Ongoing Evaluation Of The Miocene Siebert Formation

KELOWNA - Enertopia Corporation reported that it is evaluating the Miocene Siebert Formation for its lithium-claystone potential. In the period of less than 18 months the Company has completed two drill programs with 22 sonic drillholes totalling 4,913 feet and completed the maiden mineral resource National Instrument 43-101 technical report (the Technical Report). The West Tonopah (WT) Lithium Project encompasses 88 unpatented lode claims covering approximately 1,760 acres.

Current geological modeling has separated the project into two mineral resource areas; the higher-lithium grade western area defined by 18 sonic drillholes, and the lower-lithium grade eastern area defined by 4 sonic drillholes. The western resource area is estimated to contain 212,000 tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) of indicated mineral resources at 609 parts per million (ppm) lithium and 420,000 tonnes LCE of inferred mineral resources at 722 ppm.

The lithium-claystone mineralization occurs in the near surface (between zero and approximately 70 feet of overburden). High-grade western resource zone currently accounts for 100% of the indicated and 94.4% of the inferred mineral resources at the WT Lithium Project. There is good potential for the indicated portion of the mineral resources in the west resource area to increase because the indicated resource is restricted to the current depth of the drilling with continuing mineralization evident at the end-of-hole depths in several drillholes.

The Technical Report reported that the lithium-claystone resources at the WT Lithium Project are constrained 1) stratigraphically to the Siebert Formation sedimentary and pyroclastic rock strata, and 2) are spatially split into the west and east resource areas. Critical steps in the determination of the lithium-claystone resource model and estimations included: 1) Definition of the geology and geometry of the Siebert Formation sedimentary and pyroclastic rocks in the west and east resource areas utilized a 10 m resolution Digital Elevation Model, and geological information from 5 winkie drillholes and 22 sonic drillholes. 2) Lithium grade estimation of the Siebert Formation blocks utilized 766 lithium assays including 12 and 754 assays from the winkie and sonic drill programs, respectively. To ensure lithium metal grades were not overestimated, composites were capped to specified maximum values of 1,250 ppm and 670 ppm in the west and east resource areas. 3) Based on the drillhole spacing and detail within the 3D geological model, a block model with a block size of 66 x 66 x 10 feet (or 20 m by 20 m in the horizontal directions and 3 m in the vertical direction was generated). 4) The Ordinary Kriging (OK) technique was used to estimate the lithium at each parent block within the Siebert Formation wireframe. A two-pass method was employed that used two different search ellipses. 5) A conceptual pit shell based on theoretical, but reasonable, parameters (such as a lithium recovery of 80%, 3-year average lithium carbonate price of USD$26,500 per tonne, mining and processing costs of USD$3.33 per tonne and USD$31.56 per tonne, and a pit slope of 45 degrees) demonstrated that blocks contained within the conceptual pit satisfy the test of reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. 6) A nominal density of 1.70 g/cm3 was applied to convert the Siebert Formation block volumes to tonnage based on analogous Tonopah area, Siebert Formation-based mineral resource studies.

The WT Lithium Project represents a project of merit and has reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction based on 1) geological inferences from Enertopia's exploration work, 2) marketing considerations, and 3) Enertopia's preliminary leach extraction test work results.

In consideration of CIM definition standards, the west resource area is classified as indicated and inferred mineral resources and the east resource area is classified as an inferred mineral resource. Indicated mineral resources are defined with areas where 3 drillholes are within 1,476 feet of one another. Inferred resources are designated outside of the indicated resources and in areas where there is applicable drillhole information. Unclassified areas include those areas that are not drill tested and/or where there are only isolated sonic drillholes.

The mineral resources are reported for the Siebert Formation as a total (global) volume and tonnage using a lower cutoff of 400 ppm Li and on blocks contained within the conceptual pit shell. The WT Lithium Project's mineral resource estimations: 1) The west resource area has an indicated lithium-claystone resource estimate of 44,000 short tons (40,000 metric tonnes) of elemental Li at an average grade of 609 ppm Li (Table 1). The global (total) lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) for the west indicated resource area, which is calculated by multiplying elemental lithium by a factor of 5.323, is 233,000 short tons (212,000 metric tonnes) LCE. 2) The west resource area has an inferred lithium-claystone resource estimate of 87,000 short tons (79,000 metric tonnes) of elemental Li at an average grade of 722 ppm Li (Table 2a). This translates to 463,000 short tons (420,000 metric tonnes) LCE. 3) The east resource area has a lithium-claystone inferred resource estimate of 5,000 short tons (5,000 metric tonnes) of elemental Li at an average grade of 499 ppm Li (Table 2b). This translates to 27,000 short tons (25,000 metric tonnes) LCE.

Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no guarantee that all or any part of the mineral resource will be converted into a mineral reserve. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by geology, environment, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues. An inferred mineral resource has a lower level of confidence than that applying to an indicated mineral resource and must not be converted to a mineral reserve. It is reasonably expected that most inferred mineral resources could be upgraded to indicated mineral resources with continued exploration.

"These observations are important because it demonstrates that the lithium-claystone deposit remains open to depth and could be targeted as part of ongoing mineral exploration by Enertopia at the WT Lithium Project. Hence there is the potential to possibly increase the volumes of the resource areas and update the resource classifications." said Robert McAllister, CEO.