November 19, 2021 Rockport, Ontario – New Age Metals Inc. (TSX.V: NAM; OTCQB: NMTLF; FSE: P7J.F) (“NAM” or “Company”) is pleased to announce the filing of an independent Technical Report in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101) on its 100% owned River Valley Palladium Deposit, near Sudbury, Ontario. The Technical Report, titled “Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate of the River Valley Palladium Project, Dana, Janes, McWilliams, and Pardo Townships, Sudbury Mining Division, Ontario”, dated November 29, 2021 (effective date September 14, 2021) has been prepared by P&E Mining Consultants Inc., and is available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) under NAM’s issuer profile.
Highlights of the updated 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate include:
- At a cut-off of $CDN15/t NSR, pit constrained Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources contain 2.25 Moz Pd+Pt+Au within 89.0 Mt grading 0.79 g/t Pd+Pt+Au or at $CDN47.6/t NSR and Inferred Mineral Resources of 1.59 Moz Pd+Pt+Au within 92.7 Mt grading 0.53 g/t Pd+Pt+Au or at $CDN31.1/t NSR.
- At a CDN$25/t NSR cut-off, pit constrained Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources contain 1.96 Moz Pd+Pt+Au within 60.1 Mt grading 1.02 g/t Pd+Pt+Au or at CDN$60.5/t NSR and Inferred Mineral Resources contain 1.12 Moz within 48.4 Mt grading 0.72 g/t Pd+Pt+Au or at CDN$41.5/t NSR.
- Out-of-pit constrained Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources contain 31,000 ounces Pd+Pt+Au within 642,000 tonnes grading 1.49 g/t Pd+Pt+Au or at CDN$88.5/t NSR and Inferred Mineral Resources contain 62,000 ounces within 1.6 Mt grading 1.21 g/t Pd+Pt+Au or at CDN$68.1/t NSR, at a CDN$50/t NSR cut-off.
- The predominant contribution of Pd + Pt to the NSR value (88.4%) is particularly noteworthy, given the rarity of such true platinum-group metal deposits in secure and established mining jurisdictions globally.
- Recommendations include in-fill drilling to convert Inferred to Indicated Mineral Resources and exploration drilling down-dip/down-plunge of the mineralized zones to potentially expand the Mineral Resources at depth.
The updated 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate of River Valley, with an effective date of September 14, 2021, is summarized in Figure 1 and presented in Table 1.
Notes: Class = Classification, Meas + Ind = Measured and Indicated classifications.
1 Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.2. The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues.
3. The Inferred Mineral Resource in this estimate has a lower level of confidence than that applied to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resource could potentially be upgraded to an Indicated Mineral Resource with continued exploration.
4. The Mineral Resources were estimated in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions (2014) and Best Practices Guidelines (2019) prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by the CIM Council.
5. The Mineral Resource Estimate is based on US$ metal prices of $1,850/oz Pd, $900/oz Pt, $1,600/oz Au, $3.00/lb Cu, $16/lb Co, $6.50/lb Ni, $8,000/oz Rh, $18.50/oz Ag. The US$:CDN$ exchange rate used was 0.75.
6. The NSR estimates use flotation recoveries of 80% for Pd, 80% for Pt, 80% for Au, 85% for Cu, 25% for Co, 90% for Ni, 80% for Rh and 65% for Ag and smelter payables of 80% for Pd, 80% for Pt, 85% for Au, 85% for Cu, 50% for Co, 90% for Ni, 80% for Rh and 65% for Ag.
7 The pit optimization used a mining cost of $2.25/t mined, combined processing and G&A costs of CDN$15/t, and pit slopes of 50º. The out-of-pit Mineral Resources used underground mining, processing and G&A cost of CDN$50/t.
8 Out-of-pit Mineral Resources were determined to be potentially extractable with the longhole mining method.
The Mineral Resource Estimate is sensitive to the selection of a reporting NSR cut-off value for pit constrained Mineral Resources. At a cut-off of $CDN25/t NSR, pit constrained Mineral Resources are presented in Table 2.
The updated 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate is based on all historical and 2020 diamond drilling, more conservative mineralized domain wireframing strategy and revised mineralized domain modelling, inverse distance grade interpretation methodology, and higher overall metal prices, particularly for palladium. As a result, Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources increased compared to the 2019 updated Mineral Resource Estimate. At the CDN$15/t NSR cut-off, the pit constrained Measured & Indicated Mineral Resources total of 89 Mt grading 0.79 g/t Pd+Pt+Au (2.3 Moz) reported herein significantly exceeds the potentially extractable Mineral Resources total of 78 Mt grading 0.79 g/t Pd+Pt+Au (2.0 Moz) reported in the 2019 Preliminary Economic Assessment of River Valley.
Pre-Feasibility Study Update
A Pre-Feasibility Study of the River Valley Palladium Project was announced in a Company press release dated April 2021. A progress update was announced in a Company press release dated November 10, 2021. At this point, the final batch of assay results for fresh drill core samples from the Dana North, Dana South, Lismer North and Lismer Ridge Zones should be delivered by SGS Canada Inc. this week. The geomechanical and hydrogeological site investigation studies by Knight Piésold Ltd. are largely completed, whereas the geotechnical site investigation studies are ongoing. Story Environmental continued baseline environmental studies of the River Valley Property and working towards establishing meaningful relationships with local Indigenous Communities.
Palladium Exploration Update
At this point in 2021, four Mineral Resource expansion holes totalling 1,277 m have been drilled at the Banshee Zone, which is located between the Dana Zones to the North and the Lismer Zones to the northeast and east (Figure 1). Mineralization was intersected in the drill holes and assays are pending from the laboratory. Near the Dana South Zone, a new trench has been excavated and more mineralization exposed to the east adjacent to the mineralized domain. Channel samples have been taken of the mineralization and assays are pending from the laboratory.
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, multi-million-ounce, district scale River Valley Project, one of North America’s largest undeveloped Platinum Group Metals Projects, situated
100 km by road east of Sudbury, Ontario. The Company completed a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment on the Project in 2019 and, is fully financed to complete a Pre-Feasibility Study on the Project in 2022. In addition to River Valley, the Company owns 100% of the Genesis PGM-Cu-Ni Project in Alaska, and has plans to complete a surface mapping and sampling program in 2022.
The Lithium Division is one of the largest mineral claim holders in the Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field, where the Company is exploring for hard rock lithium and various rare elements such as tantalum and rubidium. Plans for 2021 include drone geophysics on at least five of the Company’s seven projects and a maiden drill program on the Company’s Lithium Two Project. On September 28, the Company announced a partnership with Mineral Resource Limited (MRL, ASX: MIN), the world’s fifth largest lithium producer to explore and develop the Company’s lithium project portfolio.
Our philosophy is to be a project generator with the objective of optioning our projects with major and junior mining companies through to production. The Company is actively seeking an option/ joint venture partner for its road-accessible Genesis PGM-Cu-Ni project in Alaska.
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 Persons
Eugene Puritch, P.Eng., President of P&E Mining Consultants Inc., and an independent Qualified Person and Competent Person has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.
The contents contained herein that relate to the scientific and exploration results for the River Valley Project is based on information compiled, reviewed or prepared by Dr. Bill Stone, P.Geo., a consulting geoscientist for New Age Metals. Dr. 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.