Could you provide us with an overview of Monumental Minerals Corp and explain what the company focuses on?

Monumental Minerals Corp is a mineral exploration company that is dedicated to acquiring, exploring, and developing mineral resource properties in the critical metals sector. The company has positioned itself to take advantage of the rapidly evolving transition from hydrocarbons to the electrification of the planet, particularly in the automotive sector. The company has two exploration projects that are of high merit: a heavy rare earth project in northeastern Mexico and a lithium brine/cesium sediment project in Chile within the lithium triangle.

Can you describe the involvement of Monumental Minerals in the Laguna Blanca project with Lithium Chile?

In March of 2022, Monumental signed an option agreement with Lithium Chile that allows it to earn a 75% interest in Laguna Blanca. The agreement requires Monumental to pay CAD$200,000 in cash and issue 3.4 million shares of Monumental. The company is expected to spend CAD$1.5 million on exploration by March 2025 and make cash payments of CAD 1.5 million. This deal makes Lithium Chile Monumental’s largest shareholder, with a 9.9% stake.

Monumental views Lithium Chile as a valuable joint venture partner due to its track record of discovering and developing high-quality projects in Chile and Argentina and its tremendous experience in the region. The Laguna Blanca project is located in the lithium triangle, a zone within the central Andes high desert that includes Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia. The project consists of 23 exploration concessions covering 5,200 hectares.

Could you provide us with details on the Jemi rare earth element (REE) project and its potential to contain heavy rare earth elements (HREE)?

The Jemi project is located within the North American Alkaline Igneous Belt, an underexplored north-south trend over 3,000 km long of alkaline igneous rocks and carbonatites that host numerous REE, gold, and other critical element deposits. The Jemi project has multiple REE occurrences containing economic concentrations of the high-value magnetic REEs, including the HREEs dysprosium (Dy) and terbium (Tb), and the LREEs neodymium (Nd) and praseodymium (Pr). These REEs represent 94% of the REE market by value and are used almost exclusively for the manufacture of high-performance magnets that are used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, and other electric motors. The project also contains associated tantalum (Ta), niobium (Nb), and zirconium (Zr).

The project is located within the state of Coahuila, approximately 40 km south of the Texas border. The proximity to Texas is crucial, as it is a fast-growing North American hub for the downstream REE industry (refinement and manufacturing).

Where is Monumental Minerals focusing its exploration efforts in 2022?

Monumental will focus its exploration efforts at both Jemi and Laguna Blanca in 2022. At Jemi, the company plans to carry out a field program consisting of mapping, ground geophysics, and geochemistry. The results of this program will provide the necessary confidence to ensure that the 2022 drill targets are positioned to have the highest probability of intersecting high-grade REE mineralization. The drill program for Jemi in 2022 is estimated at 2,500 meters, or approximately 8 holes at 300 meters each.

At Laguna Blanca, surface geochemical sampling and TEM geophysics were conducted by Lithium Chile over parts of the salar. These two datasets have identified highly prospective locations for drill testing of lithium brine and cesium in the sediment.