American Lithium Files Robust PEA for Falchani Hard Rock Lithium Project with Highlights Including a Tripling of After-tax NPV8 to US$5.11 Billion

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- American Lithium Corp. (“American Lithium” or the “Company”) (TSX-V:LI | Nasdaq:AMLI | Frankfurt:5LA1) is pleased to announce it has filed an independent National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report (“Report”) on the Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) for the Falchani Lithium Project (“Falchani”) located in Puno, southwestern Peru Highlights of the PEA were previously announced on January 10, 2024.

The PEA and accompanying Technical Report were completed by DRA Global and Stantec Consulting Services Inc. (“Stantec”).   The PEA demonstrates that Falchani has the potential to become a substantial, low-cost, long-life producer of high purity Lithium Carbonate (“LCE” or “Li₂CO₃”) with the potential to also produce Sulfate of Potash (“SOP”) and Cesium Sulfate (“CsS” or “Cs₂SO4”) by-products alongside LCE.

Falchani PEA Highlights (Base Case – LCE only production):

• Pre-tax Net Present Value (“NPV”)_8% $8.41 billion at $22,500/tonne (“t”) LCE
• After-tax NPV_8% $5.11 billion at $22,500/t LCE
  • NPV has tripled versus 2019 PEA After-tax NPV_8% $1.5 billion at $12,000/t LCE  
• Pre-tax Internal Rate of Return (“IRR”) of 40.7%
• After-tax IRR of 32.0%
• Pre-tax initial capital payback period 2.5 years; after-tax payback 3.0 years
• Average LOM annual pre-tax cash flow: $1,019 million; annual after-tax cash flow: $ 644 million
• Initial Capital Costs (“Capex”) estimated at $681 million
• Total Capex LOM estimated at $2,565 million; Sustaining Capital estimated at $236 million
• Operating cost (“Opex”) estimated at $5,092/t LCE
• PEA mine and processing plan produces 2.64 Mt LCE LOM over 43 years
• Steady-state Ave. of 23,145 tpa LCE Phase 1; 45,084 tpa Phase 2; and 72,624 tpa Phase 3

“We are very pleased to have filed this updated PEA on Falchani, which shows very robust economics for this large-scale, high purity, hard rock project,” stated Simon Clarke, CEO of American Lithium. “This is a major milestone in the process to complete pre-feasibility and move the Project into mine permitting. The filing of the Semi-Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment late last year also positions the Project to be fast-tracked. Falchani has demonstrated the potential for long life, high annual production, with one of the lowest operating cost profiles globally for developers.”