November 28, 2017 – Vancouver, British Columbia; – LiCo Energy Metals Inc. (“the Company” or “LiCo”) TSX-V: LIC, OTCQB: WCTXF is pleased to report assay results for diamond drill holes GB17‐06 to GB17‐07 from the recently completed drill program on the Glencore Bucke Property located 6km northeast of Cobalt, Ontario and provides a drilling update.
“We are very pleased with the higher‐grade cobalt mineralization that has been intersected at our Glencore Bucke property” says Tim Fernback, President & CEO of LiCo and “not only have we intersected cobalt style mineralization in every drill hole completed, we are happy to report that 4 of the 7 holes assayed to date have higher than average grades of more than 1% cobalt. We are also finding very good silver and copper results in our assays which is equally exciting. So far, we have drilled a combined 3,728 m with 30 drill holes on our Glencore and Teledyne Ontario properties as part of our 2017 flow‐through work program.
A summary of the most significant results of the recent drill core assays are:
- GB17‐07 1.11% Co, 16.6 ppm Ag over 2.0 m, incl. 7.64% Co, 9.1 ppm Ag over 0.26 m
- GB17‐06 4.45% Co, 34.2 ppm Ag over 0.30 m from 44.40 to 44.70 m
- GB17‐06 0.25% Co over 1.75 m, incl. 0.58% Co, 28.9 ppm Ag over 0.5 m
On the Glencore Bucke Property, the Company has completed a total of 21 diamond drill holes totaling 1,900 m, testing the Main and Northwest zones. The drilling has confirmed and extended the cobalt mineralization on the property and which are consistent with historical grades and widths in the overall Cobalt Camp. Visual cobalt camp style mineralization has been noted in every drill hole that the Company has logged to date. The drill program has been completed as planned. The drill program was designed to provide the company with sufficient drill hole information to create a geological model and a 43‐101 complaint resource estimate.
The results for diamond drill holes GB17‐06 and GB17‐07 are summarized in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Summary of Diamond Drill Results
Note: Intervals reported in Table 1 represent core lengths and not true widths.
On the Company’s adjoining Teledyne Property, a total of 1,828 m has been completed in 9 diamond drill holes. Drilling has intersected Cobalt camp style mineralization in each drill hole that has been logged to date. Diamond drilling is expected to continue testing the planned targets throughout the remainder of November.
Qualified Person
The Glencore Bucke and Teledyne Properties are managed by Joerg Kleinboeck, P.Geo., (LiCo’s QP), and supervised by Dwayne Melrose, Director and Head of the Technical Advisory Board of LiCo.
The overall drilling program will be conducted as part of LiCo’s flow thru financing and work commitments for the Glencore Bucke and Teledyne Properties.
About LiCo Energy Metals: https://licoenergymetals.com/
LiCo Energy Metals Inc. is a Canadian based exploration company who’s primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company’s focus is directed towards exploration for high value metals integral to the manufacture of lithium ion batteries.
Glencore Bucke Cobalt Project, Cobalt, Ontario:
The Company has entered into a property purchase agreement to acquire a 100% interest from Glencore Canada Corporation (subsidiary of Glencore plc) in the Glencore Bucke Property, situated in Bucke Township, 6 km east-northeast of Cobalt, Ontario, subject to a back-in provision, production royalty and off-take agreement. Strategically, the Glencore Bucke Property consists of 16.2 hectares and sits along the west boundary of LiCo’s Teledyne Cobalt Project. The Property covers the southern extension of the #3 vein that was historically mined on the neighbouring Cobalt Contact Property located to the north of the Glencore Bucke Property. Diamond drilling in 1981 on the Glencore Bucke Property delineated two zones of mineralization measuring 150m and 70m in length.
Ontario Teledyne Cobalt Project:
The Company has an option to earn 100% ownership, subject to a royalty, in the Teledyne Project located near Cobalt. Ontario. The Property adjoins the south and west boundaries of claims that hosted the Agaunico Mine. From 1905 through to 1961, the Agaunico Mine produced a total of 4,350,000 lbs. of cobalt and 980,000 oz. of silver (Cunningham-Dunlop, 1979). A significant portion of the cobalt that was produced at the Agaunico Mine located along structures that extended southward onto property currently under option to LiCo Energy Metals.
Chile Purickuta Lithium Project:
The Purickuta Project is located within Salar de Atacama, a salt flat encompassing 3,000 km2, being about 100 km long, 80 km wide and home to approximately 37% of the worlds Lithium production. The salar possesses a very high grade of both Lithium (1,840mg/l) and Potassium (22,630mg/l and is close to power, labour, communications, transportation and other infrastructure. The property of 160 hectares is enveloped by a concession owned by Sociedad Quimica y Minera (“SQM”) and lies, significantly, within a few kilometers of the property of CORFO (the Chilean Economic Development Agency) where its leases to both SQM and Albermarle’s Rockwood Lithium Corp Together these two companies have combined production of over 62,000 tonnes of LCE (Lithium Carbonate Equivalent) annually making up 100% of Chile’s current lithium output. The unique characteristics of Salar de Atacama make finished lithium carbonate easier and cheaper to produce than any of its peer group globally.
Purickuta is a smaller exploitation concession rather than a large exploration concession thereby accelerating the task of taking the project to a potential production scenario. Currently, the Chilean government retains ownership of lithium separate from other minerals and thus production can only proceed upon receipt of a special lithium operation contract know as a “CEOL”. In the future, it will be necessary for LiCo and partner to negotiate a production contract with CORFO concurrently with completing any positive feasibility study. “Chile, which has one of the world’s most plentiful supplies of lithium, is pushing ahead with new policies to develop those reserves”. (Reuters Jan 2, 2017).
Nevada Dixie Valley Lithium Project:
The Company has an option to acquire a 100% interest, subject to a 3% NSR, on a large lithium exploration project at the Humboldt Salt Marsh in Dixie Valley, Nevada. The geologic setting and presence of lithium in active geothermal fluids and surface salts in Dixie Valley match characteristics of producing lithium brine deposits at Clayton Valley, Nevada and in South America.
Nevada Black Rock Desert Lithium Project:
The Company has entered into an option agreement whereby the Company may earn an undivided 70% interest, subject to a 3% Net Smelter Return Royalty, in the Black Rock Desert Lithium Project that consists of 128 placer claims (2,560 acres/ 1,036 hectares) in southwest Black Rock Desert, Washoe County, Nevada.
The Company is planning an exploration programs on a number of its properties over the next several months. The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved Joerg Kleinboeck, P.Geo., an independent consulting geologist and a qualified person as defined in NI 43-101.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
Tim Fernback, President & CEO
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.
Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information:
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 guarantees of 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.