Metals Australia : Outstanding Lithium & Rubidium Results for Manindi Project

ASX Announcement
02 March 2022	ASX:MLS

Outstanding Lithium & Rubidium Rockchip Results for Manindi Project
only	Drilling well underway, testing thick, high-grade, part of the Foundation Pegmatite

➢ Outstanding systematic rockchip sample results of up to 2.30% Li2O and 0.70% Rb from samples collected at the recently identified Foundation, Dibbler and Quoll pegmatite prospects

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Lithium mineralisation confirmed along entire 500m strike length of the Foundation Pegmatite including consistently high-grade, >1% Li2O and >0.4% Rb, results along the central, thickest part

The up to 3,500m RC drilling program1 is well underway and currently testing this high-grade section of the Foundation Pegmatite, with a recent hole (MNRC043) intersecting 16 metres downhole of mineralised pegmatite and samples to be submitted to the lab shortly

Metals Australia Ltd ("MLS" or the "Company") is pleased to announce high-grade lithium (Li2O) as well as personalRubidium (Rb) and Tantalum (Ta205) assay results from the systematic rock chip sampling program testing

key pegmatites at the Company's Manindi Lithium Project ("Manindi" or, the "Project").

The Manindi Lithium (and Zinc) Project is located approximately 20 km southwest of the Youanmi Gold Mine in the Murchison District of Western Australia (see location, Figure 1).

A systematic rock chip sampling program was undertaken over the entire 500m strike length of the recently discovered Foundation Pegmatite as well as over nearby pegmatites, Foundation North and Dibbler (Figure 1). Samples were also collected from extensions of the Mulgara pegmatites (Figure 1) and the recently identified Quoll and Bandicoot Pegmatites, south of Mulgara. Over 1.2km strike length of Lithium-Caesium-Tantalum (LCT) bearing pegmatites have been sampled at an average spacing of approximately 40m.

Highly anomalous lithium (Li), Tantalum (Ta), Caesium (Cs) and Rubidium (Rb) results were produced from all pegmatites sampled (see Table 1) and particularly high-grade,consistent, >1% Li2O and >0.4% Rb, results were produced from the central, thickest, part of the Foundation Pegmatite (see Figure 1), including up to 2.30% Li2O and 0.70% Rb with an average of 1.29% Li2O and 0.51% Rb over the entire 500m strike length.

The up to 3,500m Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling program is currently testing the central, high-grade, part Forof the Foundation Pegmatite. Initial testing has intersected up to 16 metres (m) downhole of mineralised

pegmatite in RC drillhole MNRC043 (Figure 1). Drilling details will be reported upon receipt of results.

Highly anomalous rockchip sample analyses from the nearby Dibbler Pegmatite (Figure 1) including values of up to 0.88% Li2O and 0.63% Li2O.

The Dibbler, Quoll (SE of Mulgara) and Bandicoot (south of Mulgara) pegmatites will also be the focus of this reconnaissance RC drill testing program.

Drilling will also further test the Mulgara pegmatites (Figures 1 and 2), below previously reported high-grade RC drilling intersections that included:

• MNRC030: 8m @ 1.06% Li2O from 18m incl. 3m @ 1.65% Li2O with up to 1.96% Li2O in2,3, and,
• MNRC033: 8m @ 1.00% Li2O, 158ppm Ta205 from 32m & 7m @ 1.29% Li2O, 242ppm Ta205 from 42m2,3

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MNRC043

Quoll

Figure 1: Manindi Lithium Project, mapped pegmatites and Rockchip sample locations

Photo 1: Foundation LCT Pegmatite outcrop

Photo 2: Foundation LCT Pegmatite, with lithium minerals

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Along with the high-grade lithium identified at the Manindi Project, the identification of significant rubidium

(Rb) is also highly encouraging. Rubidium is a rare metal mostly employed in high-technology industries such as biomedical research, electronics, specialty glass and pyrotechnics as well as traditional uses in electronic devices, specialised glass and catalysts. Rubidium carbonate (Rb2CO3) pricing is currently reported by International Lithium Corp. (https://internationallithium.com/rubidium/) to be up to USD1,060/kg, a factor of more than 75 times the current price of lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) at USD14/kg (USD13,970/t).

The recently discovered Foundation Pegmatite4 is the largest pegmatite identified to date at Manindi and is
over 500m long in a southwest-northeast direction and includes multiple pegmatite outcrops across a 200m
zone in a northwest-southeast direction (see Figure 1).
onlyPreviously announced spot rockchip sampling of the Foundation Pegmatite produced high-grade lithium and
tantalum results, including:
use	MNRK0002: 1.25% Li2O, 126.0 ppm Ta205 and 154.6 ppm Cs2O (Foundation)5

The previous and current rockchip sample results confirm that Foundation is a high-grade LCT pegmatite and compare favourably with previous results from rockchip sampling of the Mulgara pegmatites that produced high-graderesults of up to 2.84% Li2O, 296 ppm Ta205 and up to 746ppm Cs2O4.

Previous, shallow, RC drilling2,3 tested the three initially identified pegmatites at the Mulgara Prospect on an approximate 40m spacing, but with only one hole per section. This program producing several significant intersections of lithium and tantalum mineralisation (see locations Figure 2), including:

• 8m @ 1.06% Li2O from 18m incl. 3m @ 1.65% Li2O with up to 1.96% Li2O in MNRC0302,3
• 8m @ 1.00% Li2O, 158ppm Ta205 from 32m, and 7m @ 1.29% Li2O, 242ppm Ta205 from 42 m incl. 5m @ 1.53% Li2O in MNRC0332,3

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Photo 3: Mulgara LCT Pegmatite, with lithium minerals including lepidolite (mauve), Manindi Project, WA

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Figure 2: Manindi Project, Mulgara Lithium Pegmatite Prospect, drillhole locations and intersections

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personalThe current drilling program will include up to 45 holes for 3,500m and is planned with the following objectives:

1. Initial RC drilling of the Foundation Pegmatite at approximately 40m section spacing along the entire 500m strike length, as well as other nearby pegmatites e.g. Dibbler, Quoll and possibly Bandicoot.
2. Following up the previous high-grade lithium and tantalum results at Mulgara with both deeper drilling on key sections and extension drilling along strike of the three LCT pegmatites identified to date (see Figure 2).

ForDrillholes will range from 60m depth in areas of initial testing, to 120m depth on sections where there are existing significant intersections or as immediate follow-up below encouraging new pegmatite intersections, including below (and possibly above) just completed MNRC043, that intersected 16 metres downhole of mineralised pegmatite from 59m.

Samples collected from initial RC drilling will shortly be submitted to Intertek laboratory in Malaga, Perth, for the lithium suite of analyses.

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Table 1: Manindi systematic rockchip sampling results this release:

					Li2O	Rb	Ta205	Cs2O
only	Sample No.	Northing	Easting	"Area"	%	%	ppm	ppm
22MNRK001	6,818,747	663,847	Dibbler South	0.010	0.009	147	7
22MNRK002	6,818,767	663,804	Dibbler South	0.887	0.330	132	124
22MNRK003	6,817,552	664,628	Bandicoot South	0.080	0.029	55	10
22MNRK004	6,817,549	664,559	Bandicoot South	0.009	0.003	1	1
22MNRK005	6,818,775	663,772	Dibbler	0.634	0.259	103	84
22MNRK006	6,818,589	664,072	Foundation	0.336	0.232	130	98
22MNRK007	6,818,582	664,020	Foundation	0.465	0.178	177	120
use	22MNRK008	6,818,575	663,950	Foundation	1.221	0.625	151	196
22MNRK009	6,818,576	663,986	Foundation	1.221	0.555	84	257
22MNRK010	6,818,567	663,916	Foundation	2.312	0.705	112	308
22MNRK011	6,818,553	663,895	Foundation	1.511	0.497	79	170
22MNRK012	6,818,539	663,859	Foundation	1.691	0.635	114	190
22MNRK013	6,818,529	663,830	Foundation	1.667	0.648	111	219
22MNRK014	6,818,530	663,799	Foundation	1.591	0.565	139	175
personal	22MNRK015	6,818,505	663,741	Foundation	0.854	0.435	119	112
22MNRK016	6,818,480	663,700	Foundation South	0.532	0.277	109	59
22MNRK017	6,818,477	663,665	Foundation South	0.606	0.302	116	55
22MNRK018	6,818,626	664,024	Foundation North	0.015	0.005	279	6
22MNRK019	6,818,668	664,018	Foundation North	0.015	0.008	89	3
22MNRK020	6,818,558	664,034	Foundation Ext.	0.789	0.424	235	400
22MNRK021	6,818,643	664,093	Foundation North	0.991	0.573	155	306
22MNRK022	6,818,405	663,685	Near 84FWD0043	0.075	0.103	48	22
22MNRK023	6,818,429	663,712	Near 84FWD0043	0.031	0.096	179	17
22MNRK024	6,818,145	664,096	Mulgara West	0.694	0.460	66	127
22MNRK025	6,818,158	664,489	Quoll	0.009	0.012	55	3
22MNRK026	6,818,152	664,516	Quoll	0.015	0.102	139	14
22MNRK027	6,818,158	664,536	Quoll	0.142	0.277	179	65

About the Manindi Lithium Project:

The Manindi Project includes three granted mining leases in the fertile Youanmi Igneous Complex, located Forapproximately 20 km southwest of the Youanmi Gold Mine in the Murchison District of Western Australia

(see location inset Figure 1).

Detailed surface mapping carried out at Mulgara, situated approximately 1.3km SE of the Kultarr and Kowari zinc resources (Figure 2), previously identified at least three lithium bearing pegmatites outcropping at surface with strike lengths of over 300m and widths of up to 25-30m. The pegmatite intrusions cross-cut the main geological strike in a northeast-southwest orientation and appear to be moderately zoned with coarser grained crystals adjacent to the contacts fining inward toward the centre. The pegmatite dykes generally trend east-northeast and have a moderate dip to the north-northwest.

Lithium-tantalum mineralisation also appears to be more concentrated adjacent to contacts exhibiting coarser grained and more abundant lepidolite +/- spodumene crystals. The pegmatites overall strike-length

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