Additional Mineral Permits Expand Thompson Valley Lithium Property

VANCOUVER - Ameriwest Lithium Inc. has been awarded six additional mineral exploration permits by the Arizona State Land Department to allow it to expand its exploration for prospective lithium-bearing clays located in and around its Thompson Valley Property in west-central Arizona. The Company has renewed its initial seven State permits plus a special land use permit. The additional permits now encompass acreage of about 3,410 acres (1,380 hectares) awarded from the State. Together with the recently acquired Federal mining claims, total mineral rights have been nearly doubled to just over 6,890 acres (2,790 hectares) in Yavapai County. The new lands consist of four permits to the north and east, and two permits to the south being all contiguous with the Company’s current land holdings.

The State has also approved the second Geologic Field Operation Plan for the Thompson Valley property. This approved plan allows for an expanded surface sampling program with subsequent laboratory assays. The initial plan was limited to 50 samples and the new plan allows additional sampling, expected to be approximately 300 samples. The continued surface sampling and assays will allow Ameriwest to expand upon its positive results wherein significant lithium concentrations were discovered.

David Watkinson, President and CEO, said, “After a highly successful initial surface sampling program at our Thompson Valley property which led to the discovery of surface or near surface lithium bearing clays, we are moving forward with an expanded surface sampling program that will allow Ameriwest’s technical team to better characterize this sedimentary clay deposit. The data from the expanded surface sampling program will be used to define drill targets and allow the Company to move forward with permitting process for a drill program. The goal of the drilling program will be to determine the depth of lithium bearing strata and to start the process of delineating potential lithium resources on the property, subject to exploration success.”

The Company has completed and filed NI 43-101 Reports for each of the ESN Gold project in Nevada and the Koster Dam Gold project in Central British Columbia. These gold projects form the assets of Ameriwest’s wholly owned subsidiary, ISM Resources Corp. (“ISM”). Ameriwest announced on July 11, 2022, that it had received approval from the Supreme Court of British Columbia of a statutory Plan of Arrangement, pursuant to which Ameriwest and ISM will separate into two independent companies. Ameriwest will continue to trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the “CSE”) and ISM is applying to have its common shares listed for trading on the CSE. Assuming that the remaining conditions to closing are satisfied and the necessary regulatory approvals are obtained, it is expected that the closing of the Plan of Arrangement will be completed in the third quarter of 2022.