TORONTO, Oct. 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lithium Ionic Corp. (TSXV: LTH; OTCQX: LTHCF; FSE: H3N) ("Lithium Ionic" or the "Company") is pleased to announce new drill results from the ongoing drilling program at its Bandeira Lithium Project ("Bandeira", the "Project"), located in Brazil's most prolific lithium-producing district in Minas Gerais State. Among the results is the thickest lithium-bearing intercept drilled to date at the Project and the second highest grade X width intersection, underscoring the potential for continued mineral resource growth at this flagship asset.
The Bandeira property covers 175 hectares, representing only ~1% of the Company's large ~17,000-hectare land package and currently accounts for ~70% of its global lithium mineral resource estimate of 60.1Mt* (See press release dated April 12, 2024). In only approximately two years of drilling, the Company has defined significant resources which continue to be expanded by the ongoing drilling results such as the ones reported here. Lithium Ionic remains focused on rapidly advancing Bandeira towards production, aiming to become Brazil's next significant lithium producer.
Bandeira Drill Results Highlights:
Hole ITDD-24-276 represent the thickest mineralized zone encountered at Bandeira to date, returning:
- 64.7 meters grading 1.39% Li2O from 35 meters, including 22m grading 1.67% Li2O and 20m grading 1.62% Li2O
Hole ITDD-24-266:
- 13.0 meters grading 1.11% Li2O from 46 meters, including 5m grading 1.51% Li2O
- 9.7 meters grading 1.28% Li2O from 118 meters, including 6m grading 1.54% Li2O
Blake Hylands, P.Geo., CEO of Lithium Ionic, commented, "We are very excited to see the scale of the lithium deposit at Bandeira continue to expand while maintaining quality and grade. These results bode well for optimization opportunities as we continue progressing basic and detailed engineering in preparation for project construction."
In May 2024, the Company completed a Feasibility Study for Bandeira which highlighted a robust 14-year mine life, producing an average of 178,000 tonnes of high-quality spodumene concentrate (5.5% Li2O) annually with a post-tax NPV of US$1.3 billion and an IRR of 40%. Before the end of the year, the Company expects to obtain the Concomitant Environmental and Installation License ("LAC", or Licença Ambiental Concomitante in Portuguese), which provides the environmental and social licenses, together with an authorization to begin construction. In preparation for these developments, the Company is actively working on progressing the project to the execution phase including optimizing the project design to reduce capital and operating costs.
Bandeira is situated in northeastern Minas Gerais State, a Tier 1 mining region with excellent infrastructure, including low-cost, renewable hydroelectric power, access to water, excellent transport infrastructure and access to foreign markets via nearby ports. Known as Brazil's "Lithium Valley," this region hosts the largest lithium reserves in the country and has emerged as a globally significant producer of high purity spodumene concentrate. Bandeira is located just ~500m from CBL's Cachoeira lithium mine and ~4km from Sigma Lithium's Grota do Cirilo Mine.
*See NI 43-101 compliant technical report related to the Bandeira Bandeira MRE titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report – Mineral Resource Update on Bandeira Project, Araçuaí and Itinga, Minas Gerais State, Brazil" (effective date of March 5, 2024; QP: Leonardo Soares of GE21); See NI 43-101 compliant technical report related to the Salinas MRE titled "Independent Technical Report on Mineral Resources Estimate" (effective date of January 4, 2024; QP: Leonardo Soares, P.Geo., M.Sc., of GE21); and the NI 43-101 compliant technical reports related to the Outro Lado deposit titled "Mineral Resource Estimate for Lithium Ionic, Itinga Project" (effective date of June 24, 2023; authored by Maxime Dupéré, B. Sc., P.Geo. and Faisal Sayeed, B. Sc., P.Geo).
Figure 1. Plan map of Bandeira showing new drill intercepts
View Figure 1 here:
Figure 2. Core Photos, Hole ITDD-24-276
View Figure 2 here:
Table 1. Bandeira Drill Results
| Hole ID | Az | Dip | From | To | Metres | Li2O (%) |
| ITDD-24-264 | 330 | -77 | 114.40 | 121.43 | 7.03 | 0.90 |
| Including | 114.40 | 116.17 | 1.77 | 1.95 | ||
| ITDD-24-265 | 150 | -65 | 9.60 | 10.36 | 0.76 | 1.55 |
| and | 17.80 | 18.10 | 0.30 | 0.85 | ||
| and | 22.84 | 23.14 | 0.30 | 2.52 | ||
| and | 54.27 | 56.65 | 2.38 | 1.59 | ||
| and | 67.48 | 69.75 | 2.27 | 0.62 | ||
| ITDD-24-266 | 330 | -70 | 46.22 | 59.28 | 13.06 | 1.11 |
| including | 47.22 | 52.22 | 5.00 | 1.51 | ||
| and | 118.28 | 128.00 | 9.72 | 1.28 | ||
| including | 119.28 | 125.28 | 6.00 | 1.54 | ||
| ITDD-24-276 | 150 | -85 | 35.00 | 99.70 | 64.70 | 1.39 |
| including | 40.00 | 62.00 | 22.00 | 1.67 | ||
| including | 77.70 | 97.70 | 20.00 | 1.62 | ||
| and | 179.59 | 183.00 | 3.41 | 0.92 |
*Assays pending for ITDD-24-267 to ITDD-24-275
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Lithium Ionic Corp.
Blake Hylands
Chief Executive Officer, Director
About Lithium Ionic Corp.
Lithium Ionic is a Canadian mining company exploring and developing its lithium properties in Brazil. Its Itinga and Salinas group of properties cover ~17,000 hectares in the northeastern part of Minas Gerais state, a mining-friendly jurisdiction that is quickly emerging as a world-class hard-rock lithium district. Its Feasibility-stage Bandeira Project is situated in the same region as CBL's Cachoeira lithium mine, which has produced lithium for +30 years, as well as Sigma Lithium Corp.'s Grota do Cirilo project, which hosts the largest hard-rock lithium deposit in the Americas.
Quality Assurance and Control
During the drill program, assay samples were taken from NQ core and sawed in half. One-half was sent for assaying at SGS Laboratory, a certified independent commercial laboratory, and the other half was retained for results, cross checks, and future reference. A strict QA/QC program was applied to all samples. Every sample was processed with Drying, crushing from 75% to 3 mm, homogenization, quartering in Jones, spraying 250 to 300 g of sample in steel mill 95% to 150. SGS laboratory carried out multi-element analysis for ICP90A analysis.
Qualified Persons
The technical information in this news release has been prepared by Carlos Costa, Vice President Exploration of Lithium Ionic and Blake Hylands, CEO and director of Lithium Ionic, who are both "qualified persons" as defined in NI 43-101. Mr. Costa and Mr. Hylands have both read and approved the content in this news release.
Investor and Media Inquiries:
+1 647.316.2500
info@lithiumionic.com
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements that constitute "forward-statements." Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes, in light of the experience of its officers and directors, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors that have been considered appropriate that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. When used in this press release, the words "estimate", "project", "belief", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "plan", "predict", "may" or "should" and the negative of these words or such variations thereon or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. The forward-looking statements and information in this press release include information relating to the mineralization and prospectivity of the Company's mineral properties, the economic viability of Bandeira, the development of the Company's mineral properties, the Company's exploration program and other mining projects and prospects thereof, the Company's ability to obtain the requisite permitting and approvals and the Company's future plans. Such statements and information reflect the current view of the Company. Risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in those forward-looking statements and information. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of the Company as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.
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