Valley Drilling Program Succeeds In Tracing Lithium Bearing Pegmatite Mineralization

Valley Drilling Program Succeeds In Tracing Lithium Bearing Pegmatite Mineralization

TORONTO – Consolidated Lithium Metals Inc. reported that joint venture partner North American Lithium, Sayona Mining Inc.’s majority-owned subsidiary, (NAL) has reported the final set of assay results from the last 40 holes of the 2023 summer drilling program at the Vallée joint venture lithium project, located approximately 30 km north of Val-d’Or, Quebec within the heart of the Vallée Lithium Corridor. The 2023 summer drilling program consisted of 58 holes totaling 15,607 m.

The Company is also pleased to announce that analytical results have been received for the 29 drill holes completed and all surface channel samples from the outcrop stripping program, both parts of the 2023 summer exploration program at the Baillargé Lithium Project. Baillargé is located in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt approximately 21 km northwest of Val D’Or, Quebec.

The 2023 summer drilling program succeeded at tracing lithium-bearing pegmatite mineralization associated with the adjacent NAL operating lithium mine across the entire width of the Vallée JV property (the “JV Property”) from northwest to southeast. Thicker high-grade mineralized intersections were located along the northwestern and southeastern sections of the Core Pegmatite Dyke. The 2023 program extended the Core Pegmatite 700 m to the southeast from the area defined by CLM’s 2021 and 2022 drilling programs.

Highlights from the second set of results include a high grade intersection in hole VAL-23-051 that averaged 1.04% Li2O over 7.15 m from 157.15 to 164.30 m, an interval in VAL-23-051 of 17.60 m that averaged 0.55% Li2O from 112.50 to 130.10 m that included a higher grade subinterval of 1.25% Li2O over 3.20 m from 112.50 to 115.70 m, and a wide intersection of 16.02 m from VAL-23-057 that averaged 0.50% Li2O from 132.73 to 148.75 m that included a subinterval of 1.29% Li2O over 2.36 m from 140.74 to 143.10 m.

Two high-grade intersections were also discovered in VAL-23-042, located north of the Core Pegmatite trend. The first interval averaged 1.43% Li2O over 3.60 m from 167.55 to 171.15 m within an interval of 0.60% Li2O over 17.00 m from 163.00 to 180.00 m. The second interval averaged 0,68% Li2O over 23.30 m from 215.50 to 238.80 m that included a subinterval of 0.95% Li2O over 10.20 m from 216.55 to 226.75 m.

The extension of the Core Pegmatite to the eastern property boundary during the drill program is considered to be a very exciting development for CLM. The Company’s East Vallée project is located immediately adjacent to the JV Property.  We expect that the Core Pegmatite and adjacent spodumene-bearing dykes likely continue onto CLM’s 100% owned property. The East Vallée project overlies an additional 5 km of the Vallée Lithium Trend that has never been drill-tested for lithium. The tracing of the Core Pegmatite to the southeast end of the property, and the discovery of numerous additional lithium-bearing pegmatites defined during the 2023 summer Vallée JV drilling program immediately south of the Core Pegmatite in the same area has defined high-priority drill targets for the Vallée East project. The Company is currently in the process of planning and permitting a drill program to follow-up these results on the East Vallée project in the coming months.

CLM also intends to review and interpret the 2023 results in collaboration with the 2021-2022 CLM drill results in the northwest end of the Core Pegmatite Trend immediately adjacent to the NAL lithium mine. The objective of the review will be to determine if sufficient drilling has been completed to establish a mineral resource in that area.

“The 2023 drilling helped support CLM’s work over the previous two years to further refine the extension of the NAL Mine Pegmatites where they crossed onto the JV Property. We are eager to work withour partner NAL to dig into these results to determine the potential to develop extensions or satellite lenses along the west boundary adjacent to their current mining operation.   However, the Company is also very excited about the possibilities on our East Vallée project. Now that the spodumene-bearing pegmatites have been extended right to the property boundary, the Company is focused on continuing to trace the Core Pegmatite along strike to look for what we hope will be the next big pegmatite blow-out somewhere along the 5 km trend that has yet to see any lithium drilling,” said Richard Quesnel, Executive Chair.