- The River Valley Project is one of North America’s largest undeveloped primary Platinum Group Metal (PGM) projects. The Project has excellent infrastructure and is within 100 kilometres of the Sudbury Metallurgical Complex. The Project is 100% owned by New Age Metals
- The Company completed a $2M financing on February 3, 2020. The primary use of proceeds will be to follow-up on recommendations from the 2019 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA)
- A Phase 1 program which includes drilling on the Pine Zone, and other follow-up recommendations from the PEA is slated to begin in early Q2-2020
- Eric Sprott became a strategic shareholder and has an 18.56% ownership of the Company’s current issued and outstanding shares on a post conversion beneficial ownership basis
- In January, the Company announced that it engaged IBK Capital Corp to assist the Company in evaluating strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value
- Management is attending this years PDAC and will be at booth 2619, and has pre-booked a series of private meetings
- The spot price of an ounce of Palladium increased by over 70% in the last year, to $US2,646/oz on February 26, 2020. Rhodium, which is also present at River Valley, has seen a price increase of over 300% YTD to $US11,000/ oz
- The Company is actively seeking an option/joint venture partner for our Genesis PGM Project in Alaska and for our Lithium division in Manitoba
February 27th, 2020 Rockport, Canada – New Age Metals Inc. (TSX.V: NAM; OTCQB: NMTLF; FSE: P7J.F) Harry Barr, Chairman & CEO, stated; “We are pleased to update our shareholders and interested parties on current and planned activities in each of our PGM and Lithium divisions. Specifically, a progress update is provided on the River Valley PGM Project and the expected exploration program activities for 2020. Furthermore, we comment on the current PGM market and particularly the recent Palladium and Rhodium price trends.” NAM management will be attending PDAC at booth 2619 Sunday, March 1and Monday, March 2 and welcome all to come visit the booth and speak to the team to learn more about current initiatives and our exploration and development plan for 2020.
NAM’s 2020 plan for River Valley focuses on following-up on the recommendations of the 2019 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA). Management has developed a three-phase exploration and development plan for the balance of 2020. Phase One will focus on drilling to expand the boundaries of the Pine Zone discovery and to generate rhodium data for future mineral resource estimations. Phase Two will involve drill testing further geophysical targets in the Northern area of the project, identified in the 2017/2018 induced polarization surveys. The target areas to be drill tested in this program are outlined in Figure 1. Finally, Phase 3 will be focused on metallurgy – with the primary objective being to improve process recoveries of platinum metals, particularly palladium and including rhodium. We plan to start Phase 1 in early Q2-2020.
Palladium, Platinum, Rhodium Price & Performance
In the last year, the palladium price has repeatedly broken all-time highs. Tightening emissions regulations in major emerging auto markets partnered with stagnant mine supply have contributed to the approximate 70% price increase this past year. In light of persisting structural market deficits, many analysts are of the opinion that the price may continue to rise. Most of the global palladium supply is from Russia and South Africa, where it is mined as a by-product of local nickel and platinum operations. In December 2019, palladium price spiked after the news of record power cuts in South Africa which has impacted the mining industry in the region. Catalytic converters drive palladium demand, accounting for approximately 85% of the global market. The latest NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate for River Valley outlined 2.9 Moz of Palladium Equivalent (PdEq) in the Measured plus Indicated categories, and 1.1 Moz of PdEq in Inferred, (see press release dated January 15, 2019).
Rhodium is a rare platinum group metal that is chemically stable at high temperatures with the same primary application as palladium – catalytic converters. Annual global production of rhodium is estimated to be less than one million ounces per year. Rhodium is another by-product of South African platinum mines and Russian nickel-copper mines. Rhodium is also present at the River Valley Project.
Platinum has traditionally traded at a premium to its sister-metal, Palladium. However, in 2018, the Palladium price overtook Platinum and continues to surge higher. Year-to-date the platinum price has increased by about 6%. Platinum is also used in auto catalysts, but is preferred for diesel engines that are less popular after the emissions scandal in 2015.
Genesis PGM-Cu-Ni Project
The Genesis project is a PGM-Cu-Ni property located in the northeastern Chugach Mountains, 75 paved road miles north of the all-season port city of Valdez, Alaska. The project is within 3 km of the all-season paved Richardson Highway and a high capacity electric power line. The project is covered by 4,144 hectares of State of Alaska mining claims owned 100% by New Age Metals. Past exploration has revealed the presence of chromite-associated platinum and palladium mineralization and stratabound PGM-Cu-Ni mineralization within magmatic layers of the Tonsina Ultramafic Complex. Pyrrhotite, pentlandite, and chalcopyrite occur in disseminations and net-textured segregations associated with platinum and palladium sulfides. A 2019 work program that combined ASTER and LANDSAT8 results with airborne magnetics and resistivity data indicated that the total length of the stratabound PGM-Cu-Ni mineralization is at least 2,000m and that it is open under alluvial cover in both strike directions. There has been limited exploration over the Genesis project and no previous exploration drilling on the project. NAM management is actively seeking an option/joint-venture partner for this road accessible PGM-Cu-Ni Project, using its Prospector Generator business model.
2020 Exploration Plans for Lithium Division
The Company has eight lithium and rare element Projects in the Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field, located in South East Manitoba. A drill permit was received for the Lithium Two project in 2019 and the Company expects the delivery of a second drill permit for the Lithium One Project before the end of the first quarter of this year. In 2020 the Company is actively working on securing an option/joint venture partner.
About NAM
New Age Metals is a junior mineral exploration and development company focused on the discovery, exploration and development of green metal projects in North America. The Company has two divisions; a Platinum Group Metals division and a Lithium/Rare Element division. The PGM division includes the 100% owned River Valley Project, one of North America’s largest undeveloped Platinum Group Metals Projects, situated 100 kilometers from Sudbury, Ontario as well as the Genesis PGM Project in Alaska. The Lithium division is the largest mineral claim holder in the Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field where the Company is exploring for hard rock lithium and various rare elements such as tantalum and rubidium. Our philosophy is to be a project generator with the objective of optioning our projects with major and junior mining companies through to production. New Age Metals is a junior resource company on the TSX Venture Exchange, trading symbol NAM, OTCQB: NMTLF; FSE: P7J with 136,843,766 shares issued to date.
Investors are invited to visit the New Age Metals website at www.newagemetals.com where they can review the company and its corporate activities. Any questions or comments can be directed to info@newagemetals.com or Harry Barr at Hbarr@newagemetals.com or Cody Hunt at Codyh@newagemetals.com or call 613 659 2773.
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Qualified Person
The contents contained herein that relate to Exploration Results or Mineral Resources is based on information compiled, reviewed or prepared by Bill Stone, a consulting geoscientist for New Age Metals. Mr. Stone is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Harry Barr
Harry G. Barr
Chairman and CEO
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.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements: This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results and are based on current expectations or beliefs. For this purpose, statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements include statements in which the Company uses words such as “continue”, “efforts”, “expect”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “confident”, “intend”, “strategy”, “plan”, “will”, “estimate”, “project”, “goal”, “target”, “prospects”, “optimistic” or similar expressions. These statements by their nature involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially depending on a variety of important factors, including, among others, the Company’s ability and continuation of efforts to timely and completely make available adequate current public information, additional or different regulatory and legal requirements and restrictions that may be imposed, and other factors as may be discussed in the documents filed by the Company on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), including the most recent reports that identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake any obligation to review or confirm analysts’ expectations or estimates or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.