(TheNewswire)
Highlights
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- Rhodium (Rh) is the most valuableplatinum group metal (PGM), with recent spot price highs of over,000/oz Rh, nearly 18 times higher than Pt
- 303 Rh assay results reported for the Pine Zone ofthe River Valley Deposit
- Highest assay result is 0.177 g/t Rh, with 9 othersamples returned assays at or greater than 0.100 g/t Rh and a total of50 samples returned assays higher than 0.050 g/t Rh
- The highest Rh concentrations coincide with thehighest palladium (Pd) and platinum (Pt) grades
- Rh concentrations in the River Valley Deposit areequivalent to 12% of the Pt grades
- Based on encouraging results fromphase 1, subsequent phases of the multi-phase Rh evaluation programwill take samples of PGM mineralized intervals from the Dana South andLismer zones
- The River Valley Deposit is one of North Americaslargest undeveloped primary platinum-group metal projects with 2.867Moz Palladium Equivalent (PdEq) in the Measured + Indicatedclassifications and 1.059 Moz Pd Eq in the Inferred classification
Rockport, Canada – TheNewswire- March 2, 2021 - New Age Metals Inc. (NAM)(TSXV:NAM ) ; ( OTC:NMTLF ) ; ( FSE:P7J) (“NAM” or the “Company”) announcescompletion of Phase 1 of an ongoing Rh assay program on the RiverValley Palladium Deposit near Sudbury, Ontario (Figure 1). Phase 1 ofthe Rh assay program collected 303 pulp samples from 17 mineralizedintervals in 14 drill holes through the Pine Zone. The samples wereselected to provide Rh data for mineralization in two cross-sectionsspaced 50 metres apart through the Pine Zone, located near the northend of the 16 km long River Valley Deposit (Figure 1). In additionto Rh, the samples were also assayed for gold (Au), iridium (Ir),palladium (Pd), platinum (Pt), and ruthenium (Ru). The assays werecompleted on 2015-2020 drill core sample pulps at the GeoscienceLaboratories in Sudbury.
The new Rh data reported herein are in addition tohistorical data generated from drill core, channel and surface grabsamples from the River Valley Deposit (Figure 2) ( see also Pacific North West Capital Corp.press release dated July 26, 2011 ). Rh is the most valuable platinum groupmetal (PGM), with recent spot price highs of over ,000/oz Rh,nearly 18 times higher than Pt . However, Rhanalyses are too costly to be performed on every drill core assaysample. Rh is reported in the current Mineral Resource Estimate forthe River Valley Deposit ( seeNAM press release dated August 8, 2019 ), based on regression analysis of historical drill core andchannel sample assay data for the Dana North, Dana South and LismerZones.
This announcement is the firstreport of Rh assay data for the Pine Zone.
Figure 1. Geological map showing thelocation of the River Valley Palladium Deposit relative to Sudbury,Ontario.
Figure 2. Property scale geology andtopography map showing location of the Pine Zone, River ValleyPalladium Deposit. Also shown are the number of Rh assays forcontiguous drill core samples from each mineralized zone (total =7910). Note that the Pine Zone occurs 100 m to 250 m below surfacein the immediate footwall to the Dana North Zone.
The purpose of the multi-phase Rh assay program isthree-fold:
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1) InvestigateRh concentration and distribution trends within the River ValleyDeposit;
For this study of the Pine Zone, the Rh assay valuesreturned range from <0.00005 g/t (below the lower limit ofdetection) to 0.177 g/t Rh. Ten samples returned assays of equal to orgreater than 0.100 g/t Rh and 50 samples returned assays higher than0.050 g/t Rh (Table 1) (click here to view all results). Thehighest assay result for Ir is 0.039 g/t and for Ru is 0.013 g/t.
Compared to the other mineralized zones, the range ofRh assay values for Pine Zone appears to be most similar to Dana SouthZone (Table 2).
Rh at Pine Zone was determined for 303 samples out of atotal of 2443 (12%) drill core samples from that zone. The resultsshow very strong positive correlation of Rh with the other four PGM(R 2 >0.9) (Table 3), consistent with presence in the mineral phaseHollingworthite [(Rh,Pt,Pd)AsS], which has been identified in previousmineralogical studies of River Valley. Rh shows strong correlation(R 2 >0.8) with copper (Cu) and moderate correlation
(R 2 >0.5) with sulphur (S) (Table 3). On the other hand, Rh does notcorrelate (R 2 = -0.015) with chromium, and therefore is not held inCr-bearing phases (chromite).
The occurrence of Rh withsulphides and not chromite differs from other Rh-bearing PGM depositselsewhere, and could potentially simplify metallurgical recoveryprocesses.
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2) Develop amore robust regression technique to estimate Rh concentrations from Ptgrades for future Mineral Resource Estimates; and
Statistical analysis indicates that Rh values for theremaining 2140 samples from the Pine Zone can be estimated on thebasis of Pt values through regression analysis. Results of this study indicate that Rhconcentrations are equivalent to be approximately 12% of the Ptgrades.
A plot of measured Pt values versus Rh values for the 303 drill coresamples from the Pine Zone and the robust simple regression line withits derived equation are shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Plot of measured Pt versusRh values for all Rh assayed samples (303) from the Pine Zone and therobust simple regression line with derived equation.
Statistical analysis indicates that Rh values for theremaining River Valley Deposit can be estimated on the basis of Ptvalues through regression analysis. A plot of measured Pt valuesversus Rh values for all the drill core samples from River Valley andthe robust simple regression line with its derived equation are shownin Figure 4. Phase 2 of the Rh assay program plans to analyse samplesfrom the Dana South and Lismer Zones in 2021.
Figure 4. Plot of measured Pt versusRh values for all Rh assayed samples of contiguous drill core from theRiver Valley Deposit (7910 core samples) and the robust simpleregression line with derived equation.
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3) Investigatepotential of Rh as payable metal at River Valley
In order to complete the study, subsequent phases ofwork will take samples of PGM mineralized intervals from additionalmineralized zones to establish and confirm the spatial distributionof
Rh throughout the River Valley Deposit. Specifically, the mineralized zonesselected to be studied next are Dana South and Lismer. Rh recovery testwork will be included in futuremetallurgical studies, in order to determine whether Rh could be apayable metal for a potential PGM mining operation at River Valley.
Rhodium
Rh is the rarest and most valuable ofthe PGMs . The main use for Rh is in catalyticconverters designed to clean vehicle emissions. This metal is particularly effective incleaning nitric oxide emissions from internal combustion enginevehicles . The majority of Rh is produced as aby-product of platinum mining in South Africa. South Africa is theworld’s largest producer of Rh (~80%), followed by Russia (~10%),Zimbabwe (~5%), Canada (~2%) and the USA (~2%).
The global average mineral resource/reserve grade is 0.281 g/t Rh,with the lowest reported mineral resource/reserve grade of 0.010 g/tRh and the highest reported mineral resource/reserve grade of 0.381g/t Rh (source: S&P Global, 2020).
Assay Procedures & QA/QC
Drill core pulps were selected by NAM geologists fromPGM-Cu sulphide mineralized intervals in Pine Zone holes drilled in2015, 2016, 2017 and 2020. The pulp samples were delivered directlyto Geoscience Laboratory in Sudbury, Ontario for sample preparationand assay analyses. Gold, iridium, palladium, platinum, rhodium andruthenium were assayed by 30 g nickel fire assay with ICP-MS finish(IMP-200; ISO/IEC 17025 Accredited). Blanks and blind certifiedreference material (standards) samples were inserted at regularintervals for assay with the core samples as part of NAM’s rigorousQuality Assurance/Quality Control program.
About the River Valley PalladiumProject
The details of the updated Mineral Resource Estimate(MRE) and Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) were announced in thepress release dated August 9, 2019 and are described on NAM’swebsite. The pit constrained Updated MineralResource Estimate formed the basis of the PEA . At a cut-off grade of 0.35 g/t PdEq, the Updated Mineral ResourceEstimate contains
2.867 Moz PdEq in the Measured plus Indicated classifications and1.059 Moz PdEq in the Inferred classification. The PEA is a preliminary report, but it demonstrates thatthere are potentially positive economics for a large-scale mining openpit operation, with 14 years of palladium production. Refer to the NAM website (www.newagemetals.com) fordetails.
About NAM
New Age Metals is a junior mineral exploration and development companyfocused on the discovery, exploration and development of green metalprojects in North America. The Company has two divisions; a PlatinumGroup Metals division and a Lithium/Rare Element division.
The PGM Division includes the 100% owned, multi-million-ounce,district scale River Valley Project, one of North America’s largestundeveloped Platinum Group Metals Projects, situated 100 km fromSudbury, Ontario. The Company hasrecently completed a Preliminary Economic Assessment on the projectand subject to financing, plans are to complete a Prefeasibility Studyby the end of the first quarter of 2022 . In Alaska, the Companyowns 100% of the Genesis PGM-Cu-Ni Project.
The Lithium Division is one of the largest mineral claim holders inthe Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field, where the Company is exploring forhard rock lithium and various rare elements such as tantalum andrubidium. 2021 plans include dronegeophysics on three of the Company’s seven projects and a drillprogram on the Company’s Lithium Two Project
Our philosophy is to be a project generator with the objective ofoptioning our projects with major and junior mining companies throughto production. The Company is actively seeking an option/ jointventure partner for its road-accessible Genesis PGM-Cu-Ni project inAlaska and for all or part of our Lithium Division in Manitoba.
Investors are invited to visit theNew Age Metals website at www.newagemetals.com where they can reviewthe company and its corporate activities. Any questions or commentscan be directed to info@newagemetals.com or Harry Barr at Hbarr@newagemetals.com or Cody Hunt at Codyh@newagemetals.com or call 613 659 2773.
If you have not done so already, we encourage you tosign up on our website ( www.newagemetals.com ) to receive our updated news.
The contents contained herein that relate toExploration Results or Mineral Resources is based on informationcompiled, reviewed or prepared by Dr. Bill Stone, P.Geo., a consultinggeoscientist for New Age Metals. Dr. Stone is the Qualified Personas defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approvedthe technical content of this news release.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
“ Harry Barr”
Harry G. Barr
Chairman and CEO
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its RegulationServices Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXVenture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracyof this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements:This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risksand uncertainties. These statements may differ materially fromactual future events or results and are based on current expectationsor beliefs. For this purpose, statements of historical fact may bedeemed to be forward-looking statements. In addition,forward-looking statements include statements in which the Companyuses words such as “continue”, “efforts”, “expect”,“believe”, “anticipate”, “confident”, “intend”,“strategy”, “plan”, “will”, “estimate”, “project”,“goal”, “target”, “prospects”, “optimistic” or similarexpressions. These statements by their nature involve risks anduncertainties, and actual results may differ materially depending on avariety of important factors, including, among others, the Company’sability and continuation of efforts to timely and completely makeavailable adequate current public information, additional or differentregulatory and legal requirements and restrictions that may beimposed, and other factors as may be discussed in the documents filedby the Company on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), including the most recentreports that identify important risk factors that could cause actualresults to differ from those contained in the forward-lookingstatements. The Company does not undertake any obligation to reviewor confirm analysts’ expectations or estimates or to releasepublicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflectevents or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect theoccurrence of unanticipated events. Investors should not place unduereliance on forward-looking statements.
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