Critical Reagent Processing Corp. provided an update on progress with the Laguana Santa Maria Soda Ash Project, located in Salta Province, Argentina. The project is strategically located in the "Lithium Triangle," a geographic area of significant lithium carbonate project development by such companies as POSCO, Arcadium Lithium PLC, Ganfeng Lithium and Lithium Americas.

Soda ash is a critical reagent required to produce lithium carbonate; each tonne of lithium carbonate produced utilizes two tonnes of soda ash in processing. Currently, much of the soda ash supply for the production of lithium carbonate in Argentina is sourced outside the country. The Laguna Santa Maria appears as a salar or salt flat.

Work to date has included a Vertical Survey and a site visit with limited sampling. The project concept is one of a salar that hosts brine exploitable as a "in liquid" soda ash deposit. The project area is a Mining License with a history of small-scale soda ash production by the prior owner.

Results of a recently completed Electromagnetic Sounding indicates a depth potential of over 280 meters comprised of two layers of granulitic material. The upper layer is an unsaturated zone down to approximately 35 meters and is not the target zone. Below this layer is a zone of saturation with high salinity.

It is comprised of medium sediments and is the target zone. Eleven surface/solid and fifteen liquid/well samples were obtained during the 2023 site visit. The surface samples were hand dug as pits and had values ranging from 501 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) CO3 (carbonate) to 325,406 mg/kg CO3 indicating a carbonate surface formation.

The fifteen liquid samples were obtained at various locations around the project by the perforation of the surface structure with a hand dug well. Of the fifteen liquid samples taken to date, thirteen were deemed to represent near surface waters within the unsaturated zone. The other two samples have returned high values of calcium carbonate, carbonate, bicarbonate and sodium, and are deemed to represent leakage upwards from the saturated target zone below.

Sample LMS 0-2 returned 24,414 milligrams per liter (mg/L) Ca Co3 (calcium carbonate), 11,951CO3 mg/L CO3 (carbonate), 5,484 mg/L HCO3 (bicarbonate), and 22,858 mg/L Na (sodium), with total dissolved solids at 58,723 mg/L. Sample LMS 05 returned 15,981 mg/L CaCO3, 7,980 mg/L CO3, 3,270 mg/L HCO3 and 15.844 mg/L Na with total dissolved solids at 39,727 mg/L. All test work was completed under the supervision of Mr. William Feyerabend, a director and Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. All samples were analyzed by Alex Stewart Laboratories, an ISO certified laboratory located in Mendoza, Argentina. Quality Assurance and Best Practices were employed in the sample program including blank insertion prior to assy.

This small sample set would indicate that a soda ash product may possibly be produced by the evaporation of liquid contained within the target zone. The next phase of work will include an onsite bulk sample of brine for evaporative testing.