Benton Resources Inc. and Sokoman Minerals Corp. announced that the Alliance has commenced the Phase 1 diamond drilling program at the Kraken Lithium prospect on the Golden Hope JV project located in southwest Newfoundland near the village of Burgeo. The diamond drilling program is expected to consist of 1,000 to 2,000 metres of diamond drill core in 4-6 holes designed to test an extensive system of spodumene-bearing dykes which have been sampled over a strike length of two kilometres within a corridor measuring 1,000 metres in apparent width and open in all directions.

The Alliance is also pleased to announce that the first hole, with planned drill depth of 350 m-400 m across stratigraphy, has intercepted several spodumene-bearing dykes near surface and the hole continues. Pictures of the core will be posted on both Benton's and Sokoman's websites in order to keep shareholders engaged in its progress at the Kraken dyke swarm. The Alliance is very pleased with the progress thus far and is in the process of logging, cutting and sampling the core to be submitted for assay as soon as possible.

Kraken is the first-ever high-grade lithium discovery in Newfoundland and Labrador, with surface grab samples returning grades from trace to 2.37% Li2O. This is also the first Newfoundland drilling program designed to target lithium. The Kraken Pegmatites are highly evolved, pegmatite swarms similar to the geological environment and setting of other large systems in the Appalachian belt, including the important deposits held by Piedmont Lithium Inc. in the Carolinas, eastern US, as well as in the geologically equivalent Avalonia Project being advanced by Ganfeng Lithium in the Caledonides of Ireland.

All samples will be submitted to Actlabs in Ancaster, Ontario for analysis by Sodium Peroxide Fusion ICPOES + ICPMS.