Lithium Ionic Drills Thickest Intercept to Date at Bandeira: 1.39% Li₂O over 65m in Brazil's Lithium Valley, Minas Gerais
Lithium Ionic Drills Thickest Intercept to Date at Bandeira: 1.39% Li₂O over 65m in
Brazil's Lithium Valley, Minas Gerais
TORONTO, ON, October 8, 2024 – 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 license s, 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 s ituated 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
Figure 2. Core Photos, Hole ITDD-24-276
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 person s” 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:
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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 devel opments 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 t hat they will prove to be correct. When used in this press release, the
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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
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