Mineral Property Expenditures

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

Mineral Property Expenditures

Mineral Property Expenditures

4. MINERAL PROPERTY EXPENDITURES

Mineral property expenditures by jurisdiction for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015 are as follows:

	For the Three Months Ended September 30,		For the Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016	2015	2016	2015
	(thousands of dollars)
Temrezli project, Turkey	$                   31	$                        -	$                 453	$                    -
Total Turkey projects	31	-	453	-
Kingsville Dome project, Texas	214	200	624	589
Rosita project, Texas	130	306	290	548
Vasquez project, Texas	105	111	365	409
Butler Ranch project, Texas	9	179	19	250
Other projects, Texas	2	55	61	535
Total Texas projects	460	851	1,359	2,331
Cebolleta project, New Mexico	-	-	537	537
Juan Tafoya project, New Mexico	37	37	48	46
Other projects, New Mexico	32	32	32	107
Total New Mexico projects	69	69	617	690
Columbus Basin project, Nevada	113	-	113	-
Other projects, Nevada	14	-	14	-
Total Nevada projects	127	-	127	-
Sal Rica project, Utah	352	-	352	-
Total Utah projects	352	-	352	-
Total expense for the period	$                   1,039	$                   920	$                 2,908	$              3,021

On August 23, 2016, the Company staked approximately 4,600 acres of placer mining claims covering a prospective target for lithium-enriched brines in the Columbus Salt Marsh area of west-central Nevada. The target area, known as the Nina project, is situated within a region of known lithium mineralization and is located approximately 45 miles west of Tonopah, Nevada.

On September 21, 2016, the Company entered into a Sale and Purchase Agreement (the “Mesa SPA”) with Mesa Exploration Corp. (“Mesa”) to acquire certain placer mining claims comprising the Sal Rica project. The Sal Rica project is comprised of approximately 9,800 acres of placer mining claims covering a prospective target for lithium-enriched brines. The target area is situated within a region of known brine-hosted lithium mineralization and is approximately 25 miles north of the town of Wendover, Utah.

Under the terms of the Mesa SPA, the Company acquired a 100% interest in the Sal Rica project, subject to a 2% net smelter return royalty (“NSR Royalty”), for the following consideration: (i) $50,000 cash paid to Mesa at closing; (ii) 100,000 unregistered shares of the Company’s common stock at closing, with a registration statement to be filed with the SEC within 28 days of issue; and (iii) 100,000 unregistered shares of the Company’s common stock on the first anniversary date of closing, with a registration statement to be filed with the SEC within 28 days of issue. The closing of the transaction occurred on October 19, 2016, at which time the Company issued 100,000 unregistered shares of common stock and paid $50,000 to Mesa. As of September 30, 2016 the Company recorded exploration expense of $0.3 million related to the Mesa SPA, which includes the $50,000 paid to Mesa on October 19, 2016 and $279,000 of expense related to the fair value of the shares to be issued to Mesa.