American Critical Minerals Announces Appointment of Agapito Associates, LLC, to Define a National Instrument 43-101 Exploration Target for Lithium at its Green River Project

Indianapolis Star

3 days ago

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESS Newswire American Critical Minerals Corp. (' American Critical Minerals ' or the ' Company ') (CSE:KCLI)(OTCQB:APCOF)(Frankfurt:2P3) is pleased to announce that it has engaged Agapito Associates, LLC (' Agapito ' or ' Agapito Associates '), to define a National Instrument 43-101 (' NI 43-101 ') Exploration Target for Lithium at the Company's Green River Project. Agapito will also update the Company's existing Technical Report prepared by them and effective September 12, 2012. Such report was focused on the Potash potential of the Green River Project and included a 43-101 Exploration Target for Potash. However, given the emergence of the lithium brines in the Paradox Basin as a major potential source of lithium and the speed and success of development on neighboring projects, it makes sense to now include lithium as a key focus for the Company. Agapito's work is expected to be completed early in the fourth quarter of 2025. The Company will release the results as received.
Management Commentary
Simon Clarke President & CEO stated, 'we are excited to expand our NI 43-101 Technical Report to encompass the large-scale lithium potential across our Project. This has been showcased in recent years by a number of players, but particularly Anson Resources which has a Project contiguous to the North of our Green River Project and a Project adjacent to the South. Anson has advanced both its Projects materially and recently announced a successful Pilot with Koch Technology and an MOU to develop a DLE Demonstration Plant at Green River with POSCO Holdings.
Historic oil and gas drill logs highlight that the same lithium brines are present across our Project Area with similar grades and potential and the advanced development work undertaken by Anson also helps de-risk our Project which is sandwiched between the two Anson Projects. American Critical Minerals is in a unique position as our Project contains both large scale Potash and Lithium targets for what we see as brown-field development moving forward.'
Agapito will carry out a comprehensive set of tasks to evaluate the potential size, grade, and economic viability of lithium-bearing deposits at the Green River Potash and Lithium Project. This work will include a detailed review of existing geological, geophysical, and geochemical data, along with hydrogeological studies focused on the lithium brine target layers-specifically assessing aquifer permeability, storability, and water chemistry. The evaluation will also involve resource modeling and preliminary economic assessments to help refine exploration targets and prioritize areas for further investigation. As part of this effort, Agapito will estimate the brine tonnage and lithium concentration for each of the identified lithium-bearing layers.
About Agapito Associates, LLC
Agapito Associates is partnered with Tiberius Energy Services (' Tiberius ') and Lane Power & Energy Solutions (' Lane ') to form E3 Partners, LLC (' E3 ')-a unified team that brings together deep professional expertise and hands-on contracting capabilities. Through this strategic alliance, Agapito now offers a fully integrated approach to well management, combining Agapito's decades of geotechnical and subsurface engineering experience with Tiberius's strength in well services and project coordination, and Lane's proven track record in complex underground construction. As E3, Agapito has the resources and expertise to successfully manage, drill, and abandon each well with efficiency, safety, and regulatory compliance, ensuring every phase of the project is executed to the highest standard.
About American Critical Minerals' Green River Potash and Lithium Project
The Green River Potash and Lithium Project is situated within Utah's highly productive Paradox Basin, located 20 miles northwest of Moab, Utah and has significant logistical advantages including close proximity to major rail hubs, airport, roads, water, towns and labour markets. It also benefits from close proximity to the agricultural and industrial heartland of America and numerous potential end-users for its products.
The history of oil and gas production across the Paradox Basin provides geologic data from historic wells across the Project, and the wider Basin, validating and de-risking the potential for high grade potash and large amounts of contained lithium. Wells in and around the project reported lithium up to 500 ppm, bromine up to 6,100 ppm and boron up to 1,260 ppm (Gilbride & Santos, 2012). This data is reinforced by nearby potash production and the advanced stage of neighbouring lithium projects. The Paradox Basin is believed to contain up to 56 billion tonnes of lithium brines, potentially the largest such resource in US (Source: Anson Fastmarkets Presentation – https://wcsecure.weblink.com.au/pdf/ASN/02823465.pdf) The Company also has a 43-101 Exploration Target of 600 million to 1 billion tonnes of sylvinite (the most important source for the production of potash in North America) with average grades ranging from 19% to 29% KCL.**
The Company holds a 100% interest in eleven State of Utah (' SITLA ') mineral and minerals salt leases covering approximately 7,050 acres, 1,094 federal lithium brine claims (BLM Placer Claims) covering 21,150 acres, and 11 federal (BLM) potash prospecting permits covering approximately 25,480 acres. Through these leases, permits and claims the Company has the ability to explore for potash, lithium and potential by-products across the entire Green River Project (approx. 32,530 acres). The Company is authorized to drill a total of 7 exploratory drill holes across the Project (pending bonding the recently approved 4 drill holes).
Intrepid Potash, Inc. is America's largest potash company and only U.S. domestic potash producer and currently produces potash from its nearby Moab Solution Mine, which the Company believes provides strong evidence of stratigraphic continuity within this part of the Paradox Basin (www.intrepidpotash.com). Anson Resources Ltd. has advanced lithium development projects contiguous to the northern boundary of our Green River Project and neighbouring to the south. Anson has a large initial resource, robust definitive feasibility study and has recently completed successful piloting operations through its partnership with Koch Technology Solutions, as well as an offtake agreement with LG Energy Solution. The Anson exploration targets encompass the combined Mississippian Leadville Formation and the Pennsylvanian Paradox Formation brine-bearing clastic layers, which also underlie American Critical Minerals' entire project area (www.ansonresources.com)*.
In 2022, the U.S. imported approx. 96.5% of its annual potash requirements with domestic producers receiving a higher sales price due to proximity to market (intrepidpotash.com/ August 15, 2024, Investor Presentation). In March 2024, the US Senate introduced a bill to include key fertilizers and potash on the US Department of Interior list of Critical Minerals which already includes lithium. Recent market estimates suggest that the global potash market is over US$50 billion annually and growing at a compound annual growth rate ('CAGR') of close to 5%. Annual lithium demand is now estimated to be over 1 million tonnes globally and continuing to grow rapidly.***
Qualified Person
The Technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dean Besserer, P.Geo., the Chief Operations Officer (' COO ') of the Company and a qualified person for the purposes of NI 43-101.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Simon Clarke, President & CEO
Contact: (604)-551-9665
* American Critical Minerals' management cautions that results or discoveries on properties in proximity to the American Critical Minerals' properties may not necessarily be indicative of the presence of mineralization on the Company's properties.
** A report titled 'NI 43-101 Technical Report – Green River Potash Project, Grand County, Utah, USA', prepared by Agapito Associates Inc., and dated effective September 12, 2012, quantifies the Green River Potash Project's potash exploration potential in the form of a NI 43-101 Exploration Target. The Exploration Target estimate was prepared in accordance with the National Instrument 43-101 -Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (' NI 43-101 '). It should be noted that Exploration Targets are conceptual in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define them as Mineral Resources, and, while reasonable potential may exist, it is uncertain whether further exploration will result in the determination of a Mineral Resource under NI 43-101. The Exploration Target stated in the Agapito Report is not being reported as part of any Mineral Resource or Mineral Reserve. A copy of the report can be accessed on the corporate website for the Company: www.acmineralscorp.com.
***United States Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries, January 2024 (https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2024/mcs2024-potash.pdf).
Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information
This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from this forward-looking information include those described under the heading 'Risks and Uncertainties' in the Company's most recently filed MD&A. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or revise the forward-looking information contained in this news release, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Such statements include, without limitation, statements regarding future confirmation drilling and its intended outcomes. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that such expectations will prove to be correct. All such forward-looking information is based on certain assumptions and analyses made by the Company in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management believes are appropriate in the circumstances. This information, however, is subject to a variety of risks and information.
SOURCE: American Critical Minerals Corp.
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