American Pacific Borate & Lithium Ltd. expects to start a 9,500-meter drilling program at its Fort Cady borate-lithium project in California this month as it looks to get the project construction-ready in the second half of 2018.

The 23-hole program will support completion of a scoping study on the project by the end of the year, according to the Aug. 8 release.

"We believe the scoping study is very important, as we expect it will demonstrate compelling financial metrics," Managing Director and CEO Michael Schlumpberger said.

The drilling program will look to define a JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate, test open areas of the sub basin, test for lithium-enriched brines in the Hector lithium exploration project and prepare production wells for pilot-scale test work and optimization of boric acid and lithium recoveries.

American Pacific made its debut on the ASX in late July after raising A$15.0 million in an oversubscribed IPO.