Berkeley Energia Limited announced the commencement of its initial drill programme to test for critical battery and EV metals across its large licence holding in Western Spain. The total 3,350 m (13 hole) programme is targeting lithium, cobalt, tin, tungsten and rare earths several of which have previously been mined in commercial quantities in the area. The Company holds one of the largest exploration licence holdings in Spain with over 12,000 square km of licences across a mineral rich province which has had several periods of historic mining for a number of the metals and minerals being targeted. The targets have been generated through detailed exploration for a wide range of minerals over the past two years and further refined by the use of the innovative Ionic Leach programme. The Ionic Leach methodology, which is being employed by the Berkeley team for the first time in Spain, allows for the ultra-low detection of metals and minerals and significantly reduces the amount of drilling required by generating highly defined targets. The results from this drill programme will be fed back into the database and more refined targets interpreted. It will allow for further analysis of the mineral and metal endowment across the Company's large licence holding in this mineral rich province. The first area being targeted is in the West of the licence area 50 km from Retortillo which has previously been mined for tin and high-grade lithium and has reported significant cobalt anomalies. In addition to the new licences recently announced, the Company has been awarded a 31 square km licence which includes some former lithium and titanium operations and is adjacent to one of the areas being drilled in the current programme.