North Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 23, 2025) - Lion One Metals Limited (TSXV: LIO) (OTCQX: LOMLF) ("Lion One" or the "Company") is pleased to report significant new high-grade gold results from 3,866.8 metres of infill and grade control drilling at its 100% owned Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project in Fiji. The drilling is focused on Zone 5 and includes the Zone's best assay result to-date of 2,749.86 g/t of gold over 0.3 metres (88.42 oz/t of gold over 1.0 feet).
All drilling was completed from existing near surface underground workings. The Company intersected high-grade mineralized structures in 24 holes drilled up-dip, down-dip, and south along strike of the UR2 and URW3 lodes where current mining activities are in progress. 17 holes intersected multiple high-grade mineralized structures, all of which are near existing underground workings. Most of the drill holes did not exceed 130 metres in length from underground drill stations. Drill results include multiple bonanza grade assays such as 2,749.86 g/t, 269.5 g/t and 235.2 g/t over narrow widths of 0.3 metres. Due to proximity of drill results to existing workings there is a strong probability that some of these structures can be incorporated into the mine plan in the next six to twelve months.
Bonanza grades in Zone 5 at the Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project are not unexpected. Previously the Company announced high-grade drill results from Zone 5 including 1,986.23 g/t gold over 0.6 metres (see press release dated December 13, 2023), 1,568.55 g/t over 0.3 metres (see press release dated June 5, 2024), and 1,517.79 g/t over 0.3 m (see press release dated December 17, 2024).
Lion One Chairman and CEO Walter Berukoff commented: "We're extremely pleased with the new results from our Zone 5 infill and grade control drill program. These significant underground drill results continue to confirm the high-grade nature of the Tuvatu Alkaline gold system and provide strong support for our ongoing mining efforts in Zone 5. We're excited to expand our near-term mine plan in Zone 5 and look forward to mining these areas in 2025. I was particularly interested to see that three of the highest-grade intersections were all identified in hole TGC-265 as separate and distinct structures."
Highlights of New Drill Results:
2,749.86 g/t Au over 0.3 metres (TGC 265, from 96.2 m depth) Best assay to-date in Zone 5
162.97 g/t Au over 0.6 m (including 269.5 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TGC-281, from 75.89 m depth)
53.11 g/t Au over 1.5 m (including 235.2 g/t over 0.3 m) (TGC-282, from 92.6 m depth)
96.5 g/t Au over 0.6 m (TGC-288, from 28.8 m depth)
46.94 g/t Au over 1.2 m (including 86.44 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TGC-265, from 45.7 m depth)
47.22 g/t Au over 0.9 m (including 62.25 g/t over 0.3 m (TGC-265, from 81.1 m depth)
69.38 g/t Au over 0.6 m (including 126.5 g/t over 0.3 m (TGC-267, from 125 m depth)
*Drill intersects are downhole lengths, 3.0 g/t cutoff. See Table 1 in Appendix for additional data.
Figure 1. Location of the Zone 5 drilling reported in this news release. Left image: Plan view of Tuvatu showing Zone 5 drillholes in relation to the mineralized lodes at Tuvatu, shown in grey. Yellow dashed square represents the area shown in the right image. Right image: Oblique view of Zone 5 drilling looking approximately east-northeast. Zone 5 drilling is targeting the up-dip and down-dip extensions of the mineralized lodes above and below current underground developments, shown in red.
The Zone 5 area of Tuvatu is located along the main decline and includes the principal north-south oriented lodes (UR1 to UR3), the principal northeast-southwest oriented lodes (UR4 to UR8), and several of the western lodes (URW2, URW2A, URW3). These lodes are steeply dipping structures that converge at approximately 500 m depth to form Zone 500, which is the highest-grade part of the deposit and is interpreted to be a major feeder zone at Tuvatu. The system remains open at depth with the deepest high-grade intersections occurring below 1000 m depth.
The drilling reported in this news release targeted the near-surface portions of the UR2 and URW3 lodes. Drilling was focused on the up-dip and down-dip areas of the UR2 and URW3 lodes, directly above and below current underground developments. The drilling targeted a 200 m strike length of the UR2 and URW3 lodes. The current total strike length of the UR2 lode is approximately 620 m, while that of the URW3 lode is approximately 330 m. Both lodes remain open along strike and at depth.
The Zone 5 grade control drilling reported in this release was conducted from two underground locations: the 1135 drill station and the 1090 drill station. These drillholes are designed to intersect the mineralized lodes in a perpendicular to sub-perpendicular orientation such that the mineralized intervals approximate the true width of the lodes. Grade control drilling is being conducted on a 10 m grid to provide a detailed understanding of the geometry and mineralization of the Zone 5 lodes. The purpose of the current Zone 5 grade control drill program is to enhance the mine model and inform stope design in advance of mining in the target areas. The majority of the high-grade intervals reported in this release are located within 30 m of underground developments and are anticipated to be included in the mine plan in 2025. Highlights of the Zone 5 drilling reported here are shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Zone 5 infill and grade control drilling with high-grade intersects highlighted, 3.0 g/t gold cutoff. Plan view looking down with north to the left. The primary areas targeted by the Zone 5 drilling are the up-dip and down-dip areas of the UR2 and URW3 lodes above and below current underground developments. These areas are scheduled for near-term mining. Drill holes are oriented perpendicular to sub-perpendicular to the mineralized lodes.
The information in this report that relates to mineral exploration at the Tuvatu Gold Project is based on information compiled by the Lion One team and reviewed by Melvyn Levrel, who is the company's Senior Geologist. Mr Levrel is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration, and to the activity being undertaken, to qualify as a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43- 101"). Mr Levrel consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on the information in the form and context in which it appears.
Lion One Laboratories / QAQC
Lion One adheres to rigorous QAQC procedures above and beyond basic regulatory guidelines in conducting its drilling, sampling, testing, and analyses. The Company operates its own geochemical assay laboratory and its own fleet of diamond drill rigs using PQ, HQ and NQ sized drill rods.
Diamond drill core samples are logged by Lion One personnel on site. Exploration diamond drill core is split by Lion One personnel on site, with half core samples sent for analysis and the other half core remaining on site. Grade control diamond drill core is whole core assayed. Core samples are delivered to the Lion One Laboratory for preparation and analysis. All samples are pulverized at the Lion One lab to 85% passing through 75 microns and gold analysis is carried out using fire assay with an AA finish. Samples that return grades greater than 10.00 g/t Au are re-analyzed by gravimetric method, which is considered more accurate for very high-grade samples.
Duplicates of 5% of samples with grades above 0.5 g/t Au are delivered to ALS Global Laboratories in Australia for check assay determinations using the same methods (Au-AA26 and Au-GRA22 where applicable). ALS also analyses 33 pathfinder elements by HF-HNO3-HClO4 acid digestion, HCl leach and ICP-AES (method ME-ICP61). The Lion One lab can test a range of up to 71 elements through Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES), but currently focuses on a suite of 26 important pathfinder elements with an aqua regia digest and ICP-OES finish.
About Lion One Metals Limited
Lion One Metals is an emerging Canadian gold producer headquartered in North Vancouver BC, with new operations established in late 2023 at its 100% owned Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project in Fiji. The Tuvatu project comprises the high-grade Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Deposit, the Underground Gold Mine, the Pilot Plant, and the Assay Lab. The Company also has an extensive exploration license covering the entire Navilawa Caldera, which is host to multiple mineralized zones and highly prospective exploration targets.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, Walter Berukoff, Chairman & CEO
Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Service Provider accepts responsibility or the adequacy or accuracy of this release
This press release may contain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking information. Generally, forward-looking information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "proposed", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. This forward-looking information reflects Lion One Metals Limited's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to Lion One Metals Limited and on assumptions Lion One Metals Limited believes are reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to, the actual results of exploration projects being equivalent to or better than estimated results in technical reports, assessment reports, and other geological reports or prior exploration results. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance, or achievements of Lion One Metals Limited or its subsidiaries to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: the stage development of Lion One Metals Limited, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of current research and development or operational activities; competition; uncertainty as to patent applications and intellectual property rights; product liability and lack of insurance; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; changes in legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting mining, timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; not realizing on the potential benefits of technology; conclusions of economic evaluations; and lack of qualified, skilled labor or loss of key individuals. Although Lion One Metals Limited has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Lion One Metals Limited does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
Appendix 1: Full Drill Results and Collar Information
Table 1. Collar coordinates for drillholes reported in this release. Coordinates are in Fiji map grid.
Hole ID
Easting
Northing
Elevation
Azimuth
Dip
Depth
TGC-0265
1876384
3920429
94
87.7
-11.1
116.0
TGC-0267
1876380
3920530
129
109.8
-10.5
131.0
TGC-0268
1876384
3920429
94
96.1
-14.0
10.7
TGC-0269
1876384
3920429
94
96.3
-10.3
110.2
TGC-0271
1876381
3920530
130
114.8
10.5
136.6
TGC-0273
1876384
3920429
94
103.2
-10.9
91.8
TGC-0275
1876384
3920428
94
111.2
-9.9
85.8
TGC-0277
1876384
3920428
94
119.3
-10.5
85.7
TGC-0278
1876381
3920530
131
116.9
20.3
135.0
TGC-0279
1876385
3920425
96
140.4
11.7
90.6
TGC-0281
1876384
3920425
96
154.2
11.6
102.5
TGC-0282
1876381
3920530
131
113.2
14.8
139.2
TGC-0284
1876381
3920530
131
108.5
19.8
135.7
TGC-0286
1876383
3920424
96
165.4
12.4
111.5
TGC-0287
1876381
3920532
131
88.2
14.4
118.0
TGC-0288
1876381
3920531
131
96.7
14.1
115.1
TGC-0289
1876383
3920424
96
175.0
10.5
126.3
TGC-0291
1876381
3920532
131
87.4
20.0
120.7
TGC-0292
1876382
3920425
94
174.2
-10.4
13.7
TGC-0294
1876382
3920425
94
174.8
-12.5
127.7
TGC-0295
1876381
3920531
131
95.2
23.0
180.7
TGC-0296
1876382
3920426
94
175.2
-24.6
152.1
TGC-0297
1876381
3920530
131
102.0
23.1
120.0
TGC-0299
1876382
3920426
94
174.8
-35.5
200.7
TGC-0300
1876381
3920530
130
104.1
13.5
122.1
TGC-0301
1876381
3920531
130
96.2
13.3
121.4
TGC-0302
1876383
3920425
94
160.5
-10.5
112.8
TGC-0303
1876380
3920530
129
120.6
-20.6
160.0
TGC-0304
1876383
3920426
94
155.6
-31.4
122.6
TGC-0306
1876380
3920529
129
126.1
-19.6
160.1
TGC-0307
1876383
3920426
93
154.5
-44.9
154.1
TGC-0309
1876384
3920427
93
130.5
-45.1
140.6
TGC-0310
1876380
3920532
128
78.4
-48.0
15.8
Table 2. Composite intervals from drillholes reported in this news release (composite grade >3.0 g/t Au, with <1 m internal dilution at <3.0 g/t Au).
