The project is located in the region of The Archean Preissac-Lavorne which is a syn- to post-tectonic intrusion that was emplaced in the southern Volcanic Zone of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt of the Superior Province of Québec.

The spodumene pegmatites on the property are very poorly exposed.

The rocks are split between granodiorite of the Lacorne batholith, volcanics and some biotite shists, as well as the pegmatites dykes that mainly intrude the granodiorite and the volcanics.

Volcanic rocks on the property are represented by dark green mafic metavolcanics and medium grey silicified intermediate volcanics. The mafic rocks are medium grey to dark grey-green colour and cryptocrystalline to very fine grained.

Both mafic and intermediate volcanic rocks are affected by moderate to strong pervasive silicification, minor chloritisation and patchy to pervasive lithium alteration. There is alteration of the green hornblende in proximity to the spodumene pegmatite. There are also amphibolites that are fine grained, weakly foliated and dark green.

The granodiorite is medium grey to greenish grey, massive coarse grained to porphyritic, and exhibits a salt-pepper appearance. The main mineral constituents of granodiorites are light grey to greenish white plagioclase (40-45 vol%), dark green to black amphibole, most likely hornblende (15-20 vol%), mica(20 vol%), represented by biotite and muscovite, grey quartz (10-15%vol) and minor epidote, chlorite and disseminated sulphide.

Three different types of facies of pegmatites dykes have been identified based on mineralogy and textures: PEG1, PEG2 and PEG3. The main differences between the three types of pegmatite dykes are the amount of spodumene in the dyke, the feldspar and the quarts content, the texture of the pegmatite and the presence of zoning.

The NAL Mineral Resource includes 32 pegmatites striking approximately northwest and have variable dips from subvertical to 50 degree to the southwest.

The NAL pegmatite dykes have been delineated over a strike length of approximately 1,800 m and to a depth of approximately 400m vertical. Dyke have variable widths from 2.5m to 90m.

Mining will be undertaken by conventional bulk mining methods utilising hydraulic excavators, dump trucks and drill and blast coupled to a ROM stockpile. Ore will be trucked directly from the blasted faces to the ROM stockpile and fed to the primary crusher using Front-End Loader (FEL). Allowance has been made for blending from the ROM and external stockpiles. The planned mining operation is based on 12 hour shifts with two crews working one week (7 days) double shifts and 2 weeks (14 days) single shifts.

Planned mining activities are as follows:

- Clearing of vegetation, stripping of topsoil and overburden, and removal to storage location on-site;
- Haul road and ramp construction;
- Drilling and blasting of ore and associated waste, including pre-splits on final walls;
- Loading of ore and waste from the pits;
- Haulage of ore to the ROM pad and waste to dump areas.

The pit will be mined using 2m and 3m flitches for ore and waste respectively. This height gives reasonable production efficiency while keeping dilution to a minimum. In waste, the flitch height could be increased to improve efficiency within the limits of the equipment size.

The proposed pit has been designed based on the geotechnical requirements and recommendations prepared by Golder Associates. The design outlines a pit of ~1,350m in length, an average of 750m width and down to a final pit depth of 270m.

It was noted that only preliminary hydrogeology studies have been carried out for the project. Although to date no significant water inflows have occurred, a hydrogeology study is to be completed in the near term. Within the open pit, water will be managed via ditching on benches and through sumps in the pit floor. The actual drain requirements will be assessed during operations based on the performance of the dewatering system as the requirements are likely to vary with mine depth.

Mining will be undertaken using phases, commencing with the development of the actual Phase 1 at the south-east limit of the deposit, advancing to the north and in depth in six phases to reach the ultimate designed pit.

A minimum mining width of 40m has been applied in most areas. Working widths are reduced in select instances, such as the final pit benches. A 60m layback has been considered between the final pit and Lac Lortie. The existing mining lease boundary was also considered as a design limit.

The ultimate pit ramp system has been designed to accommodate 90t-class haul trucks even if in the near future 65t-class haul trucks will be used by the mining contractor (for the first four years of operations).

Phase 1 and 2 have been designed to suit this smaller truck size. For the last benches at the pit bottom, a single lane ramp has been used. The dual lane ramp width is designed at 26m and the single lane ramp at 18.5m.

All mine waste rock will be dumped external to the pit. The actual waste dump area is to be completed in the first few months of operation as it was previously filled during the 2017-2019 mining operations and a new waste area is planned.

Development of the LOM plan included pit optimisation, pit design, mine scheduling and the application of modifying factors to the measured and indicated portion of the in-situ mineral resource. Tonnages and grades account for mining dilution, geological losses and operational mining loss factors.

Previously mined-out workings from an old underground operation exist on the site and mining in these areas will take place in the near term, necessitating particular consideration in detailed mine planning and operations.Portions of Phases 2 and 3 require the mining through of the old underground workings, with specific operating procedures in place. Drilling will be completed using remotely operated drilling rigs.

Based on the current understanding of the geometries and locations of the existing underground openings (U/G) in relation to the planned pit design, the majority of these U/G openings will be within the pit, i.e. will not intercept the final pit wall.

Local modifications to the short-term design will be required for safe and stable excavations in areas where stopes intersect the pit phases wall or floor, or drifts run parallel to the pit wall. Slopes in these areas should be developed with care to ensure the safety of personnel and prevent equipment damage due to collapsing stopes and drifts.

Investigation and evaluation of hazards relating to those underground workings, and design of mitigation, should be initiated during the detailed engineering design phase of the project and continued through the operating life of the mine.

The total volume represented by the underground stopes, drifts and shaft is less than 1% of the total final pit volume so these affect a relatively small portion of the overall operation.

The PFS is based on mining being conducted by a specialist mining contractor for the first four years of operation and then by the owner’s operations team and equipment fleet.

The crushing circuit includes conventional primary, secondary, and tertiary crushing combined with primary and secondary ore sorting to remove host rock dilution prior to the mill. A crusher by-pass circuit is currently under design and a megadome covering a crushed material stockpile is currently being envisioned. Design for the connection to the existing silo feeding the rod mill and operational strategy is currently being developed and is expected to be completed by the end of Q1 2023.

The grinding circuit consists of a rod mill and ball mill in closed circuit with sizing screens. The grinding circuit product is deslimed and fed to a magnetic separation circuit to reject iron-bearing minerals.

The NAL concentrator previously operated from 2013-14 and 2017-19. The updated flowsheet is similar to the previous one, except for the fact that there is higher capacity on critical steps such as ore sorting, magnetic separation and high-density conditioning.

The grinding circuit product is deslimed and fed to a magnetic separation circuit to reject iron- bearing minerals. The non-magnetic stream is conditioned prior to spodumene flotation, which comprises rougher and scavenger cells and three stages of cleaning. The 6% Li2O spodumene concentrate is dewatered on a belt filter. The tailings streams are thickened and will be fed to the existing Tailings Storage Facility #1.

When the existing Tailings Storage Facility #1 reaches capacity, tailings will be dewatered in a new tailings filtration plant and dry-stacked in the planned Tailings Storage Facility #2.

In 2023, the plant will begin processing NAL ore. In mid-2023, the plant will begin processin ........