Sama Announces Commencement of Pre-Feasibility Study at Samapleu

2021-06-15 / @thenewswire

(TheNewswire)

Drilling at Yepleu, Samapleu and Grata is ongoing with the discovery of new mineralized zones

Montreal, Quebec – TheNewswire - June 15, 2021 – Sama Resources Inc. (“Sama” or the “Company”) (TSXV:SME) (OTC:SAMMF) is pleased to announce that in collaboration with our partner Ivanhoe Electric (previously HPX), the Company will upgrade the 2020 Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) to a Pre-Feasibility Study (“PFS”) aimed at launching production at the Samapleu deposit for producing a nickel (“Ni”) concentrate and a copper (“Cu”) concentrate. The 2020 PEA was prepared by DRA Global’s office, in Montreal, Canada through DRA Met-Chem (“DRA”). The PEA showed a Pre-Tax NPV of US$615M, and IRR of 32.5%. The mineral processing plant proposed in the PEA is designed to process 2.4 Mtpy of run-of-mine mineralized material to produce 39,000 tpy of nickel concentrate at 10.34% Ni grade and 15,000 tpy of copper concentrate at 23.00% Cu grade. DRA will update the PEA over the next few months and an Environmental Impact Study will be launched in Q3 2021 following guidelines defined by the Agence Nationale de l’Environnement (ANDE) in Ivory Coast. Figures 1 and 2 show the proposed layout for the future operation at Samapleu as well as DRA’s proposed flowsheet for producing concentrates.

“Sama is responding positively to the call from industry leaders for producing more nickel. Revisiting last year’s PEA will allow Sama to fast-track the development of the surface resources at the Samapleu deposits” said Dr Marc-Antoine Audet, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sama Resources. Dr. Audet added, “Recent drilling success in the neighbourhood of the current mineralization at Samapleu further enhances the prospectivity of the entire area.

Sama is currently drilling at the Samapleu, Grata and Yepleu areas within the Company’s properties package.

At Yepleu, Sama’s company-owned Coretech 3000 drill rig is currently testing the excellent conductor (20,000 Conductivity Thickness (“CT”)) defined using Ivanhoe Electric Inc.’s proprietary Typhoon™ system from down-hole electromagnetic surveys (DHTEM) completed in November 2020. The hole (2021-05) is currently at 100 meters (“m”) on target for the 20,000 CT conductor located 850 m from surface (Figure 3).

While preparing access for hole 2021-05, the Company drilled three holes at conductive targets (10,000 CT, 11,000 CT) along the 4.5 kilometres (“km”) long mineralized trend. Boreholes 2021-03 & 04 intersected 15 m of mineralization including 3.8 m of semi-massive sulphides and 17 m of mineralization including 1.85 m of massive and semi-massive mineralization respectively. Further along the trend, hole 2021-02 intersected 61 m of mineralization. Assays results are pending.

At Samapleu, the Company is currently drilling new targets generated from a reinterpretation of the 2013 helicopter electromagnetic survey (ref: Press Release May 12, 2021). Hole SM34-105691 intersected a new mineralized zone at the south-west end of the complex while SM25-440370 extended near-surface mineralization at the north-east end of the complex. A new mineralized sector has been outlined 4 kilometres east of Samapleu, within the Grata (PR604) property, with ongoing drill hole SM20-070410 (Figure 4). Additional follow-up drill holes will be planned at all these new zones.

The highly prospective target area called Samapleu North (Figure 4) will be investigated shortly with one drill hole.

The 600 m deep very strong DHTEM anomaly (15,000 CT) at Samapleu will be tested with Sama’s Coretech 3000 rig following the completion of the current drill program at Yepleu.

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Figure 1: Proposed surface layout for the future operation at the Samapleu deposit.

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Figure 2: DRA’s proposed flowsheet for producing Ni and Cu concentrates.

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Figure 3: Drill holes 2021-03 & 04 intersected 15 m of mineralization including 3.8 m of semi-massive sulphides and 17 m of mineralization including 1.85 m of massive and semi-massive mineralization respectively. Further along the defined trend, hole 2021-02 intersected 61 m of mineralization. Assays results are pending. The hand‑held Niton XRF analyzer provides assay readings for a wide range of metallic elements including nickel and copper. XRF readings are made through a window of a few square millimetres. Reported values obtained using the Niton XRF analyzer are being used only for exploration planning.

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Figure 4: Based the reinterpretation of the 2013 small grid Helitem inversion at Samapleu Main and Extension 1, four new proposed holes were planned in addition to the proposed hole for testing the 15,000 CT target at 600 m from surface. Two drill holes are now completed and one ongoing.

Core logging and sampling were performed at Sama’s facility at the Samapleu and Yepleu field facilities. Sample preparation was conducted at the Bureau Veritas Mineral Laboratory’s facility in Abidjan. Sample pulps were delivered to Activation Laboratories Ltd, Ancaster, Ontario, Canada, for assaying. All samples are assayed for Ni, Cu, Co, Pt, Pd, Au, Fe and S.

Readers are invited to view the updated Corporate Presentation:

https://samaresources.com/i/pdf/Sama_Corporate_Presentation.pdf

ABOUT SAMA RESOURCES INC.

Sama is a Canadian-based mineral exploration and development company with projects in West Africa. On October 23, 2017, Sama announced that it had entered into a binding term sheet in view of forming a strategic partnership with HPX TechCo Inc., a private mineral exploration company in which mining entrepreneur Robert Friedland is a significant stakeholder, in order to develop its Ivorian Nickel-Copper and Cobalt project in Côte d’Ivoire, West-Africa. For more information about Sama, please visit Sama’s website at http://www.samaresources.com.

ABOUT IVANHOE ELECTRIC (previously HPX)

Ivanhoe Electric is a privately-owned, metals-focused exploration company deploying proprietary in-house geophysical technologies to rapidly evaluate buried geophysical targets. The Ivanhoe Electric technology cluster comprises geological and geophysical systems for targeting, modelling, survey optimization, acquisition, processing and interpretation. Ivanhoe electric has a highly experienced board and management team led by Chief Executive Officer Robert Friedland and President Eric Finlayson, a former head of exploration at Rio Tinto. For further information, please visit www.hpxploration.com.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

SAMA RESOURCES INC./RESSOURCES SAMA INC.

Dr. Marc-Antoine Audet, President and CEO

Tel: (514) 726-4158

Mr. Matt Johnston, Corporate Development Advisor

Tel: (604) 443-3835

Toll Free: 1 (877) 792-6688, Ext. 5

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain of the statements made and information contained herein are "forward-looking statements" or “forward-looking information” within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information such as “will”, could”, “expect”, “estimate”, “evidence”, “potential”, “appears”, “seems”, “suggest”, are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, including, without limitation, the ability of the company to convert resources in reserves, its ability to see through the next phase of development on the project, its ability to produce a pre-feasibility study or a feasibility study regarding the project, its ability to execute on its development plans in terms of metallurgy or exploration, the availability of financing for activities, risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results and the estimation of mineral resources and reserves, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits, the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations, metal price fluctuations, environmental and regulatory requirements, availability of permits, escalating costs of remediation and mitigation, risk of title loss, the effects of accidents, equipment breakdowns, labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties with or interruptions in exploration or development, the potential for delays in exploration or development activities, the inherent uncertainty of cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses, commodity price fluctuations, currency fluctuations, expectations and beliefs of management and other risks and uncertainties.

In addition, forward-looking statements and forward-looking information are based on various assumptions. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking information or forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.