Leading Edge Materials Reports Warrant Exercise and Provides Corporate Update
NEWS RELEASE January 9, 2023
LEADING EDGE MATERIALS CORP.
14th Floor 1040 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, V6E 4H1
[email protected] | www.leadingedgematerials.com
TSX.V: LEM | Nasdaq First North: LEMSE | OTCQB: LEMIF | FRA: 7FL
TSX.V: LEM | Nasdaq First North: LEMSE | OTCQB: LEMIF
LEADING EDGE MATERIALS REPORTS WARRANT EXERCISE AND PROVIDES CORPORATE UPDATE
Vancouver, January 9, 2023 – Leading Edge Materials Corp. (“Leading Edge Materials” or the “Company”) (TSXV:
LEM) ( Nasdaq First North: LEMSE) ( OTCQB: LEMIF) (FRA: 7FL) is pleased to announce that the Interim Chief
Executive Officer Mr. Eric Krafft has exercised warrants providing proceeds to the Company of CAD 1.3 million in
order to support the ongoing development and exploration programs at its Swedish and Romanian projects. Upon
closing of the exercise, Mr. Krafft will hold 38% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Leading Edge
Materials, and 42% of the common shares on a fully diluted basis.
Eric Krafft, Director and Interim CEO of the Company, st ates: “As previously, I am pleased to be able to support
funding of the Company by exercising existing issued warrants. There is strong support from the shareholder base
and the Board is committed to avoid dilutive equity financings at these levels. We expect material progress during
2023 to advance all our three projects in order to increase and make visible significant shareholder value.”
General corporate update:
Norra Kärr
Norra Kärr (NK) represents one of the most significant heavy rare earth deposits with an unusual enrichment of
the heavy magnet critical elements Dysprosium and Terbium. NK is identified as a critical project by the European
Parliament (ERECON study). Highlights of the Preliminary Economic Assessment1 (PEA) completed on NK reported
potential to recover the industrial mineral Nepheline Syenite (NS), zirconium oxide (Zr) and niobium oxide (Nb) in
addition to the rare earth oxide (REO) products, resulting in more than 50% of total mined material planned to be
sold as products. The PEA, in comparison to previous studies, substantially reduced land area usage of the Project
by approximately 80% and results in no chemical process tailing dams being required at Norra Kärr. These changes
considerably reduce the environmental risk profile of the Project at Norra Kärr, including potentially reducing
additional water requirements by almost 100% and the elimination of discharge requirements to local water bodies
compared to if mine dewatering is used solely for water supply. Financial highlights of the PEA are a post -tax Net
Present Value of $762M (using a 10% discount rate) and an Internal Rate of Return of 26.3%.
Leading Edge Materials is currently in the process of undertaking the Natura2000 environmental study for project
which is expected to highlight the much -reduced environmental footprint of the project as defined in the PEA.
Current Swedish legislation requires a Natura 2000 permit prior to the evaluation of a mining lease. In addition to
the Natura2000 the Company is planning on commencing the Pre -feasibility Study for NK in the second half of
2023.
Woxna Graphite
Woxna Graphite represents one of few fully -built graphite mines in the western world, with four deposits under
mining leases, fully built processing plant and infrastructure. The mine was built in the mid -90s, but currently
remains on care and maintenance. During 2022 the Company announced plans to co nsider re-starting the mine.
However, a change in the Company’s executive management during the second half of the year delayed a decision
on this process.
1 See National Instrument 43-101 report titled “PRELIMINARY ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF NORRA KÄRR RARE EARTH
DEPOSIT AND POTENTIAL BY-PRODUCTS, SWEDEN” prepared for Leading Edge Materials Corp. with effective date
August 18, 2021 and issue date August 19, 2021. See Leading Edge Materials Corp.’s SEDAR profile on www.sedar.ca
or www.leadingedgematerials.com for report and more information. The PEA is preliminary in nature, it includes
inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations
applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the
PEA will be realized.
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A PEA 2 issued in 2021 indicated the potential viability of a Swedish operation producing battery grade graphite
anode material utilising the existing graphite mine and concentrator with the addition of a value -add processing
facility offsite. The proposed proce ss route in the PEA uses a thermal purification process which, combined with
access to low-cost hydropower offers a low carbon footprint for the operation. The PEA utilised only one of four
deposits currently owned by Woxna under granted exploitation concessions, where two of the other deposits also
have indicated and inferred mineral resource estimates offering potential upside for further expansion in future
development or studies. Based on this, the PEA reports a Post -tax Net Present Value (NPV) of $248m using an 8%
discount rate and IRR of 37.4%.
Bihor Sud
The Bihor Sud exploration license perimeter covers a 25 square kilometre area in the Northern Apuseni Mountains
of Transylvania. Located approximately 90 km south-east from Oradea, which is the administrative capital of Bihor
County, the Project lies within the Upper Cretaceous and Neogene Carpathian magmatic arcs which extend from
Turkey to Hungary and are host to several well -known mines and mineral deposits such as the Timok -Bor-
Majdanpek copper-gold zone, Skouries and Chelopec. The Northern Apuseni Mountains have documented high
grade skarn and carbonate replacement mineral deposits and historic production of Cu, Mo, Ag, Au, Zn, U and Pb.
Within the License area, there is a significant amount of historical mine works including a substantial former
underground uranium and polymetallic mine which stopped production in the 1990s.
After receiving the exploration license for Bihor Sud in May 2022, the Company has commenced field work on the
property which is holds through its 51% owned Romanian subsidiary, LEM Romania SRL (“LEMR”). Initial work
focused on field mapping to investigate petrographic, structural, alteration, and mineralisation data with the latter
especially located in a carbonate lithology.
Over the last couple of months, LEMR’s team of geologists have performed geological mapping work based from
the established exploration camp in the Leu cii Zone in the south-western area of the license perimeter. Entrance
to this area is facilitated by an existing forestry road and grants the exploration team and consultants a base for
accessing gallery openings G7 and G4 in the Leucii Zone, and G Dibarz in the Dibarz Zone. This area was prioritized
based on results from previous work done and sampling of historical mined material during the prospecting permit,
with samples assaying up to 28% nickel, 6.8% cobalt and 17.75 ppm gold.
During this mapping work the carbonate level has been identified precisely in several new locations extending
previous knowledge of the extent of the carbonate lithology. Alteration and mineralization zones associated with
major fault zones have also been outlined. Addition al findings have been several previously unknown historical
mining galleries, believed to be from exploration work performed by Soviet geologists in the 1950 -60s. These
newly identified mining works are two hidden gallery mouths, eight prospecting trenche s as well as a number of
drilling locations, including discarded drill cores on the ground. These discoveries will aid to better understand the
extent of historical exploration work done on the project.
During 2023 the Company is planning on opening adit s G7 and G4 which will initially enable a face -sampling
program to be undertaken on the historical report base metal exposures reported in these adits. Following this
program, the Company expects to commences an exploration drilling program from sites wit hin the adits.
Qualified Person
Martin S. Oczlon, PhD Geo, CEng MIMMM, a consultant to Leading Edge Materials and Qualified Person as defined
in NI 43 -101, has read and approved all technical and scientific information related to the Company’ projects
contained in this news release.
2 See National Instrument 43-101 report entitled “NI 43-101 Technical Report – Woxna Graphite” prepared for Woxna
Graphite AB with effective date June 9, 2021 and issue date July 23, 2021. See Leading Edge Materials Corp.’s SEDAR
profile on www.sedar.ca or www.leadingedgematerials.com for report and more information. The PEA is preliminary
in nature, it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the
economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and
there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized.
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On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Leading Edge Materials Corp.
Eric Krafft, Interim CEO
For further information, please contact the Company at:
www.leadingedgematerials.com
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About Leading Edge Materials
Leading Edge Materials is a Canadian public company focused on developing a portfolio of critical raw material
projects located in the European Union. Critical raw materials are determined as such by the European Union
based on their economic importance and supply risk. They are directly linked to high growth technologies such as
batteries for electromobility and energy storage and permanent magnets for electric motors and wind power
that underpin the clean energy transition towards climate neutrality. The portfolio of projects includes the 100%
owned Woxna Graphite mine (Sweden), Norra Kärr HREE project (Sweden) and the 51% owned Bihor Sud Nickel
Cobalt exploration alliance (Romania).
Additional Information
The information was submitted for publication through the agency of the contact person set out above, on
January 9, 2023 at 3:00 pm Vancouver time.
Leading Edge Materials is listed on the TSXV under the symbol “LEM”, on the OTCQB under the symbol “LEMIF”
and Nasdaq First North Stockholm under the symbol “LEMSE”. Mangold Fondkommission AB is the Company’s
Certified Adviser on Nasdaq First North.
Reader Advisory
This news release may contain statements which constitute “forward-looking information” under applicable
Canadian securities laws, including statements regarding plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the
Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities of the Company. The words
“may”, “would”, “could”, “will”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect” and similar
expressions, as they relate to the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking
information. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future
business activities and involves risks and uncertainties, and that the Company’s future business activities may differ
materially from those in the forward-looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited
to; the Company’s objectives, goals or future plans, statements; exploration results, potential mineralization, the
estimation of mineral resources, exploration and mine development plans; the Company has yet to generate a
profit from its activities; there can be no guarantee that the estimates of quantities or qualities of minerals disclosed
in the Company’s public record will be economically recoverable; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs
of financing needed in the future; competition with other companies within the mining industry; the success of the
Company is largely dependent upon the performance of its directors and officers and the Company’s ability to
attract and train key personnel; changes in world metal markets and equity markets beyond the Company’s control;
the possibility of write-downs and impairments; the risks associated with uninsurable risks arising during the course
of exploration, development and production; the risks associated with changes in the mining regulatory regime
governing the Company; the Company’s ability to secure necessary permits to complete exploration work; the
potential re-opening of mine galleries in Bihor Sud; and the uncertainty relating to a positive Feasibility Study
technical report being filed. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those contained in the Forward-Looking Statements, there may be other
factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such
Forward-Looking Statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially
from those anticipated in such Forward-Looking Statements. Such Forward-Looking Statements has been provided
for the purpose of assisting investors in understanding the Company’s business, operations and exploration plans
and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on Forward-
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Looking Statements. Forward-Looking Statements are made as of the date hereof, and the Company does not
undertake to update such Forward-Looking Statements except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the
TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.