(TheNewswire)
August 17, 2021 – TheNewswire - Rockport,Ontario - New Age Metals Inc. (TSXV:NAM ) ; ( OTC:NMTLF ) ; ( FSE:P7J.F) (“NAM” or “Company”) is pleased toprovide an update on the ongoing Pre-Feasibility Study and explorationdrilling at the River Valley Palladium Project near Sudbury,Ontario.
The Pre-Feasibility Study was announced in a Company press releasedated April 12, 2021. Since then, progress has been made in themineral processing and metallurgical work program and thegeomechanical work program components of the Pre-Feasibility Study.Concurrently, NAM has commenced exploration drilling at the BansheeZone (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Geology map of the northern area of the River Valley Palladium depositnear Sudbury, Ontario. PGM mineralized zones projected to surface.Mineral Resource Estimates using 0.35 g/t PdEq cut-off and PdEqcalculation of Preliminary Economic Assessment (2019). The Huronian,Grenville and Nipissing units excluded for illustration clarity.
Pre-Feasibility Study
Mineral Processing and MetallurgicalSampling Drill Program
Four drill holes totalling approximately 800 m have been completed;one each on the Dana North, Dana South, Lismer North and Lismer SouthZones (Figure 2). Each of the holes was drilled downwards tointersect as much mineralization as possible for mineral processingand metallurgical testwork by SGS Canada Inc. (Lakefield). HQ-sizecore was retrieved, logged and sampled metre-by-metre by NAM.Eight-hundred 1-m long ½ core samples plus blind QA/QC samples havenow been delivered to SGS, where processing and preparation forassaying and testwork has commenced. Assay results are pending fromthe laboratory and will be reported when available. The samples willbe composited for mineralized zone, rock type and particularly gradevariability testing. The testwork program at SGS is being managed onbehalf of NAM by D.E.N.M Engineering Ltd. (Burlington).
Figure 2. Collar location and traces of the four holes drilled in 2021 formineral processing and metallurgical testwork samples. The fifth(unlabelled) drill hole was planned for contingency, but not drilled. The background is a topography image from the 2014 LiDAR survey ofthe River Valley Property. The Banshee Zone shown for informationonly.
Geomechanical Drill Program
The Geomechanical drill program consists of work on 10 drill holes(Figure 3). Five of these holes totalling 1,410 m will be drilledstarting in mid-August to provide fresh, oriented HQ-size corematerial for rock property and structural geology studies by KnightPiésold Ltd. (North Bay). Two of the holes will be drilled at DanaNorth Zone, one hole at Dana South Zone, at least one hole at LismerNorth Zone, and one hole at Lismer Ridge Zone, as planned by KnightPiésold. The drilling will start imminently at Lismer North and becompleted by Jacob & Samuel Drilling Ltd. (Sudbury). Additionally,a total of four historical holes at Dana North, Lismer North andLismer Ridge Zones have been selected to be surveyed by a televiewerinstrument for rock type and structural geology information. The drillprogram is slated for completion in Q4 2021.
Figure 3. Location of the planned drill holes for the geomechanical studiesKnight Piésold. Holes KP21-01 to -06 will be drilled in 2021 andholes labelled DN or LR are historical. Holes KP 21-03, KP21-05, andpossibly KP21-06 will also be logged and sampled as exploration drillholes .
In addition to the geomechanical work, the new diamond holes to bedrilled at Dana South, Lismer North and Lismer Ridge will also belogged and sampled as exploration holes. Core samples will be sent toSGS Laboratories (Sudbury) for assaying. Assay results will bereleased when available.
Exploration Drilling
Exploration on the River Valley Property continues during thePre-Feasibility Study. A focus of the 2021 exploration program is theBanshee Zone (Figure 4). The Banshee Zone was discovered by mineralprospecting and drilling between 2002 to 2004. Despite its centrallocation between the Dana Zones to the north and the Lismer Zones tothe east and south, the Banshee Zone has been overlooked in post-2004exploration programs due to its apparently small size and lower grade.At a cut-off grade of 0.35 g/t PdEq, the current (2019)pit-constrained Mineral Resource Estimate for Banshee is 3.36 Mtgrading 0.29 g/t Pd, 0.17 g/t Pt, 0.03 g/t Au, 0.04% Cu and 0.01% Ni,or 0.55 g/t PdEq, all in the Inferred classification. This resource isbased on a database of just 22 diamond drill holes totalling 4,274 m,with an average depth of only <200 m below surface. Below thatdepth, the palladium mineralization remains open to expansion bydrilling down-dip along the 700 m strike-length of the Zone. A combination of near-historic high Pdprice and its central location means that the Banshee Zone could be ofstrategic importance to any future mining operation at RiverValley.
Figure 4. Location and hole traces for planned 2021 exploration drill holes atBanshee Zone. The plan consists of drilling 13 holes totalling 4,175 malong 10 cross-sections of the Zone’s 700 m strike-length. Thedeepest hole will penetrate to 300 m below surface.
The 2021 exploration plan for Banshee consists of 13 holes totalling4,175 m (Figure 4), designed to expand the known extents ofmineralization down-dip. The exploration drilling commenced at thesouth end of Banshee in late July, following completion of the IPgeophysical survey in June (see Company press release dated July 6,2021). To date, four of the drill holes have been completed andcontact-type Cu-Fe sulphide mineralization typical of the River ValleyDeposit was encountered. Core sample assays are pending from thelaboratory in Sudbury and will be released when available.
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.
A fully executed Memorandum of Understanding is in place with a localFirst Nation. Environmental baseline studies re-commenced in 2020.
The current Mineral Resource Estimate was announced in a Company pressrelease dated January 15, 2019 and is based on metal pricessubstantially lower than today. At a cut-off grade of
0.35 g/t PdEq, the Mineral Resource consists of: 99 Mt grading 0.52g/t Pd, 0.20 g/t Pt, 0.03 g/t Au and 0.06% Cu, or 0.90 g/t PdEq in theMeasured and Indicated classifications; and 52 Mt grading 0.31 g/t Pd,0.15 g/t Pt, 0.04 g/t Au and 0.04% Cu, or 0.63 g/t PdEq in theInferred classification. Contained metal contents are 2.4 MozPd+Pt+Au or 2.9 Moz PdEq in the Measured and Indicated classificationsand 0.8 Moz Pd+Pt+Au or 1.1 Moz PdEq in the Inferred classification.
The 2019 PEA results for the River Valley Palladium Project wereannounced in a press release dated June 27, 2019. The PEA outlines a20,000 t/day open pit mine and processing plant operation producing anaverage of 119,000 ounces of PdEq per year over a mine life of 14years. Using base case metal prices of US$1,200/oz Pd, $1,050/oz Ptand $3.25/lb Cu, the PEA showed a pre-tax NPV5% of US$261 million anda pre-tax IRR of 13%. At a +20% palladium price of $1,440/oz Pd, thepre-tax NPV5% increases to $501M and the pre-tax IRR to 19%. Thecurrent price of Pd is approximately $2,515/oz Pd.
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 Companycompleted a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment on the Project in2019 and, is fully financed to complete a Pre-Feasibility Study on theProject. A technical report is slated to be published by the end ofthe first half of 2022.
In addition to River Valley, the Company owns 100% of the GenesisPGM-Cu-Ni Project in Alaska, and has plans to complete a surfacemapping and sampling program this year.
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 at least five of the Company’s seven projects and amaiden drill program 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.
Qualified Persons
The contents contained herein that relate toExploration Results and Mineral Resources for the River Valley Projectis based on information compiled, reviewed or prepared by Dr. BillStone, P.Geo., a consulting geoscientist for New Age Metals. Dr.Stone is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101and has reviewed 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 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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