The Project is underlain primarily by a generally north trending sequence of Permian to Mississippian sedimentary rocks composed of siltstones, mudstones, sandstones, conglomerates and limestones, subdivided into several units or formations.

A dolomite hydrothermal alteration overprint has been interpreted within the Project area, based on geochemical drill hole data from drill holes that variably penetrate into the grey–brown siltstone and black mudstone sequences, and vanadium-rich zones.

Vanadium mineralization is stratigraphically controlled, and appears to follow the strike and dip of the host lithology, near the contact between an overlying grey–brown siltstone and the underlying brown to black mudstone unit of the Devonian-age Woodruff Formation. The mineralized zones form as stratigraphic subunits or beds within the Woodruff Formation mudstone, hosting elevated concentrations of vanadium in the form of vanadium pentoxide (V2O5).

The most persistent, thickest, and highest-grade vanadium unit lies in the brown–black mudstone unit and averages approximately 115 ft (35 m) thick, striking north–south over 6,000 ft (1,800 m) of length and 2,000 ft (600 m) wide in the east–west direction.

The mineralization is locally exposed at surface at both the Central and South Zones, but mostly at a shallow depth less than 200 feet (60 m) from surface. Above and below the high-grade zone are other vanadium zones within the brown–black ........

The 2020 PEA assumes conventional open pit mining using a conventional Owneroperated equipment fleet. The mining operations will have an 11-year life, with one year of pre-production. A stockpiling strategy is planned, which will provide process plant feed after the cessation of mining operations.

The Project is designed as a conventional truck-shovel operation with 45 st trucks and 6.5 yd3 front-end loaders (FEL). The pit design includes four nested phases to balance stripping requirements while satisfying the process plant requirements.

The design parameters include a ramp width of 82 ft, road grades of 10%, bench height of 20 ft, targeted mining width of 200 ft, berm interval of 40 ft, fixed slope angle of 40° and a minimum mining width of 82 ft.

The smoothed final pit design contains approximately 16.4 Mst of mineralized material and 52.7 Mst of waste for a resulting stripping ratio of 3.2:1. Within the 16.4 Mst of mineralized material the average grades are 0.71% V2O5.

The deposit is proposed to be mined in four nested phases, including the ultimate pit limit. The schedule was developed in yearly periods. The operating phases were sequenced starting in the south portion of the deposit, then proceeding to mine the north and central portions, to finally mine to the final pit limit. The scheduling constraints set the maximum mining capacity at 7 Mst/a, and the maximum number of benches mined per year at 10 in each phase.

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