Bacanora Minerals Announces Filing of NI-43-101 Feasibility Study for the Sonora Lithium Project

Calgary, Alberta (FSCwire) - BACANORA MINERALS LTD. ("Bacanora" or the "Company") (TSX-V: BCN and AIM: BCN), the Canadian and London listed lithium company, is pleased to announce that it has now filed on SEDAR the Feasibility Study ("FS") for the Sonora Lithium Project^[1] in Mexico ("Sonora" or the "Project") that has been prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and was previously announced on the 12^th December 2017.

The results of the FS confirm the positive economics and favourable operating costs of a 35,000 tonnes per annum ("tpa") battery grade Li₂CO₃ operation.  The FS estimates a pre-tax project Net Present Value ("NPV") of US$1.253 billion at an 8% discount rate and an Internal Rate of Return ("IRR") of 26.1%, and Life of Mine ("LOM") operating costs of US$3,910/t of lithium carbonate ("Li₂CO₃").

Report Highlights

Strong economic potential of two stage open-pit operation at Sonora: Stage 1 - 17,500 tpa for 4 years; Stage 2 - 35,000 tpa

• Estimated Project pre-tax IRR of 26.1%; NPV of US$1.253 billion (at 8% discount rate) with a simple Stage 1 project payback of four years. Revenues are based on a flat US$11,000/t for battery grade Li₂CO₃ over LOM, significantly below the various forecasts of Li₂CO₃ price range of US$12,000 – 20,000/t^{[2] [3]}

• Low estimated LOM operating costs of US$3,910/t of Li₂CO₃ – lower than the new lithium brine operations being reported in Argentina³

• Average LOM annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation ("EBITDA") estimated at US$229 million per annum

• Measured plus Indicated Mineral Resource estimate of over 5 million tonnes ("Mt") of lithium carbonate equivalent ("LCE")^[4] (comprising 103 Mt at an average grade of 3,480 ppm Li for 1.9 Mt LCE in Measured Resources and 188 Mt at an average grade of 3,120 ppm Li for 3.1Mt LCE in Indicated Resources) and an additional Inferred Mineral Resource of 268 Mt at an average grade of 2,650 ppm Li for 3.7 Mt LCE

• Low stripping ratio: open-pit mine design indicates a total of 37.1 Mt of ore to be mined over the planned 19-year mine life with an average stripping ratio of approximately 3.4:1 over LOM

• Integrated plant designed to initially process 1.1 Mt of ore per year during Stage 1, subsequently increasing to 2.2 Mt per year for Stage 2

• Stage 1 capital cost estimate of US$420 million includes – mining, processing plant, on-site infrastructure, construction of Tailings Management Facility ("TMF"), general administration costs as well as the requisite contingencies

• Potential to sell up to 28,000 tpa of potassium sulphate ("SOP", "K₂SO₄") for sale to the Mexican fertiliser industry

Report Filing

A technical report on this Feasibility Study entitled "TECHNICAL REPORT ON THE FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR THE SONORA LITHIUM PROJECT, MEXICO" (the "Report"), which has been prepared in accordance with NI 43-101, has now been filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and is also available at www.bacanoraminerals.com.  The joint authors of the Report are listed under the heading, "Qualified Persons" below.

Qualified Persons

Each of the qualified persons below has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this press release and are independent of the Company. The qualified persons are:

Greg Lane, FAusIMM., the Chief Technical Officer of Ausenco, is the co-ordinating author and qualified person responsible for the process engineering, infrastructure, capital cost and operating cost estimates.

The Mineral Resource estimate was prepared by Mr. Martin Pittuck, CEng, MIMMM, FGSof SRK, who is an independent Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

The Mineral Reserve estimate and mine plan was prepared by Mr. Herb Welhener of Independent Mining Consultants Inc. who is an independent Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

Mr Joel A. Carrasco P.E., is the Qualified Person with specific responsibility for sections 1.11, 4.4, 4.6, 4.7, 4.8, 5, 18.10, 18.16, 20, 25.5, 26.5, and 27.

The Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimates in this press release were prepared in accordance with the CIM "Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves" adopted by the CIM Council on May 10, 2014, and the CIM "Estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Best Practice Guidelines," adopted by CIM Council on Nov. 23, 2003, in compliance with NI 43-101 guidelines.