High-Grade Lithium Discovery Made At Willcox Playa

VANCOUVER - MAX Power Mining Corp. reported the discovery of near-surface lithium-rich clays over a broad area of state-leased ground in first-ever diamond drilling at the Willcox Playa in southeast Arizona. Notably, the high-grade hectorite-saponite mix of lithium in the clays within the sediments at Willcox is amenable to a straightforward separation process as demonstrated by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California where samples in the clay fraction from the Discovery Zone also averaged 1,243 ppm lithium through initial testing using a particle size that can be reasonably expected to gravitationally separate in a full-scale commercial mining process.

The land package covers a 6-mile-long northeast trending corridor (3,754 acres) along the eastern side of the broader 50 sq. mile Playa. Much of the rest of the Playa is leased by the U.S. Defense Department from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The entire Playa, which up until MAX Power’s program had never been previously diamond drilled, is now believed to be prospective for a potentially very large lithium deposit surrounded by top tier infrastructure including roads, rail, power and services located immediately off Interstate 10 in southeast Arizona, leading to Tucson and Phoenix.

The next drill holes at Willcox are planned for the southern portion of the Property where the largest and most intense low resistivity anomaly has been detected, overlain by a very low gravity anomaly. Drill results from the Discovery Zone confirm that this type of geophysical signature is an excellent target for lithium mineralization at Willcox. This fact highlights the strong potential of the southern BLM claims to significantly expand this grassroots discovery. BLM has granted MAX Power drill permits for this area.

Each of the first three triangular-spaced drill holes in the northern section of MAX Power’s property, the Discovery Zone covering an area 1,640 feet x 1,640 feet x 2,300 feet, intersected lithium at shallow levels over significant widths, including 15.5 feet grading 774.8 ppm lithium within a broader whole rock interval of 184 feet averaging 570.8 ppm lithium in drill hole WP-23-02. When separating the clay fraction from the sand/silt fraction, lithium assays increased markedly, by as much as 47%, assaying up to 1,447 ppm lithium. This early-stage discovery remains open in all directions with MAX Power also exploring options to expand its land package; Based on a compilation of MAX Power’s work to date, and historical data, geologists believe the Discovery Zone represents just a fraction of the scale potential of Willcox with higher-grade mineralization expected in areas of increased clay content.