Amarc and Hudbay Partner to Advance the Joy Copper-GOLD Porphyry Project
AMARC AND HUDBAY PARTNER TO ADVANCE THE JOY COPPER-GOLD PORPHYRY PROJECT
August 22, 2017, Vancouver, BC – Amarc Resources Ltd. (“Amarc” or the “Company”) (TSX -V: AHR; OTCBB:
AXREF) is pleased to announce it has entered into another Mineral Property Farm -In Agreement (the “ JOY
Agreement”) with Hudbay Minerals Inc. (“Hudbay”) (TSX:HBM; NYSE:HBM). The new Agreement with Hudbay,
has a similar structure to the recently announced IKE Project Farm-In Agreement (see Amarc News Release
dated July 6, 2017), and has been established to advance the Company’s 72 km 2, 100% owned, JOY porphyry
copper-gold mineral property (the “JOY Project”) which is located 25 km north of AuRico Metals Inc.’s Kemess
South Mine and Kemess Underground Project site in north-central British Columbia (“BC”). Under the terms of
the JOY Agreement, Hudbay may acquire through a staged investment process, up to a 60% ownership interest
in the Project.
Robert Dickinson, Executive Chairman of Amarc : “The prospectivity of the Kemess District is w ell-known to
Hunter Dickinson and the Amarc technical team , as we were the first to develop its porphyry potential –
acquiring both the early-stage Kemess South and Kemess North prospects and advancing them into significant
porphyry copper-gold deposits. We are excited to be combining our proven porphyry copper discovery track
record with Hudbay’s acknowledged capabilities as a first-class mine builder and operator. We believe it will be
a potent partnership that allows us to advance the JOY Project in an expeditious way, and in a manner that
balances technical, economic, environmental and social considerations.”
Diane Nicolson, President of Amarc: “We are thrilled to welcome Hudbay as a partner at JOY, following our
recent announcement of our agreement with them on the IKE Project. We believe that JOY has the potential
to be a significant, new copper-gold camp in northern British Columbia , and an important extension to the
Kemess District. Having secured the required permits , our crews have mobilized to the field to undertake a
comprehensive exploration program, including drilling, to assess the substantive porphyry copper-gold deposit
targets on the JOY property.”
Agreement with Hudbay on JOY Project
Under the terms of the Agreement Hudbay can earn an initial 49% interest in the JOY Project under a Stage 1
Farm-in Right by funding $ 15 million 1 of expenditures before December 31, 2020 , of which $1.9 million is
committed for 2017.
When its Stage 1 Farm-in Right is exercised, Hudbay can, pursuant to a Stage 2 Farm-in Right , earn an
additional 1% ownership interest in the Project (for a total 50% ownership interest) by funding $5 million of
expenditures (for a total of $20 million) also before December 31, 2020.
Stage 1 and Stage 2 Farm -in expenditures c an be accelerated by Hudbay at its discretion. Amarc will be the
operator during the Stage 1 and Stage 2 periods. A Joint Venture (“JV”) will be formed when Hudbay has
acquired a 49% interest in the Project.
1 All currency values are Canadian dollars.
-2-
Provided that Hudbay has exercised the Stage 2 Farm-in Right and acquired a 50% interest, it can then elect
to go forward via one of two paths.
First, Hudbay can replace Amarc as operator of the JV after it funds all project expenditures and completes
a Feasibility Study for the JOY Project by December 31, 2025. Having gained operatorship, Hudbay can then
choose to either go forward with Amarc in a 50/50 participating JV or Hudbay can instead elect to continue
with its Farm-in (the “Stage 3 Farm-in Right”) to acquire an additional 10% interest in the JOY Project (for a
total 60% ownership interest) . To exercise its Stage 3 Farm -in Right, Hudbay must fund all expenditures
required to submit a British Columbia environmental assessment (“EA”) application for the JOY Project and,
if applicable, a Canadian EA application , with the application(s) being accepted for review by December 31,
2026. In addition, Hudbay must also continue to fund all approved project expenditures until all necessary
EA Certificates are received . Following receipt of the EA Certificate(s) , all approved JOY Project
expenditures going forward will be shared by Hudbay and Amarc on a pro rata basis (Hudbay 60%/Amarc
40%) under the JV.
As a second alternative path, after exercising its Stage 2 Farm-in Right Hudbay can elect to proceed directly
to the Stage 3 Farm-in Right, so immediately becoming the operator, and acquire a further 10% interest (for
a total 60% ownership interest ) by, like above, submitting a British Columbia EA application and, if
applicable, a Canadian EA application by December 31, 2026 . Again , in this instance , Hudbay must also
fund all project expenditures until receipt of the necessary EA Certificate(s). Following receipt of project
approvals from government, all approved JOY Project expenditures going forward will be shared by Hudbay
and Amarc on a pro rata basis (Hudbay 60%/Amarc 40%) under the JV.
Hudbay has a one-time right to defer either of its 2019 or 2020 expenditures in the Stage 1 or Stage 2 Farm-
in periods, for a one-year period, subject to certain conditions. If this defe rral occurs, Amarc will have a
“co-expenditure right”, whereby it can incur and fund approved additional expenditures on the JOY Project
up to the amount of the deferred expenditures. Hudbay may elect to reimburse Amarc for these additional
expenditures, thereby retaining its interest in the Project . Under either alternative path, i f Hudbay does
not submit the EA application(s) by December 31, 2026, then Amarc will become operator again.
About the JOY Project
Amarc’s JOY property is located 310 km north of Mackenzie, BC, and 25 km north of the Kemess South Mine
site where owner, AuRico Metals recently secured a BC EA Certificate for its nearby Kemess Underground
Project.
Past operators conducted prospecting -style work on the JOY claims – collecting some 3,000 soil samples,
800 rock samples and 30 silt samples – but undertook no drilling. The se surface surveys clearly indicate a
number of substantial porphyry copper -gold and epithe rmal silver -gold deposit targets across the JOY
property. The copper -gold deposit targets located at JOY are considered by Amarc to be a northern
extension to the prolific Kemess porphyry copper -gold district. Most importantly, historic al soil and rock
sampling along with a recent soil survey, has revealed a regionally significant, 9 km 2 copper, gold,
molybdenum, silver and zinc geochemical anomaly, which potentially reflects a large and shallowly buried,
copper-gold porphyry deposit.
-3-
Approved Project ex penditures of $1.9 million will be direct ed towards core drilling to evaluate this
outstanding copper -gold soil anomaly for its major deposit potential. Extensive surface exploration
surveys, including Induced Polarization, geological mapping and talus fi ne sampling, will also be completed
to firm up further porphyry copper-gold deposit targets for testing next year. Amarc has mobilized crews to
the JOY site for the 2017 drilling season.
About Amarc Resources
Amarc is a mineral exploration and developm ent company with an experienced and successful
management team focused on developing a new generation of B C porphyry copper mines. By combining
strong projects and funding with successful management , Amarc has created a solid platform to now
commence value creation.
Amarc is advancing its 100% owned IKE, DUKE and JOY porphyry copper deposit districts , located in
southern, central and northern BC, respectively, each with proximity to industrial infrastructure, power, rail
and highways. These projects represent significant potential for the discovery of multiple, important-scale,
porphyry copper-gold and copper-molybdenum deposits.
The 462 km 2 IKE Project is located 33 km northwest of the historical mining community of Gold Bridge.
Over the last three years, Amarc has made a significant new porphyry copper-molybdenum-silver discovery,
completing over 12,000 metres of drilling in 21 wide -spaced core holes in the IKE deposit that indicate the
potential for extensive resource volumes which remain open to expa nsion in all directions. Extensive
regional surveys have also identified numerous porphyry copper (±molydenum±gold±silver) deposit targets
all within 10 km of IKE. Amarc believes the IKE Project has the potential to possess the grades and tonnages
to devel op into an important mining camp . Amarc has partnered with Hudbay to efficiently fund the
advancement of the IKE Project (see news release July 6, 2017) and as operator, has mobilized crews to the
IKE site for the 2017 drilling season.
Amarc’s DUKE deposit and an adjacent 190 km 2 porphyry copper district is located 80 km northeast of
Smithers, BC and 30 km north of former copper-gold mines (Bell and Granisle) operated by Noranda Mines.
The DUKE Project area is logging road accessible from Smithers or Fort St. James. Historically, DUKE has
been explored with surface geochemical and geophysical surveys, as well as 30 shallow diamond drill holes.
Many of the holes intersected significant lengths of porphyry copper-molybdenum-silver-gold
mineralization which remains open both laterally and to depth. The surrounding district hosts multiple ,
second-order porphyry copper deposit targets. Plans are to drill the DUKE deposit target in fall 2017.
Amarc is associated with Hunter Dickinson Inc. (“HDI”), a diversifie d, global mining company with a 25 +-
year history of porphyry discovery and development success. Previous and current HDI porphyry projects
include some of BC’s and the world’s most important mineral resources – such as Pebble, Mount Milligan,
Kemess South , Kemess North, Gibraltar, Prosperity, Xietongmen, Newtongmen, Florence, Sisson, and
Maggie. From its head office in Vancouver, Canada, HDI applies its unique strengths and capabilities to
acquire, develop, operate and monetize mineral projects to provide superior returns to shareholders.
-4-
Amarc is committed to working collaboratively with governments and stakeholders to achieve responsible
development of its projects, while contributing to sustainable development of the communities in which it
works. All w ork programs are carefully planned to achieve high levels of environmental and social
performance.
Qualified Person as Defined Under National Instrument 43-101
Mark Rebagliati, P. Eng., a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and
approved the technical content of this release.
For further details on Amarc Resources Ltd., please visit the Company’s website at
www.amarcresources.com or contact Dr. Diane Nicolson, Presi dent, at (604) 684 -6365 or within North
America at 1-800-667-2114.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Ronald W. Thiessen
Chief Executive Officer
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor any other regulatory authority 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 drilli ng, exploitation activities and other related events or developments 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 gu arantees 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 exploration of Amarc's projects will continue to be positive, and no geological or technical prob lems will
occur. The Company cannot guarantee that the Consolidat ed Loan and issuance of securities contemplated by this release will
complete. There is no certainty that the Company will be able to repay the Consolidated Loan or any other outstanding debt o r
liability of the Company in a timely manner or at all. Fact ors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in
forward-looking statements include market prices, potential environmental issues or liabilities associated with exploration,
development and mining activities, exploitation and exploration successes, continuity of mineralization, uncertainties 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 resou rce exploration and exploitation, exploration and development of
properties located within Aboriginal groups asserted territories may affect or be perceived to affect asserted aboriginal rig hts and
title, which may cause permitting delays or opposition by Aboriginal groups, continued availability of capital and financing, and
general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of futur e
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 the Company'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.sedar.com.