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North Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – March 20, 2025) – Lion One Metals Limited (TSXV: LIO) (OTCQX: LOMLF) (“Lion One” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the start of engineering and construction of the flotation circuit at its 100% owned Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project in Fiji.
The Tuvatu gold mine is currently operating at the 300 TPD pilot plant level. The Company plans to double plant design capacity to 600 TPD with the expansion occurring in stages. The first stage of expansion is the addition of a flotation circuit that includes a regrind mill for processing flotation concentrate to approximately P80 20 microns prior to feeding the pre-treatment and CIL circuits.
Metallurgical testing conducted by the Lion One metallurgical lab in Fiji indicates that the addition of a flotation circuit will increase gold recoveries at Tuvatu by up to 10%. Gold recoveries at Tuvatu currently average between 80-83%. With a flotation circuit in place gold recoveries are anticipated to increase to over 90%.
Engineering of the concrete foundations of the flotation circuit has completed and construction preparation has begun. The steel and flotation plant equipment has also been ordered. Construction is anticipated to be complete in Q4 CY2025.
Lion One Chairman and President Walter Berukoff stated: “Construction of the flotation circuit is a priority for Lion One. Upon completion of construction the flotation circuit will provide immediate payback for the Company by increasing recoveries to over 90%. This is a significant increase in gold recoveries and further enhances the economics of the project.”
Competent Person’s Statement
In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43- 101”), William J. Witte, P.Eng., Principal Advisor to the Company, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has reviewed and is responsible for the technical and scientific content of this news release.
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
Contact Information
Email: info@liononemetals.com
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.
As gold races to new records, Wall Street analysts have rushed to raise their price targets, with the latest call from Macquarie Group predicting the precious metal will touch $3,500 in the third quarter.
On Thursday, gold futures (GC=F) climbed above $2,990 per ounce as a trade war intensified and the release of modest inflation data raised questions about whether the Federal Reserve may be more inclined to cut rates this year.
“Year-to-date, gold has been running ahead of our expectations,” Marcus Garvey, head of commodities strategy at Macquarie, wrote on Thursday.
“We are raising our gold price forecast to a 3Q25 quarter average peak of $3,150 per ounce and our single point price high to $3,500 per ounce,” Garvey wrote.
“President Trump’s rapid move to announce, if not always to enact, import tariffs has contributed to geopolitical uncertainty and boosted inflation expectations, helping push down front-end real rates and supporting gold in the face of periodic USD strength and initially reduced expectations for Fed rate cuts,” the strategist wrote.
Read more: What Trump’s tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet
The target raise comes after strategists at BNP Paribas called for prices to push above $3,100 per ounce in the second quarter.
“The Trump administration issuing a slew of tariff threats and the realigning of international relationships have added a new layer of macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, providing a significant boost to gold,” BNP’s David Wilson wrote in a note on Wednesday.
Gold futures have rallied more than 11% year to date, hitting multiple record highs since January.
Wall Street has attributed much of these gains to continued central bank buying and tariff uncertainty, including the possibility that even imports of the precious metal into the US won’t be spared.
Institutional investors have shipped elevated amounts of physical gold bars to vaults in New York in a move to front-run tariffs and take advantage of a price disparity between London and New York.
Last month, Goldman Sachs analysts raised their year-end gold price forecast to $3,100 per ounce, up from their prior projection of $2,890.
Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X at @ines_ferre.
Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – March 12, 2025) – EMX Royalty Corporation (NYSE American: EMX) (TSXV: EMX) (the “Company” or “EMX”) is pleased to report results for the year ended December 31, 2024. For the year, EMX delivered revenue and other income of $27.4 million, adjusted revenue and other income1 of $36.7 million, adjusted royalty revenue1 of $33.1 million and adjusted EBITDA1 of $19.2 million, and ended the year with excellent liquidity.
Dave Cole, EMX CEO, commented, “2024 was a transformational year for EMX. We achieved record-high adjusted royalty revenue, secured a royalty expansion at Caserones, and strengthened our financial position through disciplined capital management and opportunistic share buybacks. With Caserones, Timok, Leeville and Gediktepe performing well, and with a strong balance sheet, we enter 2025 with good momentum. Further, I anticipate a reduction in our cash operating expenditures in 2025 of more than $3.0 million.”
2024 Financial Highlights
- Adjusted revenue and other income1 of $36.7 million, up 14%2 over prior year;
- Adjusted royalty revenue1 of $33.1 million, up 28%2 over prior year;
- Adjusted EBITDA1 of $19.2 million, up 21%2 over prior year, demonstrating strong cash flow conversion;
- Adjusted operating cash flow1 of $13.6 million, up 46%2 over prior year; and
- Cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2024 of $26.8 million and a working capital surplus1 of $41.5 million, demonstrating financial flexibility for growth.
Financial Summary for the Three Months and Year Ended December 31, 2024:
| For the three months ended December 31, | For the year ended December 31, | |||||||||||
| (In thousands) | 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||
| Statement of Income | ||||||||||||
| Revenue and other income | $ | 8,176 | $ | 7,546 | $ | 27,448 | $ | 26,621 | ||||
| General and administrative | $ | (1,705 | ) | $ | (1,383 | ) | $ | (7,084 | ) | $ | (6,045 | ) |
| Royalty generation and project evaluation costs, net | $ | (2,053 | ) | $ | (2,279 | ) | $ | (10,984 | ) | $ | (10,806 | ) |
| Net income (loss) | $ | 1,767 | $ | 1,374 | $ | (3,288 | ) | $ | (4,633 | ) | ||
| Statement of Cash Flows | ||||||||||||
| Cash flows from operating activities | $ | 6,492 | $ | 4,272 | $ | 6,818 | $ | 7,059 | ||||
| Non-IFRS Financial Measures1 | ||||||||||||
| Adjusted revenue and other income | $ | 10,000 | $ | 10,920 | $ | 36,711 | $ | 37,028 | ||||
| Adjusted royalty revenue | $ | 8,757 | $ | 8,743 | $ | 33,067 | $ | 30,694 | ||||
| Adjusted cash flows from operating activities | $ | 7,828 | $ | 6,192 | $ | 13,590 | $ | 14,072 | ||||
| EBITDA | $ | 6,258 | $ | 2,123 | $ | 10,903 | $ | 6,944 | ||||
| Adjusted EBITDA | $ | 6,287 | $ | 7,279 | $ | 19,220 | $ | 20,668 | ||||
| GEOs sold | 3,290 | 4,424 | 13,897 | 15,782 | ||||||||
[1] Refer to the “Non-IFRS financial measures” section below or on page 44 of the Q4 2024 MD&A for more information on each non-IFRS financial measure. These non-IFRS measures are not standardized financial measures under the financial reporting framework used to prepare the financial statements to which the measures relates and might not be comparable to similar financial measures disclosed by other issuers.
[2] Excluding $4.8 million in catch-up payments received in 2023 from the Timok royalty that relate to prior periods (2021 – $1.6 million, 2022 – $3.2 million).
Key Strategic Developments
During the year ended December 31, 2024, and the period subsequent to year end, EMX has completed several key transactions that demonstrate our strategy of incremental revenue growth and disciplined capital management as we move into 2025. These key developments include:
- We increased our (effective) net smelter return (“NSR”) royalty in the Caserones property from 0.7775% to 0.8306%;
- Refinanced our corporate debt into a long-term senior secured term loan with Franco-Nevada Corporation maturing in July 2029;
- In September 2024, the Company announced the appointment of Mr. Stefan L. Wenger as Chief Financial Officer effective October 1, 2024. Mr. Wenger was previously the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Royal Gold, Inc., one of the mining industry’s leading royalty companies, from 2006 to 2018;
- Completed the acquisition of a 2% NSR royalty on the Chapi Copper Mine in Peru for a total purchase price of $10 million, which we expect will begin contributing revenue to EMX in 2026; and
- We repurchased and cancelled 5,000,000 shares over the past twelve months, representing approximately 4.44% of issued and outstanding shares.
2024 Results and 2025 Guidance
Please see our MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2024 for more details on our guidance and see “Forward-Looking Statements” and “Future-Oriented Financial Information” below.
GEO Sales and Revenue Guidance
The following is the Company’s 2025 guidance and an evaluation of the Company’s 2024 performance compared to our 2024 Guidance:
| 2025 Guidance1 | 2024 Results | 2024 Guidance2 | |
| GEO sales3 | 10,000 to 12,000 | 13,897 | 11,000 to 14,000 |
| Adjusted royalty revenue3 | $26,000,000 to $32,000,000 | $33,067,000 | $22,000,000 to $27,500,000 |
| Option and other property income | $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 | $1,724,000 | $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 |
For 2024, strong performances during the year were marked by all producing royalties including Gediktepe, Caserones, Timok, and Leeville. This resulted in the achievement of the upper range of our GEO sales guidance and significantly exceeding our adjusted royalty revenue guidance. The Company did not meet its option and other property income guidance due to lower than expected deal flow during the year.
Based on the Company’s existing royalties and information available from its counterparties, we expect GEO sales to range from 10,000 to 12,000 GEOs in 2025. The noted decrease in expected GEOs compared to 2024 is due to EMX’s heavy exposure to copper-based assets, specifically, Caserones and Timok. With copper prices being relatively stable, a significant increase in gold prices will have a negative impact on the GEOs of a copper-based asset.
Guidance in 2025 is based on public forecasts, other disclosure by the owners and operators of our assets, historical performance, and management’s understanding of the underlying producing assets. Additionally, the Company may receive information from the owners and operators of the properties, which the Company is not permitted to disclose to the public pursuant to the underlying agreement or the information has not been prepared in accordance with Canadian disclosure standards, including National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”).
[1] Assumed commodity prices of $2,668/oz gold and $4.26/lb copper based on CIBC Global Mining Group’s Consensus Commodity Price Forecasts (“Consensus Pricing”) published on March 3, 2025, which the Company believes to be reliable for the purposes of guidance.
[2] See news released dated March 25, 2024. Assumed commodity prices of $1,939/oz gold and $3.89/lb copper based on Consensus Pricing published on January 2, 2024.
[3] Refer to the “Non-IFRS financial measures” section below or on page 44 of the Q4 2024 MD&A for more information on each non-IFRS financial measure.
Outlook
Capital Management
We have established the following capital allocation goals for 2025:
- Achieve a 20% decrease in operating expenditures when compared to 2024, primarily resulting from a decrease in generative expenditures;
- Continued return of capital through a renewed Normal-Course Issuer Bid (“NCIB”) program in 2025;
- Implementation of a measured and consistent debt repayment strategy; and
- Evaluation of a potential revolving credit facility available to EMX to fund royalty acquisitions.
Portfolio Growth
The Company is excited about the prospect for continued growth in the portfolio for 2025 and the coming years. The drivers for near and long term growth in cash flow will come from the large deposits at Caserones in Chile and Timok in Serbia. At Caserones, Lundin Mining Corporation has initiated an exploration program which is intended to expand mineral resources and mineral reserves while at the same time looking to increase throughput at the plant. At Timok, Zijin Mining Group Co. (“Zijin”) continues to develop the lower zone. Zijin also highlighted a recently discovered exploration target south of the Cukaru Peki mine and within EMX’s royalty footprint. Analysis of recent satellite imagery over the Brestovac license, which contains the Cukaru Peki Mine and is covered by EMX’s royalty, shows substantial development of new drill pads with numerous drill rigs visible in the images in the southeast corner of the license.
In Türkiye, Gediktepe continues to perform well and beats its production forecast for 2024 and the new owner/operator of Gediktepe highlighted potential for additional oxide gold and polymetallic sulfide mineralization beyond the currently defined resources.
We anticipate the recently announced $10 million acquisition of a royalty on the Chapi Copper Mine property in Peru will begin contributing to royalty revenue in the first half of 2026. We are excited by the addition of a high-quality copper royalty to the portfolio that has excellent upside development and exploration potential located in the prolific Paleocene-Eocene copper-molybdenum porphyry belt of Southern Peru.
AbraSilver Resource Corp. (“AbraSilver”) continues to advance Diablillos in Argentina and announced results from a pre-feasibility study in December 2024. Additionally, we are due to receive at $7 million property payment from AbraSilver in 2025. New and compelling exploration results were also announced at the Viscaria copper-iron-silver development project in Sweden in Q3 2024. These developments are all examples of the upside optionality that exists throughout EMX’s global royalty portfolio.
EMX is well positioned to identify and pursue new royalty and investment opportunities in 2025, while continuing to grow a pipeline of royalty generation properties. As the Company continues to generate revenues from its producing royalty assets and from other option, advance royalty and pre-production payments across its global asset portfolio, various opportunities for capital redeployment will be evaluated. Such opportunities may include the direct acquisition of royalties, continued organic generation of royalties through partner funded projects and purchase of select strategic investments.
Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 GEOs1 Sold and Adjusted Royalty Revenue1 by Asset
The following table is a summary of GEOs1 sold and adjusted royalty revenue1 for the fourth quarter of 2024 and 2023:
| 2024 | 2023 | |||||||||||
| GEOs Sold | Revenue (in thousands) | GEOs Sold | Revenue (in thousands) | |||||||||
| Caserones | 685 | $ | 1,824 | 1,707 | $ | 3,374 | ||||||
| Timok | 423 | 1,127 | 477 | 943 | ||||||||
| Gediktepe | 1,430 | 3,805 | 1,335 | 2,638 | ||||||||
| Leeville | 414 | 1,101 | 589 | 1,164 | ||||||||
| Other producing royalties | 231 | 614 | 159 | 315 | ||||||||
| Advanced royalty payments | 107 | 286 | 156 | 309 | ||||||||
| Total | 3,290 | $ | 8,757 | 4,424 | $ | 8,743 | ||||||
In Q4 2024 there was an adjustment at Caserones to decrease revenue by $0.4 million due to lower than expected revenue in the prior quarter. A similar adjustment was made in Q4 2023, however it resulted in a $1.1 million increase in revenue due to higher than expected revenues in the prior quarter. Excluding these adjustments, royalty revenue at Caserones for both Q4 2024 and Q4 2023 was $2.2 million.
The following table is a summary of GEOs1 sold and adjusted royalty revenue1 for the year ended December 31, 2024 and 2023:
| 2024 | 2023 | |||||||||||
| GEOs Sold | Revenue (in thousands) | GEOs Sold | Revenue (in thousands | |||||||||
| Caserones | 3,917 | $ | 9,263 | 5,351 | $ | 10,407 | ||||||
| Timok2 | 2,212 | 5,216 | 4,438 | 8,632 | ||||||||
| Gediktepe | 4,999 | 11,954 | 3,442 | 6,694 | ||||||||
| Leeville | 1,787 | 4,264 | 1,612 | 3,135 | ||||||||
| Other producing royalties | 747 | 1,812 | 637 | 1,238 | ||||||||
| Advanced royalty payments | 235 | 558 | 302 | 588 | ||||||||
| Adjusted royalty revenue | 13,897 | $ | 33,067 | 15,782 | $ | 30,694 | ||||||
The decrease in revenue at Caserones for the year ended December 31, 2024 was primarily attributed to the delay of the sale of approximately 20,000 tonnes of copper concentrates that were planned to be sold in December 2024 due to operational and weather related issues. EMX expects to recognize the revenue associated with the delayed shipments in 2025.
[1] Refer to the “Non-IFRS financial measures” section below or on page 44 of the Q4 2024 MD&A for more information on each non-IFRS financial measure.
[2] Includes $4.8 million (2,480 GEOs sold) in catch-up payments received in 2023 from the Timok royalty that relate to prior periods.
Shareholder Information
The Company’s filings for the year are available on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca, on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s EDGAR website at www.sec.gov, and on EMX’s website at www.EMXroyalty.com. Financial results were prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board.
About EMX – EMX is a precious, and base metals royalty company. EMX’s investors are provided with discovery, development, and commodity price optionality, while limiting exposure to risks inherent to operating companies. The Company’s common shares are listed on the NYSE American Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “EMX”. Please see www.EMXroyalty.com for more information.
For further information contact:
| David M. Cole President and CEO Phone: (303) 973-8585 Dave@EMXroyalty.com | Stefan Wenger Chief Financial Officer Phone: (303) 973-8585 SWenger@EMXroyalty.com | Isabel Belger Investor Relations Phone: +49 178 4909039 IBelger@EMXroyalty.com |
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain “forward looking information” or “forward looking statements” that reflect the Company’s current expectations and projections about its future results. These forward-looking statements may include statements regarding the future price of copper, gold and other metals, the estimation of mineral reserves and mineral resources, realization of mineral reserve estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production, the Company’s growth strategy and expectations regarding the guidance for 2025 and future outlook, including revenue and GEO estimates, anticipated reductions in operating expenditures, repayment of outstanding debt and the timing thereof, the acquisition of additional royalty and royalty generation interests and other investment opportunities, the purchase of securities pursuant to the Company’s NCIB, exploration and development plans at the Company’s royalty properties and the expected timing thereof or other statements that are not statements of fact. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, identified by words or phrases such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “plans,” “projects,” “estimates,” “assumes,” “intends,” “strategy,” “goals,” “objectives,” “potential,” “possible” or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events, conditions or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “should”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material assumptions, including those listed below, which could prove to be significantly incorrect, including disruption to production at any of the mineral properties in which the Company has a royalty, or other interest; estimated capital costs, operating costs, production and economic returns; estimated metal pricing (including the estimates from the CIBC Global Mining Group’s Consensus Commodity Price Forecasts published on March 3, 2025), metallurgy, mineability, marketability and operating and capital costs, together with other assumptions underlying the Company’s mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates; the expected ability of any of the properties in which the Company holds a royalty, or other interest to develop adequate infrastructure at a reasonable cost; assumptions that all necessary permits and governmental approvals will remain in effect or be obtained as required to operate, develop or explore the various properties in which the Company holds an interest; and the activities on any on the properties in which the Company holds a royalty, or other interest will not be adversely disrupted or impeded by development, operating or regulatory risks or any other government actions.
Certain important factors that could cause actual results, performances or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, amongst others, failure to maintain or receive necessary approvals, changes in business plans and strategies, market conditions, share price, best use of available cash, copper, gold and other commodity price volatility, discrepancies between actual and estimated production, mineral reserves and resources and metallurgical recoveries, mining operational and development risks relating to the parties which produce the gold or other commodity the Company will purchase, regulatory restrictions, activities by governmental authorities (including changes in taxation), currency fluctuations, the global economic climate, dilution, share price volatility and competition.
Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: the impact of general business and economic conditions, the absence of control over mining operations from which the Company will receive royalties from, and risks related to those mining operations, including risks related to international operations, government and environmental regulation, actual results of current exploration activities, conclusions of economic evaluations and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, risks in the marketability of minerals, fluctuations in the price of gold and other commodities, global trade uncertainties, fluctuation in foreign exchange rates and interest rates, stock market volatility, as well as those factors discussed in the Company’s MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2024, and the most recently filed Annual Information Form (“AIF”) for the year ended December 31, 2024, actual events may differ materially from current expectations. More information about the Company, including the MD&A, the AIF and financial statements of the Company, is available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and on the SEC’s EDGAR website at www.sec.gov. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that are contained or incorporated by reference, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
Future-Oriented Financial Information
This news release may contain future-oriented financial information (“FOFI”) within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, about prospective results of operations, financial position, GEOs and anticipated royalty payments based on assumptions about future economic conditions and courses of action, which FOFI is not presented in the format of a historical balance sheet, income statement or cash flow statement. The FOFI has been prepared by management to provide an outlook of the Company’s activities and results and has been prepared based on a number of assumptions including the assumptions discussed under the headings above entitled “2024 Results and 2025 Guidance”, “Outlook” and “Forward-Looking Statements” and assumptions with respect to the future metal prices, the estimation of mineral reserves and mineral resources, realization of mineral reserve estimates and the timing and amount of estimated future production. Management does not have, or may not have had at the relevant date, or other financial assumptions which may have been used to prepare the FOFI or assurance that such operating results will be achieved and, accordingly, the complete financial effects are not, or may not have been at the relevant date of the FOFI, objectively determinable.
Importantly, the FOFI contained in this news release are, or may be, based upon certain additional assumptions that management believes to be reasonable based on the information currently available to management, including, but not limited to, assumptions about: (i) the future pricing of metals, (ii) the future market demand and trends within the jurisdictions in which the Company or the mining operators operate, and (iii) the operating cost and effect on the production of the Company’s royalty partners. The FOFI or financial outlook contained in this news release do not purport to present the Company’s financial condition in accordance with IFRS, and there can be no assurance that the assumptions made in preparing the FOFI will prove accurate. The actual results of operations of the Company and the resulting financial results will likely vary from the amounts set forth in the analysis presented in any such document, and such variation may be material (including due to the occurrence of unforeseen events occurring subsequent to the preparation of the FOFI). The Company and management believe that the FOFI has been prepared on a reasonable basis, reflecting management’s best estimates and judgments as at the applicable date. However, because this information is highly subjective and subject to numerous risks including the risks discussed under the heading above entitled “Forward-Looking Statements” and under the heading “Risk Factors” in the Company’s public disclosures, FOFI or financial outlook within this news release should not be relied on as necessarily indicative of future results.
Non-IFRS Financial Measures
The Company has included certain non-IFRS financial measures in this press release, as discussed below. EMX believes that these measures, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, provide investors an improved ability to evaluate the underlying performance of the Company. These non-IFRS financial measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. These financial measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS, and therefore may not be comparable to other issuers. Each non-IFRS financial measure in this press release is not a standardized financial measure under the financial reporting framework used to prepare the consolidated financial statements of the Company for years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, and might not be comparable to similar financial measures disclosed by other issuers.
Non-IFRS financial measures or “non-GAAP financial measures” are defined in National Instrument 52-112 – Non-GAAP and Other Financial Measures Disclosure (“NI 52-112”) as a financial measure disclosed that (a) depicts the historical or expected future financial performance, financial position or cash flow of an entity, (b) with respect to its composition, excludes an amount that is included in, or includes an amount that is excluded from, the composition of the most directly comparable financial measure disclosed in the primary financial statements of the entity, (c) is not disclosed in the financial statements of the entity, and (d) is not a ratio, fraction, percentage or similar representation. A non-IFRS ratio is defined by NI 52-112 as a financial measure disclosed that (a) is in the form of a ratio, fraction, percentage or similar representation, (b) has a non-IFRS financial measure as one or more of its components, and (c) is not disclosed in the financial statements.
The following table outlines the non-IFRS financial measures, their definitions, the most directly comparable IFRS measures and why the Company use these measures.
| Non-IFRS financial measure | Definition | Most directly comparable IFRS measure | Why we use the measure and why it is useful to investors | |||
| Adjusted revenue and other income | Defined as revenue and other income including the Company’s share of royalty revenue related to the Company’s effective royalty on Caserones. | Revenue and other income | The Company believes these measures more accurately depict the Company’s revenue related to operations as the adjustment is to account for revenue from a material asset. | |||
| Adjusted royalty revenue | Defined as royalty revenue including the Company’s share of royalty revenue related to the Company’s effective royalty on Caserones. | Royalty revenue | ||||
| Adjusted cash flows from operating activities | Defined as cash flows from operating activities plus the cash distributions related to the Company’s effective royalty on Caserones. | Cash flows from operating activities | The Company believes this measure more accurately depicts the Company’s cash flows from operations as the adjustment is to account for cash flows from a material asset. | |||
| Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and adjusted EBITDA | EBITDA represents net earnings or loss for the period before income tax expense or recovery, depreciation and amortization, finance costs. Adjusted EBITDA adds all revenue from the Caserones Royalty less any equity income from the equity investment in SLM California (Caserones Royalty holder). Additionally, it removes the effects of items that do not reflect our underlying operating performance and are not necessarily indicative of future operating results. These may include: share based payments expense; unrealized and realized gains and losses on investments; write-downs of assets; impairments or reversals of impairments; foreign exchange gains or losses; and other non-cash or non-recurring expenses or recoveries. | Earnings or loss before income tax | The Company believes EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA are widely used by investors and analysts as useful indicators of our operating performance, our ability to invest in capital expenditures, our ability to incur and service debt and also as a valuation metric. | |||
| Gold equivalent ounces (GEOs) | GEOs is a non-IFRS measure that is based on royalty interests and calculated on a quarterly basis by dividing adjusted royalty revenue by the average gold price during such quarter. The gold price is determined based on the LBMA PM fix. For periods longer than one quarter, GEOs are summed for each quarter in the period. | Royalty revenue | The Company uses this measure internally to evaluate our underlying operating performance across the royalty portfolio for the reporting periods presented and to assist with the planning and forecasting of future operating results. | |||
| Working capital | Defined as current assets less current liabilities. Working capital does not include assets held for sale and liabilities associated with assets held for sale. | Current assets, current liabilities | We believe that working capital is a useful indicator of the Company’s liquidity. |
Reconciliation of Adjusted Revenue and Other Income and Adjusted Royalty Revenue:
During the three months and years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, the Company had the following sources of revenue and other income:
| For the three months ended December 31, | For the year ended December 31, | |||||||||||
| 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | |||||||||
| Royalty revenue | $ | 6,933 | $ | 5,369 | $ | 23,804 | $ | 20,287 | ||||
| Option and other property income | 734 | 1,676 | 1,724 | 4,785 | ||||||||
| Interest income | 509 | 501 | 1,920 | 1,549 | ||||||||
| Total revenue and other income | $ | 8,176 | $ | 7,546 | $ | 27,448 | $ | 26,621 | ||||
The following is the reconciliation of adjusted revenue and other income and adjusted royalty revenue:
| For the three months ended December 31, | For the year ended December 31, | |||||||||||
| (In thousands of dollars) | 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||
| Total revenue and other income | $ | 8,176 | $ | 7,546 | $ | 27,448 | $ | 26,621 | ||||
| SLM California royalty revenue | $ | 4,269 | $ | 8,438 | $ | 21,678 | $ | 26,024 | ||||
| The Company’s ownership % | 42.7 | 40.0 | 42.7 | 40.0 | ||||||||
| The Company’s share of royalty revenue | $ | 1,824 | $ | 3,374 | $ | 9,263 | $ | 10,407 | ||||
| Adjusted revenue and other income | $ | 10,000 | $ | 10,920 | $ | 36,711 | $ | 37,028 | ||||
| Royalty Revenue | $ | 6,933 | $ | 5,369 | $ | 23,804 | $ | 20,287 | ||||
| The Company’s share of royalty revenue | 1,824 | 3,374 | 9,263 | 10,407 | ||||||||
| Adjusted royalty revenue | $ | 8,757 | $ | 8,743 | $ | 33,067 | $ | 30,694 | ||||
Reconciliation of Adjusted Cash Flows from Operating Activities:
| For the three months ended December 31, | For the year ended December 31, | |||||||||||
| (In thousands of dollars) | 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||
| Cash provided by operating activities | $ | 6,492 | $ | 4,272 | $ | 6,818 | $ | 7,059 | ||||
| Caserones royalty distributions | 1,336 | 1,920 | 6,772 | 7,013 | ||||||||
| Adjusted cash flows from operating activities | $ | 7,828 | $ | 6,192 | $ | 13,590 | $ | 14,072 | ||||
Reconciliation of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA:
| For the three months ended December 31, | For the year ended December 31, | |||||||||||
| (In thousands of dollars) | 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||
| Income (loss) before income taxes | $ | 4,881 | $ | (1,168 | ) | $ | 442 | $ | (3,393 | ) | ||
| Finance expense | 748 | 1,282 | 3,814 | 5,091 | ||||||||
| Depletion, depreciation, and direct royalty taxes | 629 | 2,009 | 6,647 | 5,246 | ||||||||
| EBITDA | $ | 6,258 | $ | 2,123 | $ | 10,903 | $ | 6,944 | ||||
| Attributable revenue from Caserones royalty | 1,824 | 3,374 | 9,263 | 10,407 | ||||||||
| Equity income from investment in SLM California | (845) | (1,146 | ) | (4,329) | (4,134 | ) | ||||||
| Share-based payments | 444 | 305 | 2,346 | 2,068 | ||||||||
| Loss (gain) on revaluation of investments | (1,067) | 863 | (4,071) | 1,732 | ||||||||
| Loss (gain) on sale of marketable securities | (233) | (347 | ) | 2,020 | 73 | |||||||
| Foreign exchange loss (gain) | 396 | (356 | ) | 600 | 1,010 | |||||||
| Gain on revaluation of derivative liabilities | (106 | ) | (613 | ) | (282 | ) | (551 | ) | ||||
| Loss (gain) on revaluation and provisioning of receivables | (8 | ) | 2,735 | (8 | ) | 2,735 | ||||||
| Other losses | – | – | 2,326 | – | ||||||||
| Loss (gain) on settlements, net | (730 | ) | 314 | 53 | 314 | |||||||
| Impairment charges | 354 | 27 | 399 | 70 | ||||||||
| Adjusted EBITDA | $ | 6,287 | $ | 7,279 | $ | 19,220 | $ | 20,668 | ||||
Reconciliation of GEOs:
| For the three months ended December 31, | For the year ended December 31, | |||||||||||
| (In thousands) | 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||||||
| Adjusted royalty revenue | $ | 8,757 | $ | 8,743 | $ | 33,067 | $ | 30,694 | ||||
| Average gold price per ounce | $ | 2,662 | $ | 1,976 | $ | 2,379 | $ | 1,945 | ||||
| Total GEOs | 3,290 | 4,424 | 13,897 | 15,782 | ||||||||
To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/244341
North Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – March 4, 2025) – Lion One Metals Limited (TSXV: LIO) (OTCQX: LOMLF) (“Lion One” or the “Company“) is pleased to announce record mine operating income of C$6,302,540 from the Company’s 100% owned Tuvatu Gold Mine in Fiji for Q4 CY2024. The Company is also pleased to announce that the Company’s internal assay laboratory has achieved ISO 17025 accreditation – an internationally recognized standard for laboratory quality, reliability, and impartiality.
Summary of Quarterly Financial Results:
- Record mine operating income of C$6,302,540
- Record gold revenue of C$17,988,932
- Record gold sales of 4,741 oz
- Lowered cost of sales of C$2,465 per oz of gold
Summary of Quarterly Operational Results:
- 31,044 tonnes of high-grade mineralized material mined
- 17,370 tonnes (56%) of high-grade material mined from outside the Mineral Resource Estimate
- 29,525 tonnes of mineralized material processed
- Average head grade of 5.5 g/t gold
- Overall gold recovery of 82.5%
Quarterly Results
Lion One Metals achieved record mine operating income of C$6,302,540 for the quarter ending December 31, 2024 – a 312% increase compared to the previous quarter. The Company is ramping up production at the Tuvatu gold mine in Fiji and this dramatic increase in mine operating income is primarily due to an increase in gold production. The Company has achieved consistent quarter-over-quarter improvements in gold grades and gold recoveries since the Tuvatu processing plant was commissioned in early 2024, culminating in the record gold revenue reported for Q4 CY2024. The Company has also implemented an aggressive cost-cutting program during the 6 months ending December 2024, resulting in a 13% reduction in cost of sales per ounce of gold for Q4 CY2024 compared to the previous quarter. Additional cost reductions are expected to be realized in the coming months as a result of this cost-cutting program.
Of note is that 56% of the high-grade mineralized material mined at Tuvatu during the quarter was mined outside the current Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE). This follows similar results observed during the previous quarter. In total, 52% of the high-grade mineralized material mined at Tuvatu from July to December 2024 was mined outside the current MRE. This material was added to the resource based on infill and grade control drilling completed after the MRE cutoff date of March 25, 2024, and is indicative of the potential for resource expansion at Tuvatu.
Table 1. Quarterly Financial Results Summary
| Q4 CY2024 | Q3 CY2024 | QoQ Change | ||
| Gold sold | oz | 4,741 | 3,129 | 52% |
| Average gold selling price | C$/oz | 3,794 | 3,332 | 14% |
| Average cost of gold sales | C$/oz | 2,465 | 2,843 | -13% |
| Gold revenue | C$ | 17,993,020 | 10,470,518 | 72% |
| Cost of sales | C$ | (11,686,392) | (8,894,530) | 31% |
| Mine operating income | C$ | 6,302,540 | 1,529,978 | 312% |
Figure 1. Tuvatu Quarterly Revenue and Gold Sales, 2024. Quarterly revenue and gold sales have consistently increased quarter-over-quarter at Tuvatu since pilot plant commissioning was complete in Q1 CY2024.
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The Company is currently operating at the 300 TPD pilot plant level with expansion to the 600-700 TPD phase of operations anticipated in 2026. In advance of expansion the Company is completing critical mine infrastructure projects such as the raise bore and mine ventilation project, which is expected to be complete in March 2025. Once complete this will provide sufficient ventilation requirements for underground development to proceed all the way to the high-grade Zone 500 feeder zone.
A primary focus of the Company is to advance to the 500 Zone as quickly as is safely possible and to accelerate that process the Company recently procured C$2M of additional mining equipment, including one twin boom jumbo, three air operated Long Tom drill jumbos, two remote ready scoops trams, and additional airleg/jackleg drills, which are expected to arrive at the mine site during April to May 2025. As part of the 600-700 TPD expansion the Company will be adding a flotation plant with a concentrate regrind mill which is anticipated to increase gold recoveries to more than 90% based on metallurgical testing. The Company is fully funded to start construction on the flotation circuit, which will be the first component of the plant expansion to be complete later in 2025.
Lab Accreditation
Lion One Metals operates its own geochemical and metallurgical laboratory in Fiji. The lab is a major asset for the company as it significantly reduces costs and wait times associated with sample analysis. Drill assay results can be received within two days of being drilled, thereby enabling the Company to react quickly to high-grade drill intercepts, often while the drill is still in place. Similarly, mill assay results are returned within 24 hours to inform operation and control of the mill. The assay lab can process over 10,000 samples a month and can conduct fire assay, ICP (26-34 elements), metallurgical, environmental, and mill sample analyses.
The Lion One assay lab has been accredited under the IANZ ISO/IEC 17025:2017 Standard, which is the international standard for testing and calibration of laboratories. This standard sets out the requirements for competence, impartiality, confidentiality and consistent operation of laboratories, thereby ensuring the accuracy and reliability of the lab’s testing and calibration results. The accreditation process is a rigorous process that evaluates the lab’s structural, resource, process, and management systems. This includes the installation of a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) software which enables the lab to automate workflows, integrate instruments, and manage samples and associated information efficiently.
The Lion One assay lab is the only mining accredited lab in Fiji and as an accredited lab it can assay samples from other operations thereby generating a potential secondary revenue stream for the Company. Assay lab accreditation is a significant achievement and is a rare accomplishment for a company in the junior mining industry, making Lion One one of a few junior mining companies in the world to own and operate their own accredited lab facility.
Qualified Persons Statement
In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43- 101”), William J. Witte, P.Eng., Principal Advisor to the Company, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has reviewed and is responsible for 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.
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, President, Chairman of the Board
Contact Information
Email: info@liononemetals.com
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.
To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/243256
Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – March 3, 2025) – Goldshore Resources Inc. (TSXV: GSHR) (OTCQB: GSHRF) (FSE: 8X00) (“Goldshore” or the “Company“), is pleased to announce its latest assay results from its ongoing 15,000-meter drill program and first results from the Superion prospect on the north side of the Moss Gold Project in Northwest Ontario, Canada (the “Moss Gold Project“). The encountered mineralization at the Superion target is situated at the margin of the conceptual open pit at 60 meters depth; the Company believes this target has the potential to significantly add to the current mineral resource estimate within the top 200 meters from surface with continued drilling and to reduce the overall strip ratio of the deposit.
Michael Henrichsen, CEO of Goldshore commented, “We are very pleased with our first drill hole into the Superion target. The high grades encountered at shallow depths extending mineralization 335 meters vertically upward from a deep 2022 intercept clearly demonstrates the potential for resource growth at Moss and has the potential to significantly impact the economic performance of the deposit moving forward. The current 15,000-meter winter drill program is delivering outstanding results, exceeding our expectations and highlighting the potential for a much larger mineralized system which will be pursued in the near future through additional drilling.”
Highlights
Superion Target
- First results from the Superion prospect with MQD-25-148 have discovered a new gold-mineralized shear approximately 60m from surface and 225m north of the QES Zone with an intercept of:
- 17.6m of 3.03 g/t Au from 76.4m, including
- 6.8m of 7.06 g/t Au from 79.1m
- 17.6m of 3.03 g/t Au from 76.4m, including
- Scout drilling continues at Superion exploring the 1,500m by 400m sparsely tested and muskeg-covered area immediately north of the QES Zone where previously extended QES holes, from Goldshore’s drilling in 2021 and 2022, have intersected the Superion structure at depth with the following intercepts:
- 16.0m of 2.69 g/t Au from 477m in MQD-22-014, including
- 5.25m of 7.87 g/t Au from 477.75m
- 40.0m of 0.71 g/t Au from 607m in MQD-21-009, including
- 7.85m of 1.18 g/t Au from 607m and
- 9.0m of 1.42 g/t Au from 638m
- 16.0m of 2.69 g/t Au from 477m in MQD-22-014, including
Southwest Zone
- Two of three drill holes continued to extend mineralized shears toward surface at the Southwest Zone with intercepts of:
- 10.0m of 0.79 g/t Au from 50.0m in MMD-25-144, and
- 12.0m of 0.98 g/t Au from 76.0m, including
- 3.6m of 2.77 g/t Au from 79.0m
- 27.0m of 0.44 g/t Au from 32.0m in MMD-25-145, and
- 6.0m of 1.34 g/t Au from 141.0m, including
- 3.8m of 1.89 g/t Au from 142.2m, and
- 35.35m of 0.41 g/t Au from 263.0m
Technical Overview
Figure 1 shows the location of the drill holes being reported with respect to the planned winter drill program, while Figure 2 illustrates a cross section through drill hole MQD-25-148 that demonstrates significant mineralization on the northern flank of the current mineral resource. Tables 1 & 2 summarize significant intercepts and drill hole locations, respectively.
Figure 1: Illustrates the 2025 ongoing winter drill program targeting resource expansion within the conceptual open pit outlined in grey. Drill holes being reported are highlighted in red.
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Figure 2: Drill section through MQD-25-148 illustrating the discovery of a new high-grade gold-mineralized shear that potentially connects with shears intercepted at 400-450 meters depth on the northern side of the QES Zone
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Drilling at the Superion target aims to quantify the near surface potential of previous deep intercepts and untested soil anomalies north of the QES Zone across a 1,500m x 400m area of sparsely tested muskeg. A significant portion of this area lies within the conceptual open pit and is currently flagged as waste material. Any discoveries in this area will immediately reduce the potential strip ratios and potentially support an overall expansion of the QES conceptual open pit.
Hole MQD-25-148 was drilled to test the immediate up dip potential of shears intersected in hole MQD-22-014, which was previously extended past the QES Zone, and intersected 16.0m of 2.69 g/t Au from 477m in MQD-22-014, including 5.25m of 7.87 g/t Au from 477.75m. Hole MQD-25-148 collared into a wide zone of generally undeformed epidote-chlorite altered diorite containing 2-3% pyrite before encountering a series of close spaced shear zones containing strong sericite-silica alteration, numerous highly deformed cm-scale quartz veins and 4-5% pyrite-chalcopyrite mineralization from 82.15-93.45m. The hole returned to an epidote-chlorite diorite with 2-3% pyrite and 10cm scale patches of strong silicification for the remainder of the hole.
The shear zone returned a significant high-grade interval of 17.6m of 3.03 g/t Au & 9.62 g/t Ag from 76.4m including 6.80m of 7.06 g/t Au & 23.9 g/t Ag from 79.1m (Figure 3). The 1:3 Au-Ag ratio in these results is notably higher than the typical 1:1.5 Au-Ag ratio encountered at the Moss Deposit, highlighting the need to resample historical drill core to build the silver database as it has the potential to add value to the Moss Gold Project.
Figure 3: Hole MQD-25-148: Wide high-grade strongly sheared sericite-silica altered diorite within a broad epidote-chlorite altered diorite intrusion returning 17.6m of 3.03 g/t Au & 9.62 g/t Ag from 76.4m.
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Drilling at the Southwest Zone continues its focus on adding to the mineral resource by infilling gaps within the current model created by sparse drilling. Drilling at shallow depths of 100-200 meters will allow for mineralized shear zones to be extended to the surface. Drilling at depths of 200 to 400 meters will allow the expansion of the open pit resource to a similar depth as the Main-QES pit (~500 meters).
Hole MMD-25-143 was drilled beneath shallowly defined mineralization from the eastern side of the Southwest Zone collaring into a sequence of brecciated dacitic volcanic rocks with a swarm of narrow chlorite altered diorite dykes. At 140m depth, the hole entered the typical altered and locally sheared diorite package for the remainder of the hole yielding intercepts such as 10.8m of 0.43 g/t Au from 155.2m and 18.6m of 0.56 g/t Au from 256.5m, including 2.0m of 1.40 g/t Au from 266.0m.
Holes MMD-25-144 and MMD-25-145 collared in the centre of the Southwest Zone and drilled towards the southeast to extend the previously defined shear zones toward surface. Both holes collared into the wide multi-stage silica-sericite and epidote-chlorite altered diorite intrusion package, as is typical of the peripheral areas of the Southwest Zone, yielding broad lower grade intercepts such as 12.0m of 0.98 g/t Au from 76.0m, including 3.6m of 2.77 g/t Au from 79.0m in MMD-25-144, and 35.35m of 0.14 g/t Au from 263m, before ending in the dacitic volcanic rocks depicting the end of the zone.
Table 1: Significant intercepts
| HOLE ID | FROM | TO | LENGTH (m) | TRUE WIDTH (m) | CUT GRADE (g/t Au) | UNCUT GRADE (g/t Au) |
| MMD-25-143 | 16.00 | 18.00 | 2.00 | 1.2 | 0.40 | 0.40 |
| 42.00 | 44.00 | 2.00 | 1.2 | 0.60 | 0.60 | |
| 155.20 | 166.00 | 10.80 | 6.8 | 0.43 | 0.43 | |
| 179.15 | 182.00 | 2.85 | 1.8 | 0.41 | 0.41 | |
| 204.55 | 208.00 | 3.45 | 2.2 | 0.32 | 0.32 | |
| 213.00 | 215.00 | 2.00 | 1.3 | 0.50 | 0.50 | |
| 231.00 | 234.00 | 3.00 | 1.9 | 0.54 | 0.54 | |
| 253.50 | 282.00 | 28.50 | 18.6 | 0.56 | 0.56 | |
| incl | 266.00 | 269.00 | 3.00 | 2.0 | 1.40 | 1.40 |
| 289.00 | 292.95 | 3.95 | 2.6 | 0.59 | 0.59 | |
| 339.35 | 342.10 | 2.75 | 1.8 | 0.31 | 0.31 | |
| 351.85 | 364.80 | 12.95 | 8.6 | 0.42 | 0.42 | |
| 387.00 | 390.00 | 3.00 | 2.0 | 0.39 | 0.39 | |
| 421.35 | 423.90 | 2.55 | 1.7 | 0.42 | 0.42 | |
| 446.00 | 449.00 | 3.00 | 2.1 | 0.47 | 0.47 | |
| 519.00 | 522.00 | 3.00 | 2.1 | 0.75 | 0.75 | |
| 528.00 | 541.00 | 13.00 | 9.1 | 0.35 | 0.35 | |
| 547.30 | 550.50 | 3.20 | 2.2 | 0.80 | 0.80 | |
| MMD-25-144 | 33.00 | 45.00 | 12.00 | 8.6 | 0.34 | 0.34 |
| 50.00 | 60.00 | 10.00 | 7.2 | 0.79 | 0.79 | |
| 69.00 | 72.00 | 3.00 | 2.2 | 0.34 | 0.34 | |
| 76.00 | 88.00 | 12.00 | 8.7 | 0.98 | 0.98 | |
| incl | 79.00 | 82.60 | 3.60 | 2.6 | 2.77 | 2.77 |
| 208.75 | 211.00 | 2.25 | 1.7 | 0.44 | 0.44 | |
| 231.35 | 242.00 | 10.65 | 8.0 | 0.34 | 0.34 | |
| 257.30 | 262.00 | 4.70 | 3.5 | 0.34 | 0.34 | |
| MMD-25-145 | 32.00 | 59.00 | 27.00 | 19.6 | 0.44 | 0.44 |
| 77.00 | 83.40 | 6.40 | 4.7 | 0.40 | 0.40 | |
| 141.00 | 147.00 | 6.00 | 4.6 | 1.34 | 1.34 | |
| incl | 142.20 | 146.00 | 3.80 | 2.9 | 1.89 | 1.89 |
| 156.25 | 167.10 | 10.85 | 8.5 | 0.49 | 0.49 | |
| 178.20 | 182.00 | 3.80 | 3.0 | 0.70 | 0.70 | |
| 263.00 | 298.35 | 35.35 | 29.6 | 0.41 | 0.41 | |
| MQD-25-148 | 76.40 | 94.00 | 17.60 | 12.7 | 3.03 | 3.03 |
| incl | 79.10 | 85.90 | 6.80 | 4.9 | 7.06 | 7.06 |
| incl | 82.15 | 85.90 | 3.75 | 2.7 | 12.4 | 12.4 |
| and | 93.15 | 93.45 | 0.30 | 0.2 | 12.1 | 12.1 |
| Intersections calculated above a 0.3 g/t Au cut off with a top cut of 30 g/t Au and a maximum internal waste interval of 5 metres. Shaded intervals are intersections calculated above a 1.0 g/t Au cut off. Intervals in bold are those with a grade thickness factor exceeding 20 gram x metres / tonne gold. True widths are approximate and assume a subvertical body. | ||||||
Table 2: Drill Collars
| HOLE | EAST | NORTH | RL | AZIMUTH | DIP | EOH |
| MMD-25-143 | 668,306 | 5,378,340 | 451 | 140 | -54 | 551 |
| MMD-25-144 | 668,350 | 5,378,084 | 428 | 135 | -45 | 276 |
| MMD-25-145 | 668,420 | 5,378,214 | 438 | 135 | -45 | 300 |
| MQD-25-148 | 669,904 | 5,379,917 | 428 | 155 | -45 | 252 |
| MQD-21-009 | 670,216 | 5,379,509 | 429 | 335 | -48 | 686 |
| MQD-22-014 | 670,104 | 5,379,469 | 427 | 335 | -47 | 1008 |
Analytical and QA/QC Procedures
All samples were sent to ALS Geochemistry in Thunder Bay for preparation and analysis was performed in the ALS Vancouver analytical facility. ALS is accredited by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) for the Accreditation of Mineral Analysis Testing Laboratories and CAN-P-4E ISO/IEC 17025. Samples were analysed for gold via fire assay with an AA finish (“Au-AA23“) and 48 pathfinder elements via ICP-MS after four-acid digestion (“ME-MS61“). Samples that assayed over 10 ppm Au were re-run via fire assay with a gravimetric finish (“Au-GRA21“).
In addition to ALS quality assurance / quality control (“QA/QC“) protocols, Goldshore has implemented a quality control program for all samples collected through the drilling program. The quality control program was designed by a qualified and independent third party, with a focus on the quality of analytical results for gold. Analytical results are received, imported to our secure on-line database and evaluated to meet our established guidelines to ensure that all sample batches pass industry best practice for analytical quality control. Certified reference materials are considered acceptable if values returned are within three standard deviations of the certified value reported by the manufacture of the material. In addition to the certified reference material, certified blank material is included in the sample stream to monitor contamination during sample preparation. Blank material results are assessed based on the returned gold result being less than ten times the quoted lower detection limit of the analytical method. The results of the on-going analytical quality control program are evaluated and reported to Goldshore by Orix Geoscience Inc.
Qualified Person
Peter Flindell, PGeo, MAusIMM, MAIG, Vice-President, Exploration, of the Company, and a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release.
Mr. Flindell has verified the data disclosed. To verify the information related to the winter drill program at the Moss Gold Project, Mr. Flindell has visited the property several times; discussed and reviewed logging, sampling, bulk density, core cutting and sample shipping processes with responsible site staff; discussed and reviewed assay and QA/QC results with responsible personnel; and reviewed supporting documentation, including drill hole location and orientation and significant assay interval calculations. He has also overseen the Company’s health and safety policies in the field to ensure full compliance, and consulted with the Project’s host indigenous communities on the planning and implementation of the drill program, particularly with respect to its impact on the environment and the Company’s remediation protocols.
About Goldshore
Goldshore is a growth-oriented gold company focused on delivering long-term shareholder and stakeholder value through the acquisition and advancement of primary gold assets in tier-one jurisdictions. It is led by the ex-global head of structural geology for the world’s largest gold company and backed by one of Canada’s pre-eminent private equity firms. The Company’s current focus is the advanced stage 100% owned Moss Gold Project which is positioned in Ontario, Canada, with direct access from the Trans-Canada Highway, hydroelectric power near site, supportive local communities and skilled workforce. The Company has invested over $60 million of new capital and completed approximately 80,000 meters of drilling on the Moss Gold Project, which, in aggregate, has had over 235,000 meters of drilling. The 2024 updated NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate (“MRE“) has expanded to 1.54 million ounces of Indicated gold resources at 1.23 g/t Au and 5.20 million ounces of Inferred gold resources at 1.11 g/t Au. The MRE only encompasses 3.6 kilometers of the 35+ kilometer mineralized trend, remains open at depth and along strike and is one of the few remaining major Canadian gold deposits positioned for development in this cycle. Please see NI 43-101 technical report titled: “Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the Moss Gold Project, Ontario, Canada,” dated March 20, 2024 with an effective date of January 31, 2024 available under the Company’s SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca. For more information, please visit SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) and the Company’s website (www.goldshoreresources.com).
For More Information – Please Contact:
Michael Henrichsen
President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Goldshore Resources Inc.
E: mhenrichsen@goldshoreresources.com
W: www.goldshoreresources.com
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.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains statements that constitute “forward-looking statements.” Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievements, or developments to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “intends,” “estimates,” “projects,” “potential” and similar expressions, or that events or conditions “will,” “would,” “may,” “could” or “should” occur. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, among others, statements relating to expectations regarding the exploration and development of the Moss Gold Project; the potential mineralization at the Moss Gold Project based on the winter drill program, including the potential for additional mineral resources; the enhancement of the Moss Gold Project; statements regarding the Company’s future drill plans, including the expected benefits and results thereof; that the Superion target has the potential to significantly add to the current mineral resource estimate within the top 200 meters from surface with continued drilling and to reduce the overall strip ratio of the deposit; the potential for resource growth at Moss and the fact that the results have the potential to significantly impact the economic performance of the deposit moving forward; the potential for a much larger mineralized system and that it will be pursued in the near future through additional drilling; and other statements that are not historical facts.
By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, among others: uncertainty and variation in the estimation of mineral resources; risks related to exploration, development, and operation activities; exploration and development of the Moss Gold Project will not be undertaken as anticipated; the Company may require additional financing from time to time in order to continue its operations which may not be available when needed or on acceptable terms and conditions acceptable; the economic performance of the deposit may not be consistent with management’s expectations; the Company’s exploration work may not deliver the results expected; the fluctuating price of gold; unknown liabilities in connection with acquisitions; compliance with extensive government regulation; delays in obtaining or failure to obtain governmental permits, or non-compliance with permits; environmental and other regulatory requirements; domestic and foreign laws and regulations could adversely affect the Company’s business and results of operations; risks related to natural disasters, terrorist acts, health crises, and other disruptions and dislocations; global financial conditions; uninsured risks; climate change risks; competition from other companies and individuals; conflicts of interest; risks related to compliance with anti-corruption laws; the Company’s limited operating history; intervention by non-governmental organizations; outside contractor risks; the stock markets have experienced volatility that often has been unrelated to the performance of companies and these fluctuations may adversely affect the price of the Company’s securities, regardless of its operating performance; the Superion target may not add to the current mineral resource; and other risks associated with executing the Company’s objectives and strategies as well as those risk factors discussed in the Company’s continuous disclosure documents filed under the Company’s SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca.
The forward-looking information in this news release is based on management’s reasonable expectations and assumptions as of the date of this news release. Certain material assumptions regarding such forward-looking statements were made, including without limitation, assumptions regarding: the future price of gold; anticipated costs and the Company’s ability to fund its programs; the Company’s ability to carry on exploration, development and mining activities; prices for energy inputs, labour, materials, supplies and services; the timing and results of drilling programs; mineral resource estimates and the assumptions on which they are based; the discovery of mineral resources and mineral reserves on the Company’s mineral properties; the timely receipt of required approvals and permits; the costs of operating and exploration expenditures; the Company’s ability to operate in a safe, efficient, and effective manner; the Company’s ability to obtain financing as and when required and on reasonable terms; that the Company’s activities will be in accordance with the Company’s public statements and stated goals; that the Superion target will add to the current mineral resource; that the Company’s exploration work will deliver the results expected; and that there will be no material adverse change or disruptions affecting the Company or its properties.
The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of the Company as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management’s beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.
To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/242996
~Confirms receipt of the Interim Order, files Meeting Materials, and announces another round of Blue Jay financing~
Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – February 28, 2025) – Riverside Resources Inc. (TSXV: RRI) (OTCQB: RVSDF) (FSE: 5YY) (“Riverside” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that its management information circular (the “Information Circular“), form of proxy and letter of transmittal, (together with the Information Circular, the “Meeting Materials“) in respect of its annual and special meeting (the “Meeting“) of Riverside shareholders (the “Riverside Shareholders“) to approve various matters in connection with the previously announced plan of arrangement (the “Arrangement“) on January 28, 2025 involving Blue Jay Gold Corp. (“Blue Jay“) are being filed today on Riverside’s SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca. and provided on Riverside’s website at www.rivres.com. Riverside is using the notice and access provisions under applicable securities laws to provide Riverside Shareholders with easy electronic access to the Information Circular and other Meeting Materials.
If the Arrangement is approved at the Meeting, Riverside will distribute its common shares (each, a “Blue Jay Share“) in Blue Jay to the Riverside Shareholders by way of a statutory plan of arrangement (the “Plan of Arrangement“) under section 288 of the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) (the “Transaction“). Following the Arrangement, Riverside Shareholders will hold shares in two reporting issuers: Riverside and Blue Jay. Blue Jay is expected to make an application to list the Blue Jay Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (“TSXV“).
Blue Jay currently holds all right and title to the Pichette-Clist Gold Project, the Oakes Gold Project and the Duc Gold Project in Northwestern, Ontario (the “Ontario Properties“).
Information about the Meeting and Receipt of Interim Court Order
On February 14, 2025, Riverside obtained an interim order (the “Interim Order“) from the British Columbia Supreme Court (the “Court“) in connection with the Arrangement, authorizing the calling and holding of the Meeting and other matters related to the conduct of the Meeting. At the Meeting, the Riverside Shareholders will be asked to consider and, if deemed advisable, pass a special resolution (the “Arrangement Resolution“) to approve Arrangement, in accordance with the terms of an arrangement agreement (the “Arrangement Agreement“) entered into by the Company and Blue Jay on January 27, 2025.
The Meeting is scheduled to be held on March 31, 2025 at 11:00 A.M. (Vancouver time) at Suite 550, 800 West Pender Street, Vancouver, British Columbia. At the Meeting, Riverside Shareholders will be asked to approve the Arrangement Resolution.
The Meeting Materials contain important information regarding the Transaction, how Riverside Shareholders can participate and vote at the Meeting, the background that led to the Transaction and the reasons for the unanimous determinations of the board of directors of the Company (the “Riverside Board“) that the Transaction is in the best interests of the Company and is fair to Riverside Shareholders. Shareholders should carefully review all of the Meeting Materials as they contain important information concerning the Transaction and the rights and entitlements of Shareholders thereunder.
Reasons for the Arrangement
Riverside believes that the Arrangement is in the best interests of Riverside for numerous reasons, including:
- At the moment, the capital markets value the Pichette-Clist Gold Project, the Oakes Gold Project, and the Duc Gold Project together with all of Riverside’s other properties. By completing the Arrangement, the markets will value the Pichette-Clist Gold Project, the Oakes Gold Project, and the Duc Gold Project separately and independently of Riverside’s other properties, which should create additional value for Riverside Shareholders.
- Separating the Pichette-Clist Gold Project, the Oakes Gold Project, and the Duc Gold Project from Riverside’s other properties is expected to accelerate the exploration of the Pichette-Clist Gold Project, the Oakes Gold Project, and the Duc Gold Project.
- Riverside Shareholders will benefit by holding shares in two separate public companies.
- Upon completion of the Arrangement, Blue Jay will have a separate board and management which will include members with specialized skills necessary to advance the Pichette-Clist Gold Project, Oakes Gold Project, and Duc Gold Project.
- Separating Riverside and Blue Jay will expand Blue Jay’s potential shareholder base by allowing investors that want specific ownership in a portfolio of Canadian exploration assets like the Pichette-Clist Gold Project, the Oakes Gold Project, and the Duc Gold Project to invest directly in Blue Jay rather than through Riverside.
- The Arrangement and separation of the companies will enable each company to pursue independent growth and capital allocation strategies.
- The Pichette-Clist Gold Project, the Oakes Gold Project, and the Duc Gold Project are not required for Riverside’s primary business focus which will remain project generation and advancement through joint ventures and similar arrangements.
In the course of its deliberations, the Riverside Board also identified and considered a variety of risks and potentially negative factors, including, but not limited to, the risks factors set out in the Information Circular and the documents incorporated by reference therein.
The foregoing discussion summarizes the material information and factors considered by the Riverside Board in their consideration of the Plan of Arrangement. The Riverside Board collectively reached its unanimous decision with respect to the Plan of Arrangement in light of the factors described above and other factors that each member of the Riverside Board felt were appropriate. In view of the wide variety of factors and the quality and amount of information considered, the Riverside Board did not find it useful or practicable to, and did not make specific assessments of, quantify, rank or otherwise assign relative weights to the specific factors considered in reaching its determination. Individual members of the Riverside Board may have given different weight to different factors.
Recommendation of the Directors
After careful consideration, the Riverside Board, after receiving legal, tax and financial advice, has unanimously determined that the Arrangement is in the best interests of Riverside and is fair to the Shareholders. Accordingly, the Riverside Board unanimously recommends that Shareholders vote FOR the Arrangement Resolution.
In order to become effective, the Arrangement must be approved by at least 66⅔% of the votes cast by the Riverside Shareholders present or represented by proxy at the Meeting. Subject to obtaining approval of the Transaction at the Meeting, and the satisfaction of the other customary conditions to completion of the Transaction contained in the Arrangement Agreement, including final approval of the Court and certain regulatory approvals, all as more particular described in the Meeting Materials, the Transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025.
Filing of New Technical Report
Riverside also announces today that it will file a new technical report under National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects titled, “Technical Report on the Pichette-Clist Property, Jellicoe Area, Northwestern Ontario” prepared by Locke B. Goldsmith, P. Eng, P.Geo, dated January 29, 2025. The Pichette-Clist Property will be Blue Jay’s material property once the Arrangement is effective. Such report will be available on Riverside’s SEDAR+ profile at https://www.sedarplus.ca/.
Blue Jay to Complete Another Round of Financing
In anticipation of making an application to list the Blue Jay Shares on the TSXV and in order to satisfy the TSXV listing requirements, Blue Jay expects to complete two further rounds of financing in connection with the Arrangement, being (a) a private placement of 2,000,000 Blue Jay Shares at an issue price of $0.40 per Blue Jay Share for gross proceeds of $800,000; and (b) a private placement of 2,000,000 Blue Jay Shares at an issue price of $0.50 for total gross proceeds of $1,000,000 and 1,428,571 Blue Jay Shares issued as “flow-through shares” (the “Flow Through Shares”) within the meaning of the Income Tax Act at an issue price of $0.70 per Flow Through Share. Each such private placement is subject to the approval by the TSXV.
About Riverside Resources Inc.
Riverside is a well-funded exploration company driven by value generation and discovery. The Company has over $4M in cash, no debt and less than 75M shares outstanding with a strong portfolio of gold-silver and copper assets and royalties in North America. Riverside has extensive experience and knowledge operating in Mexico and Canada and leverages its large database to generate a portfolio of prospective mineral properties. In addition to Riverside’s own exploration spending, the Company also strives to diversify risk by securing joint-venture and spin-out partnerships to advance multiple assets simultaneously and create more chances for discovery. Riverside has properties available for option, with information available on the Company’s website at www.rivres.com.
ON BEHALF OF RIVERSIDE RESOURCES INC.
“John-Mark Staude”
Dr. John-Mark Staude, President & CEO
For additional information contact:
| John-Mark Staude President, CEO Riverside Resources Inc. info@rivres.com Phone: (778) 327-6671 Fax: (778) 327-6675 Web: www.rivres.com | Eric Negraeff Investor Relations Riverside Resources Inc. Phone: (778) 327-6671 TF: (877) RIV-RES1 Web: www.rivres.com |
Certain statements in this press release may be considered forward-looking information. These statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology (e.g., “expect”,” estimates”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “plans”). Such information involves known and unknown risks — including the availability of funds, the results of financing and exploration activities, the interpretation of exploration results and other geological data, or unanticipated costs and expenses and other risks identified by Riverside in its public securities filings that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/242747
North Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – February 27, 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 1,757.8 meters of near-mine expansion drilling at its 100% owned Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project in Fiji. Drilling is focused on the SKL lodes in the Zone 5 area of Tuvatu. The Company is also pleased to announce accomplished mining engineer Ian Berzins as the Company’s new CEO.
The SKL lodes are located in close proximity to underground workings near surface in the Zone 5 area of Tuvatu. Drilling was conducted from two surface drill pads and consisted of infill and expansion drilling with the purpose of bringing the SKL lodes into the long term mine plan for Tuvatu. High-grade mineralized structures were intersected in 10 drill holes. Drill results include multiple bonanza grade gold assays such as 502.50 g/t, 118.20 g/t, 85.50 g/t, and 76.50 g/t gold over narrow widths of 0.3 m. All high-grade drill results were intersected within 75 m of underground developments and within 110 m of surface. The SKL lodes were the subject of test mining in the 1990s but have undergone little modern drilling despite their proximity to underground workings. The SKL lodes represent a prime target for addition to the Tuvatu mine plan given the high-grade results and proximity to underground infrastructure. Previous drill results in the SKL area include 4.8 m of 30.48 g/t gold (see news release dated May 8, 2024).
Highlights of New Drill Results:
- 85.54 g/t Au over 3.0 m (including 502.50 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-745, from 31.73 m depth)
- 23.59 g/t Au over 2.4 m (including 53.99 g/t Au over 0.6 m) (TUDDH-740, from 74.50 m depth)
- 21.10 g/t Au over 2.4 m (including 46.30 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-748, from 82.79 m depth)
- 24.51 g/t Au over 1.6 m (including 76.50 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-748, from 54.82 m depth)
- 118.20 g/t Au over 0.3 m (TUDDH-733, from 85.5 m depth)
- 15.22 g/t Au over 2.1 m (including 57.64 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-748, from 133.92 m depth)
- 10.94 g/t Au over 2.7 m (including 41.05 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-738, from 68.10 m depth)
- 85.50 g/t Au over 0.3 m (TUDDH-745, from 88.96 m depth)
- 36.49 g/t Au over 0.7 m (including 59.05 g/t Au over 0.4 m) (TUDDH-745, from 74.60 m depth)
- 19.50 g/t Au over 1.2 m (including 30.44 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-740, from 110.20 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 SKL drilling reported in this news release. Left image: Plan view of Tuvatu showing SKL drillholes in relation to the mineralized lodes shown in grey and Tuvatu underground development shown in red. Right image: Oblique view of the SKL drilling looking northeast.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2178/242627_74ed9fc8149a2be3_001full.jpg
SKL Lodes
The SKL lodes are located in the near-surface portion of Zone 5, in the northeast part of the deposit proximal to the historical exploration adit, which is now used primarily for mine ventilation and secondary egress. The SKL lodes are north of the steeply dipping UR lodes, which are the primary lodes in Zone 5. Minor underground development and trial mining was conducted on the SKL lodes in the late 1990s, including the development of the historical exploration adit. Minor confirmatory infill drilling was also completed in 2019 and in 2024 Lion One announced the results from seven additional drillholes conducted in the area. The drill holes announced in this release are a continuation of that program. Preliminary handheld mining has also been conducted in the SKL lodes on a trial basis to further test the area. Additional infill drilling and underground development is required before more advanced mining can take place. The SKL lodes are a prime target for near-mine expansion given both the underground access already in place and the high-grade results returned from the initial infill drilling.
The SKL lodes have historically been modelled as a series of stacked flat-lying mineralized lodes known as ”flatmakes”[1], similar to those currently being mined in the high-grade near-surface roscoelite area in Zone 2. The lodes are composed of high-grade narrow vein structures that frequently return bonanza-grade results >30 g/t gold. They are also associated with stockwork veining and roscoelite mineralization. The SKL lodes are not included in the current mine plan at Tuvatu. The purpose of the current SKL drill program is to confirm the SKL mineralization in advance of additional infill and grade control drilling needed to bring the area into the Tuvatu mine plan. The SKL lodes are a strong example of the opportunity for near-mine expansion at Tuvatu.
Figure 2. SKL drilling with high-grade intersects highlighted, 3.0 g/t gold cutoff. Section view looking northeast. High-grade gold mineralization is intersected near surface proximal to underground developments in the SKL area. SKL lodes are shown in light brown. These drill results are not included in the Tuvatu mine plan and represent near mine expansion of the mine plan.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2178/242627_74ed9fc8149a2be3_002full.jpg
Management Transition
Effective immediately, Walter Berukoff – Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Lion One Metals, is transitioning to the role of Chairman and President of the Company, while Ian Berzins is joining the Company as it’s new CEO. This is part of a planned senior management transition at Lion One aimed specifically at providing increased operational knowledge and support for the Company as it ramps up production at the Tuvatu gold mine in Fiji.
As Founder, Chairman and CEO of Lion One Metals, Mr. Berukoff has had an unparalleled impact on the success of the Company. Mr. Berukoff acquired the Tuvatu property as an exploration project, and successfully brought the project from exploration through discovery, permitting, financing, construction, and ultimately to production, all while maintaining 100% control of the project – a rarity in modern mining. During this time, Mr. Berukoff also consolidated all the mineral rights throughout the highly prospective Navilawa Caldera, making Lion One the first Company ever to hold rights over the entire caldera, and thereby providing the Company with top tier exploration and growth potential. The Company has since made numerous discoveries throughout the caldera, such as the Lumuni gold and Wailoaloa copper-gold prospects. The most important discoveries made under Mr. Berukoff’s leadership have been at Tuvatu, including the high-grade Zone 500 feeder zone which returned 75.9 m of 20.86 g/t gold, and the high-grade near-surface roscoelite zone which is currently in production. Tuvatu is now an operating gold mine, having achieved increased gold production in every quarter throughout 2024, culminating in record revenue from gold sales in the quarter ending December 31, 2024. As President and Chairman of Lion One Metals, Mr. Berukoff will remain involved with the Company and will continue to support the growth of Tuvatu as it ramps up to the next stage of production as well as looking at other accretive assets for the Company.
Incoming CEO Ian Berzins is a seasoned mining professional who brings significant underground operational experience to the Company. Mr. Berzins is knowledgeable in various mining applications including narrow vein conventional mining and open stoping. He previously held senior management positions at several deep underground gold mining operations in Canada including the Con Mine in Yellowknife NT, the Lupin Mine in Nunavut and the Rice Lake Mine in Bissett, MB. During the period from 2008 to 2014 as COO and subsequently CEO, Mr. Berzins led the operational ramp-up at the Rice Lake Mine from 10,000 ounces of gold per annum to 80,000 ounces of gold per annum averaging 20,000 ounces per month for 11 consecutive quarters. As Vice President and General Manager at Thompson Creek’s Mount Milligan open pit copper and gold mine, during the period from 2014 to 2016, Mr. Berzins lead the operational team that achieved nameplate throughput of 60,000 tonnes per day on a consistent basis. Mr. Berzins is a strong advocate for safe production and local engagement. With over 40 years in the mining industry, he has worked in mine engineering, supervision, human resources, maintenance and senior management. Mr. Berzins holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mining Engineering from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and has completed his ICD.D designation from the Haskayne School of Management in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Lion One Chairman and CEO Walter Berukoff commented: “We are extremely pleased to have Ian join us at this pivotal moment in our development. He brings significant operational experience and leadership to Lion One, which will be highly advantageous to the Company as we ramp up gold production at Tuvatu and as we continue to discover additional gold mineralization, including the emergence of roscoelite as a key indicator in our alkaline gold system. Tuvatu is one of only a few alkaline gold deposits in the world not controlled by a major mining Company. The board and I have full confidence in Ian’s ability to help us develop Tuvatu into a world class gold deposit, and we are excited to have him on the team.”
Mr. Berzins stated: “I am honoured and excited to join the Lion One team at this key juncture in time. I look forward to leveraging my knowledge and experience to help grow the Company from the base established by Mr. Berukoff and the Lion One team in Tuvatu. Mr. Berukoff and I previously worked together at the Con Mine between 1993 and 1996, and I look forward to working together again”.
Warrant Listing
The Company confirms that the share purchase warrants (the “Warrants”) issued as part of the public offering that was completed on February 14, 2028 are now listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “LIO.WT.A”. The Warrants are exercisable for one common share of the Company at a price of $0.41 until February 14, 2028.
Competent Persons Statement
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 has been reviewed and approved 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 & President
Contact Information
Email: info@liononemetals.com
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 1. Collar coordinates for drillholes reported in this release. Coordinates are in Fiji map grid.
| Hole ID | Easting | Northing | Elevation | Azimuth | Dip | Depth |
| TUDDH-733 | 1876479 | 3920838 | 238 | 288.1 | -56.9 | 133.0 |
| TUDDH-735 | 1876479 | 3920839 | 238 | 302.2 | -53.8 | 122.5 |
| TUDDH-736 | 1876479 | 3920839 | 238 | 274.8 | -55.0 | 147.6 |
| TUDDH-737 | 1876479 | 3920838 | 238 | 241.9 | -66.0 | 150.6 |
| TUDDH-738 | 1876479 | 3920838 | 240 | 285.2 | -63.2 | 135.0 |
| TUDDH-740 | 1876482 | 3920839 | 239 | 338.0 | -69.2 | 160.0 |
| TUDDH-742 | 1876482 | 3920839 | 239 | 355.0 | -85.0 | 10.2 |
| TUDDH-743 | 1876481 | 3920839 | 239 | 355.0 | -85.0 | 10.1 |
| TUDDH-744 | 1876481 | 3920843 | 239 | 354.6 | -84.7 | 160.0 |
| TUDDH-745 | 1876483 | 3920840 | 240 | 190.8 | -85.6 | 165.6 |
| TUDDH-748 | 1876488 | 3920785 | 239 | 344.9 | -59.7 | 161.4 |
| TUDDH-750 | 1876489 | 3920785 | 240 | 18.9 | -56.9 | 10.0 |
| TUDDH-751 | 1876489 | 3920786 | 239 | 19.1 | -53.2 | 200.3 |
| TUDDH-752 | 1876490 | 3920785 | 240 | 50.9 | -80.6 | 191.5 |
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).
| Hole ID | From (m) | To (m) | Width (m) | Au (g/t) | |
| TUDDH-733 | 82.2 | 82.8 | 0.6 | 3.42 | |
| 85.5 | 85.8 | 0.3 | 118.20 | ||
| TUDDH-735 | 89.3 | 92.3 | 3.0 | 6.92 | |
| including | 89.3 | 89.9 | 0.6 | 7.93 | |
| and | 89.9 | 90.5 | 0.6 | 6.30 | |
| and | 90.5 | 91.1 | 0.6 | 0.39 | |
| and | 91.1 | 91.7 | 0.6 | 15.93 | |
| and | 91.7 | 92.3 | 0.6 | 4.07 | |
| TUDDH-735 | 94.4 | 94.7 | 0.3 | 11.66 | |
| TUDDH-736 | 102.0 | 102.6 | 0.6 | 4.27 | |
| TUDDH-737 | 75.9 | 76.2 | 0.3 | 5.42 | |
| 77.4 | 78.9 | 1.5 | 3.65 | ||
| including | 77.4 | 77.7 | 0.3 | 3.47 | |
| and | 77.7 | 78.0 | 0.3 | 7.84 | |
| and | 78.0 | 78.3 | 0.3 | 3.40 | |
| and | 78.3 | 78.6 | 0.3 | 0.21 | |
| and | 78.6 | 78.9 | 0.3 | 3.34 | |
| 86.0 | 86.3 | 0.3 | 6.70 | ||
| 88.7 | 89.3 | 0.6 | 33.43 | ||
| including | 88.7 | 89.0 | 0.3 | 23.63 | |
| and | 89.0 | 89.3 | 0.3 | 43.22 | |
| TUDDH-738 | 68.1 | 70.8 | 2.7 | 10.94 | |
| including | 68.1 | 68.4 | 0.3 | 5.41 | |
| and | 68.4 | 69.0 | 0.6 | -0.01 | |
| and | 69.0 | 69.3 | 0.3 | 8.30 | |
| and | 69.3 | 69.6 | 0.3 | 2.87 | |
| and | 69.6 | 69.9 | 0.3 | 1.08 | |
| and | 69.9 | 70.2 | 0.3 | 24.46 | |
| and | 70.2 | 70.5 | 0.3 | 41.05 | |
| and | 70.5 | 70.8 | 0.3 | 15.33 | |
| 85.2 | 85.8 | 0.6 | 3.99 | ||
| 88.5 | 89.7 | 1.2 | 8.68 | ||
| including | 88.5 | 88.8 | 0.3 | 25.81 | |
| and | 88.8 | 89.1 | 0.3 | 1.46 | |
| and | 89.1 | 89.4 | 0.3 | 4.42 | |
| and | 89.4 | 89.7 | 0.3 | 3.03 | |
| TUDDH-740 | 65.2 | 65.8 | 0.6 | 4.58 | |
| 67.3 | 67.6 | 0.3 | 63.35 | ||
| 70.3 | 70.6 | 0.3 | 6.84 | ||
| 74.5 | 76.9 | 2.4 | 23.59 | ||
| including | 74.5 | 75.1 | 0.6 | 53.99 | |
| and | 75.1 | 75.7 | 0.6 | 25.40 | |
| and | 75.7 | 76.3 | 0.6 | 7.30 | |
| and | 76.3 | 76.9 | 0.6 | 7.65 | |
| 91.6 | 91.9 | 0.3 | 3.05 | ||
| 96.1 | 96.4 | 0.3 | 5.82 | ||
| 110.2 | 111.4 | 1.2 | 19.50 | ||
| including | 110.2 | 110.5 | 0.3 | 5.99 | |
| and | 110.5 | 110.8 | 0.3 | 18.71 | |
| and | 110.8 | 111.1 | 0.3 | 30.44 | |
| and | 111.1 | 111.4 | 0.3 | 22.85 | |
| 114.9 | 116.1 | 1.2 | 4.20 | ||
| TUDDH-744 | 69.1 | 69.4 | 0.3 | 6.20 | |
| 72.6 | 72.9 | 0.3 | 4.17 | ||
| 77.1 | 77.7 | 0.6 | 5.18 | ||
| including | 77.1 | 77.4 | 0.3 | 6.48 | |
| and | 77.4 | 77.7 | 0.3 | 3.84 | |
| 84.8 | 85.5 | 0.8 | 12.84 | ||
| including | 84.8 | 85.1 | 0.4 | 4.83 | |
| and | 85.1 | 85.5 | 0.4 | 19.85 | |
| TUDDH-745 | 31.7 | 34.7 | 3.0 | 85.54 | |
| including | 31.7 | 32.5 | 0.7 | 45.89 | |
| and | 32.5 | 32.9 | 0.5 | 55.25 | |
| and | 32.9 | 33.2 | 0.3 | 12.68 | |
| and | 33.2 | 33.5 | 0.3 | 27.01 | |
| and | 33.5 | 33.8 | 0.3 | 53.77 | |
| and | 33.8 | 34.1 | 0.3 | 29.36 | |
| and | 34.1 | 34.4 | 0.3 | 28.50 | |
| and | 34.4 | 34.7 | 0.3 | 502.50 | |
| 72.6 | 73.0 | 0.4 | 15.60 | ||
| 74.6 | 75.3 | 0.7 | 36.49 | ||
| including | 74.6 | 74.9 | 0.3 | 7.16 | |
| and | 74.9 | 75.3 | 0.4 | 59.05 | |
| 78.5 | 78.9 | 0.4 | 22.15 | ||
| 84.3 | 85.6 | 1.3 | 8.85 | ||
| including | 84.3 | 84.6 | 0.3 | 4.44 | |
| and | 84.6 | 85.0 | 0.4 | 0.18 | |
| and | 85.0 | 85.3 | 0.3 | 1.22 | |
| and | 85.3 | 85.6 | 0.3 | 31.88 | |
| 89.0 | 89.3 | 0.3 | 85.50 | ||
| 101.5 | 101.8 | 0.3 | 3.66 | ||
| TUDDH-748 | 54.8 | 56.4 | 1.6 | 24.51 | |
| including | 54.8 | 55.1 | 0.3 | 16.99 | |
| and | 55.1 | 55.4 | 0.3 | 0.08 | |
| and | 55.4 | 55.7 | 0.3 | 8.29 | |
| and | 55.7 | 56.1 | 0.3 | 76.50 | |
| and | 56.1 | 56.4 | 0.3 | 17.28 | |
| 82.8 | 85.2 | 2.4 | 21.10 | ||
| including | 82.8 | 83.1 | 0.3 | 8.70 | |
| and | 83.1 | 83.4 | 0.4 | 0.04 | |
| and | 83.4 | 83.7 | 0.3 | 46.27 | |
| and | 83.7 | 84.0 | 0.3 | 5.47 | |
| and | 84.0 | 84.3 | 0.3 | 7.94 | |
| and | 84.3 | 84.9 | 0.5 | 41.30 | |
| and | 84.9 | 85.2 | 0.3 | 25.99 | |
| 86.4 | 86.7 | 0.3 | 28.37 | ||
| 88.5 | 90.4 | 1.9 | 8.25 | ||
| including | 88.5 | 88.9 | 0.4 | 4.42 | |
| and | 88.9 | 89.2 | 0.3 | 19.04 | |
| and | 89.2 | 89.7 | 0.5 | 0.11 | |
| and | 89.7 | 90.1 | 0.5 | -0.01 | |
| and | 90.1 | 90.4 | 0.3 | 26.88 | |
| 97.2 | 97.5 | 0.3 | 5.39 | ||
| 117.0 | 117.4 | 0.4 | 6.15 | ||
| 122.9 | 123.2 | 0.3 | 9.85 | ||
| 133.9 | 136.0 | 2.1 | 15.22 | ||
| including | 133.9 | 134.2 | 0.3 | 36.09 | |
| and | 134.2 | 134.5 | 0.3 | 57.64 | |
| and | 134.5 | 135.1 | 0.6 | 0.11 | |
| and | 135.1 | 135.4 | 0.3 | 0.92 | |
| and | 135.4 | 135.7 | 0.3 | 6.55 | |
| and | 135.7 | 136.0 | 0.3 | 5.12 | |
| TUDDH-751 | 54.7 | 55.0 | 0.3 | 7.33 | |
| 57.2 | 58.5 | 1.3 | 15.14 | ||
| including | 57.2 | 57.5 | 0.3 | 4.97 | |
| and | 57.5 | 57.8 | 0.3 | 6.34 | |
| and | 57.8 | 58.1 | 0.3 | 27.19 | |
| and | 58.1 | 58.5 | 0.4 | 19.86 | |
| 91.6 | 92.0 | 0.4 | 12.88 |
1 Flatmakes are flat-dipping mineralized vein structures. The term is a Fijian mining term commonly used at the Vatukoula gold mine northeast of Tuvatu. At Vatukoula, flatmakes have been reported to have hundreds of meters of strike length.
To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/242627