Spodumene Lithium Discovery at Issia

Switch Metals (AIM: SWT), the critical metals company focused on battery minerals and technology metals in Côte d'Ivoire, is pleased to announce the discovery of a first spodumene bearing pegmatite at its Issia Project. The discovery, named "Kabore" was made during a pitting and mapping programme near a tantalum-rich drainage basin.

Highlights

• Lithium discovery is in addition to the near-term tantalum ("Ta") mineral resource estimate ("MRE") and our early Ta cash flow development plans.
• Grades between 1.00% and 2.58% lithium oxide ("Li2O") tested on spodumene-rich zones using a portable Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy analyser (pLIBS) in multiple grab samples.
• Coltan occurrences showing the presence of tantalite endmember in grab samples (82% Ta) using portable X-ray Fluorescence device (pXRF) were also identified within the same discovery trench.
• Discovery indicates Issia pegmatites' potential for both tantalum and lithium mineralisation.
• Issia district-scale project covers multiple hard rock pegmatites to test for tantalum and lithium.

The Kabore discovery is located within the north-west trending Issia pegmatite corridor, near previously mapped pegmatite occurrences and tantalum rich HM anomalies (figures 1 & 2).

Issia is located approximately four hours north of the port of San Pedro mineral port where lithium spodumene concentrate from neighbouring Mali (more than 17 hours' drive north) is currently exported.

The discovery has been exposed in a 10 x 20-metre trench where multiple altered grab samples have been collected and analysed using a LIBS and pXRF analyser (figures 3, 4 and table 1).

Samples were immediately expedited to Thin Section Lab in Nancy, France, who confirmed the spodumene visual observations using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis for detailed mineral characterisation.

Karl Akueson, CEO of Switch Metals commented:

"As we focus on the delivery of our first tantalum MRE, targeting shallow free-digging deposits, Issia is already exceeding our expectations with this lithium discovery.

"Whilst we knew the tantalum rich area could be associated with other critical elements, as it occurs with certain pegmatites, we did not expect to unveil a hard rock discovery at this early stage and at no additional cost.

"With the improving lithium price environment, the timing is encouraging. We will look to accelerate the work at Issia on this new lithium prospect in parallel to the ongoing tantalum MRE definition and the drainage basin exploration programme.

"Elsewhere in the portfolio, we are completing soil sample analysis at both the Bouaké Tantalum project and the Tiassalé Lithium project where our neighbours Atlantic Lithium plc and Lithium Africa Resources Corp (partnered with Ganfeng, the world's third largest and China's largest lithium compounds producer) are also active."

Figure 1: Location of Kabore Spodumene discovery

Figure 2: Altered spodumene-rich sample from Kabore discovery trench

Figure 3: Tantalum-rich coltan grab sample from Kabore discovery trench containing 82% Tantalum (using pXRF)

Figure 4: LIBS analysis on altered spodumene pegmatite grab samples

Table 1: LIBS Analyser results on spodumene grab samples