Surge Battery Metals Receives Exchange Approval for the San Emidio Lithium Project in Nevada

VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Surge Battery Metals Inc. (the "Company" or "Surge") (TSXV: NILI) (OTCQB: NILIF) (FRA: DJ5C) is pleased to announce that further to news release of September 20, 2021, the Company has received TSX Venture Exchange ("Exchange") approval of its option agreement with Lithium Corporation ("Optionor"), whereby the Company may acquire an undivided 80% interest in the San Emidio Property, located approximately 60 miles North East of Reno, Nevada.

The Company is also pleased to announce that it has retained Mr. Alan J Morris CPG (Surge's Qualified Person) to oversee exploration at the San Emidio Lithium prospect in Washoe County Nevada. 

Mr. Greg Reimer, Surge President & CEO, comments, "Mr. Morris is a consummate professional and has deep roots within the Nevada lithium exploration industry having worked for several decades in this part of the world.  In addition, Alan has previous experience exploring for lithium specifically in the San Emidio Desert, where he authored an NI 43-101 compliant technical report on an adjacent property in 2016.  The San Emidio Desert holds great lithium exploration promise, and it is the Company's intention to determine the lithium brine and lithium clay potential for its properties in the region."

The San Emidio Desert Region and Summary of Prior Work Completed

Mr. Alan Morris, CPG states, "The geologic setting combined with the presence of lithium in both active geothermal fluids and surface salts within the San Emidio Property match characteristics of lithium brine and clay deposits at Clayton Valley, Nevada and in South America.  There has been considerable geological, geophysical, and geochemical work done on the eastern margin of the playa here for geothermal energy, however only preliminary work has been done further to the west on the playa proper to fully evaluate the lithium-in-brine, and/or lithium clay potential of the area."

Prior to staking the property in 2011, the vendor of the property, Lithium Corporation, had performed preliminary geological, geochemical, studies on the area. The original geochemical work was comprised of both lithium and lithium associated pathfinder elements in brine and sediment samples. These early campaigns illustrated that lithium mineralization is present in sediments locally often in concentrations of up to several hundred parts per million (ppm), which is in line with that seen in the vicinity of Albemarle's currently producing Clayton Valley lithium brine mine, and Lithium Corporation's Fish Lake Valley lithium-in-brine prospect.  Although only limited near surface brine sampling was done at this time, several anomalous lithium samples were recovered. The strongest mineralized sample being in the order of 80 milligrams per litre (mg/L) lithium.  These anomalous samples appeared to be aligned in a NW/SE orientation possibly indicating that there may be some structural (fault) control. All were proximal to the loosely defined paleobasinal basement low, as is the case in Clayton Valley.  In order to map the basement in greater detail a moderate resolution gravity geophysical survey was then undertaken to better define and understand subsurface geological conditions.

The gravity survey was successful in outlining the basinal low and shed some light on the location, and orientation of some of the bounding faults that have given rise to the subsurface basinal feature.  Armed with this information, an application for a permit was made to allow probing of a number of additional shallow targets.  The initial probing program was commenced in early February 2012, keying in on an interpreted linear feature (fault) that might be roughly coincident with the gravel road that travels NW-SE from Empire Farms to the US Geothermal plant.  The information from this program led to a realignment of the claim block in mid-2012 with a focus on the northern claim blocks.  Another direct push probing campaign was undertaken later in calendar 2012, which confirmed the previous data interpretation, with the best value being in the order of 23 mg/L Li.

Proposed Initial Exploration Work

With respect to exploration work the Company intends to embark immediately on an initial two-phase exploration program, with the first phase comprised of geological, geochemical and geophysical tasks that ultimately will assist in generating drill targets during the second phase.

Phase I is to start immediately and is planned as a multi-disciplinary approach:

• Additional claim staking to strategically increase the size of the block, as the lesson at Clayton Valley has been that mineralization is associated with multiple structures and it can extend past the confines of a well-planned, well-placed claim block.
• Acquisition/Compilation/Assimilation of geological, geochemical and geophysical data.  As previously mentioned, considerable work has been done on the eastern extremes of the current claim block. 
• Following on these steps above, a program of geochemical fieldwork will be undertaken.
• At this same time, a geophysical surveying program is to be conducted to determine where the most highly conductive brines exist, and there is a proven correlation between conductivity (due primarily to increased levels of NaCl) and lithium concentration in Nevada brines.
• A mini-bulk sample of lithium enriched brine is to be extricated and sent for bench tests for proof-of-concept production of lithium via Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE).  Lithium concentrations here have been noted up to 80 mg/L which due to advances in DLE technology places it in the category of economically significant brine mineralization.

It is envisioned that the bulk of all this work will be completed over the next several months. Once all the data from this program is compiled and added to the newly expanded database drill target selection will commence, and subsequent to target selection and prioritization application will be made to the BLM for all the permits necessary to drill three exploratory drill holes.

It is anticipated that Phase II would commence by the third calendar quarter of 2022. 

• Complete the drilling of three - 215 meter (700') exploratory sonic drill holes.  Sonic drilling is the preferred method on playas especially as it is far superior to all other techniques when it comes to maintaining both brine and clay sample integrity.

Subsequent to initial sonic drilling and the further assaying of the resultant geological material, the exploration team will then assess the Phase I and Phase II results to make additional exploration plans for the property during the fourth calendar quarter of 2022.

Qualified Person: The technical contents of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Alan Morris CPG, Elko, Nevada

About Surge Battery Metals Inc. surgebatterymetals.com

The Company is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company active in the exploration for nickel-iron alloy and Copper in British Columbia and lithium in Nevada whose primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's maintains a focus on exploration for high value battery metals required for the electric vehicle (EV) market.

Nevada Lithium Claims

The Company owns a 100% interest in 38 mineral claims located in Nevada. The Northern Nevada Lithium Project is located in the Granite Range about 34 line- km southeast of Jackpot, Nevada, about 73 line-km north-northeast of Wells, Nevada. The target is a Thacker Pass or Clayton Valley type lithium clay deposit in volcanic tuff and tuffaceous sediments of the Jarbidge Rhyolite package. The project area was first identified in public domain stream sediment geochemical data with follow up sediment sampling and geologic reconnaissance.

Caledonia Project, Vancouver Island, BC

The Company has entered into a Property Option Agreement to acquire a 100% interest in 7 mineral claims known as the Caledonia, Cascade and Bluebell, subject to a NSR between 1-2%. Located in the Nanaimo Mining District of northern Vancouver Island. The claims are 7 km north-west of BHP's past producing Island Copper mine. During its prime operating period the Island Copper mine was Canada's third-largest copper producer. The Caledonia, Cascade and Bluebell claims area lies within a 50-kilometer-long copper belt northwest of the Island Copper mine.

British Columbia Nickel Project

Hard Nickel 4 and Nickel 100 Claims

The Company has entered into an Option Agreement with Nickel Rock Resources to acquire an 80% interest in 6 mineral claims in the Mount Sidney Williams area (Hard Nickel 4) covering 1863 hectares immediately south of and adjacent to the Decar Project and the Mitchell Range area (Nickel 100) covering 8659 hectares, located in Northern British Columbia. Three of the claims are subject to 2% NSR, including the Hard Nickel 4 claim and the two southernmost claims of the Nickel 100 claims. The acquisition is subject to final Exchange approval.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors
"Greg Reimer"

Greg Reimer, President & CEO
604-428-5690

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward–looking statements which include, but are not limited to, comments that involve future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Except for statements of historical facts, comments that address resource potential, upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt and security of mineral property titles, availability of funds, and others are forward–looking. Forward–looking statements are not guaranteeing future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. General business conditions are factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forward–looking statements.

Surge Battery Metals Inc.
1220 – 789 West Pender Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6C 1H2
778-945-2656
www.surgebatterymetals.com
[email protected]

SOURCE Surge Battery Metals Inc.