GlobeNewswire Inc | Aug 19, 2021 09:00AM EDT

August 19, 2021

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ameriwest Lithium Inc. (Ameriwest or the Company) (CSE: AWLI) (OTC: AMRWF) (FSE: 5HV0), a North American lithium exploration and development company, is pleased to announce the appointments of Zig Hancyk, PhD, to its Board of Directors, and Mr. Dennis P. Bryan to its Advisory Board.

Dr. Hancyk is an experienced senior executive, former CEO and management consultant who has worked with a wide variety of clients in Canada, the US and globally. He specializes in strategic planning and project management for companies and government organizations. He was named CEO of the year by the Vancouver Island Advanced Technology Centre. His former roles include serving as a director at Telus, CEO of Paretologic, Operations Advisor for Export Development Canada and Director of the MBA Management Consulting Programs at Royal Roads and the University of Victoria. Dr. Hancyk has extensive governance experience in both profit and non-profit sectors. In addition to being a Board member of some high-tech companies, he was also on the Board of Governors at Ryerson University in Toronto, the Vice Chair of the Co-operative Education Program Advisory Council at the University of Victoria and was on the Academic Planning Board of the Technical University of British Columbia (now part of Simon Fraser University). Dr. Hancyk was the Chair of the Vancouver Island Chapter of the Canadian Association of Management Consultants and a Board member of the Information and Communications Technology Council in Ottawa. He also served on the Academy for Technology CEOs in Vancouver, the Industrial Training and Apprenticeship Commission of BC and Saanichs Governance Advisory Committee. He holds a PhD in Business Administration with a specialization in Strategic Planning from Capella University in Minneapolis, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University in Montreal. Dr. Hancyk is also a Certified Management Consultant and he is qualified as a Certified General Accountant in BC since 1990. He taught MBA courses as an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa, the University of Victoria and Royal Roads University.

Mr. Bryan is a registered professional geological engineer in Nevada and for much of his career he was either an owner or manager of various consulting and geotechnical engineering firms. He previously served as a Commissioner on the State of Nevada Commission on Mineral Resources from 2000 to 2019, representing Nevadas small miner interests including that of the industrial minerals and aggregate industries. He further served for ten years as Senior Vice President of Development for Lithium Nevada Corporation (previously Western Lithium Corporation), a junior mining company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lithium Americas Corporation. Lithium Nevada is developing one of the worlds largest known lithium deposits, in hectorite clay, located in northern Nevada. Lithium America also has a lithium brine resource in Argentina which is shortly planned to go into production. Another wholly owned subsidiary is ReoMinerals that manufactures organoclays utilizing hectorite from a property in Northern Nevada and other specialty clays from the western US. Mr. Bryan managed Nevada operations, including permitting, water rights, public relations for the company, and an extensive exploration drilling program that extended a portion of the historical lithium resource into a reserve to supply a proposed 20,000 tons per year lithium carbonate production facility. He has found and worked on the development of several aggregate resources in the Western US, and at one time was a co-owner of a lightweight aggregate operation he discovered in Arizona. Other industrial mineral commodities with which he has done exploration and development work include cement raw materials, diatomite, perlite, pozzolan, gypsum, clays, limestone, dimension stone, pumice and silica sand. He earned his B.S., Geological Engineering, at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, in 1970, and an M.S., Geology, at Mackay School of Mines, University of Nevada, Reno, in 1972.

David Watkinson, Ameriwests President & CEO, notes, We are delighted to have both Zig and Dennis join with us during this critical period of growth for the Company. Zig Hancyk is no stranger to mining having grown up in Timmins Ontario and, as a young man, he worked stints at the McIntyre and Dome gold mines, and then at Kidd Creek base metals mines, and from there he went on to work in Toronto for Noranda Mines. Alongside his many other lifetime achievements he brings a remarkable wealth of experience and knowledge as he assists our corporate governance and will further assist us by sitting on our Audit Committee. Dennis brings an extraordinary set of technical skills and well-rounded expertise alongside his in-depth understanding of the mining industry in Nevada. His background and strategic relationships on the ground will prove extremely important in the months ahead. We welcome them both to the team and look forward to working with them both.

In conjunction with these appointments each of Dr. Hancyk and Mr. Bryan have each now been granted a fully vested stock option to acquire an aggregate of up to 100,000 common shares of the Company at an exercise price of $0.82 per common share and expiring five years from the date of grant in accordance with the provisions of the Companys current stock option plan.

Ameriwest invites interested stakeholders and shareholders alike to visit itswebsite and sign-up for regular news alerts which will help provide timely updates of ongoing activities. Company management believes strongly in regular communications, updates, and reports from the field, as an important aspect of developing informative and useful engagement as the Company continues to help explore and develop the exciting and rapidly evolving lithium sector.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

David WatkinsonPresident and Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:Ameriwest Lithium InquiriesGlenn Collick, DirectorTel: +1 (778) 868-2226info@ameriwestlithium.comwww.ameriwestlithium.com

About Ameriwest Lithium Inc. (CSE: AWLI) (OTC: AMRWF) (FSE: 5HV0)

Ameriwest Lithium Inc. is a Canadian-based exploration company with a focus on identifying strategic lithium mineral resource projects for exploration and development. The Company is currently focused on exploring the Deer Musk East property, located in the prolific Clayton Valley, Nevada, totalling 5,600 acres, and the Railroad Valley property, totalling 6,200 acres. Additionally, Ameriwests current resource portfolio includes the ESN Project, located in White Pine County, Nevada, and the Koster Dam property, located in the Clinton Mining Division of British Columbia, in which Ameriwest has a 45% interest. For more information visit: https://ameriwestlithium.com/.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute forwardlooking information. Forwardlooking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as anticipate, plan, estimate, expect, may, will, intend, should, and similar expressions. Forwardlooking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forwardlooking information. The Companys actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in this forwardlooking information as a result of regulatory decisions, competitive factors in the industries in which the Company operates, prevailing economic conditions, changes to the Companys strategic growth plans, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forwardlooking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forwardlooking information should not be unduly relied upon. Any forwardlooking information contained in this news release represents the Companys expectations as of the date hereof and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forwardlooking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities legislation.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not in any way passed upon the merits of the matters referenced herein and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.