Lion One Drills High Grade Gold in West Zone Exploration, Reports Record Quarterly Production
Lion One Drills High Grade Gold in West Zone
Exploration, Reports Record Quarterly
Production
North Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2024) -
Lion One Metals Limited
(TSXV: LIO) (OTCQX: LOMLF)
("Lion One" or the "Company")
is pleased to report significant new
high-grade gold results from near-mine exploration and infill drilling at the West Zone target west of to the
Tuvatu Gold Mine in Fiji. The company is also pleased to report record preliminary Q1 FY2025 gold
production at Tuvatu.
Highlights of West Zone exploration and infill drilling:
105.20 g/t Au over 2.1 m
(including 248.35 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-636, from 67.8 m depth)
70.07 g/t Au over 2.1 m
(including 73.43 g/t Au over 1.2 m) (TUDDH-647, from 144.5 m depth)
102.38 g/t Au over 1.2 m
(TUDDH-645, from 97.7 m depth)
19.82 g/t Au over 5.1 m
(including 68.88 g/t Au over 0.9 m) (TUDDH-636, from 34.5 m depth)
146.61 g/t Au over 0.6 m
(including 289.85 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-645, from 164.3 m depth)
24.16 g/t Au over 3.3 m
(including 96.78 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-652, from 173.5 m depth)
49.72 g/t Au over 0.8 m
(including 78.61 g/t Au over 0.4 m) (TUDDH-755, from 52.94 m depth)
42.44 g/t Au over 1.8 m
(including 61.66 g/t Au over 0.6 m) (TUDDH-636, from 60.6 m depth)
7.68 g/t Au over 4.2 m
(including 28.63 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-645, from 142.4 m depth)
14.86 g/t Au over 2.0 m
(TUDDH-636, from 228.8 m depth)
*All drill intersects are downhole lengths, 3.0 g/t cutoff. See Table 1 for additional data
Highlights of quarterly gold production (preliminary results):
3,680 oz of gold recovered from July-September 2024
31,390 tonnes milled from July-September 2024
Record quarterly gold production (previous record set in the prior quarter, April-June
2024)
July production impacted by scheduled 9-day mill maintenance shutdown
August production impacted by mining equipment breakdown
Quarterly Production Results
Lion One Metals will produce approximately 3,680 oz of gold during the three-month period ending
September 30
th
, 2024. This is a new quarterly production record, beating the previous production record
of 3,551 oz of gold produced in the prior three-month period ending June 30
th
, 2024. Production during
the period was impacted by a scheduled 9-day mill maintenance shutdown in July, as well as by mining
equipment breakdowns in August. The total tonnes processed during the three-month period ending
September 30
th
was 31,390 tonnes, which is comparable to the prior three-month period of 32,100
tonnes processed.
The mill shutdown in July was conducted to maintain and upgrade the Tuvatu processing plant facilities,
and will have a significant impact on processing efficiency and cost savings moving forward. Major
upgrades completed during the shutdown include re-lining the primary ball mill with rubber liners,
replacing the bowl/mantle for the cone crusher, replacing the #1 conveyor belt, replacing the grinding and
gravity circuit piping with flexible slurry hoses, and installing new detox feed pumps and feed splitter box
for the detox circuit.
Re-lining the ball mill with rubber liners is a significant upgrade as the lighter weight rubber liners will
reduce power draw by the primary ball mill and will enable a higher ball charge and finer primary grind,
thereby improving mill recovery and efficiency. Wear life on the rubber liners is also expected to double
from 6 months to 1 year thereby reducing long-term maintenance costs. The grinding and gravity circuit
piping replacements will improve mill availability and will further reduce maintenance costs as the use of
flexible slurry hoses will result in significantly less downtime for pipe repairs than with the previous steel
piping. Overall, the upgrades completed during the July mill shutdown have helped to increase mill
availability from 89% in the three-month period ending June 30
th
, to 93% in the three-month period
ending September 30
th
. The upgrades have also helped to increase average daily mill throughput per
operating day (excluding the planned mill shutdown) from 353 TPD in the three-month period ending
June 30
th
to 371 TPD in the three-month period ending September 30
th
. In addition to the processing
plant improvements, operational costs from the filtered tailings haulage have also been reduced by
bringing the haulage operation in-house with three new trucks acquired during the quarter, which will lead
to significant cost savings from operations.
Gold production during the quarter was also impacted by mine equipment availability in August. Two
underground loaders were down for repairs simultaneously. Having both loaders down for repairs
significantly impacted mining operations as production material could not be extracted from the mine.
Stockpiled low-grade development material was therefore fed through the mill during the interim period
while the loaders were repaired, resulting in decreased production in August. A new underground loader
from Australia was purchased and arrived on site in September resulting in improved equipment
availability and enhanced redundancy.
Figure 1. Tuvatu Monthly Gold Production.
Gold recovery and production has increased steadily at
Tuvatu as mining and processing activities have ramped up during the pilot plant phase of operations.
Production was reduced in July due to a scheduled 9-day mill maintenance shut down and was
hampered in August due to mining equipment breakdown.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2178/225208_14918e48b4c2281b_001full.jpg
West Zone Drilling
The West Zone drilling consists of two separate programs: a deep exploratory drill program targeting a
feeder zone at depth below the West Zone, and a shallow infill drill program targeting near-surface
mineralization for inclusion in the Tuvatu mine plan (Figure 2). The deep exploration drill holes are the
first holes ever designed to test the depth extension of mineralization beneath the West Zone. This
program consisted of five holes and all five holes intersected high grade gold, indicating strong
continuation of mineralization at depth in the West Zone and warranting further exploration. The shallow
West Zone infill drill program is ongoing. The results from the first two drill holes of the program are
reported here, both of which intersected visible gold near surface.
Figure 2. Location of the West Zone drilling.
Left image: Plan view image showing the West Zone
target area in relation to Tuvatu, with underground developments shown in red and mineralized lodes in
grey. Right image: view of the West Zone lodes and drilling looking east, with underground
developments at Tuvatu shown in pale red in the background.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2178/225208_14918e48b4c2281b_002full.jpg
Table 1. Highlights of composited drill results in the West Zone area.
Composites are calculated
using a 3 g/t Au cutoff with maximum internal dilution intervals of 1 m at <3 g/t Au. For full results see
Table 3 in the appendix.
Hole ID
From (m)
To (m)
Width (m)
Au (g/t)
TUDDH-636
67.8
69.9
2.1
105.20
including
67.8
68.4
0.6
72.55
and
68.4
68.7
0.3
126.37
and
68.7
69.0
0.3
248.35
and
69.0
69.6
0.6
73.82
and
69.6
69.9
0.3
68.96
TUDDH-647
144.5
146.6
2.1
70.07
including
144.5
145.7
1.2
73.43
and
145.7
146.6
0.9
65.58
TUDDH-645
97.7
98.9
1.2
102.38
TUDDH-636
34.5
39.6
5.1
19.82
including
37.8
39.6
1.8
39.86
which includes
38.7
39.6
0.9
68.88
TUDDH-645
164.3
164.9
0.6
146.61
including
164.6
164.9
0.3
289.85
TUDDH-652
173.5
176.8
3.3
24.16
including
173.5
175.3
1.8
37.08
which includes
173.8
174.1
0.3
96.78
and also including
176.2
176.5
0.3
33.37
TUDDH-636
60.6
62.4
1.8
42.44
including
60.6
61.8
1.2
55.81
which includes
60.6
61.2
0.6
61.66
and
61.2
61.8
0.6
49.96
TUDDH-755
52.9
53.7
0.8
49.72
including
52.9
53.3
0.4
78.61
TUDDH-645
142.4
146.6
4.2
7.68
including
142.4
143.0
0.6
13.02
and
144.2
144.8
0.6
19.76
TUDDH-636
228.8
230.8
2.0
14.86
TUDDH-642
179.1
182.1
3.0
8.23
TUDDH-642
172.5
175.5
3.0
6.44
including
174.6
175.5
0.9
15.55
TUDDH-647
137.6
140.9
3.3
5.49
including
140.0
140.9
0.9
12.89
TUDDH-753
57.6
58.3
0.7
25.22
including
57.6
57.9
0.4
43.58
*All drill intersects are downhole lengths
The West Zone is located approximately 300 m to the west of the main Tuvatu deposit. It is modelled as
a series of mainly east-west oriented lodes dipping steeply to the south. High grade gold has been
sampled at surface in the West Zone and the area is coincident with a steeply dipping CSAMT gradient,
indicative of a potential deep feeder structure in the area. Given the steeply dipping nature of the
mineralized lodes both at Tuvatu and at the West Zone, and given the horizontal distance between the
two systems, it is unlikely that they are fed by the same feeder zone. It is therefore hypothesized that
there is a second feeder zone located at depth below the West Zone, which would be separate and
distinct from the very high-grade Zone 500 feeder zone at Tuvatu.
The deep drillholes reported in this news release are the first drillholes ever designed to test for feeder
structures beneath the West Zone. Five drillholes were completed as part of this drill program (TUDDH-
636, TUDDH-642, TUDDH-645, TUDDH-647, and TUDDH-652) and all five of these drillholes
intersected high grade gold, including the headline intersections of 105.20 g/t Au over 2.1 m, 70.07 g/t
Au over 2.1 m and 102.38 g/t Au over 1.2 m. These results indicate a strong potential for high-grade
mineralization to continue further at depth below the West Zone and warrants additional exploration at
depth. The deepest high-grade gold intersection returned in these first five drill holes was at almost 500
m depth downhole, with TUDDH-636 returning gold grades of 5.68 g/t and 7.00 g/t over 30 cm at 487.1
m and 482.0 m depth downhole respectively.
Structural analysis of oriented core and mapping of surface trenches in the West Zone has revealed the
potential for north-south oriented mineralized structures as well as east-west oriented structures in the
area. Historical drilling in the West Zone, however, has typically been oriented north-south to specifically
target east-west oriented structures. This historical drilling is therefore likely to have missed any north-
south oriented lodes as they would be oriented parallel to the drill direction. The infill drill program
currently ongoing at the West Zone has been designed to intersect both the east-west and north-south
oriented structures in this area by drilling in an oblique, northwest-southeast orientation. The first two
holes of this drill program (TUDDH-753 and TUDDH-755) are reported in this news release. Both holes
returned visible gold near surface (Figure 4).
Figure 3. West Zone drilling with high-grade intersects highlighted, 3.0 g/t gold cutoff.
View is to
the East. High to very high-grade gold is intersected near surface in the West Zone.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2178/225208_14918e48b4c2281b_003full.jpg
Figure 4. Visible gold from West Zone near surface drilling.
Visible gold observed within narrow
chalcedonic quartz roscoelite vein (TUDDH-755, from 52.9 m to 53.3 m). Left and right images are
close-up views of visible gold seen in the center image.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2178/225208_14918e48b4c2281b_004full.jpg
The West Zone is not included in the current Tuvatu mine plan. However, given the high-grade
mineralization present at surface in the West Zone as well as the close proximity of the West Zone to the
Tuvatu processing plant, the West Zone is an ideal target for near-mine expansion. The West Zone is
located just south of the mine office building at Tuvatu (Figure 5). To bring the West Zone into the current
mine plan a second portal could be opened to provide direct access to the area, or an underground
access drive could be developed from Tuvatu. The ongoing West Zone infill drill program is designed to
help inform this decision as well as to increase confidence in the near-surface mineralization present in
the West Zone.
Figure 5. Approximate location of the West Zone target area in relation to the Tuvatu
processing plant and infrastructure.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2178/225208_14918e48b4c2281b_005full.jpg
Competent Persons Statement
The information in this report that relates to mineral exploration at the Tuvatu Gold Project is based on
information compiled by the Lion One team and reviewed by Melvyn Levrel, who is the company's Senior
Geologist. Mr Levrel is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and has sufficient
experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration, and to
the activity being undertaken, to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 edition of the
'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves' (JORC
code). Mr Levrel consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on the information in the
form and context in which it appears.
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 and split by Lion One personnel on site and 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 23 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,
Walter Berukoff, Chairman & CEO
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",
"forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words
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.
Appendix 1: Full Drill Results and Collar Information
Table 2.
Collar coordinates for drillholes reported in this release. Coordinates are in Fiji map grid.
Hole ID
Easting
Northing
Elevation
Azimuth
Dip
Depth
TUDDH-636
1875867
3920760
175
160.0
-56.8
515.8
TUDDH-642
1875885
3920756
175
186.4
-76.4
417.0
TUDDH-645
1875917
3920685
203
325.9
-59.5
311.9
TUDDH-647
1875917
3920685
203
326.0
-72.2
458.3
TUDDH-652
1875918
3920685
203
325.0
-79.1
783.0
TUDDH-753
1875838
3920802
141
125.8
-19.6
184.9
TUDDH-755
1875838
3920802
141
131.8
-33.4
220.4
Table 3
. Composite results from drillholes reported in this news release (composite grade >3.0 g/t Au)
Hole ID
From (m)
To (m)
Width (m)
Au (g/t)
TUDDH-636
26.7
27.3
0.6
6.28
TUDDH-636
34.5
39.6
5.1
19.82
including
34.5
35.1
0.6
3.657
and
35.1
35.7
0.6
15.96
and
35.7
36.3
0.6
18.29
and
36.3
36.9
0.6
10.99
and
36.9
37.8
0.9
0.01
and
37.8
38.7
0.9
10.84
and
38.7
39.6
0.9
68.88
TUDDH-636
43.8
44.7
0.9
11.22
including
43.8
44.4
0.6
13.59
and
44.4
44.7
0.3
6.47
TUDDH-636
47.1
47.7
0.6
12.23
TUDDH-636
60.6
62.4
1.8
42.44
including
60.6
61.2
0.6
61.66
and
61.2
61.8
0.6
49.96
and
61.8
62.4
0.6
15.69
TUDDH-636
67.8
69.9
2.1
105.20
including
67.8
68.4
0.6
72.55
and
68.4
68.7
0.3
126.37
and
68.7
69.0
0.3
248.35
and
69.0
69.6
0.6
73.82
and
69.6
69.9
0.3
68.96
TUDDH-636
228.8
230.8
2.0
14.86
TUDDH-636
334.2
335.1
0.9
4.86
TUDDH-636
429.8
430.1
0.3
3.06
TUDDH-636
472.1
473.0
0.9
3.55
TUDDH-636
482.0
482.3
0.3
7.00
TUDDH-636
487.1
487.4
0.3
5.68