Plateau Drills Over 330 Meters of Lithium Mineralization at Falchani Lithium Grades up to 1.24% Li2O

Plateau Energy Metals Inc. (“Plateau” “PLU” or the “Company”)(TSX VENTURE:PLU)(FRANKFURT:QG1)(OTCQB:PLUUF) is pleased to announce new drill results from Falchani West drilling.

Link to: Figure 1 Falchani Project Drill Plan Location Map

• 23 m of 4,412 ppm Li (0.95% Li₂O) from 306 to 329 m downhole (18.8 m true thickness) in lower breccia unit within longest intersection of lithium mineralization drilled to date of 338 m of 2,895 ppm Li (0.62% Li₂O) from 7 to 345 m downhole (277 m true thickness); Li contents up to 5,739 ppm (1.24% Li₂O) (PLAT14-W)
• 90 m of 3,025 ppm Li (0.65% Li₂O) from 84 to 174 m (EOH) downhole (73 m true thickness) in Li-rich tuff unit within a broader 115 m interval of 2,611 ppm Li (0.56% Li₂O) that includes upper breccia unit and tuffs (94 m true thickness) (PLAT13-W)
• Falchani West now has been drill tested 475 m N-S along section within the Falchani West target area and up to approximately 450 m E-W based on drill hole traces projected to surface and the eastern valley edge
• Falchani West has highly anomalous lithium values covering a mapped and sampled footprint of >1.5 km E-W by approximately 1.7km N-S towards Tres Hermanas
• As observed at Falchani East, Lithium mineralization thins to the south due to the presence of a lithium-bearing sub-volcanic felsic intrusion affecting the overlying tuff and breccia units
• Northward towards Platform 14, the lithium mineralization becomes increasingly thick away from the southern intrusion, and is essentially at surface due to its lower elevation and erosion of the barren rhyolite cover rocks
• Three rigs continue to drill at Falchani West towards the West (platforms 32, 33 and 36) and plan to move North through to the end of 2018

“Our continued success at Falchani West is encouraging, in particular the presence of a significantly thicker lower breccia unit, as we continue West and North to grow our resource base” commented Alex Holmes, CEO. “Our project team will continue drilling through to the end of December as we look to incorporate these results into a late Q1 2019 resource update”

Falchani Interpretation

Falchani West appears to represent a similar, but potentially larger side of a 6 km by 5 km collapsed caldera with faulting due to the presence of a sub-volcanic felsic intrusion creating an interpreted resurgent dome centred along the N-S faulted valley separating Falchani West area from the Falchani East resource.

In the southern drilled extents of both Falchani East and West, lithium mineralization thins to the south due to the presence of this lithium-bearing, sub-volcanic felsic intrusion representing the southern edge of the caldera. The intrusion affects the formation, orientation and preservation of the overlying tuff and breccia units.

In the northern drill platforms (example PLAT-14), the lithium-rich tuff unit and to a greater extent, the mineralized lower breccia unit become extremely thick to the north and west from the interpreted resurgent dome intrusion. The lower breccia contains large intersections of Li-rich tuff interpreted as large blocks within the host breccia. The highest grade lithium mineralization encountered to date is located proximal to the base of the thick lower breccia, immediately above the lithium-bearing sub-volcanic intrusion. It is interpreted that this sub-volcanic intrusion was a source of heat and lithium-bearing fluids that locally enhanced the lithium contents of the volcano-sedimentary rocks within the collapsed caldera lake.

Based on the available data, the Company’s technical team believes the collapsed caldera setting may have trapped the lithium-rich mineralization millions of years ago, during the latest extrusive episode of one of the youngest member of the Macusani rhyolites.

The Company’s technical team is working together with its technical advisors to understand more fully this unique volcanic lithium deposit model setting, and research is being considered to unravel the geology and evolution of Falchani.

“It appears that we have a very large-scale depositional environment for our lithium project at Falchani. Within a deep and wide caldera lake, several generations of volcanic ash layers were trapped and transformed into the hardened tuff units that we see today,” stated Dr. Laurence Stefan, President & COO. “To date our metallurgical work completed at several laboratories all over the world has determined that the geochemistry of several trace and major elements is mostly similar to a “high-grade” brine, with geotechnical similarities to a hard rock project.”

Drill Results – Details

Link to: Figure 2 Falchani Project E-W Cross Section through PLAT14, and

Figure 3 Falchani West Project N-S Cross Section with PLAT12-PLAT13 & PLAT14

Platform 14W – inclined hole drilled to 270°Azimuth at -55° inclination

PLAT14-W – 400.5 m total length

• High-grade lithium-rich mineralization in upper breccia, tuff and a thick intersection of lower breccia intersected 338 m of 2,895 ppm Li (0.62% Li₂O) from 7 to 345 m downhole (277 m true thickness)
  • Includes lithium tuff-only interval of 78 m of 2,328 ppm Li (0.50% Li₂O) from 12-90 m downhole (64 m true thickness)
  • Includes a higher-grade interval with 23 m of 4,412 ppm Li (0.95% Li₂O) from 306-329 m downhole (18.8 m true thickness) in lower breccia
• Thickest interval of lower breccia drilled to date (255 m downhole; 209 m true thickness) with Li values up to 5,739 ppm (1.24% Li₂O)
• The drill hole ended in sub-volcanic felsic intrusion from 345-400.5 m averaging 859 ppm Li
• No surface uranium mineralization intersected as hole started in 7 m of barren rhyolite

 

Platform 13 W – inclined hole drilled to 270°Azimuth at -55° inclination

PLAT13-W – 174 m total length

• 90 m of Lithium-rich tuff unit intersected 3,025 ppm Li (0.65% Li₂O) from 84 to 174 m (EOH) downhole (73 m true thickness)
• 115 m of 2,611 ppm Li (0.56% Li₂O) in broader interval from 59 to 174 m (EOH), that includes 25 m of Li-rich upper breccia (94 m true thickness)
• No surface uranium mineralization intersected as hole started in barren rhyolite

Platform 12 V – Vertical drill hole

PLAT12-V Vertical Hole – 174.5 m total length

• 42 m of Lithium-rich tuff unit intersected 2,415 ppm Li (0.52% Li₂O) from 25 to 73 m
• 47 m of 2,311 ppm Li (0.50% Li₂O) in broader interval from 23 to 77 m, that includes thin intersections of Li-rich breccias located above and below the tuff unit
• 5 m of sub-volcanic felsic intrusive was intersected from 83 to 174.5 m (EOH) that averaged 1,403 ppm Li (0.30% Li₂O)
• The top 23 m comprised unconsolidated colluvium gravels
• The hole was stopped at a depth of 174.5 m due to technical reasons.

 

Platform 12 W – inclined hole drilled to 270°Azimuth at -55° inclination

PLAT12-W – 148 m total length

• 23 m of Lithium-rich tuff unit intersected 2,305 ppm Li (0.50% Li₂O) from 25 to 48 m downhole (18.8 m true thickness)
• 38 m of 2,082 ppm Li (0.45% Li₂O) in broader interval from 21 to 59 m downhole (31 m true thickness), that includes Li-rich breccias located above and below the tuff unit
• 85 m of sub-volcanic felsic intrusive was intersected from 59 to 144 m downhole (69.6 m true thickness) with 1181 ppm Li (0.25% Li₂O)
• The hole ended in 4 m of lithium-rich tuff underlying the intrusive rocks from 144 to 148 m (EOH) that averaged 2,112 ppm Li (0.45% Li₂O) (3.3 m true thickness)
• The occurrence of Li-rich tuffs at depth below the Li-rich sub-volcanic intrusion demonstrates that separated layers and blocks of the tuff unit may exist in other parts of the caldera due to the complex post-sedimentary evolution of the tuff.
• The top 21 m comprised unconsolidated colluvium gravels

Source: Plateau Energy Metals