LIO:CC - Lion One Starts Mechanized Production at Tuvatu Drills 1.2 M of 393.01 g/t Gold

North Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 5, 2024) - Lion One Metals Limited (TSXV: LIO) (OTCQX: LOMLF) (ASX: LLO) ("Lion One" or the "Company") is pleased to report the start of mechanized production at Tuvatu and reports significant new high-grade gold results from Zone 5 infill and grade control drilling at its 100% owned Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project in Fiji.

Mechanized production mining has commenced at Tuvatu. The first remote bogging at Tuvatu occurred on May 16^th, and the first long hole stope blast occurred on May 18^th. Both are also firsts for the country of Fiji. This is a major milestone for the company as it represents the transition from predominantly development mining to predominantly production mining. The processing plant can now also sustainably process over 400 TPD, which is above the plant's name plate capacity of 300 TPD. The increased throughput is possible due to the successful implementation of operational improvements and debottlenecking initiatives completed by the mill team.

Assay results are also presented here for infill and grade control drilling in the Zone 5 area of Tuvatu. Drill results include multiple bonanza grade gold assays such as 1568.55 g/t, 215.86 g/t, 143.95 g/t, and 134.68 g/t (see Table 1 below). These results are all located proximal to underground development in the near-surface portion of the mine. Drilling was focused on two locations; to the north and south of the Cabex fault, which is a carbonate healed, deposit scale structure. The primary targets for these drillholes were the downdip and southern extensions of the UR2 and URW3 lodes. Previous drill results from the Zone 5 area are available in the December 13, 2023, November 2, 2023, and August 10, 2023 news releases.

Highlights:

• First mechanized production mining at Tuvatu

• First ever remote bogging at Tuvatu on May 16^th

• First ever long hole firing at Tuvatu on May 18^th

• Mill operations increased from 300 TPD to 400 TPD

• Top new drill intersects: 

393.01 g/t Au over 1.2 m (including 1568.55 g/t Au over 0.3 m)
215.86 g/t Au over 0.6 m
49.85 g/t Au over 1.2 m (including 63.35 g/t Au over 0.3 m)
14.98 g/t Au over 3.9 m (including 143.95 g/t Au over 0.3 m)
26.59 g/t Au over 1.8 m (including 90.85 g/t Au over 0.3 m)

• 36 new drill holes reported (30 underground, 6 surface)

• 4930.7 m of new drilling reported

*All drill intersects are downhole lengths, 3.0 g/t cutoff. See Table 1 for additional data

Figure 1. Location of Zone 5 drilling reported in this news release. Left image: Plan view of Tuvatu showing Zone 5 drillholes in relation to the mineralized lodes at Tuvatu, shown in grey. The approximate location of the Cabex fault at the 1120 level is shown in light blue. Zone 5 drilling is divided into North of Cabex and South of Cabex programs. Yellow dashed square represents the area shown in the right image. Right image: Oblique view of Zone 5 drilling looking northeast. The Cabex Fault is modelled in pale blue, striking ESE and dipping SSW.

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Table 1. Highlights of grade control and infill drill results in the Zone 5 area. Composites are calculated using a 3 g/t Au cutoff with maximum internal dilution intervals of 1 m at <3 g/t Au. For full results see Table 3 in the appendix.

Zone 5 Drilling

The Zone 5 area of Tuvatu is located along the main decline and includes the principal north-south oriented lodes (UR1 to UR3), the principal northeast-southwest oriented lodes (UR4 to UR8), and several of the western lodes (URW2, URW2A, URW3). These lodes are steeply dipping structures that converge at approximately 500 m depth to form the 500 Zone, which is the highest-grade part of the deposit and is interpreted to be the feeder zone at Tuvatu. The system remains open at depth with the deepest high-grade intersects occurring below 1000 m depth.

The drilling reported in this news release was focused on the near-surface portions of the UR2 and URW3 lodes. These areas are scheduled to be mined throughout the next 12 months. Drilling was separated into two focus areas; to the north of the Cabex Fault, and to the south of the Cabex Fault. The Cabex Fault is a post-mineralization fault that strikes approximately ESE and dips approximately 65° to the SSW. It is interpreted to be a late caldera collapse structure that is healed with carbonate.

The purpose of the Zone 5 infill and grade control drill program is to enhance the mine model and inform stope design in advance of mining. Drilling to the north of the Cabex primarily targeted the down dip extension of the UR2 lode below the 1120 level. Drilling to the south of the Cabex targeted both the down dip extensions of the UR2 and URW3 lodes below the 1100 level, as well as the southern extension of the lodes above and below the 1120 level. Highlights of the Zone 5 drill program are shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3.

Figure 2. Zone 5 north of Cabex drilling with high-grade intersects highlighted, 3.0 g/t gold cutoff. View is to the NNW. The primary target area is the down-dip extension of the UR2 lode below the 1120 level.

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Figure 3. Zone 5 south of Cabex drilling with high-grade intersects highlighted, 3.0 g/t gold cutoff. View is to the NNE. The primary target areas are the southern extension of the UR2 and URW3 lodes above and below the 1120 level, and the down-dip extension of the UR2 and URW3 lodes below the 1100 level.

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Operations Update

Mechanized production mining is underway at Tuvatu. The two remote-capable loaders on site are now fully commissioned and in operation. The first ever remote bogging activity at Tuvatu occurred on May 16^th at the 1120 level south, on the UR2 lode in Zone 5. Remote loaders are necessary to extract material from open stopes after blasting. The two long hole drills on site are also fully commissioned and in operation. The first ever long hole production blast at Tuvatu occurred on May 18^th, blasting level to level via long holes from the 1120 level north to the 1130 level north, also on the UR2 lode in Zone 5. Both the first remote bogging activity and the first long hole production blast at Tuvatu are major milestones for the company as they represent the start of mechanized production mining. They are also both firsts for the country of Fiji as this style of mining has not taken place in Fiji until now.

Figure 4. Location of the first long hole production blasting and remote bogging activities at Tuvatu. Left image: Plan view of Tuvatu showing the location of long hole blasting and remote bogging activities in relation to the underground development (red) and the mineralized lodes (grey) at Tuvatu. Yellow dashed square represents the area shown in the right image. Right image: Oblique view looking northeast.

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Mill operations are also advancing successfully. Operational improvements and debottlenecking projects completed by the mill operations team have successfully increased throughput at the mill. These bottlenecking projects include upgrading the process water recycle system, upgrading the thickener pumps and piping, and reducing the tailings filter press cycle times. As a result of these upgrades the processing plant can now achieve a sustained throughput of over 400 TPD, with peak daily throughput of over 450 TPD. The name plate capacity of the processing plant during the ongoing pilot plant stage of operations is 300 TPD. These upgrades therefore represent a substantial improvement in the processing capacity available at Tuvatu.

Competent Persons Statement

The information in this report that relates to mineral exploration at the Tuvatu Gold Project is based on information compiled by the Lion One team and reviewed by Alex Nichol, who is the company's Vice President of Geology and Exploration. Mr Nichol is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration, and to the activity being undertaken, to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves' (JORC code). Mr Nichol consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on the information in the form and context in which it appears.

Lion One Laboratories / QAQC

Lion One adheres to rigorous QAQC procedures above and beyond basic regulatory guidelines in conducting its drilling, sampling, testing, and analyses. The Company operates its own geochemical assay laboratory and its own fleet of diamond drill rigs using PQ, HQ and NQ sized drill rods.

Diamond drill core samples are logged and split by Lion One personnel on site and delivered to the Lion One Laboratory for preparation and analysis. All samples are pulverized at the Lion One lab to 85% passing through 75 microns and gold analysis is carried out using fire assay with an AA finish. Samples that return grades greater than 10.00 g/t Au are re-analyzed by gravimetric method, which is considered more accurate for very high-grade samples.

Duplicates of 5% of samples with grades above 0.5 g/t Au are delivered to ALS Global Laboratories in Australia for check assay determinations using the same methods (Au-AA26 and Au-GRA22 where applicable). ALS also analyses 33 pathfinder elements by HF-HNO3-HClO4 acid digestion, HCl leach and ICP-AES (method ME-ICP61). The Lion One lab can test a range of up to 71 elements through Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES), but currently focuses on a suite of 23 important pathfinder elements with an aqua regia digest and ICP-OES finish.

About Lion One Metals Limited

Lion One Metals is an emerging Canadian gold producer headquartered in North Vancouver BC, with new operations established in late 2023 at its 100% owned Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project in Fiji. The Tuvatu project comprises the high-grade Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Deposit, the Underground Gold Mine, the Pilot Plant, and the Assay Lab. The Company also has an extensive exploration license covering the entire Navilawa Caldera, which is host to multiple mineralized zones and highly prospective exploration targets.

Contact Information

Investor inquiries: info@liononemetals.com

Phone:1-855-805-1250 (toll free North America)

Website: www.liononemetals.com

Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Service Provider accepts responsibility or the adequacy or accuracy of this release

This press release may contain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking information. Generally, forward-looking information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "proposed", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. This forward-looking information reflects Lion One Metals Limited's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to Lion One Metals Limited and on assumptions Lion One Metals Limited believes are reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to, the actual results of exploration projects being equivalent to or better than estimated results in technical reports, assessment reports, and other geological reports or prior exploration results. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance, or achievements of Lion One Metals Limited or its subsidiaries to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: the stage development of Lion One Metals Limited, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of current research and development or operational activities; competition; uncertainty as to patent applications and intellectual property rights; product liability and lack of insurance; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; changes in legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting mining, timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; not realizing on the potential benefits of technology; conclusions of economic evaluations; and lack of qualified, skilled labor or loss of key individuals. Although Lion One Metals Limited has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Lion One Metals Limited does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Appendix 1: Full Drill Results and Collar Information

Table 2. Collar coordinates for drillholes reported in this release. Coordinates are in Fiji map grid.

Table 3. Composite results from drillholes reported in this news release (composite grade >3.0 g/t Au)

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/211748