April 5, 2023, Rockport, Ontario – New Age Metals Inc. (TSX.V: NAM; OTCQB: NMTLF; FSE: P7J2) (“NAM” or “Company”) is pleased to report that it has acquired 19,321 hectares of mineral exploration license (MEL) area at McLaughlin Lake, Manitoba. The MEL covers approximately 30 kms strike length of the Stull-Wunnummin Fault structure. The property hosts spodumene-bearing pegmatites with historical assay values up to 2.87% Li2O 1 and numerous prospective LCT-style pegmatites.
The newly acquired property is located in Northern Manitoba’s Oxford Lake – Knee Lake Greenstone belt (figure 1) which is largely underexplored for LCT Pegmatites. All the claims are held by Lithium Canada Development, a 100% owned Lithium Division of New Age Metals. The Company is looking to find a strategic partner to advance the project to a drill ready stage.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MCLAUGHLIN LAKE LITHIUM PROPERTY
- Spodumene-bearing pegmatites have been historically documented at McLaughlin Lake. A channel sample taken across the main dyke assayed 1.32% Li2O over 1.52m 1 and more recent whole-rock sampling conducted by the Manitoba Geological Survey (MGS) on this dyke assayed 1.64% Li2O3
- The dyke was traced at surface for a reported length of 400 meters and varies in thickness from 1.2 – 2.2 meters.1
- Spodumene forms up to 40% of the dyke locally with individual crystals noted to be up to 35 centimeters long and 7 centimeters wide 1
- In a later report by Barry (1962)1, a second spodumene-bearing dyke was described ~20 meters west of the main showing.
- Two representative grab samples taken from a second spodumene bearing dyke in the area assayed 2.87% and 0.98% Li2O 1.
- The pegmatite has an exposed width of up to one meter and was traced for 10 meters before disappearing under overburden.
- The nearby and related Magill Lake pluton contains abnormally high Rb (8 samples range from 238 to 692 ppm Rb), and a high degree of fractionation is inferred; the associated pegmatites therefore have a potential for rare-element mineralization 4,5.
- Analysis of regional till sampling conducted by the MGS returned coincident Li-Cs-Rb anomalies with the McLaughlin Lake pegmatite indicating an effective exploration tool and shows additional anomalies occurring west on the property that have yet to be investigated 2.
Harry Barr, Chairman and CEO of New Age Metals Inc. commented “With the strong competition in today’s lithium market for available and prospective projects, we are thrilled to acquire such a large, underexplored area with mapped occurrences of lithium-bearing pegmatites. The acquisition of the McLaughlin Lake Lithium Project expands our Manitoba Lithium Division land position by 79% to an amalgamated 43,870 hectares confirming our commitment to delivering shareholder value through project generation and development. The company looks forward to working with local First Nation(s), local stakeholders, and the Province of Manitoba to increase the lithium economic potential in the region.”
EXPLORATION PLANS
New Age Metals and its technical consultants from Axiom Exploration Group Ltd., are working on a go-forward exploration plan for the upcoming field season that will include:
- Permitting and consultation with the local First Nations and Government representatives to support initial exploration plans.
- Combined airborne magnetics, radiometrics, and LiDAR survey over the central spodumene bearing structure.
- First pass prospecting and geological mapping focusing on historical showings.
- Surficial geochemical surveys including Mobile Metal Ions to expand upon regional till sampling anomalies identified by the government.
- Identify and prioritize drill targets by integrating historical data with new exploration surveys and datasets.
New Age Metals continues to expand it’s Manitoba Lithium Division’s land holdings as a leading explorer for battery metals in the province. Other projects include the recently announced South Bay Lithium Project and 11 projects in Southern Manitoba which are under option to Mineral Resources Limited, one of the top 5 lithium producers worldwide.
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 plans to have an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) completed on the project by mid-summer and will announce it’s exploration plans within the next 60 days. In addition to River Valley, NAM owns 100% of the road accessible Genesis PGM-Cu-Ni Project in Alaska and plans to complete a Option-Joint Venture arrangement with a third party mining company to develop the project.
The Company’s 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, rubidium, and cesium. The company recently completed a phase two drill program at Lithium Two Project and is beginning to receive initial assay results. Further exploration plans for 2023/24 include continued mapping/sampling field programs following up on prospective trends outlined in the magnetic data and 2022 surface sampling, additional geophysical surveys, and diamond drilling. The company has a partnership with Mineral Resource Limited (MRL, ASX: MIN), a top global lithium producer to explore and develop the Company’s lithium project portfolio.
The 2023/24 budget for our Manitoba Lithium Division has been submitted to MRL and a final budget is expected by mid-April 2023. The company is currently completing its 2022/23 $2.3 million budget.
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 our newly acquired McLaughlin Lake Li Project, the SouthBay Lithium Project in Northern Manitoba, and 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 Farid Mammadov at faridm@newagemetals.com or call 613 659 2773.
Qualified Person
The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Lynde Guillaume (Senior Geologist, Axiom Exploration Ltd.), a Qualified Person, and a Professional Geoscientist (P.Geo) who is a registered member of the ‘Engineer and Geosciences of Manitoba’ (no. 47952).
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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.