Lion One Drills 448.98 g/t, 202.34 g/t, and 108.5 g/t Gold at Tuvatu, Provides Operations Update

North Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – April 25, 2024) – Lion One Metals Limited (TSXV: LIO) (OTCQX: LOMLF) (ASX: LLO) (“Lion One” or the “Company”) is pleased to report significant new high-grade gold results from ongoing infill and grade control drilling at its 100% owned Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project in Fiji and provides an update to mining operations at Tuvatu.

Assay results are presented here for infill and grade control drilling completed in the Zone 2 area of Tuvatu and include multiple bonanza grade gold results such as 448.98 g/t, 202.34 g/t, 108.5 g/t, 92.89 g/t, and 82.35 g/t. These drill intercepts are all located in the near surface portion of Tuvatu and are scheduled for mining in the short term. The results included in this news release are from drill holes that targeted the URW1 and Murau lode systems proximal to underground development. Previous results from Zone 2 drilling are available in the news releases dated October 19, 2023 and September 14, 2023.

Mining operations are also advancing in Zone 2 and in Zone 5. A total of 2,630 m of sludge hole drilling has been completed in advance of longhole mining in Zone 2. In Zone 5, airleg stoping on the UR2 lode is ongoing, with two leadings stopes underway and sublevels being driven for a gallery stope. Longhole production drilling is expected to commence in both Zone 2 and Zone 5 in late April, generating production tonnes in mid-May.

Highlights of Zone 2 drill results (3.0 g/t cutoff):

• 226.55 g/t Au over 0.6 m (including 448.98 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TGC-0113, from 84.6 m depth)
• 18.35 g/t Au over 4.8 m (including 40.99 g/t Au over 0.6 m) (TUDDH-686A, from 128.9 m depth)
• 9.99 g/t Au over 8.1 m (including 30.34 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TGC-0121, from 65.0 m depth)
• 82.35 g/t Au over 0.9 m (including 82.35 g/t Au over 0.9 m) (TGC-0110, from 65.1 m depth)
• 7.48 g/t Au over 9 m (including 20.78 g/t Au over 0.9 m) (TGC-0118, from 86.3 m depth)
• 105.86 g/t Au over 0.6 m (including 202.34 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TGC-0121, from 83.3 m depth)
• 14.9 g/t Au over 4.2 m (including 21.44 g/t Au over 2.4 m) (TUDDH-698, from 146.3 m depth)
• 8.27 g/t Au over 7.2 m (including 25.58 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TGC-0127, from 66.0 m depth)
• 27.94 g/t Au over 2.1 m (including 54.65 g/t Au over 0.9 m) (TGC-0118, from 66.2 m depth)
• 15.72 g/t Au over 3.6 m (including 25.53 g/t Au over 1.2 m) (TUDDH-682, from 74.3 m depth)
• 16.29 g/t Au over 3.3 m (including 46.63 g/t Au over 0.6 m) (TGC-0130, from 107.8 m depth)
• 33.92 g/t Au over 1.5 m (including 92.89 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TGC-0134, from 113.8 m depth)
• 20.86 g/t Au over 2.4 m (including 23.67 g/t Au over 1.2 m) (TGC-0125, from 14.4 m depth)
• 11.08 g/t Au over 4.5 m (including 46.77 g/t Au over 0.6 m) (TGC-0102, from 41.4 m depth)
• 13.18 g/t Au over 3.3 m (including 22.4 g/t Au over 0.9 m) (TGC-0125, from 100.2 m depth)

Highlights of operations update:

• 2,630 m of sludge hole drilling complete in the URW1 and Murau lodes in Zone 2.
• Airleg mining of the UR2 leading stopes ongoing in Zone 5.
• Two longhole drill rigs successfully commissioned.
• Two remote capable loaders to be commissioned by early May.
• Upgrades to CIL circuit advancing, two new blowers to be installed in late April and early May.

Figure 1. Location of Zone 2 infill and grade control drillholes. Left image: Plan view of Tuvatu showing Zone 2 infill and grade control drillholes in relation to the mineralized lodes at Tuvatu, shown in grey. Right image: Oblique view of Zone 2 infill and grade control drilling looking approximately northeast.

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Table 1. Highlights of composited infill and grade control drill results in the Zone 2 area, 3.0 g/t Au cutoff. For full results see Table 3 in the appendix.

Zone 2 Drilling

The Zone 2 area of Tuvatu is located in the northwest part of the deposit, near the main portal. The URW1 and Murau lode systems are the primary mineralized systems in Zone 2, with production mining starting first in URW1 and then in Murau. A total of 38 drill holes are reported in this news release, including 18 targeting the URW1 lodes and 20 targeting the Murau system.

The URW1 drilling reported here was designed to provide grade control results between the 1161 and 1101 levels in Zone 2, and to provide infill and down-dip extension results in the URW1 system below the 1101 level. Leading edge airleg stoping has been completed on the 1141 level, and a 5 m wide access drive on the 1161 level has also been completed. The 1161 access drive will provide longhole drill and underground loader access to the upper part of the URW1 lode system for mechanized production.

Figure 2. Zone 2 URW1 drilling with high-grade intersects highlighted, 3.0 g/t gold cutoff. Drilling below the 1101 level is targeting URW1 down-dip extension, drilling above the 1101 level is grade control drilling.

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The Murau drilling reported here was designed to provide infill and grade control results in the upper portion of the Murau lode system, which will be the first part of the system to be mined and is scheduled for production in Q3 2024. The Murau lode system dips moderately to the SSW and is open down dip and at depth. The upper portion of the system that is targeted for near-term mining has a strike length of 80m and extends down dip for a length of 100 m.

Figure 3. Zone 2 Murau drilling with high-grade intersects highlighted, 3.0 g/t gold cutoff. The Murau lode system will be the second area to enter production in Zone 2 after the URW1 lode system. The drilling shown here is infill and grade control drilling in the upper portion of the system. View is to the southeast, looking approximately down the decline from the entrance portal. The intersections on the bottom left of the image represent newly discovered mineralized lodes to be followed up with near-mine exploration drilling.

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Operations Update

The URW1 lodes will be the first at Tuvatu to undergo mechanized production mining. Development has been ongoing across the 1101, 1121, 1141, and 1161 levels in advance of production. A leading airleg stope has been completed on the 1141 level, and the 1141 A and B vein drives are undergoing stripping to facilitate larger equipment, in preparation for bulk stoping. An access drive has been completed on the 1161 level and will provide access for the longhole drills and larger loaders.

The URW1 lodes consist of primary subvertical veins with a halo of stockwork mineralization. Sludge drilling is being conducted in advance of mining to confirm the extent of stockwork mineralization beyond the primary vein as well as to inform the final stope design. A total of 1,930 m of sludge hole drilling has been completed in the URW1 lode system. Sludge hole drilling on the 1101 level is complete (1,200 m) and is ongoing on the 1121 and 1141 levels (730 m complete to date). Longhole drilling will commence in the URW1 lode system in late April with production mining of the 1101 level starting in May. Sludge drilling has also commenced on the Murau lode system with 700 m complete to date.

Figure 4. Zone 2 mine development and sludge drilling. Sludge drilling on the 1101 level is complete and is ongoing on the 1121 and 1141 levels. Longhole drilling is scheduled to begin on the 1101 level in late April.

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In Zone 5, airleg stoping on the UR2 lode is underway on the 1130 North level and on the 1120 South level. Airleg development is ongoing on the URW3 lode with airleg rises planned above the 1126 Sublevel. Mineralization in the UR2 and URW3 lodes is predominantly subvertical high-grade narrow-vein gold with minimal stockwork veining. Longhole mining is scheduled to take place in Zone 5 on the 1120 North UR2 drive, beginning in May.

Figure 5. Oblique view of Zone 5 development. Airleg stoping of the UR2 lode is ongoing on the 1130 North and 1120 South levels. Airleg development on the URW3 lode is ongoing on the 1126 Sublevel. The first area scheduled for longhole mining in Zone 5 will be the 1120 North drive on the UR2 lode.

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Two remote-capable loaders required to facilitate the extraction of material from longhole stopes have been acquired. A CAT 1700 loader fitted with remote technology will be commissioned in May for bogging of the 1101 bulk stope at the URW1 lodes, and a CAT 1300 remote loader from Australia is now on site and will also be commissioned in early May. These loaders will enable increased production from the mine.

The first of two blowers ordered to upgrade the CIL circuit and improve aeration within the tanks has arrived on site and will be installed by April 30, 2024. The second blower is scheduled to arrive by the end of April and will be installed in early May. Air sparger installation in the CIL tanks was completed in April resulting in improved aeration and gold recovery in the CIL circuit, with gold recoveries of over 80% achieved. Installation of the new blowers is anticipated to further improve aeration and recoveries in the CIL circuit.

Qualified Person (NI43-101)
In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43- 101”), Alex Nichol, MAIG, VP Geology and Exploration, is the Qualified Person for the Company, and has reviewed, validated, 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 7 diamond drill rigs using PQ, HQ and NQ sized drill rods.

Diamond drill core samples are logged and split by Lion One personnel on site and 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 23 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.

Contact Information
Investor inquiries: [email protected]
Phone:1-855-805-1250 (toll free North America)
Website: www.liononemetals.com

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 2. Collar coordinates for drillholes reported in this release. Coordinates are in Fiji map grid.

Table 3. Composited results from infill and grade control drillholes in the Zone 2 area (grade >3.0 g/t Au)

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/206800