Wyoming
Delivering Wyoming’s hard rock lithium potential
Chariot has made the first hard rock lithium discovery by drilling in Wyoming, US.
Chariot corporation limited (Chariot) recently announced the first discovery of hard rock lithium in Wyoming, US. The initial results from the Companyâs first three drill holes at its flagship Black Mountain project had assays returning individual lithium (Li) and tantalum (Ta) values of up to 3.79% Li2O and 230 ppm Ta2O5. These are strong early results from Chariotâs Phase 1 drill programme, which will be completed by March 2024, and indicate the presence of hard rock lithium with further drilling focused on determining the scope of the resource.
The United States is rapidly accelerating the exploration and development of American lithium resources to meet the anticipated demand from over 224 GWh of expected battery manufacturing capacity due to be online by 2025¹ (and significantly more thereafter). The US Government has also taken significant first steps to incentivise and encourage local investment across the lithium-battery supply chain, including $3.5bn to expand domestic advanced battery and battery materials manufacturing capacity from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Chariot appears uniquely positioned to benefit from these efforts by being one of the largest landholders of lithium assets in the US. The company has a diversified strategy of holding both hard rock and claystone exploration claims focused in the US. The Black Mountain project (hard rock) and the Resurgent project (claystone) form the companyâs core projects. Chariot also holds a dominant land position in Wyoming, with six additional hard rock lithium projects featuring extensive outcropping pegmatite swarms in geological settings similar to the Black Mountain project.
Why Wyoming?
The exceptional assay results from the first three holes of the Black Mountain project show the assetâs potential and, together with the companyâs six additional Wyoming projects, position Wyoming to become an important source of critical minerals for the US electric vehicle market (see Fig. 1).
Wyoming is a tier 1 mining jurisdiction with a long history of mining gold, uranium, coal, and industrial minerals, accounting for 21% of the stateâs GDP. In 2020, Wyoming was ranked second on the Fraser Instituteâs policy perception index, demonstrating strong government policy support for ongoing mining exploration and development. Moreover, the stateâs infrastructure is well-developed, with extensive experience transporting minerals within and out of state.
Chariotâs Wyoming lithium portfolio is entirely located in areas with no known land use encumbrance. It is hosted in metasedimentary rocks in Archean-aged geological systems, ideal conditions for LCT pegmatite discovery.
Black Mountain project
Chariotâs core project, the Black Mountain project (Black Mountain), is located in Natrona County, Wyoming, US and comprises 134 unpatented lode mining claims. Chariot has intersected significant zones of strong lithium-tantalum mineralisation in the first three holes of the maiden drill programme at Black Mountain.
These drill results confirm the potential of the Black Mountain lithium caesium tantalum (LCT) pegmatite swarms with notable results, including:
â¢Â  BMDDH23_01 15.48m @ 1.12% Li2O and 79 ppm Ta2O5 from 2.74m, including 4.27m @ 2.46% Li2O and 128ppm Ta2O5 from 9.94m
â¢Â  BMDDH23_02 14.33m @ 0.84% Li2O and 61 ppm Ta2O5 from 1.83m, including 2.29m @ 3.09% Li2O and 138 ppm Ta2O5 from 10.67m
â¢Â  BMDDH23_03 18.81m @ 0.85% Li2O and 98ppm Ta2O5 from 45.26m, including 5.79m @ 1.08% Li2O and 105 ppm Ta2O5 from 47.55m
â¢Â  High-grade potential with individual grades downhole of up to 3.79% Li2O and 230 ppm Ta2O5
This is the first hard rock lithium discovery, through drilling, in Wyoming, US.
Dr Edward Max Baker, Chariotâs Chief Geologist,³ said: âWeâve got stunning initial results amid the North American winter. The targeted hard rock lithium system has been intersected in multiple holes. Still, we need to come back in the North American summer for a 5,000 â 10,000m drill programme to better handle the resource potential. The base metalsâ sulphide mineralisation is also very promising and indicates the potential for base metals and/or gold mineralisation, separate from the lithium mineralisation.â
The drill intercepts reported from the first three holes confirm the lithium potential of the Black Mountain LCT pegmatite (see Fig. 2 and Fig. 3), as indicated by the Chariotâs earlier surface rock chip sampling results.â´ In addition, Chariot is optimistic it may have intersected the peripheral portion of a potentially larger base metal mineral system, with selected intervals grading up to 0.6% (6,012 ppm) copper (Cu), 1.0% (9,931 ppm) zinc (Zn), and 15.4% (154,412 ppm) lead (Pb).
Two diamond core drill holes (BMDDH23_01 and BMDDH23_02) were drilled to test the outcropping pegmatites in the central Northwest swarm area (Northwest Area), whilst a third diamond drill hole (BMDDH23_03) was drilled in to test outcropping pegmatites in the central southeast swarm area (the Southeast Area)(see Fig. 4).
The Northwest Area comprise steeply dipping limbs of a tightly folded package of dikes, where the fold is now interpreted to be more open than initially anticipated before drilling. The dikes to the west of BMDDH23_01 and BMDDH23_02 are expected to dip westward at a dip approximately parallel to the pegmatite intercepted by BMDDH23_01. BMDDH23_01 and BMDDH23_02 both intersected the same pegmatite (see Fig. 5).
The pegmatite dike swarms in the Southeast Area comprise a complex fold-hinge, which, based on the location of the intercept of pegmatite in BMDDH23_03, appears to dip moderately steeply to the southeast (see Fig. 6).
Chariot also engaged ERM Australia Consultants Pty Ltd (previously CSA Global) and ERM Sustainable Mining Services (CSA Global) to provide technical guidance for the development of the Black Mountain exploration plan and have completed an independent review of the data, geological interpretations and exploration results to date. CSA Globalâs scientific and technical disclosures review confirms Chariotâs drilling results.
Phase 1 drill programme
The Phase 1 maiden drilling programme consisting of 10-15 holes was designed to test under outcropping pegmatite dike swarms with anomalous Li rock chip values to determine the geometry of the dikes and to confirm the hard rock lithium potential ahead of a comprehensive resource drill-out in Q3 2024.
Major Drilling Group International Inc. (Major Drilling) has been contracted to drill oriented triple tube HQ-sized diamond drill core (drill core) using a Boart Longyear LF90 Surface Diamond Core Drill Rig (the drill rig) (see Fig. 7). Drill core from Black Mountain is transported to Chariotâs core handling and storage facility in Jeffrey City, Wyoming, where each drill core is photographed, logged, and measured for density and recovery (see Fig. 8). Drill core samples are being assayed by American Assay Labs in Reno, Nevada.
drill core
The Phase 1 programme was limited to the currently permitted seven drill pads due to the five-acre limit on disturbance under the Notice of Intent, which applies to both access roads and the drill pads.
Chariot plans to apply for an Exploration Plan of Operations (EPO) to increase the area of disturbance from five acres under the Notice of Intent to up to 2,500 acres for the Phase 2 resource drill programme commencing in Q3 2024.
The Phase 1 drill programme was limited to testing the two central pegmatite swarms (of the four pegmatite swarms identified at Black Mountain) in the Northwest and Southeast areas.
Base metal mineralisation potential
The upper section of BMDDH23_01 intersected pyrite-pyrrhotite mineralisation, occurring as veinlets and dissemination within the biotite schist throughout approximately 100m. At this early stage, only several select intervals of this mineralisation were sampled and assayed with selected intervals grading up to 0.6% (6,012 ppm) Cu, 1.0% 9,931 ppm Zn and 15.4% 154,412 ppm Pb.
Based on the location of this drill hole relative to an 800m long by 150m wide zone of anomalous zinc-in-soils, the Company is optimistic that it has intersected the peripheral portion of a potentially larger base metal mineral system (see Fig. 9). The zinc and lead anomalies are situated on the contact between metabasalt to the south and metasediments to the north coincident with a two-meter-wide zone of black massive chert outcrops along the southern margin of the soil anomaly. Based on the anomalous drill intercepts, the geological setting and the extent of the zinc and lead soil anomaly, the company plans to further investigate this base metal mineralisation by extending the soil sampling programme and conducting a preliminary induced polarisation survey (IP) lines across the anomaly in Q3 2024.
2024 Black Mountain exploration plans
The Phase 1 programme at Black Mountain is scheduled to continue until 1 March 2024, to determine the three-dimensional shape and near-surface grades, down to 100m, within the three major pegmatite dike zones, as shown in Fig. 1. In addition to the eight holes already drilled, another seven holes are planned for the remainder of the Phase 1 programme, which will conclude on 1 March 2024.
This information will be used to design a more extensive 5,000 to 10,000m initial resource definition drill programme expected to commence in Q3 2024 (the Phase 2 (resource drilling) programme).
Phase 2 (resource drilling) programme to commence in Q3 2024
In anticipation of the Phase 2 resource drill programme, the initial focus will consist of detailed re-logging of the Phase 1 programme drill core and a detailed petrographic study of the mineralisation, selection, and submittal of samples for initial metallurgical testing. At the same time, the existing rock chip and soil sampling programme will be extended to the north and east to close off the open lithium and base metal anomalies.
In addition, the company plans to run a preliminary IP/resistivity survey over the area of anomalous Zn-Pb soil geochemistry to assist in siting several holes to test the nature of this base metal mineralisation in Q3-Q4 2024.
The Company is currently lodging an application for an EPO (to drill) to expand the area of disturbance and increase the number of drill pads in preparation for a maiden resource drill-out. The Phase 2 (resource drill) programme is expected to commence in the North American summer in Q3 2024 or when the BLM approves the EPO.
Forging a lithium future in Wyoming
Chariot is well-positioned to take advantage of the future demand for lithium resources and the need for an American supply. Over the next twelve months, the company will report additional drill results and launch a more comprehensive drilling programme at Black Mountain. In addition, the company will continue to advance its other assets prudently. Each of these activities has the potential to be a significant catalyst for value creation at Chariot and to drive shareholder value.
References
- Source: National Blueprint for Lithium Batteries 2021-2030.
- The Prospectus can be downloaded from the Company website:
www.chariotcorporation.com - Dr Baker holds 7,926,860 ordinary shares in Chariot (equal to a 5.3% interest in the undiluted shares on the issue of Chariot). Dr Baker is also engaged as a consultant by Chariot.
- Refer to Chariotâs initial public offering prospectus and the Companyâs announcement dated 9 November 2023 for the full set of surface rock chip sampling results.
Please note, this article will also appear in the seventeenth edition of our quarterly publication.
If the Wyoming House and Senate approve its budget changes, then the chambers’ Joint Conference Committee will have helped the University of Wyoming dodge a $40 million cut, while also limiting the Wyoming Business Council to one year’s funding instead of the standard two.
The Joint Conference Committee adopted numerous changes to the state’s two-year budget draft, but didn’t formally advance the document to the House and Senate chambers. The committee meets again Monday and may do so at that time.
Then, the House and Senate can vote on whether to adopt that draft by a simple majority.
First, UW
Starting in January, the Joint Appropriations Committee majority had sought to deny around $20 million in exception requests the University of Wyoming made, while imposing a $40 million cut to the university’s block grant.
That’s about 10% of the state’s grant to UW but a lesser proportion of the school’s overall operating budget.
The Senate sought to restore the $60 million.
The House sought to keep the denials and cuts, ultimately settling on a bargain to cut $20 million, and hinge UW’s retention of the remaining $20 million on its finding and reporting $5 million in savings.
The Joint Conference Committee the House and Senate sent into a Friday meeting to negotiate those two stances chose to fund UW “fully,” Senate Majority Floor Leader Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, told Cowboy State Daily in the state Capitol after the meeting.
But, $10 million of UW’s $40 million block grant won’t reach it until the school charts a “road map” of how it could save $5 million, and reports that to the Joint Appropriations Committee, she added.
“A healthy exercise, I think, for them to participate in, while the Legislature still allows them to receive full grant funding,” Nethercott said.
“I’m hopeful people feel confident the University is fully funded,” she continued, as it’s “on the brink of receiving a new president, having the resources he or she may need to continue to steer the leadership of the University, our state’s flagship school into the future.”
Hours earlier in a press conference, House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, said the Legislature has been clear that UW should avoid “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or DEI programming, and that it’s the position of the House majority that the school should tailor its programming to Wyoming’s true business needs – so UW graduates will stay in the state.
Within an earlier draft of the budget sat a footnote blocking money for Wyoming Public Media — a publicly funded media and radio entity funded through UW’s budget.
That footnote is gone from the JCC’s draft, said Nethercott.
Wyoming Business Council
The Wyoming Business Council is set to receive roughly $14 million, confined to one year, for its internal operations, said Nethercott.
“Both chambers have decided to only fund the operations,” Nethercott said, “not all the grant programs.”
She said that’s to compel the Legislature to revisit the concerns it has with the agency, then return in the 2027 legislative session with a vision for its future.
The Business Ready Communities program is “eliminated,” she said.
JCC member Rep. Ken Pendergraft, R-Sheridan, elaborated further.
Of the appropriation, $12 million is from the state’s checking account, plus the state is authorizing WBC to use $157,787 in federal funds and nearly $1 million from other sources.
“We’re going to take it up as an interim topic in appropriations (committee) and how to rebuild it and make it work the way we think it should work,” said Pendergraft. But the JCC opted to fund the Small Business Development Center for two years, along with Economic Diversification Division for Manufacturing Works, and the Wyoming Women’s Business Center, Pendergraft noted, pointing to that language on his draft budget sheet.
Pendergraft made headlines last year by saying he wanted to eliminate the Wyoming Business Council altogether.
But Nethercott told the Senate earlier this month, legislators have complained of that agency her entire nine-year tenure.
She attributed this to what she called communications shortfalls that may not be intentional. She cosponsored a now-stalled bill this year that had sought to adopt a task force to evaluate WBC.
The Wyoming Business Council’s functions range from less controversial, like helping communities build infrastructure, to more controversial, like awarding tax-funded grants to certain businesses on a competitive application process.
Wyoming Public Television
Wyoming Public Television, which is not the same as Wyoming Public Media, is slated to receive the $3 million it lost when Congress defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Nethercott said.
It will also receive its usual $3 million from Wyoming.
The entity will not receive another $3 million it had sought to upgrade its emergency-alert towers, said Nethercott, “because we received information from them… they have another source to pay for the replacement and maintenance of the towers.”
Like the Wyoming Business Council, the Wyoming Public TV’s functions range from less controversial to more controversial.
The entity operates, maintains and staffs emergency alert towers throughout Wyoming.
Wyoming Public TV also produces entertainment and informational movies. Its state grants run through the community colleges’ budget.
State Employees
Nethercott noted that the JCC advanced to both chambers an agreement to pay $111 million from the state’s checking account to give state employees raises.
Those raises would bring them to 2024 market values for their work, she noted.
Because that money is coming from the state’s checking account, or “general fund,” and not its severance tax pool as the House had envisioned, then $111 million won’t impact the $105 million investment another still-viable bill seeking to build an “energy dominance fund” envisions.
That bill, sponsored by Senate President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, seeks to lend to large energy-sector projects.
Biteman told Cowboy State Daily in an interview days before the session convened that its purpose is to counteract “green” compacts investors have adopted, and which have bottlenecked energy projects.
Wyoming’s executive branch is currently suing BlackRock and other investors on that same assertion.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
It’s Week 11 in the 2026 Wyoming prep girls’ basketball season. That means it’s the end of the regular season. 3A and 4A schools have their final game or games to determine seeding before the regional tournament, or if a team is locked into a position, one last chance to fine-tune before the postseason. Games are spread across four days.
WYOPREPS WEEK 11 GIRLS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE 2026
Every game on the slate is a conference matchup. Several rivalry contests are part of this week’s schedule, such as East against Central, Cody at Powell, Lyman hosting Mountain View, and Rock Springs at Green River, just to name a few. Here is the Week 11 schedule of varsity games WyoPreps has. All schedules are subject to change. If you see a game missing, please email david@wyopreps.com.
CLASS 4A
Final Score: Laramie 68 Cheyenne South 27 (conference game)
CLASS 3A
Final Score: Lyman 40 Mountain View 26 (conference game)
CLASS 4A
Final Score: Evanston 41 Riverton 39 (conference game)
Final Score: Natrona County 42 Kelly Walsh 38 (conference game) – Peach Basket Classic
Final Score: #4 Thunder Basin 64 Campbell County 32 (conference game)
CLASS 3A
Final Score: #1 Cody 77 Worland 33 (conference game) – 5 different Fillies with a 3, and Hays led the way with 34 points.
Final Score: #2 Lander 49 Lyman 34 (conference game)
Final Score: #4 Wheatland 51 Douglas 40 (conference game)
Final Score: #5 Powell 48 Lovell 42 (conference game)
Final Score: Burns 56 Torrington 43 (conference game)
Final Score: Glenrock 78 Newcastle 30 (conference game)
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CLASS 4A
Rock Springs at #2 Green River, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
#4 Thunder Basin at #5 Sheridan, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
#1 Cheyenne East at #3 Cheyenne Central, 6 p.m. (conference game)
Jackson at Star Valley, 6 p.m. (conference game)
CLASS 3A
#3 Pinedale at Mountain View, 4 p.m. (conference game)
#1 Cody at #5 Powell, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
Buffalo at Glenrock, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
CLASS 3A
Newcastle at Buffalo, 12:30 p.m. (conference game)
Glenrock at Rawlins, 3 p.m. (conference game)
Torrington at #4 Wheatland, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
Wyoming Boys 4A Swimming & Diving State Championships 2026
4A Boys State Swim Meet for 2026 in Cheyenne
Gallery Credit: David Settle, WyoPreps.com
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