Ameriwest Lithium Files Technical Report on the Thompson Valley Property, Arizona, and Moves Forward with Permitting - Seite 2

A deposit of white clay was first discovered in Thompson Valley by Joseph Lyles in the mid-1950’s. The State of Arizona identified the deposit as the “White Hills Lithium Prospect” in 1957. Shallow sampling of the area was conducted by the USGS in 1960 and it was determined that the clay is a lithium-bearing bentonite clay known as “hectorite”. Lithium contents of the samples were reported by the USGS 1965 which included two locations on the mineral rights area.

Thompson Valley hosts Quaternary-Tertiary sediments covering the valley floor, with large basalt flows of the same age to the north and south. Precambrian granites and schists are exposed to the west and east. The valley floor sediments are volcanic ashes, tuffs and decomposed basalt and granitic sediments which have been hydrothermally altered in part. There is evidence that the Thompson Valley deposit might have been a highly mineralized lake. The lake might have been fed by a mineralized hot spring and, as it cooled, various minerals like lithium precipitated out as carbonates. The lake deposits also included ash and tuff, which were altered to clay. There appears to be two forms of lithium in the Thompson Valley area: 1) the hectorite-like white, waxy, translucent clay with an elevated lithium content, and 2) the multicolored clay-like sediment that is typically not white, waxy, nor translucent, and has a high carbonate content and little actual clay content.

Exploration conducted by Ameriwest on the Property began in 2022 and consisted of description of surface features and mapping the property, analyzing surface samples acquired from the area and commissioning a satellite geophysical survey. A total of 205 samples were acquired and analyzed. Surface samples analyzed across the project area have lithium contents ranging from 2 to 1,295 ppm Li. Of these, 36% had lithium contents greater than 200 ppm, 14% were greater than 500 ppm, and 3% were greater than 1,000 ppm, with a mean of 227 ppm Li and standard deviation of 269 ppm Li. Most of the lithium-bearing samples are high in carbonate and reactive to acid (see press release dated December 13, 2022, for details and information on QA/QC procedures).