Arena Minerals Inc. announced evaporation pond construction is underway at its Sal de la Puna Project (“SDLP Project”) located in the Pastos Grandes basin within Salta province, Argentina. The evaporation pilot pond shall cover a total of 10,000 m2; designed to produce >35% lithium chloride (“LiCl”) (6% lithium) from SDLP raw brine. Initial grading and compaction of the total 10,000 square metre (m2) area has been completed on the Almafuerte claim block.

The area is dominated by the Blanca Lila formation which consists of over 20 metres of sandy clay that is not saturated with brine or water. Compaction indexes (>94%) appear favourable and it is anticipated that berms shall be constructed without the addition of coarser material to enhance slope stability. Based on these soil qualities, the current design uses 1mm HDPE liner installed directly on the compacted natural clay without a geotextile layer commonly employed in the region.

In addition, the Company provided aSDLP Project update. Arena is operating the SDLP Project on behalf of Sal de la Puna Holdings Ltd., which is jointly owned by Arena (65%) and Ganfeng New Energy Technology Development (Suzhou) Co. Ltd. (“Ganfeng Lithium”; 1772.HK; OTCQX: GNENF) (35%).

Drilling continues at SDLP Project. DDD-01 at Graciela has reached 570 metres and will continue drilling past a target depth of 650 m below surface. Brine was encountered at 120 m downhole and continues down to drill depths.

The hole will be logged and sampled once complete. Asecond rotary drill is turning at the Fortuna II claim block. This claim block is interpreted to be overlain by clastic sequences that are either dry or contain freshwater resources and underlain by brine saturated sedimentary sequences.

Both horizons are of value to the Company, as fresh water does not appear abundant within the Pastos Grandes basin. Athird larger rotary drill is being set up at the Almafuerte claim block to drill the Company's first production sized well. The production sized well is to be drilled down to a depth of 500 m, and screened from 350 m to 500 m in order to target the lower gravel aquifer encountered in diamond drill hole DDD-02.

This lower gravel aquifer averaged 503 milligrams per litre (“mg/l”) lithium (“Li”) with grades as high as 557 mg/l Li (for further details please refer to press release dated April 11, 2022.