(TheNewswire)
July 13, 2021 – TheNewswire - Rockport, Ontario -New Age Metals Inc. (TSXV:NAM ) ; ( OTC:NMTLF ) ; ( FSE:P7J.F) (“NAM” or “Company”) is pleased to provide an updateon the ongoing environmental baseline and archeological studies at its100%-owned River Valley Palladium Project, located 100 km east ofSudbury, Ontario. These studies are being carried out by StoryEnvironmental Inc. (SEI) of Haileybury, Ontario, and will serve as keycomponents of the
Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) of the Project, as announced in a Companypress release dated April 12, 2021.
Harry Barr, Chairman and CEO of New Age Metalscommented, “We are pleased with the progress to date on ourenvironmental baseline work at River Valley. By being proactive atthis early point in the Project lifecycle, we will be more confidentin our ability to execute future permitting efforts more efficiently.We have been fortunate to collaborate with our local First Nationspartners throughout these baseline programs, in order to ensure thatwe are operating responsibly and transparently through this importantstage of the Project’s development.”
Environmental Baseline Program
The purpose of the environmental baseline work is tosupport future permitting requirements for the River Valley PalladiumProject. Emphasis has been placed on the programs that will requiremulti-year, seasonal data to support a federal impact assessment. Theenvironmental baseline studies for the Pre-Feasibility Study areexpected to be completed in November and reporting to be finished byDecember 2021, in advance of the publication of the PFS in H2-2022.
Baseline studies, to support the development andpermitting of the Project, are underway in the following areas: archaeology, surface water quality, hydrology, and the aquatic andterrestrial environments.
The first-round of 2021 surface water quality samplingtook place in May at the same network of sampling sites established in2020. The water sampling program is designed to capture any spatialand temporal variations in water quality within the waterbodies andstreams located within the Project area. A second-round of samplingis scheduled to be conducted in the summer at the same sampling sitesunder low-flow conditions and a final 2021 sampling campaign will beconducted in the fall, in recovering flow conditions.
As part of the hydrology program in 2020, flowmeasurements and water levels were obtained at the hydrology stationestablished at the outlet of Pine Lake. In 2021, hydrologymeasurements were conducted in May in conjunction with the surfacewater quality sampling program. Additional flow and water levelmeasurements will be conducted this summer and fall, under variousflow conditions, to facilitate the development of a rating curve forthis station.
A bathymetric survey and shoreline habitat mapping ofPine Lake were completed, as part of the aquatics baselineprogram. Additional fish community and habitat surveys will beconducted this fall in Pine Lake, Platadium Pond, and other selectedwaterbodies within the Project area. The data from this work willsupport ongoing engineering studies and project planning as well asfuture permitting activities.
For the terrestrial habitat component of the program, adesktop baseline study was conducted in May to inform the design ofthe 2021 baseline field study program. Baseline field studies completed in 2021 incorporated Species at Riskin Ontario surveys including: Eastern Whip-poor-will, completed inMay, and bats (i.e., Tri-colored Bat, Little Brown Myotis, NorthernMyotis, and Eastern Small Footed Myotis) completed in June. The Mayfield studies also included vegetation surveys and in June the fieldstudies included additional vegetation surveys and breeding birdsurveys.
Other Studies and ArcheologicalAssessment
In addition to the baseline studies described above,SEI has also been retained by NAM to:
1) support the hydrogeological baseline program through the completionof slug tests; 2) initiate a groundwater quality monitoring program;and 3) conduct desktop atmospheric studies focused on definingexisting climate and air quality conditions in the Project area. Thefirst phases of these additional studies will be completed in thesummer and fall of 2021.
Finally, a Stage 2 Archaeological Assessment wascompleted by Horizon Archaeology Inc. (under contract to SEI) in thePlatadium Pond area and along the southern shoreline of Pine Lake inMay, following the Stage 1 Archaeological Assessment of 2020. TheStage 1 and 2 Archaeological Assessments will be reviewed by our FirstNations partners and submitted to the appropriate Ministry for review.
About River Valley
The River Valley Palladium Project islocated 100 road-km east from the City of Sudbury. The Project area is linked to Sudbury by a network ofall-weather highways, roads and rail beds and is accessible year-roundwith hydro grid and natural gas power nearby. River Valley enjoysthe strong support of local communities, like the village of RiverValley, 20 km to the south.
A fully executed Memorandum of Understanding is in place with a localFirst Nation. Environmental baseline studies and engineeringstudies, to support project development, prefeasibility studies, andpermitting are currently underway.
The current Mineral Resource Estimatewas announced in a Company press release dated January 15, 2019 and isbased on metal prices substantially lower than today . At a cut-offgrade of 0.35 g/t PdEq, the Mineral Resource consists of: 99 Mtgrading 0.52 g/t Pd, 0.20 g/t Pt, 0.03 g/t Au and 0.06% Cu, or 0.90g/t PdEq in the Measured and Indicated classifications; and 52 Mtgrading 0.31 g/t Pd, 0.15 g/t Pt, 0.04 g/t Au and 0.04% Cu, or 0.63g/t PdEq in the Inferred classification. Contained metal contentsare 2.4 Moz Pd+Pt+Au or 2.9 Moz PdEq in the Measured and Indicatedclassifications and 0.8 Moz Pd+Pt+Au or 1.1 Moz PdEq in the Inferredclassification.
The 2019 PEA results for the River Valley PalladiumProject were announced in a press release dated June 27, 2019. The PEAoutlines a 20,000 t/day open pit mine and processing plant operationproducing an average of 119,000 ounces of PdEq per year over a minelife 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 NPV 5% of US$261 million and a pre-tax IRRof 13%. At a +20% palladium price of $1,440/oz Pd, the pre-taxNPV 5% increases to $501Mand the pre-tax IRR to 19%. The current price of Pd is approximately $2,700/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 Company has recently completed a PreliminaryEconomic Assessment on the project and, plans are to complete a Pre-Feasibility Study by the end of thefirst half of 2022 . In Alaska, the Company owns 100% of theGenesis 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 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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