Bacanora Announces Battery Grade Lithium Carbonate Produced From La Ventana & El Sauz Composite Samples, Sonora Lithium Project, Mexico

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - Apr 22, 2014) - BACANORA MINERALS LTD. ("Bacanora" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:BCN) is pleased to announce results of bench scale metallurgical and mineral process testing conducted by the Metallurgical Division of Inspectorate Exploration & Mining Services Ltd. ("Inspectorate") on clay composite samples from the La Ventana lithium concession, owned 100% by Bacanora, and the El Sauz concession, held under Joint Venture #1 with Rare Earth Minerals PLC ("REM"), each of which is located in Sonora, Mexico.

The Company's pilot plant uses a roast-leach process to take lithium into solution from the clays and the resulting solution is reduced in volume by evaporation in order to concentrate lithium. After duplicating this process in its independent laboratory, Inspectorate concluded that lithium carbonate product with over 99% purity was achieved from condensed leach solutions in laboratory scale test work. XRD ("x-ray diffraction") performed on products from two test samples confirmed over 99.5% lithium carbonate purity as mineral zabuyelite. These test results have been confirmed on duplicate samples tested under similar process parameters at the Company's pilot plant in Hermosillo.

Martin Vidal, President of Bacanora, commented, "We are very pleased to be able to produce battery grade(1) lithium carbonate from our pilot plant and are further excited to have had this work independently verified by an arm's length, third party laboratory. It is our intention to use the results of this work to move the project forward to the pre-feasibility stage, with engineering work designed to develop a commercial scale lithium carbonate recovery plant for the La Ventana clays. In addition, successful production of high purity lithium carbonate in tests of clay composite samples from the adjoining El Sauz concession, under joint venture with REM, further demonstrates the significant economic potential of the Sonora Lithium Project."

(1) It is industry standard terminology that "battery grade" lithium carbonate is lithium carbonate product with over 99.5% lithium carbonate purity. Battery-grade lithium carbonate is employed by the battery industry in the production of lithium ion batteries, which are used in a variety of applications, from small consumer and industrial appliances to electric vehicles and large stationary energy storage facilities for electric utilities.

About the Sonora Lithium Project:

The Sonora Lithium Project consists of the La Ventana and La Ventana 1 concessions, which is owned 100% by Bacanora, along with the contiguous El Sauz, El Sauz 1, El Sauz 2, Fleur and Fleur 1 concessions (the "Joint Venture #1 Lands") which are owned 70% by Bacanora and 30% by REM under Joint Venture #1 and the San Gabriel, Buenavista and Megalit concessions (the "Joint Venture #2 Lands") which are owned 90% by Bacanora and 10% by REM under Joint Venture #2. The Company has declared inferred resources on each of the La Ventana concessions and the Joint Venture #1 Lands, in respect of which reports have been prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") (please refer to the Company's SEDAR filings for copies of these reports and related press releases). Inferred resources have been estimated for the La Ventana Lithium Deposit totaling 60 million tonnes, averaging 3,000 ppm Li (equivalent to 1.6% lithium carbonate equivalent assuming 100% recovery and no process losses). Inferred resources for the El Sauz and Fleur concessions total 88,271,000 tonnes, averaging 3,163 ppm Li at a 2,000 ppm cut-off (1.68% lithium carbonate equivalent assuming 100% recovery and no process losses). The resource on the Joint Venture #1 Lands is open down dip to the east and to the south. For further details concerning the Company's first agreement with REM and details of Joint Venture #1, please refer to the Company's press release dated May 22, 2013. For further details concerning the Company's second agreement with REM and details of Joint Venture #2, please refer the Company's press release dated March 12 and March 26, 2014.

Carl G. Verley, P.Geo. is the Qualified Person pursuant to NI 43-101 that has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release.

Reader Advisory

Except for statements of historical fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. In particular, forward-looking information in this press release includes, but is not limited to our intended use of testing results and the potential construction of commercial scale lithium carbonate recovery plant for the La Ventana clays. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. We cannot guarantee future results, performance or achievements. Consequently, there is no representation that the actual results achieved will be the same, in whole or in part, as those set out in the forward-looking information.

Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause the results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: commodity price volatility; general economic conditions in Canada, the United States, Mexico and globally; industry conditions, governmental regulation, including environmental regulation; unanticipated operating events or performance; failure to obtain industry partner and other third party consents and approvals, if and when required; the availability of capital on acceptable terms; the need to obtain required approvals from regulatory authorities; stock market volatility; competition for, among other things, capital, skilled personnel and supplies; changes in tax laws; and the other risk factors disclosed under our profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive.

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