LiTHOS Announces Submission of $30 Million Follow-on Grant to the US Department of Energy

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Jan 29, 2024, 07:00 ET

Grant application received written support from U.S. Senator Katie Britt, US Senator Tommy Tuberville, U.S. Congresswoman Terri A. Sewell, US Congressman Gary Palmer, Alabama Mobility and Power Center, The University of Alabama, and the City of Bessemer, Economic and Community Development Department.
Grant proposes to upgrade the 55,000 sq ft Bessemer complex capacity to produce pilot scale polished and purified battery-grade lithium hydroxide and create hundreds of new jobs for the local community.
Facility is strategically located next to Mercedes-Benz US International, Inc., Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, LLC and Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, LLC. The Alabama site is Hyundai's first U.S. manufacturing plant and ranks as the state's third-largest industrial employer tied with Mercedes-Benz.

VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - LiTHOS Group Ltd. ("LiTHOS" or the "Company") (CBOE CA: LITS) (OTCQB:LITSF) (FSE: YU8) (WKN: A3ES4Q) is pleased to announce its wholly-owned subsidiary Aqueous Resources LLC ("Aqueous") submitted its complete application for $30 million to the US Department of Energy under Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0003105. Awards are anticipated to be announced in May 2024.

Our mission is to become the global standard in economically efficient, sustainable lithium production. LiTHOS' patent-pending AcQUA™ technology eliminates the need for evaporation ponds - an environmentally damaging and water-intensive step in the lithium extraction process. AcQUA™ technology helps resource owners unlock higher yields more quickly from continental brine lithium resources at a substantially lower cost.

Lithium is now among one of the world's most in-demand metals due to aggressive ambitious electrification efforts to limit CO2 emissions. This global demand is underpinned by the adoption of EV's and the installation of hundreds of gigawatts of intermittent solar power generation capacity requiring partial battery storage solutions.

The Company previously disclosed its pre-qualified status in September 2023 and has now finalized its application for up to USD $30 Million under Area of Interest ("AOI") 1B Phase II from the DOE funding opportunity DE-FOA-0003105 announced on September 6, 2023. This provides up to $30 million of total grant funding per awardee to support pilot scale facility development and construction of lithium hydroxide processing plants to produce and refine critical minerals and materials in the United States. This directly aligns with the vision and goals previously set out in the Company's September 6^,2023, announcement and January 16^,2024, announcement that its Bessemer, Alabama processing complex is fully operational and permitted to produce pilot scale lithium hydroxide.

"We are excited to extend and expand our relationship with the US Department of Energy and use this additional grant funding to accelerate pilot scale production of Lithium hydroxide from the Bessemer, Alabama complex," said Scott Taylor, Chief Executive Officer. "The requirement for the Bessemer complex was driven by substantial incoming, unsolicited customer demand for bespoke conditioning and pre-treatment processing prior to Direct Lithium Extraction ("DLE"). We now can deliver near real-time ICP fluid sampling results for visiting customers to validate and verify our AcQUA™ technology on their reservoir brines. The existing permits allow us to seamlessly extend our pre-treatment processing flowsheets to DLE and all the way through polishing and purification of battery grade lithium. We are grateful for the support we received from the Senate, Congress, the University of Alabama, and the City of Bessemer."

About LiTHOS

The Company's mission is to deliver sustainable lithium production without the use of evaporation ponds. AcQUA™ is LiTHOS' patent-pending technology that spans the complete value chain from the conditioning and pre-treatment of raw brines through the DLE phase into the polishing and purification of battery grade lithium feedstock. LiTHOS has two fully operational processing facilities: a 4,000 sq ft lab in Denver, CO and a 55,000 sq ft complex in Bessemer, AL. LiTHOS is working under contract with multiple strategic mineral resource owners and processing brines from the largest Salars in Chile and Argentina, and the Smackover reservoir in the Southeastern United States. Our wholly owned subsidiary, Aqueous Resources LLC, is a US Department of Energy grant awardee and a Colorado Advanced Industries grant awardee.

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ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Scott Taylor - CEO

Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian legislation. All statements in this news release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations and orientations regarding the future including, without limitation, the Company's market position in the industry of sustainable lithium production and increase in the capacity of the Company's facilities. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable and reflect expectations of future developments and other factors which management believes to be reasonable and relevant, the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "estimates", "plans", "may", "should", "would", "will", "potential", "scheduled" or variations of such words and phrases and similar expressions, which, by their nature, refer to future events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. In making the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, that the Company's facilities will be able to handle the increased demand. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors include, but are not limited to, the failure of the Company's facilities to handle increased demand and the potential that that Company's market position does not increase as expected. Further, the ongoing labour shortages, inflationary pressures, rising interest rates, the global financial climate and the conflict in Ukraine and surrounding regions are some additional factors that are affecting current economic conditions and increasing economic uncertainty, which may impact the Company's operating performance, financial position and future prospects. Collectively, the potential impacts of this economic environment pose risks that are currently indescribable and immeasurable. Other factors may also adversely affect the future results or performance of the Company, including those risk and concerns more fully described in the Company's annual and quarterly management's discussion and analysis and in other filings made by the Company with Canadian securities regulatory authorities under the Company's profile at www.sedarplus.ca. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and, accordingly, are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty of such statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, unless required by applicable law, the Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in these forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Lithos Group