Nevada Lithium Resources Inc. (CSE: NVLH) (OTCQB: NVLHF) (FSE: 87K) is pleased to announce the discovery of high-grade boron mineralization at its 100% owned Bonnie Claire lithium project, located in Nye County, Nevada. The Company is also pleased to announce it has initiated work to examine any potential effects on metallurgy for the Project.

Highlights:

• Drill Hole BC2303C averaged 15,001 ppm (1.50%) boron over 560 feet (171 meters)
• Drill Hole BC2301C averaged 14,195 ppm (1.42%) boron over 620 feet (189 meters)
• Highest-grade boron zones correspond with the highest-grade lithium zones
• XRD of core samples from the deep high grade lithium zone report up to 38% searlesite
• The high grade lithium/boron remains open in multiple directions.
• Global Resource Engineering (GRE) to investigate the possibility of incorporating boron into its ongoing estimation of a new lithium mineral resource estimate.

Lithium Mineralization

The Company is concentrated on identifying and developing significant lithium mineralization at Bonnie Claire. The 2023 drill program confirmed the presence of two mineralized zones: 1) a lower-grade upper zone and 2) a higher-grade lower zone. The Upper zone starts at surface and exhibits intercepts such as 967ppm lithium over 420ft (20-440ft) in drillhole BC-2303C (news release February 27, 2024). The lower zone is much thicker and exhibits much higher grades, such as 3076 ppm Lithium over 1100ft (1340-2460ft) in drillhole BC-2301C (news release November 20, 2023) and 4,154 ppm Lithium over 680 ft (207 m) from 1820-2500ft in BC-2303C (news release February 27, 2024). Lithium mineralization is hosted within claystone host rocks, disseminated within the minus 10 size fraction. The mineralized claystones are laterally continuous and appear to dip gently to the east and remain open for expansion in several directions.

Boron mineralization

Elevated boron assays have been encountered at Bonnie Claire since the 2022 drill program, though intercepts were not considered material to include for extraction. In 2023, the Company switched to sample preparation using four-acid digestion to provide more reliable lithium assays, but this preparation technique precluded the analysis of boron. The Company recently reanalyzed the original pulps from BC-2301C and BC-2303C for boron using a sodium hydroxide fusion (FUS-NA02) sample preparation that allows for high grade boron analysis by ICP-AES. The reanalysis of these two holes has returned significantly higher boron grades across longer intercepts than in previous holes. This has piqued the Company’s interest in potentially exploiting the boron in the deeper zone. High boron and lithium assays appear to coexist within the lower claystones between approximately 1750 (533m) and 2500ft (762m) in depth. That relationship is illustrated in Table 1 and Figure 1 below.

The recent drill assays have been reinforced by new quantitative X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis results conducted by Hazen Research Inc. They have found that a significant portion (38%) of the lithium high grade zone rock may be comprised of searlesite. Searlesite is a relatively rare sodium borosilicate mineral (NaBSi₂O₅(OH)₂)_, usually found disseminated in fine-grained lacustrine strata and often associated with altering volcanic ash.

Table 1: Boron and lithium drill intercepts in holes BC-2301C, BC-2303C, BC-2201C, and BC-2203C

 Figure 1: Cross section illustrating downhole lithium and boron assays

 Figure 2: Plan map of drill hole locations and boron intercepts. Boron intercepts as listed in Table 1 above. Lithium intercepts from existing press releases on BC-2201C (September 29, 2022), BC-2201C (December 7, 2022), BC-2301C (November 20, 2023) and BC-2303C (February 27, 2024).

Metallurgy

Initial metallurgical work by Hazen Labs Inc. suggests that that the presence of significant searlesite affects the physical behavior of the claystone that contains the high-grade lithium mineralization. The Company has engaged Hazen and Global Resource Engineering, Ltd. (“GRE”) to evaluate the behavior of the searlesite-rich material and investigate if any modifications may be required in the existing metallurgical circuit.

Lithium-Boron Mineral Resource Estimate

Because of the potential importance of this boron mineralization, Nevada Lithium has asked Global Resource Engineering (GRE) to investigate the possibility of incorporating boron into its ongoing estimation of a new lithium mineral resource estimate (see news release dated April 16, 2024).

As Hazen proceeds with metallurgical work on the extraction of lithium and boron from the high-grade lower zone, the Company continues to proceed with its plans to publish an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment (see news release dated April 16, 2024.

About Boron

Boron is the 5th element on the Periodic Table with a powerful combination of physical properties, including hardness, light weight, and heat resistance. Boron’s physical properties make it a critical material and limited substitute ingredient in everyday and future facing applications, including permanent magnets, electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels, fertilizers, specialty glass in cell phones, etc. 85% of current production is sourced from Turkey and the majority of refined Boron specialty and advanced materials are imported from China. 80% of Boron Carbides are sourced from China today. Demand for high quality boron is estimated to be growing above 4% annually on a base of approximately 5 MM tons produced in 2024. Supply deficits are expected to continue throughout the end of the decade, supporting prices of boron derivative products. (Source: 5E Advanced Materials, Inc. Form 8K, website, Mordor Intelligence)

Quality Assurance / Quality Control

A Quality Assurance / Quality Control protocol following industry best practice was incorporated into the program by Nevada Lithium.  Drilling was conducted by Major Drilling.   Core was transported by Major from the collar location and received by Nevada lithium staff at the Company storage facility in Beatty, NV.  The facility is only accessible to Nevada Lithium staff and remains otherwise locked.   Received core was logged and cut at the Facility by Nevada Lithium staff.  Logging and sampling included the systematic insertion of blanks and duplicates.

Core samples intended for chemical assay were transported by Company staff to ALS USA Inc.’s laboratory in Reno, NV. for sample preparation (Codes WEI-21 CRU-21, CRU-31, Pul-31, SPL-22Y, CRU-QC, PUL-QC, DIS-REJ21, and LOG-22), then shipped to ALS Vancouver laboratory in Burnaby BC, where the samples were digested with 4 acid (GEO-4A01) and analyzed via ICP-MS (Code ME-MS61), tailored for lithium analyses along with accessory elements. The 4 acid digestion did not allow for a boron assay in the initial multi-element analysis, so the pulps were pulled from internal ALS storage after analysis (FND-02) and subjected to sodium hydroxide fusion (FUS-NA02) for ICP-AES high grade boron analysis (B-ICP82a). Internal ALS Standards duplicates, and blanks in the drill results were approved as acceptable.

Core samples intended for mineralogical analysis were transported to Hazen Research Inc.’s laboratory in Golden CO. The sample was analyzed as received. Analysis was performed using a Bruker D8 Advance XRD with Davinci design and a Lynxeye detector utilizing cobalt radiation produced at 35 kV and 40 mA. The scan range is 5°–85° 2-theta, with a step of 0.02° 2-theta and a time per step of 0.4 s. Mineral quantification was completed using the Rietveld refinement method with Bruker TOPAS version 4.2 software. Please note the detection limit of XRD analysis for certain constituents can be as high as 2 to 5%.

About Nevada Lithium Resources Inc.

Nevada Lithium Resources Inc. is a mineral exploration and development company focused on shareholder value creation through its core asset, the Bonnie Claire Lithium Project, located in Nye County, Nevada, where it holds a 100% interest.

Bonnie Claire has a current NI 43-101 inferred mineral resource of 3,407 million tonnes (Mt) grading 1,013 ppm Li for 18.372 million tonnes (Mt) of contained lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), at a cut-off grade of 700 ppm Li2

The PEA for Bonnie Claire indicates a Net Present Value (8%) of $1.5 Billion USD (after tax) using $13,400 USD per tonne LCE and after-tax IRR of 23.8%. With an LCE price of $30,000 USD per tonne, the Net Present Value (8%) of the Project is $5.9 Billion USD (after tax) and an IRR of 60.3%2.

For further information on Nevada Lithium and to subscribe for updates about Nevada Lithium, please visit its website at: https://nevadalithium.com/

QP Disclosure

The technical information in the above disclosure has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Jeff Wilson, PhD, P.Geo, Vice President of Exploration for Nevada Lithium, designated Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101.

1 See I Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) Report, produced for IONEER USA Corp. completed in April 2020.
2See Preliminary Economic Assessment NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Bonnie Claire Lithium Project, Nye Country, Nevada authored by Terre Lane, J. Todd Harvey, MBA, PhD, Hamid Samari, PhD and Rick Moritz (Effective date of August 20, 2021, and Issue date of February 25, 2022)  as summarized in Nevada Lithium’s news release dated October 13, 2021, which are available on Nevada Lithium’s SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca. Results of the Preliminary Economic Assessment represent forward-looking information. This economic assessment is, by definition, preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is no certainty that the Preliminary Economic Assessment will be realized. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves as they do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the Mineral Resources will be converted into Mineral Reserves.