(TheNewswire)
April 20, 2022 – TheNewswire- Rockport, Ontario - New Age Metals Inc.(TSXV:NAM ) ; ( OTC:NMTLF; ) ( FSE:P7J.F)(“NAM” or “Company”) is pleased to announce that drillingintersected Pd+Pt+Au (“3E”) mineralization in all four drill holescompleted in 2021 at the Banshee Zone of the River Valley PalladiumDeposit near Sudbury, Ontario. The Banshee Zone is located in thenorthern area of the Deposit, between the key Dana Zones to the northand the Lismer Zones to the east
(Figure 1).
Drilling Highlights
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BZ1-3: 2.92 g/t Pd+Pt+Au (”3E”)over 6 m from 251 m downhole and 0.88 g/t 3E over 4 m from 348 mdownhole
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BZ1-1 intersected 1.47 g/t 3E over 4m from 118 m downhole
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Pd mineralization at Banshee Zoneappears open to expansion by drilling down-dip
NAM’s Chairman and CEO, Harry Barr, Chairman stated,“Drilling continues to demonstrate strength and continuity of thepalladium mineralization at River Valley. This is the first drillingcompleted at Banshee Zone since 2004. Intersecting the palladiummineralization after almost 20 years is very encouraging, as we planto expand the Banshee Zone by drilling multiple down-dip and footwalltargets in 2022.”
Banshee Zone 2021 DrillingProgram
Four of 13 planned holes (totalling 4,175 m) at the Banshee Zone werecompleted in the summer of 2021. The drill program was designed toexpand the Zone by stepping-out distances of 25 m to 50 m below thebase of the 2021 Updated Mineral Resources at Banshee Zone. Thedrilling was paused on completion of the fourth hole, in order for NAMto focus on completion of the site investigation work for the ongoingPre-Feasibility Study at the River Valley Project.
The four holes (totalling 1,295 m) completed weredrilled at the south end of the Banshee Zone. Three of the drill holes(BZ1-1, BZ1-2 and BZ1-3) were completed on the southernmostcross-section and the fourth drill hole (BZ2-1) was completed on thenext cross-section 50 m to the north (Figure 1 and Table 1). All fourholes intersected palladium mineralization. Assay results have beenreceived from SGS Canada (Table 2) and the highlights are describedbelow:
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BZ1-1: Intersected 1.47 g/t 3E and0.16% Cu or $87.58/t NSR over 4 m ofdisseminated and blebby sulphide mineralization from 118 m downhole.This hole was drilled 25 m above historical hole BL-12 and confirmedthat strong Pd mineralization extends towards surface (i.e.,overburden/bedrock interface). This hole also intersected fouradditional,
lower-grade, mineralized intervals all within the favourable BrecciaUnit of the
River Valley Intrusion.
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BZ1-2: Intersected 0.33 g/t3E and 0.09% Cu or $21.59/t NSR over 9 m ofdisseminated and blebby sulphide mineralization from 154 m downhole. Six additional similar grade intervalsranging from 3 m to 13 m in downhole thickness were encountered beforethe hole was completed, all in the Favourable Breccia Unit. This holewas drilled below historical hole BL-12.
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BZ1-3: Intersected 2.92 g/t3E and 0.06% Cu or $153.91/t NSR over 6 m ofdisseminated and blebby sulphide mineralization from 251 m downholeand 0.88 g/t 3E and 0.04% Cuover 4 m from 348 m downhole. This was thedeepest hole completed on the drill section and extends mineralizationfor 30 m below the 2021 Updated Mineral Resources
(Figure 2); and
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BZ2-1: Intersected 0.40 g/t 3E and0.04% Cu over 11 m of disseminated sulphide mineralization from 204 m downhole. Two additional, similargrade intervals 7 m and
20 m in downhole thickness of disseminated and blebby sulphidemineralization were also encountered, again all in the favourableBreccia Unit. Moreover, BZ2-1 also intersected 3.09 g/t 3E and 0.02% Cu over 2 m from 194 m downhole, including 5.28 g/t 3E and 0.01% Cu over 1m . These assay results extend mineralization 25m below the 2021 updated Mineral Resources (Figure 2).
Figure 1. Location and traces of the 4 (labelled) drill holes completedat Banshee Zone in August 2021.
The drill plan in its entirety consists of 13 holes totalling 4,175 malong 10 cross-sections of Banshee’s 700 m strike-length. Thedeepest hole is designed to penetrate to 300 m vertically belowsurface. Details of the Banshee Zone Mineral Resource Estimate,including the NSR formula, are available on the Company website( www.newagemetals.com ) and under the Company profile on SEDAR.
Figure 2. Viewlooking north at the mineralized assay intervals in the Banshee Zone2021 drill holes. The assay results indicate that the Banshee Zone isopen to expansion by drilling down-dip. Surface (top of the red body)at approximately 300 m above sea level. Red body = wireframed domainsfor the 2021 updated Mineral Resource Estimate of Banshee Zone. Black= historical drill hole collar locations and traces.
*Coordinates NAD83 Zone 17N
Notes:
1 Corelength intervals are apparent, not true. |
2 Mineralized intervals calculated at 0.2 g/t 3E cut-off and 3 m minimumwidth. |
3 NSRformula given in NAM press release dated October 5, 2021. For moredetails, see the Technical Report dated November 19 and filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR. |
Next Steps
The next steps at the Banshee Zone are to complete thenine drill holes (totalling 2,875 m on eight cross-sections) remainingfrom the 2021 planned program. First though, the drill hole plan willbe revisited for adjustment in view of the 2021 surface IP survey atBanshee Zone (see NAM press release dated October 26, 2021), theresults of which were unavailable in time to influence the originalplan. In addition to the expansion drilling, three in-fill drill holesare to be completed in 2022 on a single cross-section, in order toadvance Inferred to Indicated Mineral Resources in the centre of theBanshee Zone. The Banshee Zone program in 2022 would be in additionto
follow-up drilling of the new, higher-grade mineralization recentlyexposed 700 m to the north near the Dana South Zone (see press releasedated March 9, 2022).
Assay Procedures & QA/QC
The four Banshee Zone holes were drilled under the supervision of NAMgeologists.
The core samples were sent to the SGS Canada Inc. Laboratory inLakefield, Ontario, for initial sample preparation, and then to SGSLaboratory in Burnaby, BC for assay analysis. The sample preparationinvolved crushing of 3 kg of each sample to 90% passing 1.25 mm, andthen pulverizing a representative subsample of ~0.1 kg to 85% passing75 µm. Palladium, platinum and gold were analyzed by fire assay withICP-AES finish (GE-FAI30V5). Copper, nickel and 32 additional elementswere assayed by two-acid digestion and ICP-OES finish (GE-ICP21B20).Blanks and blind certified standard samples were submitted at regularintervals for assay with the core samples, as part of NAM’s rigorousQuality Assurance/Quality Control program.
About Banshee Zone
The Banshee Zone was drilled between 2002 and 2004 and is currentlydefined in 22 diamond drill holes totaling 4,274 m together withsurface outcrop exposures. The Banshee Zone measures 700 m long and upto 100 m wide, is drilled to an average depth of 134 m verticallybelow surface (maximum depth = 261 m), strikes N-NW, and dipsvertically to steeply to the east (i.e., overturned). Themineralization appears to be truncated to the north and south bysteeply-dipping conjugate faults, but may be transposed into thestructures before pinching out.
At a CDN$15 NSR/t cut-off, the 2021 updated Mineral Resource Estimateof the Banshee Zone is 2.44 Mt grading 0.29 g/t Pd, 0.17 g/t Pt, 0.03g/t Au, 0.06% Cu, 0.01% Ni, or CDN$30.11 NSR/t for 39 koz of 3E in theIndicated classification and 3.51 Mt grading 0.29 g/t Pd, 0.16 g/t Pt,0.06% Cu, 0.01% Ni or CDN$29.28 NSR/t for 53 koz of 3E in the Inferredclassification. The Banshee Zoneremains open to expansion by drilling, particularly at depth.
The Banshee Zone is located between the core Dana Zones to the Northand the Lismer Zones to the east and south (Figure 1), whichcollectively are the focus of the ongoing Pre-Feasibility Study of theRiver Valley Project. Due to itscentral location, Banshee could therefore be of strategic interest toany potential future mining-processing operation at theProject.
Pre-Feasibility Study Update
A Pre-Feasibility Study of the River Valley PalladiumProject was announced in a Company press release dated April, 2021,and a progress update was announced press release dated November 10,2021. At this point, recipes for the Dana Zone and Lismer Zonecomposites have been delivered by DENM Engineering to SGS Lakefieldand grind and flotation work is underway.
The geomechanical-hydrogeological and geotechnical site investigationstudies by Knight Piésold Ltd. are completed.Story Environmental continue baseline environmental studies of theRiver Valley Property and establishing meaningful relationships withlocal Indigenous Communities. In a press release dated January 26,2022, NAM announced that a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) hadbeen signed with Nipissing First Nation. This MOU is in addition tothat signed with Temagami First Nation in 2014 and renewed in2017.
VP Business Development
In addition, the Companyannounces the resignation of Mr. Cody Hunt as VP Business Developmenteffective April 14, 2022. Mr. Hunt has been an extremely valuablemember of the New Age Metals team. The board of directors andmanagement would like to thank Mr. Hunt for his years of service andwish him well with his future endeavours.
About River Valley
The River Valley Palladium Project is located 100 road-km east fromthe City of Sudbury.
The Project area is linked to Sudbury by a network of all-weatherhighways, roads and rail beds and is accessible year-round with hydrogrid and natural gas power nearby. River Valley enjoys the strongsupport of local communities, like the village of River Valley, 20 kmto the south.
Fully executed Memorandum of Understandings are in place with localFirst Nations, environmental baseline studies re-commenced in 2020,and archeological studies were completed in 2021.
The current Mineral Resource Estimate was announced in a press releasedated October 5, 2021. At cut-offs of CDN$15/t NSR (pit constrained)and CDN$50/t NSR (out-of-pit), the Mineral Resource Estimate consistsof: 89.9 Mt grading 0.54 g/t Pd, 0.21 g/t Pt, 0.04 g/t Au and 0.06%Cu, or CDN$47.58/t NSR in the Measured and Indicated classifications;and 94 Mt grading 0.35 g/t Pd, 0.16 g/t Pt, 0.04 g/t Au and 0.06% Cu,or CDN$31.69/t NSR in the Inferred classification. Contained metalcontents are 2.3 Moz Pd+Pt+Au in the Measured and Indicatedclassifications and 1.6 Moz Pd+Pt+Au in the Inferred classification.
The 2019 PEA results for the River Valley Palladium Project wereannounced in a press release dated June 27, 2019, and are based on theupdated 2019 Mineral Resource Estimate for
River Valley. The 2019 PEA outlines a 20,000 t/day open pit mine andprocessing plant operation producing an average of 119,000 ounces ofPdEq per year over a mine life of 14 years.
Using base case metal prices of US$1,200/oz Pd, $1,050/oz Pt and$3.25/lb Cu, the PEA showed a pre-tax NPV5% of US$261 million and apre-tax IRR of 13%. At a +20%palladium price of $1,440/oz Pd, the pre-tax NPV5% increases to $501Mand the pre-tax IRR to 19%. Note that as of March 7, 2022, thepalladium price hit a new all-time high of 3,499/oz (Kitco).
The 2021 updated Mineral Resource Estimate will form a basis for theongoing Pre-Feasibility Study of the River Valley Palladium Project.
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 by road east of Sudbury, Ontario. The Company completed a positivePreliminary Economic Assessment on the Project in 2019 and, is fullyfinanced to complete a
Pre-Feasibility Study on the Project in 2022. In addition toRiver Valley, the Company owns 100% of the Genesis PGM-Cu-Ni Projectin Alaska, and has plans to complete a surface mapping and samplingprogram in 2022.
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. In 2021 drone geophysics were completed on at least five ofthe Company’s seven projects and in March 2022 the maiden drillresults on the Company’s Lithium Two Project were announced. On September 28 th ,2021, the Company announced a partnership with Mineral ResourceLimited (MRL, ASX: MIN), the world’s fifth largest lithium producerto explore and develop the Company’s lithium project portfolio. NAMis currently finalizing the 2022 exploration budget and managementbelieves that 2022 will include the most aggressive exploration on theprojects to date.]
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.
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 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.
Qualified Persons
The contents contained herein that relate to thescientific and exploration results for the River Valley Project isbased on information compiled, reviewed or prepared by Dr. Bill Stone,P.Geo., a consulting geoscientist for New Age Metals. Dr. Stone isthe Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and hasreviewed and approved the technical content of this newsrelease.
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 theforward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake anyobligation to review or confirm analysts’ expectations or estimatesor to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statementsto reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflectthe occurrence of unanticipated events. Investors should not placeundue reliance on forward-looking statements.
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