Drilling to Commence: New Age Metals Updates Exploration Plans for the River Valley Palladium Property Near Sudbury, Ontario

2022-09-08 / @thenewswire

(TheNewswire)

September 8, 2022 – TheNewswire - Rockport, Ontario - New Age Metals Inc. (TSXV:NAM); (OTC:NMTLF); (FSE:P7J.F) (“NAM” or “Company”) is pleased to announce updated exploration plans for its River Valley Palladium Property, located 100 km east of the City of Sudbury in northeastern Ontario (Figure 1). Several exploration targets have been worked-up, ranked and prioritized from drill testing in fall 2022 and winter 2023. The highest ranked targets for drill testing are the Dana South Zone-Extension target, the Dana South Zone-SET target, Pine Zone, and Banshee Zone (Figure2). A diamond drill rig has been mobilized to site and is set to commence a Phase 1 drill program at the Dana South Zone-Extension target.

The Dana South Zone-Extension Target

The Dana South Zone-Extension target was recently identified from core assays of drill hole
KP21-05, which returned 1.129 g/t Pd+Pt+Au (“3E”) over 84 m within the favourable Breccia Unit of the River Valley Intrusion (Figure 2). This higher-grade mineralization extends southeastward beyond the previously interpreted, faulted-limited boundary of the Dana South Zone, and therefore represents a recently recognized opportunity to expand this key zone in that direction. The plan is to test this expansion opportunity in a 5-hole, 1550 m drill program during September.

These 5 drill holes will be completed on two cross-sections to test for presence of the higher-grade mineralization many tens of metres up-dip and down-dip and southeast along strike of the KP21-05 intersection. Diamond drilling commenced September 6th and should be completed by the end of the month. Updates will be forthcoming pending progress and results. The location of Dana South in the northern area of River Valley Project (Figure 1) makes it a very important mineralized zone in the ongoing Pre-Feasibility Study.

Next Steps in Pd Exploration

Following completion of the current drill program at the Dana South Zone-Extension target, the rig may be moved to the next priority ranking target at the time. That target will likely be either the nearby Dana South Zone-SET (“Southeast Trench”) target (NAM press release dated March 9, 2022) or the Pine Zone, 1-km north. Although the Pine Zone has been tested in more than 30 diamond drill holes to date, it still remains open to expansion by drilling down-dip. Further exploration plan updates will be announced pending progress and results.

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Figure 1. The Pd Mineral Resources in the northern area of the River Valley Project. The zones labelled in red are prioritized for extensional drilling in 2022-2023. KP21-05 signifies the highest priority target for drilling. The Mineral Resources were estimated using $15/t NSR cut-off and NSR calculation described in the 2021 Updated Mineral Resources and Technical Report (P&E, 2021 – filed on SEDAR). The Huronian, Grenville and Nipissing geological units not shown for illustration clarity.

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Figure 2. Plan view of the Dana South Zone area showing the Extension Target and the 5 drill holes (DS-22-01p,
DS-22-02p, DS-22-04p, DS-22-07p, and DS-22-08p) that are planned to test it in a Phase 1 drilling program. (Note that drill holes DS-22-01 and DS-22-02 are to be set-up at the same collar location, but drilled at different dips).
The Dana South Zone mineralized domain (red translucent), historical drilling, and the KP21-05 drill hole mineralization are also shown. SET = Southeast Trench area, which is a second drill target area that also lies outside (east) the Dana South mineralized domain (NAM press release dated March 9, 2022).

About Dana South Zone

The Dana South Zone appears to be a fault offset of the larger Dana North Zone. This Zone measures 250 metres along strike and 50 metres wide (at surface), and has been traced in drilling to approximately 500 metres below surface, the deepest drilling completed at River Valley.
Dana South remains open to expansion by drilling at depth, possibly to the east towards the SET target, and to the south-southeast along the KP21-05 mineralized trend. Based on a CDN$15/t NSR cut-off, the 2021 updated pit-constrained Mineral Resource Estimate of Dana South is 15.37 Mt grading 0.97 g/t 3E and 0.06% Cu, or CDN$57.95/t NSR in Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources, and 1.17 Mt grading 0.61 g/t 3E and 0.06% Cu, or CDN$37.02/t NSR in Inferred Mineral Resources (NAM press release dated October 5, 2021).

Pre-Feasibility Study Update

A Pre-Feasibility Study of the River Valley Palladium Project was announced in the NAM press release dated April 12, 2021 and the most recent progress update was announced on August 10, 2022.
The Pre-Feasibility Study as led by P&E Mining Consultants Inc. (“P&E”) will consider optimized mine production and mineral processing rates, based on the current, potentially more valuable Updated Mineral Resource Estimate than that which underpinned the 2019 Preliminary Economic Assessment. Pit slope recommendations by Knight-Piésold Ltd. have been reviewed and accepted. SGS Canada Inc./D.E.N.M Engineering Ltd. delivered indicative metallurgical recoveries to P&E by the end of June 2022 for NSR modelling, Mineral Reserve estimation, and production scheduling work. Site design plans by P&E are progressing and environmental studies and First Nation engagements by Story Environmental Inc. are advancing for future permit applications. After delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic, difficulties in finding and retaining experienced labour, a major shortage of suitable drill rigs and experienced drillers, and backlogged assay laboratories, the Pre-Feasibility Study of the River Valley Palladium Project is currently slated for completion in Q4 2022.

About River Valley

The River Valley Palladium Project is located 100 road-km east from the City of Sudbury.
The Project area is linked to Sudbury by a network of all-weather highways, roads and rail beds and is accessible year-round with hydro grid and natural gas power nearby. River Valley enjoys the strong support of local communities, like the village of River Valley, 20 km to the south.
Fully executed Memorandum of Understandings are in place with local First Nations, environmental baseline studies re-commenced in 2020, and archeological studies were completed in 2021.

The River Valley 2021 Updated Mineral Resource Technical Report by P&E was filed on SEDAR in November 2021 (NAM press release dated November 19, 2021). At cut-offs of CDN$15/t NSR (pit constrained) and CDN$50/t NSR (out-of-pit), the Mineral Resource Estimate consists of: 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 94.0 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. The pit constrained Measured & Indicated Mineral Resources total of 89 Mt grading 0.79 g/t Pd+Pt+Au (2.3 Moz) reported significantly exceeds the potentially economic portion Mineral Resources total of 78 Mt grading 0.79 g/t Pd+Pt+Au
(2.0 Moz) reported in the 2019 Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) of River Valley. The 2021 updated Mineral Resource Estimate will form a basis for the ongoing Pre-Feasibility Study of the River Valley Palladium Project.

About NAM

New Age Metals is a junior mineral exploration and development company focused on the discovery, exploration and development of green metal projects in North America. The Company has two divisions; a Platinum Group 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 largest undeveloped Platinum Group Metals Projects, situated
100 km by road east of Sudbury, Ontario. The Company completed a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment on the Project in 2019 (NAM press release dated August 8, 2019) and, is fully financed to complete a Pre-Feasibility Study on the Project in 2022. In addition to River Valley, NAM owns 100% of the Genesis PGM-Cu-Ni Project in Alaska, and plans to complete a surface mapping and sampling program in 2022.

The Lithium Division is one of the largest mineral claim holders in the Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field, where the Company is exploring for hard rock lithium and various rare elements such as tantalum and rubidium. Further Exploration plans for 2022 include continued mapping/sampling field program following up on prospective trends outlined in the magnetic data, and phase two drill program at Lithium Two Project. The company has a partnership with Mineral Resource Limited (MRL, ASX: MIN), a top global lithium producer to explore and develop the Company’s lithium project portfolio. The 2022 budget for the Company’s Lithium Division is $1.8 million.

Our philosophy is to be a project generator with the objective of optioning our projects with major and junior mining companies through to production. The Company is actively seeking an option/ joint venture partner for its road-accessible Genesis PGM-Cu-Ni project in Alaska.

Investors are invited to visit the New Age Metals website at www.newagemetals.com where they can review the company and its corporate activities. Any questions or comments can be directed to info@newagemetals.com or Harry Barr at Hbarr@newagemetals.com or Farid Mammadov at faridm@newagemetals.com or phone 613 659 2773.

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Qualified Persons

The contents contained herein that relate to the scientific and exploration results for the River Valley Project is based on information compiled, reviewed or prepared by Dr. Bill Stone, P.Geo., a consulting geoscientist for New Age Metals. Dr. Stone is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the 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 Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements: This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results and are based on current expectations or beliefs. For this purpose, statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements include statements in which the Company uses words such as “continue”, “efforts”, “expect”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “confident”, “intend”, “strategy”, “plan”, “will”, “estimate”, “project”, “goal”, “target”, “prospects”, “optimistic” or similar expressions. These statements by their nature involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially depending on a variety of important factors, including, among others, the Company’s ability and continuation of efforts to timely and completely make available adequate current public information, additional or different regulatory and legal requirements and restrictions that may be imposed, and other factors as may be discussed in the documents filed by the Company on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), including the most recent reports that identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake any obligation to review or confirm analysts’ expectations or estimates or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.