LithiumBank reports over 98% recovery of lithium from brine during pilot tests for direct lithium extraction Page 1

Calgary, Alberta–(Newsfile Corp. – September 11, 2024) – LithiumBank Resources Corp. (TSXV: LBNK) (OTCQX: LBNKF) (“LithiumBank”) or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has successfully recovered more than 98% of lithium from brine during the initial pilot operation at the Company's 10,000 litre/day direct lithium extraction plant (“DLE“) plant in Calgary. The DLE pilot campaign processed over 40,000 liters (“M“) Brine from four wells within the indicated resource area (Figure 1) of the Company's 100% owned Boardwalk Lithium Brine Project (“promenade“) in west-central Alberta. Pilot testing is now focusing on the desorption phase, which removes lithium from the IX sorbent. These results will be reported when they are available.

“The successful recovery of over 98% lithium from Boardwalk brine at pilot scale is a very significant achievement for LithiumBank,” commented Paul Matysek, Executive Chairman of LithiumBank. “Consistently achieving this level of recovery at scale is of paramount importance as we work to efficiently produce battery-grade lithium. These initial recovery results confirm the bench-scale test work used in our 2024 Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA“) for Boardwalk. This current work further validates our DLE lithium extraction process and is a significant milestone in value creation.”

The first pilot campaign focused on the absorption/recovery portion of the DLE process. This campaign involved continuously processing 40,000 liters of brine over 4.5 days to recover lithium. This process was carried out using continuous DLE (“cDLE®”) licensed from LithiumBank’s DLE technology partner Go2Lithim Inc (“G2L”). The patented cDLE® process allows lithium-rich brine to continuously flow through the absorption contactors countercurrent to the ion exchanger (“IX“) sorbent. The sorbent is designed to selectively recover lithium ions from the brine. Now that the Boardwalk brine has been continuously processed through the pilot plant for approximately 120 hours, pilot testing will now focus on the desorption phase, which separates lithium from the IX sorbent.

The cDLE® process operates as a continuous flow system where the brine and sorbent move in opposite directions. Previous laboratory test results suggested that a brine to sorbent flow ratio of 80 would be required to achieve an expected lithium recovery of 98%. The pilot plant campaign was started with this fixed ratio, with the ability to adjust the flow rate if the target recovery was not achieved.