Bacanora Reports Drilling Results for La Ventana, Sonora Lithium Project

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - May 21, 2015) - BACANORA MINERALS LTD. ("Bacanora" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:BCN)(AIM:BCN) is pleased to announce assay results from a total of 2,946 metres of drilling in 22 holes recently completed on its wholly-owned La Ventana concession, as well as one hole drilled on the Fleur(1) concession. Both concessions are held as part of the Company's Sonora Lithium Project in Mexico. The lithology from these drill results were included in the updated Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") announced by the Company on May 13, 2015. Accompanying this release is a map with these drill holes highlighted.

Highlights:

• Intercepts of the Upper Clay range from 26.10 to 50.83 metres in length and those for the Lower Clay range from 12.98 to 23.57 metres on La Ventana.
• Analyses received for 18 of the 22 holes indicate that the lithium content of both Upper and Lower clays increases to the south on La Ventana, as well as maintaining grade and thickness down dip at depth. In particular:
  • Weighted averages for lithium content in the Upper Clay Unit varies from 955 ppm Li (0.5% LCE(2)) over 41.6 metres (hole LV-19) to 3,215 ppm Li (1.7% LCE) over 17.48 metres (hole LV-27).
  • For the Lower Clay Unit, lithium content varies from 1,143 ppm Li (0.6% LCE) over 19.20 metres (hole LV-18) to 5,830 ppm Li (3.1% LCE) over 20.42 metres (LV-27).
  • Individual 1.5 metre long samples of clay range up to 10,000 ppm(3) Li (5.32% LCE).
• The single hole drilled on the Fleur concession intersected 7.16 metres of the Upper Clay unit, which averaged 3,107 ppm Li (1.7% LCE) and 25.30 metres of the Lower Clay, which averaged 4,242 ppm Li (2.3% LCE).

Peter Secker, CEO of Bacanora, commented, "These assay results have confirmed the recently published MRE for the project, with an estimated 1.12 million tonnes ("Mt") LCE contained in 95 Mt of clay, at Li grade of 2,200 ppm within indicated resource and a further 6.3 Mt LCE contained in 500 Mt of clay at a Li grade of 2,300 ppm within inferred resource. The assays are consistent with our understanding that the Sonora Lithium Project is a high grade and scalable asset which we hope to be able to service increasing global demand for lithium. Over the coming months, we will continue to progress the pre-feasibility study for this exciting asset and look forward to further informing the market as additional updates become available."

¹ The Fleur concession is held by Mexilit S.A. de C.V. ("Mexilit"), a company that is owned 70% by Bacanora and 30% by Rare Earth Minerals PLC ("REM").

² LCE is the industry standard terminology for, and is equivalent to, Li₂CO₃. 1 ppm Li metal is equivalent to 5.32 ppm LCE / Li₂CO₃. Use of LCE is to provide data comparable with industry reports and assumes complete conversion of lithium in clays with no recovery or process losses.

³ Values >10,000 ppm Li were cut back to 10,000 ppm.

Table 1. Summary of Lithium-bearing intercepts - La Ventana

Hole No	Unit			From (m)		To (m)		Length (m)		Weighted average Li ppm		LCE %
LV-18	Upper Clay			218.24		245.67		27.43		577		0.3
		including		226.31		230.43		4.12		1,213		0.65
	Lower Clay			260.30		279.50		19.20		1,143		0.6
		including		274.02		279.50		5.49		2,248		1.2
LV-19	Upper Clay			10.24		51.82		41.58		955		0.5
		including		16.46		22.40		5.94		1,340		0.7
		including		32.92		48.77		15.85		1,595		0.85
LV-20	Upper Clay			219.46		252.07		32.61		584		0.3
		including		240.49		247.19		6.71		1,284		0.7
	Lower Clay			268.35		291.39		23.04		1,618		0.9
		including		279.20		289.86		10.67		2,141		1.1
LV-21	Upper Clay			8.92		59.74		50.83		1,194		0.6
		including		30.96		38.71		7.75		2,264		1.2
		including		49.07		59.74		10.67		2,150		1.1
	Lower Clay			72.24		92.96		20.73		1,759		0.9
		including		80.16		92.96		12.80		2,649		1.4
LV-22	Upper Clay			25.91		35.86		9.96		1,339		0.7
	Upper Clay			44.50		57.30		12.80		2,643		1.4
	Lower Clay			77.40		90.02		12.62		3,915		2.1
LV-23	Upper Clay			38.56		53.64		15.10		2,982		1.6
	Lower Clay			69.65		85.95		16.20		3,756		2.0
LV-24	Upper Clay			101.19		112.17		11.00		1,716		0.9
	Upper Clay			116.43		130.02		13.60		2,780		1.5
	Lower Clay			145.21		158.88		13.60		4,122		2.2
LV-25	Upper Clay			137.72		155.75		18.03		2,199		1.2
		including		145.08		154.23		9.14		3,035		1.6
LV-26	Upper Clay			30.48		48.77		18.29		2,018		1.1
	Lower Clay			59.44		76.05		16.61		2,701		1.4
		including		59.44		66.45		7.01		4,203		2.2
LV-27	Upper Clay			48.67		66.14		17.48		3,215		1.7
	Lower Clay			78.03		98.45		20.42		5,830		3.1
LV-28	Upper Clay			138.38		165.93		27.55		2,617		1.4
		including		153.62		165.93		12.31		4,306		2.3
	Lower Clay			179.83		203.30		23.47		5,228		2.8
LV-29	Upper Clay			8.23		35.66		27.43		2,284		1.2
		including		24.69		35.66		10.97		3,297		1.8
	Lower Clay			51.82		79.25		27.43		4,507		2.4
		including		51.82		74.68		22.86		5,395		2.9
LV-31	Upper Clay			147.83		185.52		37.69		1,453		0.8
		including		173.61		185.52		11.91		2,963		1.6
	Lower Clay			203.68		227.38		23.70		2,921		1.6
		including		206.65		218.85		12.19		4,174		2.2
LV-35	Lower Clay			12.34		33.41		21.06		5,786		3.1
LV-36	Lower Clay			15.32		35.36		20.04		4,370		2.3
LV-37	Lower Clay			14.81		35.36		20.55		4,105		2.2
LV-38	Lower Clay			13.92		37.49		23.57		3,153		1.7
LV-39	Lower Clay			6.40		26.52		20.12		2,379		1.3

Table 2. Summary of Lithium-bearing intercepts - Fleur

Hole No	Unit		From (m)		To (m)		Length (m)		Weighted average Li ppm		LCE %
ES-42	Upper Clay		16.15		23.32		7.16		3,107		1.7
	Lower Clay		39.32		64.62		25.30		4,242		2.3

The measurements of the clay units from the drill results were used in the updated mineral resource estimate prepared by SRK Consulting (UK) Limited (as announced by the Company via its news release dated May 13, 2015), however, the assay results were not due to availability.

Carl G. Verley, P.Geo. is the Qualified Person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and the AIM Note for Mining and Oil and Gas Companies who has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release.

ABOUT BACANORA:

Bacanora is a Canadian and London listed minerals explorer (TSX-V: BCN and AIM: BCN). The Company explores and develops industrial mineral projects, with a primary focus on lithium and borates. The Company's operations are based in Hermosillo in northern Mexico and it currently has two significant projects under development in the state of Sonora. The two main assets of Bacanora are:

• The Sonora Lithium Project, which consists of ten mining concession areas covering approximately 100 thousand hectares in the northeast of Sonora State. The Company, through drilling and exploration work to date, has established an NI 43-101 compliant Indicated Mineral Resource of 1.12 Mt LCE contained in 95 Mt of clay at a Li grade of 2,200 ppm and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 6.3 Mt LCE contained in 500 Mt of clay at a Li grade of 2,300 ppm.; and
  
  
• The Magdalena Borate Project, covering 16,503 hectares in Sonora state, Mexico, where the Company's main borate zone, El Cajon, has an Indicated Resource (in accordance with NI 43-101) of 1.17 mt of B₂O₃, at an eight percent cut-off grade. The Company has completed a number of measures to determine the geological and commercial potential of the project and is undertaking a pre-feasibility exercise to determine the economic benefit of developing the mine and constructing a processing plant on site in order to become a supplier of boric acid.
  
  

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To view the 'La Ventana drillhole location map', please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/baca0521.pdf