Lion One (LIO.V): Reports 2020 Highlights from Tuvatu
North Vancouver, B.C., December 22, 2020 – Lion One Metals Limited (TSX-V: LIO) (OTCQX: LOMLF) (ASX: LLO) (“Lion One” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide the following update highlighting its key accomplishments during the past year in the exploration and development of its 100% owned, fully permitted Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project, located on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji.
Drilling, Discoveries, Development
Lion One emerged in 2020 as a fully equipped gold exploration company with four active surface drilling rigs and a fully operational, quick-response metallurgical and geochemical laboratory in nearby Nadi. The Company also added personnel to its growing and vastly experienced exploration and engineering team and was able to operate in Fiji with minimal disruption throughout 2020.
Lion One believes the Navilawa Caldera hosts a very large “alkaline gold system”. This variety of gold system is not prolific in number globally but are among the largest producers of gold in the world, with notable examples in the South Pacific including the Porgera and Lihir gold mines in Papua New Guinea, and Vatukoula in Fiji, 40km from Tuvatu. A North American example is the Cripple Creek gold mine in Colorado.
The CSAMT survey (see news release dated Feb. 5, 2020) completed in late 2019 revealed the deep structural architecture underlying the Navilawa system, to depths below 1,200m, with many major structural intersections underlying areas displaying strong coincident gold anomalism at surface. Another strong indicator of a large gold system is evidenced through widespread gamma radiation emitted from high concentrations of the alkaline element potassium across the Navilawa system.
In securing the adjacent ground to Tuvatu in 2019, Lion One became the first company in modern times to consolidate and carry out systematic exploration over the entire 7km diameter Navilawa Caldera. The Project area now consists of four contiguous exploration licenses covering almost 200km². The 385 hectare Tuvatu mining lease is located near its epicentre and hosts the high grade, permitted for production, Tuvatu gold resource.
The Company has now also purchased two additional deep capacity underground diamond drill rigs with vertical ranges in excess of 1,000m. These two underground rigs will focus on testing for deep extensions of new high grade zones of mineralization discovered below Tuvatu in 2020, highlighted by TUDDH500 which returned a notable intercept of 55.43 g/t Au over 12.70m from 571m, (including 1,400 g/t Au over 0.3m) approximately 200m below one of the deeper points in the current Tuvatu resource (see August 17, 2020 news release). In addition to discovering deep extensions below Tuvatu, the Company also discovered very similar mineralization at Banana Creek 3km to the NE of Tuvatu, and has a large pipeline of drilling targets across the Navilawa Caldera.
CLICK HERE to read the full news release.
