Lion One Appoints Eric Setchell Director of Operations, Provides Operations Update for Tuvatu
Lion One Appoints Eric Setchell Director of
Operations, Provides Operations Update for
Tuvatu
North Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 5, 2026) -
Lion One Metals Limited
(TSXV:
LIO) (OTCQX: LOMLF) ("Lion One" or the "Company
") is pleased to announce the appointment of
Eric Setchell as Director of Operations for Lion One. The Company also provides an operations update
for the Tuvatu Gold Mine in Fiji.
Appointment of Eric Setchell as Director of Operations
Mr Setchell is a highly accomplished mining executive with more than 40 years of experience across
underground and open pit mining operations, with a strong focus on gold mining. He has held senior
leadership roles including Mine General Manager, Operations Manager, and Mining Manager at several
prominent gold mining companies, including Centerra Gold, Dundee Precious Metals, Goldcorp, and
Kinross Gold.
Mr Setchell has extensive expertise in underground gold mining methods including longhole stoping,
shrinkage stoping, cut-and-fill, and mechanized mining. He has successfully led large-scale operations
both in Canada and internationally, including mine, mill, maintenance and technical operations. His
career highlights include overseeing the safe underground gold production of 700,000 ounces annually
at Red Lake Gold Mines, significantly increasing production rates and mill throughput at multiple
underground gold operations including the Musselwhite Mine and the Rice Lake Mine, and implementing
both conventional and mechanized mining techniques that improved productivity, reduced costs, and
enhanced safety performance.
He has a proven track record of increasing productivity and enhancing gold mining operations at
underperforming assets, including the re-opening of the suspended Bissett Gold Mine in Manitoba, and
the redevelopment and sale of the bankrupt Bateman Project in Ontario, which was successfully sold to
Evolution Mining for C$343 million.
Mr Setchell is widely recognized for his leadership in underground mining operations, operational
optimization, safety improvements, and building high-performing teams.
Mr Setchell was previously
the Director of Operations at Lion One Metals from January to December 2025, during which
time he oversaw a steady improvement in gold production and mine development rates at the
Tuvatu Gold Mine, culminating in the record gold production for the quarter ending in
December 2025.
Mr Setchell departed Lion One once Arete Capital took control of Tuvatu operations in
early January 2026.
In addition to Mr Setchell, several key members of his team, who also departed Lion One in early
January, will also be returning to Lion One.
Tony Young, Interim CEO of Lion One, commented: "We are very excited to have Eric Setchell and his
group rejoin the team at Lion One Metals. Eric is an expert in underground gold mining and has a long
history of increasing productivity at underground gold operations. He is also intimately familiar with the
Tuvatu Gold Mine, having already worked and led the operations at Tuvatu, and having successfully
delivered the record gold production at the project."
Operations Update
From July to December 2025, under the direction of Eric Setchell, Lion One achieved the strongest six-
month period in the company's history in terms of gold production and grade, with the first ever
consecutive quarters of over 4,000 oz of gold produced, and the first ever consecutive quarters with an
average head grade of over 5 g/t gold achieved.
For the quarter ending September 30, 2025, the company produced 4,086 oz of gold at an average
head grade of 5.1 g/t gold. For the quarter ending December 31, 2025, the company achieved record
quarterly gold production of 4,383 oz of gold, at an average head grade of 5.4 g/t gold. This included
monthly gold production of 1,519 oz in November, at an average head grade of 5.6 g/t gold, and monthly
gold production of 1,524 oz in December, at an average head grade of 5.8 g/t gold.
The average gold recovery from July to December 2025 was 82.1%. During this time, the bulk of the
construction of the Company's flotation circuit was completed. The addition of the flotation circuit is
anticipated to increase gold recoveries to over 90%.
Arete Capital Advisors (
"Arete" or "Arete Capital"
) assumed operational control of the Tuvatu Gold
Mine on January 10
th
, 2026, at which point Mr Setchell and his team departed the Company. Under the
management of Arete Capital, gold production, gold grades, and gold recoveries decreased
significantly quarter-over-quarter. For the quarter ending March 31, 2026, preliminary gold production at
Tuvatu was 2,726 oz, with an average head grade of 4.2 g/t gold, and an average gold recovery of
71.7%. This represents a 38% drop in production, a 22% drop in head grade and an 11% drop in
recovery compared to the previous quarter and resulted in the lowest quarterly gold production at Tuvatu
since March 31, 2024. Adverse weather conditions during the quarter contributed to approximately 8
days of lost production, and gold recoveries in March were impacted by significant carbon fouling as a
result of the flotation circuit commissioning combined with high rainfall.
With Mr Setchell now back leading operations at Tuvatu, Lion One anticipates an increase in
gold production, grades, and recoveries, similar to those achieved in the second half of 2025.
Figure 1 and Table 1 illustrate the monthly and quarterly gold production at Tuvatu, highlighting the
production achieved under Mr Setchell's leadership, compared to that while Arete Capital managed
operations at Tuvatu.
Figure 1. Tuvatu Monthly Gold Production, July 2025 to March 2026.
Gold production under the
direction of Eric Setchell is shown in green, with gold production under the direction of Arete Capital is
shown in red.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2178/295945_269b702604f7b96e_001full.jpg
Table 1. Quarter-over-Quarter change in production.
Arete Capital assumed operational control in
January, 2026.
31-Dec-25
31-Mar-26
QoQ Change
Gold Production (oz)
4,383
2,726
-38%
Average Gold Head Grade (oz)
5.4
4.2
-22%
Average Gold Recovery (%)
80.5
71.7
-11%
Qualified Persons Statement
In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-
101"), Mark Horan, P.Eng., Chief Mining Engineer for the Company, is the Qualified Person for the
Company and has reviewed and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release.
Lion One Laboratories / QAQC
Lion One adheres to rigorous QAQC procedures above and beyond basic regulatory guidelines in
conducting its drilling, sampling, testing, and analyses. The Company operates its own geochemical
assay laboratory and its own fleet of diamond drill rigs using PQ, HQ and NQ sized drill rods.
Diamond drill core samples are logged by Lion One personnel on site. Exploration diamond drill core is
split by Lion One personnel on site, with half core samples sent for analysis and the other half core
remaining on site. Grade control diamond drill core is whole core assayed. Core samples are delivered
to the Lion One Laboratory for preparation and analysis. All samples are pulverized at the Lion One lab
to 85% passing through 75 microns and gold analysis is carried out using fire assay with an AA finish.
Samples that return grades greater than 10.00 g/t Au are re-analyzed by gravimetric method, which is
considered more accurate for very high-grade samples.
Duplicates of 5% of samples with grades above 0.5 g/t Au are delivered to ALS Global Laboratories in
Australia for check assay determinations using the same methods (Au-AA26 and Au-GRA22 where
applicable). ALS also analyses 33 pathfinder elements by HF-HNO3-HClO4 acid digestion, HCl leach
and ICP-AES (method ME-ICP61). The Lion One lab can test a range of up to 71 elements through
Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) but currently focuses on a suite
of 26 important pathfinder elements with an aqua regia digest and ICP-OES finish.
About Lion One Metals Limited
Lion One Metals is an emerging Canadian gold producer headquartered in North Vancouver BC, with
new operations established in late 2023 at its 100% owned Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project in Fiji. The
Tuvatu project comprises the high-grade Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Deposit, the Underground Gold Mine, the
Pilot Plant, and the Assay Lab. The Company also has an extensive exploration license covering the
entire Navilawa Caldera, which is host to multiple mineralized zones and highly prospective exploration
targets.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Todd Romaine, Director
Contact Information
Email:
Phone: 1-855-805-1250 (toll free North America)
Website:
www.liononemetals.com
Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Service Provider accepts responsibility or the adequacy or
accuracy of this release
This press release may contain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than
statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking information. Generally, forward-
looking information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans",
"expects" or "does not expect", "proposed", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates",
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and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may,
could, would, or might occur or be achieved. This forward-looking information reflects Lion One Metals
Limited's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to Lion One Metals Limited
and on assumptions Lion One Metals Limited believes are reasonable. These assumptions include,
but are not limited to, the actual results of exploration projects being equivalent to or better than
estimated results in technical reports, assessment reports, and other geological reports or prior
exploration results. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties
and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance, or achievements of
Lion One Metals Limited or its subsidiaries to be materially different from those expressed or implied
by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to:
the stage development of Lion One Metals Limited, general business, economic, competitive,
political and social uncertainties; the actual results of current research and development or
operational activities; competition; uncertainty as to patent applications and intellectual property
rights; product liability and lack of insurance; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals;
changes in legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting mining, timing and availability of
external financing on acceptable terms; not realizing on the potential benefits of technology;
conclusions of economic evaluations; and lack of qualified, skilled labor or loss of key individuals.
Although Lion One Metals Limited has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other
factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. Accordingly, readers should
not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Lion One Metals Limited does not undertake
to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
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