeks.

At Clayton Valley, the drill program is progressing, with four holes completed to date and a fifth hole on the western margin ready to be re-drilled now that additional casing has arrived at site.

According to Rodinia, the previous drill program’s technical difficulties have all been resolved, and two holes have successfully reached the basement floor. "The drilling is progressing as planned”, Rodinia Exploration VP William Randall stated. “To date, we have encountered specific gravity and salinity values in discrete, clay bounded aquifers, which through comparative and relative analysis, are consistent with our understanding of rich lithium mineralization.

“Assaying for lithium is in progress and we anticipate being able to report initial results within the next two weeks to a month". Rodinia has also received a gravity survey with results indicating that basin depths within the Clayton Valley are at their deepest within Rodinia's current claim package. "These deeper areas have the potential to host denser lithium-rich brines as they migrate due to gravitational setting", Randall noted.

Rodinia has expanded its current land package in the Salar de Diablillos to 5,756 hectares, following a series of private transactions. Consequently the company said it now owns the entire nucleus of the salar. "These additional acquisitions provide a significant strategic advantage to Rodinia, as unlike many other lithium-brine operations, we now control a complete salar in Diablillos, as opposed to sharing the salar with other operators", Rodinia president and CEO David Stein commented. "In addition, the start-up of the exploration program at Diablillos marks another key milestone for the company".

The Diablillos drilling program will use a 200x200m grid to ensure proper representation of the brine resource, and it will target brines from sand aquifers below the initial clay layer on the property. The drill holes are expected to vary in depth, primarily between two and four meters. The resulting samples will be sent to the ALS Laboratory Group in the US for analysis.

The company expects to report the initial Diablillos results within the next month.

In February, Rodinia has also made progress in a corporate perspective with the appointment of Mark Eaton as a new non-executive director and a new US listing for its securities. Rodinia expanded its potential investor base as the company's common shares began trading on the Pink OTC Market's OTCQX International.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/13652/rodinia-minerals-says-lithium-projects-making-encouraging-progress-13652.html