STANDARD LITHIUM L (OTCMKTS:STLHF) Is Today's Lithium Stock Focus

Today, we need to talk about another micro-cap runner that is delivering significant stock returns. It is called STANDARD LITHIUM L (OTCMKTS:STLHF) and is focused on the exploration and development of Lithium properties.The company has two features that we appreciate very much. First of all, the financial situation of the company seems quite solid. It holds plenty of assets and very little liabilities. This means that future mining developments will be funded.Additionally, the company's projects seem to have excited the market. The flagship is the Bristol Dry Lake Lithium Project located in the Mojave region of San Bernardino County, California.

In our opinion, the market seems excited about this new project, as every time the company releases new developments, the market pushes up the share price. In only two months, the share price has gone from trading close to $0.9 to hit the $1.6 share price level. Let us also note that the share price increases were accompanied by a large amount of volume. 1 month chart for STLHFBusinessSTLHF was founded in British Columbia, Canada, on August 14, 1998 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. It is focused on evaluating, acquiring, and developing lithium projects in the USA.According to the company's website, two projects are the most significant: Image of the project from http://standardlithium.com/project/bristol-dry-lake/

• Bristol Dry Lake Porject: it is located in the Bristol Dry Lake playa, a flat salt dry-lake that occupies approximately 155 sq. km in a 2,000 sq. km arid drainage basin in San Bernardino County, California. The company has signed agreements with permitted operators that will allow the company access to raw brine. Historic USGS drilling showed 110 mg/L Li in brine. According to the company's website, it is an important and highly strategic resource.
• Smackover Formation: located in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, it has produced billions of barrels of brine over the last 80 years.

Recent DevelopmentsSince the share price appreciation occurred from September and August, so we will assess the news released in that time period.On August 2, 2017, the company announced a Memorandum of Understanding with a non-affiliated NYSE-listed company regarding the rights to acquire rights for conducting brine exploration and production and lithium extraction activities on approximately 30,000 net brine acres. The lease is located in the Smackover Formation, which has a long history of commercial scale brine processing.According to the company, historical published brine data from locations adjacent to the lease area shows that lithium could be found. However, more due-diligence will be needed to confirm it. We believe that if more information is provided and resources are identified and measured, the share price could go higher. Thus, we encourage readers to be very alert on this catalyst.On August 8, 2017, the company noted satisfactory results from the Controlled-Source Audio-Magnetotellurics / Magnetotellurics geophysical survey at the Company’s Bristol Lake Project in the Mojave area of California. The company in charge of the report, Hasbrouck Geophysics Inc., noted that lithium brines are present beneath almost all the Standard’s claims. Jim Hasbrouck, President of Hasbrouck Geophysics, explained the report with the following words:

"Resistivity values less than one ohm-metre are present throughout the Bristol Lake Project area with portions of the area having resistivities that approach an extremely low value of 0.2 ohm-metres. These resistivities are the lowest that I have measured in the US for lithium-brine exploration and are similar to those seen in the lithium triangle of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia." Source

On August 29, 2017, the company announced that a Scientific Advisory Council of leading lithium extraction scientists and process engineers had been established. This team will review the work in the mines at several facilities in North America. The individuals elected will bring large expertise accumulated in this business. Have a look:

• Dr Ron Molnar: He is a solvent-extraction and ion-exchange specialist who will bring 35 years of expertise in similar projects. He is a member of Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum.
• Dr. Mike Dry: He is a chemical engineer/hydrometallurgist with 40 years of expertise in mineral processing industries. We appreciated that he will bring experience accumulated in companies like SGS, or Mintek.
• Mr. Larry Lien: He is the Principal at Membrane Development Specialists LLC and will bring 30 years of experience.
• Dr. Jason Hein: From the University of British Columbia, he is an expert in commercial chemical manufacturing and has worked with Dr. Pierre Kennepohl, a Stanford-educated physical inorganic chemist.

On September 12, 2017, STLHF released that a company's subsidiary had signed an agreement with National Chloride Company of America expanding the exploration area of Bristol Dry Lake Lithium Project by approximately 6,000 acres. The share price increased quite a bit as a result of this announcement, as market participants know that more acres mean more potential revenues.On October 10, 2017, STLHF provided an update on the Bristol Dry Lake lithium brine project. The company had commenced to define the resources on the project. Thus, from now on, we will need to be alert as a more concrete image of the reserves contained in the area will be released.Furthermore, the company noted that it has received approvals from Federal and County regulators to conduct the exploration drilling program. Finally, the first tests in the lab have been performed. The company noted an average concentration of 146 mg/L lithium from the first evaporation test and 556 mg/L after a period of 4 weeks. We believe that these concentration tests interested the market, which pushed up the share price.On October 30, 2017, the company noted a Memorandum of Understanding with TETRA Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:TTI), under which the company may obtain access to approximately 48,000 acres in the Bristol Dry Lake and Cadiz Dry Lake basins. Standard Lithium CEO, Robert Mintak, was quoted:

“This is a significant and strategic move for Standard, but has only been made possible by the excellent relationships we have developed with the permitted brine operators in the region. Gaining access to the adjacent Cadiz Dry Lake operating project is an additional benefit to our relationship with TETRA.” Source

We believe that the news are very remarkable not only because this partner is large and respected, but also because the company may increase its amount of acres soon. We believe that the market will appreciate the announcement.ConclusionCurrently trading with a market cap of $79 million, STLHF is an exciting story among small caps. The company has put a lot of updates and has kept the market very well informed. This is very important at this end of the junior mining space. Overall, we like what we're seeing and expect the share price to keep climbing over the long haul.We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on STLHF, sign up below!Image courtesy of Lwp via FlickrDisclosure: We have no position in STLHF and have not been compensated for this article.