Essential Metals : Pioneer Dome Lithium Project update - amended

onlyASX Code: ESS

Corporate Profile

Shares on issue: 244,246,972

Cash: $9m (31 Dec 2021)

Debt: Nil

useKEY PROJECTS LITHIUM Pioneer Dome GOLD Golden Ridge GOLD Juglah Dome

Joint Ventures (ESS %)

2x nickel projects (20-25%)*personal4x gold projects (25-30%)*

* Free c rried to a decision to mine

Corporate Directory

Non-Executive Chairman

Craig McGown

N n-Executive Directors

Paul Payne

Warren Hallam

Managing Director

Timothy Spencer

CFO & Company Secretary

Carl Travaglini

Ex loration Manager

Andrew Dunn

Investor Relations

ForNicholas Read Read C rporate t: [phone]

e: [e-mail]

ABN: 44 103 423 981

t: [phone]

1. [e-mail]

1. essmetals.com.au

Level 3, 46 Ord St

West Perth, WA 6005

Australia

PO Box 1787,

West Perth, WA 6872

Australia

25 February 2022

Abundant fresh spodumene intersected from near surface in diamond drilling targeting upper zones of Cade deposit

Visual observation of drill core supports the potential for mining at Dome North to commence at surface with the likely upgrading of shallow Resources from Inferred to Indicated.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Successful diamond drill programme completed, comprising of six holes drilled into the upper ~40m of the Cade Deposit and seven holes drilled into the Davy Deposit for a total of 909 metres.
• At Cade abundant fresh spodumene was observed in drill core intersections within the Mineral Resource boundaries. Some weathering is evident within the contact zones between the pegmatite and wall rock as well as where fissures/fractures have facilitated water ingress into the pegmatite.
• At Davy fresh spodumene was observed in three of the drill holes with variable weathering in the other four holes. Minor lepidolite was seen in some holes.
• Assays and XRD analysis are awaited to confirm lithium grades and mineralogy. The drill core is being prepared for dispatch and the laboratory has advised a 12-week turnaround time.
• The recently completed air-core programme testing multiple and, in some cases coincident, lithium, gold and nickel targets, did not locate any spodumene-bearing pegmatites, but several pegmatites were intersected in the southern and central areas of the Project.

Essential Metals Managing Director, Tim Spencer, said: "We are confident that the recently completed diamond drilling will, subject to satisfactory assay and metallurgical test work results, demonstrate that both the Cade and Davy deposits can be mined to produce recoverable spodumene from surface. We also expect to upgrade the drilled zones from Inferred to Indicated status within the Mineral Resource, supporting our development pathway."

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PIONEER DOME LITHIUM PROJECT

The 450km2 Pioneer Dome Project (ESS: 100%) is located in the core of Western Australia's lithium onlycorridor in the Eastern Goldfields, approximately 130km south of Kalgoorlie and 275km north of the Port of Esperance. A Mineral Resource1 of 11.2Mt @ 1.21% Li2O has been defined at 'Dome North' in the

northern area of the Project.

The southern Yilgarn area is recognised as being well-endowed with spodumene deposits, including the Bald Hill Mine, the Mt Marion Mine and the Buldania Project, all of which are located within 80km of the Pioneer Dome Project. The world-class Greenbushes Deposit, the Mt Holland Mine and the Mt Cattlin Mine are located further west, south-west and south-south-west, respectively.

useDIAMOND DRILL PROGRAMME AT DOME NORTH

This drilling was designed to build on the previous resultsannounced on 15 October2, where four Reverse Circulation (RC) holes were drilled in the upper zone of the Cade Deposit returning broad high-grade intercepts, with highlights of:

• 21m @ 1.08% Li2O from surface (PDRC589)
• 24m @ 1.29% Li2O from surface (PDRC590)
• 15m @ 1.06% Li2O from 47m (PDRC591)
• 26m @ 1.46% Li2O from 51m (PDRC592)

Also, hole PDRC519, located at the southern end of the Davy deposit, returned encouraging assays of:

• 7m @ 1.02% Li2O from 21m, including 3m @ 1.44% Li2O; and
• 9m @ 0.62% Li2O from 42m

The two main objectives of the diamond drilling programme were to:

personal	1.	Increase confidence in the Lithium Mineral Resource Estimate by converting a large part of the Davy
	deposit and areas across the upper zone of the Cade deposit from the Inferred to Indicated Resource
		categories by in-fill drilling and by measuring the bulk densities.
	2.	Provide samples from drill core to conduct confirmatory metallurgical test work with a focus on the
For		upper zone in Cade and the Davy deposit.

1. Refer to ASX announcement dated 29 September 2020 "Dome North Lithium Project - Resource Upgrade"
2. Refer ASX announcement 15 October 2021 - High grade assay results from Cade Deposit

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Figure 1 - Example of drill core taken from the upper zone of the Cade Deposit illustrating the relatively homogenous

mineralised pegmatite and some weathering on fractured sections (Hole ID PDD598).

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personalThe HQ triple tube (HQ3) diamond drill programme consisted of six holes drilled into the upper ~40m of the Cade Deposit and seven holes drilled into the Davy Deposit for a total of 909.05 metres (Figure 2).

At Cade, observations of the drill core indicated that while the metasediment (host rock) was strongly weathered, the upper portion of the pegmatite had visual spodumene with minimal weathering and the lower portion of the pegmatite was weak to moderately weathered depending on fracture density (Figure 3 and Figure 5).

Seven diamond drill holes totalling 547.65m were drilled at Davy. The four holes drilled above fresh rock (PDD601 to 603 and PDD607) had weakly to strongly weathered pegmatite hosted in weathered ultramafic lithology (Figure 4, Figure 6). The three holes drilled into fresh rock (PDD604 to 606) intersected pegmatite with fine to coarse spodumene and minor lepidolite.

Refer to

ForTable 1 for summary of the pegmatites observed in the drill holes.

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For personal use only

Heller

Cade

Davy

Figure 2 - Plan view of the Dome North area with the diamond holes shown as large green circles.

Figure 3 - Examples of drill core taken from the upper zone photo on left - Hole ID PDD596) and lower zone (photo on right -

Hole ID PDD596) of the Cade Deposit.

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only
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Figure 4 - Examples of drill core taken from the upper zone photo on left - Hole ID PDD607) and transition zone (photo on right
									- Hole ID PDD601) of the Davy Deposit.
Table 1 below provides a summary of the visual observations of the pegmatites in the drill core:
	Deposit			Hole ID			Pegmatite				Spodumene zone				Comments
					zone
personal
							DHM		From (m)		DHM		Fresh		Weathered
	Cade		PDD595	36.23		10.6		22.10		93%		7%			Mostly fresh spodumene
	Cade		PDD596	23.07		16.62		19.66		100%		0%			Small intervals of metasediments
								and weathered pegmatite.
	Cade		PDD596	4.91		50.28		3.34		100%		0%			Second pegmatite in hole PDD596.
	Cade		PDD597	24.03		18.95		21.15		37%		63%			Variable weathering observed
	Cade		PDD598	29.70		14.31		13.79		72%		28%			Some weathering observed
	Cade		PDD599	35.60		3.65		23.65		57%		43%			Variable weathering observed
	Cade		PDD600	34.44		19.26		20.54		91%		9%			Mostly fresh spodumene
	Cade		PDD600				45.96		6.39		43%		57%			Second zone of spodumene in hole
										PDD600.
	Davy		PDD601	31.92		53.6		8.59		0%		100%			Weakly weathered
	Davy		PDD601				66.0		11.35		0%		100%			Altered spodumene. Weakly
										weathered. Second zone.
	Davy		PDD602	14.18		10.5		5.70		0%		100%			Moderate to strongly weathered
								pegmatite
	Davy		PDD603	19.60		26.43		7.53		0%		100%			Weakly weathered. Spodumene with
								minor lepidolite
For		Davy		PDD604	11.55		99.96		10.34		100%		0%			Fine to coarse spodumene and
								minor lepidolite
	Davy		PDD605	18.70		97.7		16.40		100%		0%			Fine to coarse spodumene and
								minor lepidolite
	Davy		PDD606	11.59		73.7		6.00		100%		0%			Fine to coarse spodumene
																			Moderately weathered pegmatite
	Davy		PDD607	9.55		23.13		1.93		0%		100%			with spodumene and minor
																			lepidolite

DHM= Down-Hole Metres. Fresh*= no or minimal weathering in spodumene zone.

Caution: Estimates by experienced, competent geoscientists are considered to be reliable and reproducible semi-quantitative estimates of the abundance of minerals present in a sample. Visual estimates of mineral abundance should, however, never be considered a proxy or substitute for laboratory analyses where metal concentrations or grades are the factor of principal economic interest. Visual estimates also potentially provide no information regarding potential impurities or deleterious physical properties relevant to valuations of some mineral commodities such as graphite and many industrial minerals.

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