Gemini Lithium

The Gemini Lithium Project (“Gemini”) consists of 582 unpatented lode and placer claims totaling approximately 5,760 acres (2,390 hectares) and located in the Lida Valley approximately 6 miles (10 kilometres) east of the town of Lida, Nevada. Nevada Sunrise acquired Gemini by claim staking in 2015 with no applicable royalties and currently holds a 100% interest in the project. The Company expanded the size of the project by staking new unpatented placer claims in March 2022 and 288 unpatented lode claims in April 2022. Gemini is situated adjacent to the Gold Point Solar Energy Zone, a Bureau of Land Management land reserve set aside for solar and wind power generation projects until 2033. 

Gemini Lithium Project, Lida Valley, Nevada

The Lida Valley is a flat, arid basin with a similar geological setting to the better-known Clayton Valley basin where Albermarle Corporation operates the Silver Peak lithium brine mine, which has operated continuously since 1966. In 2015, Nevada Sunrise adopted an exploration strategy targeting desert basins, or playas, that exhibit similar geological and geophysical characteristics to the Clayton Valley basin where brines containing economic contents of lithium are known to accumulate in faults and porous lithologic traps in sub-basins.  Such sub-basins can be delineated by gravity surveys that detect strong gravity lows. 

Future exploration at Gemini is complemented by the Company’s 80.09 acre/feet/year water right, a pre-requisite for the exploration and development of lithium brine projects in Nevada. 

Previous ground gravity surveys in the Lida Valley area were widely-spaced and limited in scope, however in 2012 and 2013 a geological research team led by Dr. John Oldow of the University of Texas, Dallas collected approximately 500 gravity measurements along 7 transects crossing the Lida Valley.  The detailed gravity survey results indicated significant gravity lows within two, faulted sub-basins approximately 7 kilometres (4.5 miles) apart, each interpreted to be hundreds of metres deep. Nevada Sunrise made the decision to acquire claims covering the available land after reviewing the geophysical results in conjunction with favourable local geology, namely late Miocene felsic volcanic tuffs adjacent to Gemini. These rocks provide the source of lithium for trapped, lithium-rich saline ground-waters (brine) within the sub-basins. Drill pads, access roads and an active drilling permit are in place at Gemini.
 
Two separate follow-up TDEM surveys over Gemini carried out in early 2016 by Nevada Sunrise each detected conductive zones within the sub-basins interpreted to represent conductive brines at depth located well below the non-conductive sediments at and near surface.  

TDEM Survey at Gemini, 2016

A conductive layer 150-250 metres deep appears to cover most of Gemini and several isolated strong conductive zones were interpreted at depths from 400 to 600 metres. The conductive layers and zones are indicative of brine solutions in porous aquifers and traps within each sub-basin.

Gemini Project Geophysical Interpretation July 2016

2022-2023 Drilling Program

On March 15, 2022, Nevada Sunrise announced the commencement of the inaugural drilling program at Gemini of up to 2,020 feet (615,85 metres) of reverse circulation drilling in up to two holes to test targets for lithium brines and lithium-in-sediments.

On April 21, 2022, the Company announced that lithium mineralization had been intersected over significant widths in the 2022 drilling program.  Two boreholes were completed for a total of 2,020 feet (615.85 metres) on drill sites located within a defined gravity low that hosts conductive layers detected by historical ground time-domain electromagnetic (“TDEM”) surveys (see Figure 1 below).

The results from the first two boreholes at Gemini represent a new discovery of lithium-bearing sediments in the western Lida Valley, which has not been historically drill tested for lithium mineralization. Lithium-in-sediment values were significant:

• GEM22-01 averaged 1,203.41 parts per million (“ppm”) lithium over 580 feet (176.83 metres), from 320 to 900 feet (97.56 to 274.39 metres) including 1.578.19 ppm lithium over 300 feet (91.46 metres) from 480 to 780 feet (146 to 237.8 metres).
   
• Gem22-02 averaged 1,101.73 parts per million (“ppm”) lithium over 730 feet (222.56 metres) from 390 to 1,120 feet (118.90 to 341 metres), including 2,217.69 ppm lithium over 130 feet (39.63 metres) from 990 to 1,120 feet ( 301.83 to 341.46 metres) and 3,304 ppm lithium over 50 feet (15.24 metres) from 1,070 to 1.120 feet (326.22 to 341.46 metres)

 Figure 1: TDEM Survey Results Showing Conductive Zones and Drill Holes at Gemini

Drilling at Gemini Project - March 2022

Table 1. Final analytical results from boreholes GEM22-01 and GEM22-02

1. Samples are a composite of material collected from the rotary splitter in the RC drilling rig, which produces a continuous, representative 3 to 5 kilogram sample for each sample interval.

Fig. 2: Gemini Lithium Project 2022 TDEM Survey Plan

The 2022 geophysical survey was designed to outline the possible lateral extent of the conductive, lithium-bearing clay layers within a historical gravity low that were intersected in drillholes GEM22-01 and GEM22-02. A total of 13.0 line kilometres were carried out in three new survey lines as shown in Figure 1. 

The TDEM moving loop survey employed 400 metre by 400 metre loops to collect data along new survey lines parallel to the 2016 survey lines, which had detected a highly-conductive layer (see Figure 2 above). The northern and western limits of the conductive clay layer at Gemini were historically not well-defined and the 2022 survey results have added to the Company’s geological knowledge of the conductive zones. In July 2022, and based on those results, Nevada Sunrise submitted an amended drilling plan to the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) for the permitting of new drill targets at Gemini. The expanded permit was received in August 2022, for up to 12 boreholes..

Gemini Lithium Project - Conductive Zone with 2022 Drillholes and Lithium Values

On June 6, 2022, Nevada Sunrise announced that highly-significant values of lithium were detected in water samples collected from boreholes GEM22-01 and GEM22-02, drilled in the inaugural 2022 drilling program. The water samples from both boreholes contain dissolved lithium in a calcium/magnesium carbonate-type brine that was not easily recognized on site during the drilling program due to the presence of high levels of suspended solids.

Water samples from borehole GEM-22-01 averaged 327.7 milligrams per litre (“mg/L”) lithium over 220 feet (67.07 metres) from 600 to 820 feet with a peak value of 519 mg/L lithium. Water samples from borehole GEM22-02 returned an average of 116.28 mg/L lithium over 460 feet (140.24 metres) from 600 to 1,120 feet (201.22 to 341.46 metres) with a peak value of 286.0 mg/L lithium (see Table 1 below). 

Table 1:  Results of Lithium-in-Water Samples for boreholes GEM22-01 & GEM22-02

Notes: 

1. Lithium concentrations in GEM22-01 water samples ranged from 137 mg/L to 519 mg/L in the 220 foot (67.07 metres) thick zone from 600 to 820 feet (182.93 to 250 metres).
2. The 60-foot zone sampled from 820 to 880 feet (250 to 268.3 metres) in GEM22-01 contained no significant lithium values.
3. Lithium concentrations in GEM22-02 water samples ranged from “not detected” to 286mg/L in the 460- foot (140.24 metre) thick zone from 660 to 1120 feet (201.22 to 341.46 metres).
    

These analytical results and preliminary research by the Company suggest that the Gemini lithium deposit is an example of the claystone deposit model situated in a closed arid basin, similar to lithium deposits found in the Clayton Valley and at other sedimentary-hosted lithium deposits in Nevada. 

Phase 2 Drilling Program

On August 15, 2022, Nevada Sunrise announced the receipt of an amended exploration permit from the BLM for Gemini. The amended permit increases the number of proposed borehole locations to twelve (12), which includes the two successful boreholes that intersected significant lithium values drilled during the Company’s maiden drilling program in March and April 2022.

Nevada Sunrise engaged O’Keefe Drilling Company of Butte, Montana as the drilling contractor for the program, which commenced on October 19, 2022. Up to six boreholes were planned In Phase 2 for an estimated total of 8,000 feet (2,439 metres) of drilling. The exploration goals for the drilling program are: (1) test lithium-bearing brine and sediments at greater depths than previous boreholes GEM22-01 and GEM22-02, and (2) determine the lateral extent of lithium-mineralized brine and sediments identified in the two previous Gemini drill holes. Drill hole locations may be amended or revised during the Phase 2 program as results warrant.