Ottawa, ON, January 12, 2024 – Stria Lithium Inc. (TSX-V: SRA) (“Stria” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the appointment of Donald Birak as a new Director of the Company.
Donald J. Birak is a senior geologist with over 45 years of experience in the minerals industry. Mr. Birak currently consults on mineral property evaluation, regulatory compliance, and greenfield/ brownfield exploration programs. Mr. Birak has and continues to serve on numerous boards of publicly traded mining companies.
In his past managements positions Mr. Birak was Senior Vice President of Exploration for Cœur Mining Inc. with responsibility for the design and guidance of all aspects of the company’s global exploration activities and served as Vice President of Exploration for AngloGold Ashanti North America (formerly Independence Mining Co. Inc.) as well as Hudbay Minerals Inc. (formerly Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co. Ltd.). In 2000 he received the “Bill Dennis Prospector of the Year” award presented by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, along with his key exploration team members, in recognition of discovery of the 777 copper and zinc deposits and several others in the Flin Flon-Snow Lake Greenstone Belt of Manitoba, Canada.
Mr. Birak earned a Master of Science degree in Geology from Bowling Green State University, Ohio, with a thesis on the geology of the Groveland Iron Mine in northern Michigan, USA. He has authored and co-authored several professional publications on the geology and metallurgy of sediment-hosted and epithermal precious metal deposits and on the use of geostatistics in resource modeling and grade control. He is a Senior Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) and is currently a member of the Budget and Investment committees of SEG. He is a Registered Member of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM).
Donald Birak stated, “Dean Hanisch, CEO, and I met when we had mutual connections in Sierra Nevada in Mexico. I look forward to working with Dean and the board of Stria Lithium to help bring value to the shareholders and stakeholders via exploration and development of their properties in the emerging lithium district of Western Quebec. Most of the global reserves of lithium in 2022 were in just 3 countries – Chile, Australia, and Argentina – followed by China, USA and Canada. Stria’s foray into lithium in the Li-pegmatites of Quebec is timely as both Canada and the US seek to expand internal sources of this critical commodity.”
Jeff York, Chairman of Stria Lithium said today: “Mr. Birak brings a strong depth of geological, and operations governance required for Stria establishing itself as a key exploration player in the critical minerals space within Canada.”
About Stria Lithium
Stria Lithium (TSX-V: SRA) is an emerging resource exploration company developing Canadian lithium reserves to meet legislated demand for electric vehicles and their rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
Stria’s Central Pontax Lithium Project covers 36 square kilometres, including 8 kilometres of strike along the prospective Chambois Greenstone Belt. The region, known as the Canadian “Lithium Triangle,” is one of only a few known sources of lithium available for hard rock mining in North America.
Stria’s Pontax Central Project Joint Venture with Cygnus Metals now has a maiden JORC inferred resource Estimate (MRE) of 10.1Mt at 1.04% Li2O based on the central area of the known mineralisation.
This JORC estimate establishes Pontax Central as a serious player in the Canadian Lithium James Bay region. Cygnus Metals being an ASX issuer, they adhered to Australian JORC Code 2012 guidelines, meaning that such mineral resource estimate is not necessarily current in regard of the Canadian National Instrument 43-101 code.
Cygnus Metals is committed to fully funding and managing the current two-stage exploration and drilling program to a maximum of $10 million at Stria’s Pontax property, and will also pay Stria up to $6 million in cash. In return, Cygnus may acquire up to a 70% interest in the property. Cygnus has fulfilled its stage 1 requirements within the agreement and has now earned its 51% interest in the property.
Stria’s other significant project, Pontax II covers 55 square kilometres, approximately 25 kilometres to the west-south-west of Pontax Central and is located adjacent to the Billy-Diamond paved highway. Stria has added to this project by recently acquiring 24 claims, for 1276.5 hectares that are strategically located northeast of Stria’s Pontax II claims.
Stria Lithium previously reported highly anomalous tantalum oxide grain counts in till samples up to 797 grains, the highest count ever recorded by the laboratory. The Pontax II grain counts stand at the 97.6 centile of the regional population with an average of 156 grains per sample as a comparative basis, a regional survey in the same area conducted by the Ministère de l’Énergie et des Ressources Naturelles du Québec, processed a total of 5950 tantalum oxide grains yielding an average count of 36 grains per samples. The conclusion being the grain counts are suggestive of the proximity of lithium bearing pegmatites.
Pontax II claims are in highly active prospective zones, situated to the west southwest of Stria/Cygnus lithium discovery and situated to the west of the Patriot Battery Metals (PMET.V) Pontax project, and south of Brunswick Exploration (BRW.V).
Stria’s Pontax properties are both situated close to an industrial powerline and a major paved highway, about 310 km north of the North American rail network that leads to the industrial heartland.
As momentum builds for the green energy revolution and the shift to electric vehicles, governments in Canada and the U.S. are aggressively supporting the North American lithium industry, presenting the industry and its investors with a rare, if not unprecedented, opportunity for growth and prosperity well into the next decade and beyond.
Stria is committed to exceeding the industry’s environmental, social and governance standards. A critical part of that commitment is forging meaningful, enduring and mutually beneficial relationships with the James Bay Cree Nation (Eeyouch), and engaging openly and respectfully as neighbours and collaborators in this exciting project that has the potential to create lasting jobs and prosperity for Eeyou Istchee and its people.
The technical content disclosed in the current press release was reviewed and approved by Réjean Girard, P.Geo and president of IOS Services Geoscientifiques Inc, a qualified person as defined under National Instrument NI-43-101.
For more information about Stria Lithium and the Pontax Lithium project, please visit https://strialithium.com
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For more information on Stria Lithium Inc., please contact:
Dean Hanisch
CEO Stria Lithium
dhanisch@strialithium.com
+1(613) 612-6060
Investors Relations, Stria Lithium Inc.
ir@strialithium.com
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