DeepRock Minerals Inc. announced it has entered into an option agreement to acquire a 100% interest in the Esperança Lithium Property (the ‘Property') with BHBC EXPLORAÇÃO MINERAL LTDA. and RTB GEOLOGIA E MINERAÇÃO LTDA, both limited companies incorporated and existing under the laws of Brazil (together the ‘Optionor'). The Esperança Lithium Property is a 2,969.15-hectare mineral claim package comprising 1.5 contiguous claim blocks in Brazil's Minas Gerais State, a mining-friendly jurisdiction located approximately 40 kms west of Sigma Lithium's Grota do Cirilo property, the largest lithium hard rock deposit in the Americas.

The Property covers mapped metasediments of the Salinas Formation (unit 1), comprising mica-quartz and quartz-mica schists, as well as locally occurring meta-conglomerates and micaceous quartzites (CPRM Geology map, 1:250:000 scale; 2016). This is the same unit of the Salinas Formation that has been mined by CBL for spodumene lithium for almost 30 years and hosts Sigma's Grota do Cirilo deposit. DeepRock intends to immediately start prospecting, sampling, detailed mapping, and multispectral analysis of satellite data to identify potential exploration targets.