North Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 12, 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 2,701.4 meters of underground infill and grade control drilling at its 100% owned Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project in Fiji ("Tuvatu"). The drilling is focused on the Ura lode system which is currently being mined. The Company intersected high-grade mineralized structures in 21 holes, most of which did not exceed 150 m in length.
There are two primary targets for the Ura drilling reported in this release: the planned Ura shrinkage stope in development at the top of the Ura system, and the down-dip extension of the Ura lodes below current underground workings (Figure 1).
The Ura lode system is currently being mined from both the 1095 and 1116 levels of the mine. A shrinkage stope is being developed between the 1116 and 1156 levels of the mine. This shrinkage stope is scheduled for mining within the next three months and will be mined over a strike length of approximately 80 m, with narrow mining widths of approximately 1.5 m. This stope encompasses numerous very high-grade gold drill results, such as 54.16 g/t gold over 1.9 m, which includes 156.55 g/t gold over 0.6 m. Previous drilling in the shrinkage stope has returned similarly strong results over narrow widths, such as 168.95 g/t gold over 0.5 m (see press release dated March 25, 2025).
The Ura lode system remains open at depth and is largely untested below the currently modeled lodes. The second target for the drilling reported in this release is the down-dip extension of the Ura lodes. High-grade gold drill results were returned up to 90 m below the current underground workings, indicating the potential for at least 4 to 5 additional levels of mining below the current underground workings, most of which is outside the current resource. The system is a prime target for resource expansion and upgrade.
Highlights of New Drill Results:
54.16 g/t Au over 1.9 m (including 156.55 g/t Au over 0.6 m) (TGC-0398, from 90.2 m depth)
16.64 g/t Au over 3.2 m (including 39.87 g/t Au over 1.2 m) (TGC-0403, from 74.0 m depth)
23.78 g/t Au over 1.8 m (including 39.73 g/t Au over 0.4 m) (TGC-0398, from 93.7 m depth)
20.02 g/t Au over 1.6 m (including 61.45 g/t Au over 0.4 m) (TGC-0395, from 13.0 m depth)
7.81 g/t Au over 3.6 m (including 21.55 g/t Au over 0.4 m) (TGC-0425, from 33.4 m depth)
38.43 g/t Au over 0.6 m (including 62.99 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TGC-0394, from 16.0 m depth)
10.85 g/t Au over 2.1 m (including 37.62 g/t Au over 0.4 m) (TGC-0413, from 64.8 m depth)
11.21 g/t Au over 2.0 m (including 34.38 g/t Au over 0.4 m) (TGC-0395, from 55.4 m depth)
49.12 g/t Au over 0.5 m (TGC-0402, from 25.0 m depth)
63.98 g/t Au over 0.3 m (TGC-0425, from 0.9 m depth)
18.91 g/t Au over 1.0 m (including 29.08 g/t Au over 0.5 m) (TGC-0398, from 45.6 m depth)
17.02 g/t Au over 1.1 m (including 33.12 g/t Au over 0.5 m) (TGC-0400, from 14.3 m depth)
*Drill intersects are downhole lengths, 3.0 g/t cutoff. True width not known. See Table 1 for additional data.
Figure 1. Location of the Ura drilling reported in this news release. Left image: Plan view of the Ura drilling in relation to the Ura lodes shown in purple and other mineralized lodes shown in grey, with Tuvatu underground development shown in red. Right image: Section view of the Ura drilling looking NNE, approximately along strike of the Ura 1 and Ura 3 lodes.
The Ura lode system was first discovered during the initial development of the mine decline in late 2022 and was initially modelled as a single lode. It is now understood to be a system of lodes, with at least three separate lodes already identified: Ura 1, Ura 2, and Ura 3. The Ura system remains largely untested outside of current mining areas. The system extends to surface and is open at depth.
The Ura 1, Ura 2, and Ura 3 lodes all consist of narrow high-grade structures with high grade gold intersections. The Ura 1 and Ura 3 lodes dip subvertically to the west and strike approximately 200° to the SSW. The Ura 2 lode strikes approximately 205° to the SSW and dips at approximately 45° to the west, toward the West Zone. The Ura 2 lode intersects the Ura 1 lode slightly below the 1116 level while the Ura 3 lode is located between the Ura 2 and Ura 1 lodes. All three lodes have current total strike lengths of approximately 220 m each and remain open both at depth and to the south. The west extent of the Ura 2 lode remains entirely untested.
The drilling reported in this news release was conducted from three underground drill stations; the 1095, 1116, and 1116.SP drill stations. The drilling targeted two areas: the Ura 1 shrinkage stope area in development between the 1116 and 1156 levels, and the Ura 1, Ura 2, and Ura 3 lodes down-dip of the current underground workings.
Drilling in the Ura shrinkage stope is being conducted on a 12.5 m grid to provide a detailed understanding of the structure and mineralization of the lode in advance of mining. The shrinkage stope is already under development and the first rise is complete. The stope is anticipated to be approximately 80 m long, 35 m tall, and 1.5 m wide. It is scheduled for mining over the next three months, with the bulk of production coming in July.
Figure 2. Ura shrinkage stope drilling with high-grade intersects highlighted, 3.0 g/t gold cutoff, plan view. Plan view looking down. The drill holes shown here primarily targeted areas of the Ura lode within the planned Ura 1 shrinkage stope. Ura lodes show in purple, underground workings in grey.
Figure 3. Location of the Ura 1 shrinkage stope, section view. Section view looking east. The Ura 1 shrinkage stope is anticipated to be approximately 80 m long by 35 m tall and is located between the 1116 and the 1156 levels of the mine. The location of the shrinkage stope is approximated by the yellow dashed square, with Ura lodes shown in purple and underground workings in grey.
The Ura down-dip drilling reported in this release primarily targeted areas outside the current resource. The Ura system is largely untested below and to the west of the currently modeled lodes, and the system is a prime target for resource expansion. Limited drilling has been conducted below the current underground workings. High grade drill results were returned approximately 90 m below the current underground workings, and 55 m below the currently modeled lodes. This represents an additional four to five levels of mineralization below the current mine levels, with strong potential for mineralization to continue further at depth. The Ura down-dip drill program is targeting a 12.5 m drill hole density to bring these additional levels of mineralization into the resource and into the mine plan this year.
Figure 4. Ura down-dip drilling with high-grade intersects highlighted, 3.0 g/t gold cutoff. Left image: Section view looking east perpendicular to the Ura lodes with select high-grade intercepts highlighted. Right image: Section vier looking NNE approximately along srike of the Ura 1 and Ura 3 lodes. High grade gold mineralization has been intersected in the Ura lodes 90 m down-dip of the current underground workings, and 55 m down-dip of the currently modeled lodes. The system remains open at depth. Ura lodes shown in light purple, underground workings in grey.
In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43- 101"), Melvyn Levrel, MAIG, Senior Geologist for Lion One Metals, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has reviewed and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release.
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. The Lion One geochemical laboratory is accredited under the IANZ ISO/IEC 17025:2017 Standard - the international standard for testing and calibration of laboratories.
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 & President
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-0393
1876182
3920778
98
98.3
-55.3
85.4
TGC-0394
1876181
3920780
99
42.5
-43.3
144.5
TGC-0395
1876182
3920780
99
53.4
-47.3
111.0
TGC-0397
1876181
3920779
99
52.2
-57.3
131.1
TGC-0398
1876283
3920810
121
234.5
14.2
120.3
TGC-0399
1876182
3920779
98
63.3
-67.1
146.4
TGC-0400
1876181
3920780
99
40.7
-48.7
165.5
TGC-0401
1876283
3920814
119
290.7
-29.5
83.3
TGC-0402
1876181
3920780
99
42.1
-59.4
191.3
TGC-0403
1876283
3920814
119
279.5
-40.3
150.0
TGC-0404
1876181
3920778
98
97.9
-82.2
250.3
TGC-0405
1876283
3920816
119
319.4
-32.0
121.5
TGC-0407
1876283
3920815
119
311.5
-41.7
166.6
TGC-0408
1876181
3920779
100
276.5
-79.0
5.0
TGC-0410
1876181
3920779
100
276.5
-79.0
7.8
TGC-0411
1876181
3920779
100
276.5
-79.0
11.1
TGC-0412
1876177
3920778
98
278.2
-79.9
181.9
TGC-0413
1876279
3920767
120
272.6
11.3
86.0
TGC-0415
1876178
3920779
98
339.6
-83.3
130.5
TGC-0417
1876281
3920768
121
317.0
21.0
82.9
TGC-0418
1876280
3920768
121
299.3
21.2
80.0
TGC-0420
1876182
3920772
98
186.0
-80.6
135.8
TGC-0422
1876178
3920779
98
129.0
-20.0
33.2
TGC-0425
1876279
3920767
121
282.9
20.4
80.0
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).
