IRIS Metals : to Acquire Lithium Project and $2.0m Placement

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ASX Release: 23 May 2022

IRIS to Acquire Lithium Project in Strategically Located, Tier-1, Historical Mining Jurisdiction of

South Dakota, USA

The Company has concluded a $2.0m Placement to support planned activities

Highlights:

• IRIS to acquire 100% of highly prospective and strategic hard rock lithium projects through the acquisition of White Rock, L.L.C. in the Tier-1 Jurisdiction of South Dakota, USA (the "South Dakota Project" or the
  "Project").
• Within the greater South Dakota Project there are 2 sub projects:
• • Dewy Project
  • Custer Project
• Combined total land holdings of approximately 10,846 Acres (approximately 4,400 Ha), across 525 Claims.
• An abundance of mapped pegmatites are located within the project areas including historical lithium bearing mines
• Experienced South Dakota-based in country consultant, RRL Consulting (the "Consultant"), appointed to assist with ongoing business development activities and on budget.
• Experienced geological team to progress exploration program, headed by, Chris Connell.
• $2.0 million placement completed to support the acquisition and provide working capital to be directed to the acquisition and initial exploration in South Dakota.
• Exploration to commence immediately post completion of the acquisition, starting with field mapping activities and geochemical works.
• US President Joe Biden has recently invoked the Defense Production Act in an effort to encourage domestic production of battery materials within the United States.
• IRIS' USA Strategy is, through the process of exploration and development, to become a leading supplier of lithium to the North American Battery Metals industry.
• IRIS' WA strategy remains on track with expenditure and plans remaining unchanged and continuing to progress on plan and on budget.

Non-ExecutiveDirector, Chris Connell, commented: "Following introduction to this Project and completing a desktop assessment of its potential, I have for the past 6 weeks, been based in the Black Hills region with our consultant to assess the projects and confirm their prospectivity. The jurisdiction is also Tier One and includes townships in the Black Hills of South Dakota founded on mining, and having a long, proud history of supporting local mining operations, including for lithium.

I will be returning to South Dakota in the coming weeks to advance the Company's exploration efforts."

Executive Director, Tal Paneth, added: "After methodically assessing numerous projects to complement our suite of Australian assets, the Board has achieved an agreement that has met its key investment criteria of geographic and commodity diversification in a mining friendly jurisdiction.

The acquisition of the highly prospective hard rock lithium South Dakota Project sees IRIS join the green battery revolution at a time when the US President has recently enacted legislation to encourage domestic lithium production."

Directors	IRIS Metals Limited	Contact Details
Simon Lill, Non-Executive Chairman	ASX: IR1	[e-mail]
Tal Paneth, Executive Director		www.irismetals.com
Peter Marks, Executive Director	Registered Office	ABN
Chris Connell, Non-Executive Director	Level 6, 400 Collins Street	61 646 787 135
David Franks, Company Secretary	MELBOURNE VIC 3000

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IRIS Metals Limited ("IRIS" or the "Company") (ASX:IR1) is pleased to announce it has entered a Share Sale Agreement ("SSA"), to acquire White Rock, L.L.C. ("White Rock"), a South Dakota incorporated corporation, which owns 525 lode claims covering approximately 10,846 Acres prospective for hard rock lithium, in South Dakota, USA.

Consistent with its objectives, and as outlined in the 2021 IRIS prospectus, the Company has been assessing various resource-based investment opportunities, with the aim of increasing shareholder value. The IRIS Board believes that this opportunity is consistent with achieving this objective.

Why Lithium, why USA, why Now?

Lithium is an appealing commodity from numerous perspectives, including:

• Environmental & Social Responsibility - as a key ingredient in the rechargeable batteries powering the Electric Vehicle ("EV") and energy storage revolutions; lithium is the basis for the clean, green power that will help address pollution, greenhouse gasses and climate change.
• Macroeconomic - numerous reputable industry experts including McKinsey and Macquarie Bank point to strong demand/supply characteristics in the short, medium and long term, favourable for investment in the space.

The USA in general, and South Dakota in particular, provide a compelling lithium exploration jurisdiction:

• Security of Tenure - a jurisdiction with guaranteed security of tenure.
• Minimal Outlays - no minimum annual expenditure requirements or mandatory reduction in tenure.
• Defense Production Act - to encourage domestic production of minerals required to make batteries for EVs and long-term energy storage. Potential government funding for strategic projects.
• Politics - bipartisan support for promoting clean energy, with billions of dollars of available funding.
• Geopolitics - recent global events have reaffirmed the importance of location of tenure and security of supply - and there is no better location than the USA, and no better location within the USA than South Dakota.
• Mining Friendly Jurisdiction - South Dakota has a 145-year history of continuous mining. It has a stable government and supportive legislation, established infrastructure and experienced workforce and is continually ranked at the top or near the top of States for cost and ease of doing business.

The time is now for IRIS to:

• Diversify Geographically - from its Tier-1 tenure in Australia to Tier-1 tenure in the USA.
• Diversify Commodity - join the green revolution by exploring for lithium in a known jurisdiction
• Increase Shareholder Value -by acquiring a highly prospective project.
• Mitigate Commodity Risk - by investing in a project with a commodity that has outstanding medium and long term demand/supply characteristics.

Directors	IRIS Metals Limited	Contact Details
Simon Lill, Non-Executive Chairman	ASX: IR1	[e-mail]
Tal Paneth, Executive Director		www.irismetals.com
Peter Marks, Executive Director	Registered Office	ABN
Chris Connell, Non-Executive Director	Level 6, 400 Collins Street	61 646 787 135
David Franks, Company Secretary	MELBOURNE VIC 3000

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The South Dakota Project

The Black Hills of South Dakota are famous for historic lithium mining dating back to 1898 when Li-bearing spodumene (contains up to 7% Li₂O), and amblygonite (contains up to 10% Li₂O) was first mined near the township of Custer.

Other economic minerals historically mined from the pegmatites of the Black Hills include: beryl, columbite-tantalite, mica, feldspar, quartz and tin.

The Black Hills of South Dakota are also famous for gold mining. The famous 40M oz Homestake gold mine is located in the Black Hills and several large-scale open cut gold mines continue operation today. The Black Hills were founded on a rich history of mining and remain favorable to future mining operations.

The acquisition of mining claims in the Black Hills include two main project areas covering:

• the Dewy-High Climb (Dewy Project); and
• Custer-Beechertrends (Custer Project).

These projects represent large areas of fertile lithium-cesium-tantalum("LCT")-pegmatites covering several historic lithium mines and numerous historical industrial mineral pegmatite mines.

Figure 1: Location map of Dewy and Custer projects.

Directors	IRIS Metals Limited	Contact Details
Simon Lill, Non-Executive Chairman	ASX: IR1	[e-mail]
Tal Paneth, Executive Director		www.irismetals.com
Peter Marks, Executive Director	Registered Office	ABN
Chris Connell, Non-Executive Director	Level 6, 400 Collins Street	61 646 787 135
David Franks, Company Secretary	MELBOURNE VIC 3000

For personal use only

Dewy Project

The Dewy Project consists of 250 BLM Lode Claims and covers an area of approximately 5,165 Acres of prospective LCT-pegmatites occurring in numerous discontinuous swarms represented along strike to many historic lithium mines (Figures 2 & 3).

Historic lithium bearing mines in the Dewy project area include:

• High Climb (spodumene)
• Hunter & Louise (spodumene, amblygonite)
• Tin Queen (spodumene, amblygonite, lithiophilite)
• Dewy Lode (spodumene, amblygonite)
• Oreville Spar (amblygonite)
• Gap (lithiophilite)

Figure 2: Location map of the Dewy Project, reflecting historic pegmatite mines in blue and lithium specific pegmatite

mines in yellow.

Directors	IRIS Metals Limited	Contact Details
Simon Lill, Non-Executive Chairman	ASX: IR1	[e-mail]
Tal Paneth, Executive Director		www.irismetals.com
Peter Marks, Executive Director	Registered Office	ABN
Chris Connell, Non-Executive Director	Level 6, 400 Collins Street	61 646 787 135
David Franks, Company Secretary	MELBOURNE VIC 3000

For personal use only

Information on some of the historic Lithium mines within the Dewy Project

Historically, the High Climb pegmatite was mined for amblygonite, beryl, mica and feldspar (spodumene was left in situ or on waste dumps). The pegmatite is exposed for over 100m at surface with the open cut mine cutting across the 30m width of the pegmatite. The High Climb pegmatite is a classic example of a fractionated LCT pegmatite with internal zones of quartz-spodumene and cleavelandite-amblygonite with the un-mineralised exterior carapace composed of quartz-feldspar-muscovite.

The Hunter and Louise mine is composed of 6 small open cut pits primarily mined for mica and spodumene. The mineralized pegmatite is exposed at surface for over 200m with varying widths averaging 10m. The Hunter and Louise deposit is another good example of a zoned pegmatite with the carapace wall rock predominantly composed of feldspar and interior zones of quartz-spodumene± amblygonite.

The Tin Queen mine, comprising of three open cut pits, commenced operations in the early 1940's, operating intermittently and initially targeting tin, with later production focusing primarily on mica with amblygonite and beryl recovery. Other lithium minerals identified at the Tin Queen mine include spodumene and lithiophilite-triphylite.

Figure 3: Photos of historic lithium producing mines in the Dewy Project.

• A & B: Spodumene crystals in the wall of the Hunter & Louise pits.
• C: High Climb open cut (spodumene & amblygonite).
• D: Tin Queen open cut (spodumene, amblygonite, lithiophilite).

Directors	IRIS Metals Limited	Contact Details
Simon Lill, Non-Executive Chairman	ASX: IR1	[e-mail]
Tal Paneth, Executive Director		www.irismetals.com
Peter Marks, Executive Director	Registered Office	ABN
Chris Connell, Non-Executive Director	Level 6, 400 Collins Street	61 646 787 135
David Franks, Company Secretary	MELBOURNE VIC 3000