Amarc and Freeport Launch 2025 Aurora and Joy Copper-GOLD District Drilling, Consolidate Additional District Potential
AMARC AND FREEPORT LAUNCH 2025 AURORA AND JOY COPPER-GOLD DISTRICT DRILLING,
CONSOLIDATE ADDITIONAL DISTRICT POTENTIAL
July 16, 202 5 - Amarc Resources Ltd. ("Amarc" or the "Company") (TSXV: AHR; OTCQB: AXREF) is
pleased to announce that it and Freeport-McMoRan Mineral Properties Canada Inc. (“Freeport”)
recently commenced an approved $10 M 2025 exploration program, which includes substantial
drilling at the JOY District (or “JOY” or the “District”) in north -central British Columbia (“BC”) (see
Amarc release May 29, 2025) . Drilling will be focused at the new, high grade, gold -rich porphyry
copper-gold-silver (“Cu -Au-Ag”) AuRORA Deposit, the PINE Deposit and the Twins and Canyon
Discoveries as well as other drill-ready Cu-Au Deposit Targets across the District (see Amarc releases
January 17 and 21, and February 28, 2025 ). Amarc continues to manage the exploration programs
which are being 100% funded by Freeport.
“We are very excited to be back out on the ground working with Freeport to advance t he high grade,
near surface AuRORA Cu-Au-Ag Deposit Discovery announced earlier this year that remains open to
expansion, and to continue to drill test other discoveries and numerous deposit target s across the
JOY District,” said Diane Nicolson, Amarc President and CEO. “Amarc believes that the JOY District
has the potential to deliver further major copper-gold discoveries. The focus of the Canadian and BC
(and international) governments on critical mineral strategies designed to power the green and digital
economy1 presents a clear opportunity and impetus for the efficient and responsible advancement of
projects like JOY.”
JOY District Expansion
Amarc also announces the expansion of the JOY District strategic land package that will now also
include the Brenda Property, a portion of the PIL Property and three additional mineral claims staked
by Amarc (Figure 1).
Figure 1 - Large-Scale Mineral System Trends Occur at JOY that Host the AuRORA Deposit Discovery,
PINE Deposit, Canyon Discovery, Twins & Other Sulphide Systems
Brenda Property
Further to Amarc ’s February 11, 2025 release announcing a mineral property option agreement with
Canasil Resources Inc. pursuant to which Amarc could acquire an 100% interest in the 44.5 km 2 Brenda
Property (“Brenda”), the Company reports that Freeport has exercised its right to have the entire Brenda
tenure included in the Mineral Property Earn -In Agreement (the “Agreement”), for the JOY District (see
Amarc release May 12, 2021).
Brenda is underlain by the same highly prospective volcanics and transitional porphyry Cu -Au and
epithermal Au-Ag geological setting as at Amarc’s recent AuRORA and Canyon porphyry Cu-Au discoveries.
Historical exploration of the Brenda Property has identified both epithermal and porphyry related rock
1 Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy https://www.canada.ca/en/campaign/critical-minerals-in-canada/canadas-critical-minerals-
strategy.html
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alteration assemblages hosting Cu, Au and Ag mineralization, and includes an intersection of 78 m grading
0.61 g/t Au and 0.10% Cu from 110 m in hole BR -07-05, which was collared nearby a large gossan (see
Canasil National Instrument 43 -101 Technical Report at https://www.canasil.com/projects/bc-canada-
properties/brenda/).
PIL Property
In addition, Amarc has exercised its right to have approximately 32% of the total mineral claims area of
Freeport’s option to acquire 80% of the PIL Property (see Finlay Minerals Ltd . (TSXV:FYL) release April 17,
2025) brought into the JOY District (Figure 1). Amarc’s interest lies in the structural and alteration corridors
that have a strong spatial relationship to most of the significant mineral occurrences in the Toodoggone
region that hosts the JOY District.
Approximately 32% (42.34 km2) of the PIL mineral claims area lies within t he area of common interest
under the Agreement. Freeport is responsible for making any expenditures to fund the exercise of the PIL
option with Finlay, and expenditures incurred within the Amarc area of common inter est only will count
towards Freeport’s anticipated election to spend $75 million under Stage 2 of the Agreement with Amarc. If
Freeport fulfills its obligation to acquire 80% of the PIL Property, Amarc will have a maximum interest of
24% in the PIL mineral claims within the area of common interest.
About Amarc Resources Ltd
Amarc is a mineral exploration and development company with an experienced and successful
management team focused on developing a new generation of long -life, high -value porphyry Cu -Au
mines in BC. By combining high-demand projects with dynamic management, Amarc has created a solid
platform to create value from its exploration and development -stage assets.
Amarc is advancing the JOY, DUKE and IKE porphyry Cu±Au Districts located in different prolific porphyry
regions of northern, central and southern BC, respectively. Each District represents significant potential
for the development of multiple and important -scale, porphyry Cu±Au deposits. Importantly, each of the
three districts are located in proximity to industrial infrastructure – including power, highways and rail.
Amarc’s exploration is led by an internationally successful team of experienced geologists
specializing in porphyry Cu -Au deposits. Members of this team have been involved in and have
tracked porphyry Cu -Au exploration advancement s in the Toodoggone region since 1990. Their
experience and early recognition of the porphyry potentia l at the NWG Target in terms of a shallowly
overburden covered and underexplored transitional epithermal -porphyry geological setting , led to
the discovery of the Au-rich AuRORA porphyry Cu-Au-Ag Deposit.
Freeport-McMoRan Mineral Properties Canada Inc. ("Freeport"), a wholly owned subsidiary of
Freeport-McMoRan Inc. at JOY and Boliden Mineral Canada Ltd. ("Boliden"), an entity within the
Boliden Group of companies at DUKE, can earn up to a 70% interest in each District through staged
investments of $110 million and $90 million, respectively. Together this provides Amarc with
potentially up to $200 million in non -share dilutive staged funding for these Districts. In addition,
Amarc completed self -funded drilling at its higher -grade Empress Deposit in the IKE District in
2024. Amarc is the operator of all programs.
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Amarc is associated with HDI, a diversified, global mining company with a 35 -year history of porphyry Cu
deposit discovery , development and transaction success. Previous and current HDI projects include
some of BC's and the world's most important porphyry deposits – such as Pebble, Mount Milligan,
Southern Star, Kemess South, Kemess North, Gibraltar, Prosperity, Xietongmen, Newtongmen, Florence,
Casino, Sisson, Maggie, AuRORA, PINE, IKE and DUKE. From its head office in Vancouver, Canada, HDI
applies its unique strengths and capabilities to acquire, develop, operate and monetize mineral projects.
Amarc works closely with local governments, Indigenous groups and stakeholders in order to advance its
mineral projects responsibly, and in a manner that contributes to sustainable community and economic
development. We pursue early and meaningful engagement to ensure our mineral exploration and
development activities are well coordinated and broadly supported, address local priorities and
concerns, and optimize opportunities for collaboration. In particular, we seek to establish mutually
beneficial partnerships with Indigenous groups within whose traditional territories our projects are
located, through the provision of jobs, training programs, contract opportunities, capacity funding
agreements and sponsorship of community events. All Amarc work programs are carefully planned to
achieve high levels of environmental and social performance.
Qualified Person
Mark Rebagliati, P.Eng, a Qualified Person (“QP”) as defined by National Instrument 43 -101, has reviewed
and approved all technical and scientific information related to the Joy Project contained in this news
release. Mr. Rebagliati is not independent of the Company.
For further details on Amarc Resources Ltd., please visit the Company’s website at
www.amarcresources.com or contact Dr. Diane Nicolson, President and CEO, at (604) 684 -6365 or within
North America at 1 -800-667-2114, or Kin Communications, at (604) 684 -6730, Email:
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF AMARC RESOURCES LTD.
Dr. Diane Nicolson
President and CEO
Neither 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 and other Cautionary Information
This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward -looking statements". All such statements, other than
statements of historical facts that address exploration plans and plans for enhanced relationships are forward -looking statements.
Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward -looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions,
such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the
forward-looking statements. Assumptions used by the Company to develop forward -looking statements include the following: Amarc's
projects will obtain all required environmental and other permits and all land use and other licenses, studies and exploratio n of Amarc's
projects will continue to be positive, and no geological or technical problems will occur. Factors that could cause actual re sults to differ
materially from those in forward -looking statements include market prices, potential environmenta l issues or liabilities associated with
exploration, development and mining activities, exploitation and exploration successes, continuity of mineralization, uncerta inties related
to the ability to obtain necessary permits, licenses and tenure and delays due to third party opposition, changes in and the effect of
government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, exploration and development of proper ties
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located within Aboriginal groups asserted territories may affect or be perceived to affect asserted aboriginal rights and tit le, which may
cause permitting delays or opposition by Aboriginal groups, continued availability of capital and financing, and general econ omic, market
or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or
developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward -looking statements. For more information on Amarc Resources
Ltd., investors should review Amarc's annual Form 20-F filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov
and its home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedarplus.ca.
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Figure 1 - Large-Scale Mineral System Trends Occur at JOY that Host the AuRORA Deposit Discovery,
PINE Deposit, Canyon Discovery, Twins & Other Sulphide Systems