Rhyolite Ridge is a geologically unique lithium-boron deposit that occurs within lacustrine sedimentary rocks of the South Basin, peripheral to the Silver Peak Caldera. The South Basin within the project boundaries measures 6 kilometers by 2 kilometers and covers an area of 800 hectares.

Rhyolite Ridge is one of only two major lithium-boron deposits globally and the only known deposit associated with the boron mineral searlesite. This mineralization style is different to the brine and pegmatite deposits that are the source of nearly all the lithium produced today. The lacustrine (lake) beds that host the mineralization lie within the Cave Spring Formation and overlie the 6-million-year-old Rhyolite Ridge Tuff and Argentite Canyon volcanic rocks. The lacustrine section that measures up to 457 meters thick is composed of three members, divided by marker beds of “gritstone” comprised of airfall debris with abundant pumice lapilli. The middle member, which is bounded top and bottom by distinctive gritstones, is dominantly marl, composing nearly 60 meters of section, and bears anomalous lithium in its upper half. About 18 meters of this section contains high concentrations of boron –contained in the sodium borosilicate mineral, searlesite (up to 30,000 parts per million [ppm] boron) – as well as lithium in mixed illite-smectite layers (about 1,500 to 2,500 ppm lithium). This marl is composed of very fine grained, intimately mingled searlesite, smectite, illite, potassi ........

Development of the Rhyolite Ridge quarry will occur in two stages:

- Quarry Stage 1 – Starter Pit. An initial starter pit will be developed in the southwestern part of the ore body to supply ore for the first 4.5 years of the project. In this area, lithium grades are 15% higher than the average grade for the deposit and the ore is more exposed at surface.

- Quarry Stage 2. Development of the greater pit will start once the environmental permits for this development have been granted. The Stage 2 pit design will facilitate a larger mining area to be maintained, aiding the efficiency of the operation for another 21 years (there will be an overlap of Stage 1 and Stage 2 ore mined during years 4 and 5). Stage 2 will involve expansion to the south and east. Finally, mining will progress to the north of the deposit. The Stage 2 pit requires prestripping to begin in year 4.

The mining operations will consist of a conventional drill-and-blast, load-and-haul operation. Ore will be trucked from the mine quarry to the nearby ore processing stockpile over a new heavy haul road. The ore will be reclaimed by a loader and fed to the crushing plant.

The open-pit mining operations are scheduled nominally for 350 days per year. It was assumed that 15 days per year will be lost due to unscheduled delays such as weather conditions. The open-pit equipment will operate 24 hours a day in two 12-hour working shifts.

The key parameters for the c ........

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