Lithium Division - Manitoba and Platinum Group Metals Division - Ontario Exploration and Development Update A minimum of $500,000 will be expended in 2018 on the companies Lithium division by New Age Metals (NAM) option/joint venture partner Azincourt Energy Corp.
1
Lithium Division
-
Manitoba
and
Platinum Group Metals
Division
-
Ontario
Exploration
and Development
Update
A minimum of $500,000 will be expended in 2018 on the companies Lithium
division by New
Age Metals
(NAM)
option/joint venture partner Azincourt Energy Corp. (TSX.V: AAZ)
(see news release dated
January 15th, 2018
).
Lithium management committee formed and first
management committee
meeting
complete.
The Lithium Division’s 5 p
rojects
, 3 of which are drill ready,
cover over 6,000 hectares
and
are one of the largest claim holdings in the Winnipeg River
Pegmatite field
(64 square
kilometres)
.
NAM’s technical team is the field manager
of the project
and is currently finalizing a Phase
1
exploration plan for 2018.
Further announcements will be forthcoming.
PGM Division:
River Valley is the
l
argest
u
ndeveloped
p
rimary Platinum Group Metals (PGM)
resource in Canada,
with 3.9Moz PdEq
in Measured Plus Indicated
including an additional
1.2Moz PdEq
in
I
nferred
.
The
100% owned
River Valley PGM P
roject
has excellent
infrastructure
and is
within 100 kilometers
of
the Sudbury Metallurgical
C
omplex.
Updated NI 43
-
101 resource calculations with WSP Canada have commenced and
the report
is
expected to be completed in Q1
-
2018.
Ground
IP geophysics
in progress to test
further
footwall
regions of
the T
4 to T9 anomalies
for additional footwall mineralization
Mineralogical testing is ongoing
in Sudbury at
Expert
Process Solutions (XPS).
The
p
rice of Pall
adium,
the prominent metal at River Valley is trading at
$
1,0
28
.
30
USD
(
March
2018)
near its
all
-
time
high based on limited supply and increasing demand.
February
22
nd
, 2018
Vancouver, Canada
–
New Age Metals Inc.
(NAM)
(TSX
.
V: NAM; OTCQB: PAWEF;
FSE: P7J.F)
Harry Barr, Chairman &
CEO,
stated
;
“
W
e are pleased to update our shareholders and
interested parties as to our
present
exploration program on our
5 Manitoba Lithium Projects and
update
you
on our River Valley PGM project.
Both
of the
company’s
mineral
divisions
have
aggressive exploration and development plans for
2018 and the balance of this release will provide
you with more specific details.
”
Exploration Plans for Lithium Division 2018
The Company has five pegmatite hosted Lithium Projects in the
Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field
,
located in S
outh
E
ast
Manitoba.
In January, NAM announced a signed final agreement with Azincourt
Energy Corp. (TSX.V: AAZ) for
the Manitoba Lithium Projects
.
(News Release:
January 15th, 2018
) This Pe
gmatite Field hosts the
world class Tanco Pegmatite that has been mined for Tantalum, Cesium and Spodumene (one of the
primary Lithium ore minerals) in varying capacities, since 1969
at the Tanco Mine
.
NAM’s Lithium
2
Projects are strategically situated in t
his prolific Pegmatite Field.
Presently,
NAM
, under its subsidiary
Lithium Canada Developments,
is one of the largest mineral claim holders in the Winnipeg River
Pegmatite Field
for Lithium.
Azincourt Energy Corp. as our option/joint venture/funding partne
r, is
financed for and has committed to a minimum of $500,000 to be expended on exploration this year
in Manitoba.
A management committee has been formed and plans are being formalized to begin the
exploration process as early as possible in 2018.
As
per
our
agreement
with
Azincourt,
it
has
the
option
to
commit
up
to
$3.85
million
dollars
in
exploration,
issue
up
to
3
million
shares
of
Azincourt
stock
to
NAM,
pay
NAM
up
to
$210,000
in
cash,
and
NAM
will
receive
a
2%
net
smelter
royalty
on
all
5
proj
ects.
Phase
1
of
the
2018
program
is
in
progress,
further
announcements will be
forthcoming.
(see
Jan 1
5
th
2018 Press Release
)
Figure 1: NAM Lithium Projects Manitoba
3
Lithium Prices and Performance
Lithium is in demand in a wide range of sectors worldwide.
Last year, total consumption estimates
are over 170
kt L
ithium
C
arbonate
Equivalent
. (Batteries had the largest share at 32%, followed by
ceramics and glass at 27%.) Prior to 2015, ceramics and glass had the largest demand, but
electric
vehicle sales growth in 2015 resulted in batteries becoming the highest demand sect
or.
While many
commodities struggle for consumption growth
,
L
ithium demand had an estimated growth of 8%
Y
ear
over Year
and has a forecasted 9%
c
ompounded
a
nnual
g
rowth
r
ate
to 2021.
“Demand for battery
-
grade lithium compounds is expected to skyrocket in the next decades in tandem with soaring
demand for electric cars as governments and individual consumers try to reduce their carbon
footprint
(Reuters on Fortune.com).
”
Current
Market Awareness Program
Conferences This Quarter
In early February, our President Trevor Richardson
was in
South Africa attending 3 conferences with a
full schedule, including two 1
-
2
-
1 style conferences with over 25 pre
-
booked meetings with mine
financ
e companies, major mine companies, institutions, stock brokers, and high net worth individuals.
In mid
-
February, Harry Barr (CEO) and Paul Poggione (Corporate Development)
,
had
18 pre
-
booked
meetings at the Capital Event Conference in Whistler to meet new
and existing investors,
stockbrokers and institutions.
In March, the entire New Age Metals team will assemble at the PDAC
in Toronto (
T
he world’s largest mining conventions), and we will also attend two smaller mining
conferences before the PDAC,
RAI$E Cap
ital March 2
nd
where management has approximately 20 1
-
2
-
1 meetings booked and Saturday March 3
rd
management will be attending the Metals
Investor
Forum Conference,
to continue our New Age Metals market awareness program.
In April,
management will be attending a second Capital Event conference in Arizona, which is another 1
-
2
-
1
style conference.
Third Party Social Media
, Radio
and Digital Marketing Campaigns
In late January
,
NAM signed contracts with both
Stockhouse.com
and
Investing News Network
(a
fully owned subsidiary of Dig Media Inc.). We are pleased to be working with these two companies
who are in contact with thousands of investors daily.
In mid
-
February, NAM signed a contract with
Corporate Profile Minute
on the
Larry Kudlow Show
, which is America’
s #1 Wall Street
radio
show,
catering to fund managers, investment advisors, stock brokers, and personal investors.
Opt
-
in List
If you have not done so already, we encourage you to sign up on our website
(
www.newagemetals.com
) to receive our updated news.
4
River Valley PGM Division
,
Sudbury,
Ontario
:
Ground IP Geophysics
Underway
The
current
geophysical
survey
on our River Valley PGM
P
roject
is
a high
-
resolution OreVision® IP
survey performed by Abitibi Geophysics
,
(Thunder Bay, Ontario)
, who completed last year’s survey
o
n our new discovery
,
the
P
ine
Z
one
to
T
-
3
target.
New drill discoveries have been made in
this
region
from
201
5
-
2017.
OreVision IP can reveal targets at four times the depth of conventional IP
without compromising near
-
surface resolution
.
The goal of the geophysical survey is to test the
footwall portion to the main River Valley PGM Deposit, southward of the
Pine Zone
IP
survey
(News
Release:
Jun 19
th
, 2017
)
and
t
o cover the area between target
anomalies
T4 to T9
(Fi
gure 2
)
.
This
area represents a
survey
strike length of approximately 2000 metres.
The geophysics is
now
complete and the final report is expected before the end of March 2018
.
Upon completion of the
present
geophysic
al survey and management having the
opportunity to review the final report
, the
company
will outline
a series of
drill program
s
to test the
new geophysical anomalies generated
from
the
survey (T4
-
T9) and outline additional drilling
to
the north
in
Pine Zone and T3 where only
P
hase 1
Drilling
has been completed to date
.
(see
Feb. 7
th
, 2018 Press Release
)
5
Figure 2
: Drill Hole
Distribution Map in the Northern Portion of the River Valley PGM Deposit Showing
Regions of Upcoming IP Geophysics.
NOTE:
Image only represents approximately 3.5 km of the overall strike
length of the
River Valley PGM
deposit
.
New
Updated
Resource Model
,
NI
43
-
101
WSP Canada (News Release:
Sept 7th, 2017
)
is progressing through t
he new resource calcu
lation for
the River Valley PGM Deposit
under the supervision
of Todd
McCracken, Manager
-
Mining
a
t WSP
Canada
and is slated to be complete before the end of the first quarter of 2018.
The new resource
model and calculation
will incorporate
all
the past data,
geophysics,
new drilling since 2012 and the
River Valley Extensions
(RVE)
.
In 2016, the company
purchased 100% of
Mustang Minerals’ southern
portion of the River Valley
contact
(River Valley Extension, News Release
–
Oct 5
th
, 2016
). This added
4
kilometers
of mineralized strike length to the
southern portion of the
company’s
main
River
Va
lley
P
roject
.
Approximately $5,000,000 was expended on the RVE
by previous operators
, including
extensive drilling
.
This
exploration work will be included
in the
upcoming
River Valley
resource
calculation
.
(see
Feb 7
th
Press Release
)
Mineralog
ical Studies
Expert Process Solutions
(XPS)
,
based in Falconbridge, Ontario
has been engaged to p
er
form
mineralogical studies of the
PGM mineralization
.
XPS
provides world class quantitative mineralogy
for ore body characterization and metallurgical technology services for operational support, growt
h
initiatives and project development
. They
have extensive
experience in many commodities
including
the
Platinum Group Metals
(PGM’s)
.
Management
believes that a better understanding
and characterization of the River Valley PGM mineralization will be a
guide in future endeavors and
development work including improved flowsheet and processing options
in preparation for a
Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) Report.
Major companies with
in
the Sudbury
M
ining
C
omplex have extra capacity to treat PGM ores.
N
orth American Palladium, Canada’s only primary
producer of PGMs, ships
all
its concentrates approximately 1,000
km from its Thunder Bay, Ontario
Lac
-
des
-
Iles mine to the Sudbury
M
ining
C
omplex for processing.
River Valley PGM Exploration
Plan
Going Forward
To date an approximate 140,659 meters (461,480 feet) in 628 drill holes have been conducted by the
company
as operator on the River Valley
P
roject
.
Several independent 43
-
101 compliant resource
estimates have previously been generated for t
he deposit through the exploration and development
phases.
The River Valley Deposit’s present resource, with approximately 3.9M PdEq ounces in
Measured Plus Indicated mineral resources and near
-
surface mineralization
,
covers over 1
2
kilometers
of continuous strike length.
The acquisition of the RVE adds an additional 4 kilometers
for a total of 16
kilometers of strike
.
The company continues to explore and enhance the River Valley
PGM Deposit.
River Valley PGM Goals & Objectives
6
During the nex
t year the company’s
exploration & development objectives
are:
1.
Complete ground IP
g
eophysics
(
Q1
2018);
2.
Complete
a new resource calculation
(
slated for
end of Q1 2018);
3.
Continue with drilling
in the northern portion of the project
(slated for Q3
-
Q4 2018
& Q1 2019)
;
4.
Explore more target areas
based on recommendations of the updated 43
-
101 and the
2018
geophysics
(slated for Q3
-
Q4 2018
&
Q1
-
Q2 2019);
5.
Complete mineralogical studies
(Q2 2018); and
6.
Continue
to advance the River Valley PGM Project towards
a
Preliminary Economic Assessment
(
PEA
)
on the River Valley PGM Deposit
.
Figure 3
: The Yellow Band represents the interpolated footwall potential area of the River Valley Deposit
based on the results of the Pine Zone where footwall mineralization was
noted to extend 1
4
0
meters
eastward from the main deposit. At present the only area that has confirmed footwall mineralization is in
the Pine Zone (defined from 2015 to 2017 drilling). Exploration is in progress to test other areas of the
deposit.
Platinum Group Metal Pri
ces & Performance
We are encouraged about the economics surrounding PGMs as we continue to see ongoing deficits
being forecasted in
both Platinum and Palladium
. Most recently the price of Palladium, our primary
7
metal at River Vall
ey, has hit an all
-
time high,
and outpaced all other commodities in 2017 and over
the past 10 years.
Our second most important metal
Platinum,
has come off its bottom
price
in late
2017 and has increased substantially to date.
As a reminder to our sharehol
ders and investors our
River Valley Project also contains:
G
old,
S
ilver,
C
opper,
N
ickel, and
R
hodium, most of which have
experienced
recent price increases.
Recently the World Platinum Investment Council forecasted a deficit in Platinum production for
the
next 5 consecutive years.
Palladium for the 10 years from 2008
-
2017
, has averaged 21.5% per annum
while
G
old averaged
only
5.8% per annum
over that same period.
Both
P
latinum and
P
alladium
,
(
outside of their extensive uses in catalytic converters which convert harmful gasses from
hydrocarbon emissions into less harmful substances in vehicles),
are considered precious metals, like
Gold and are seen as a store of value.
ABOUT NAM’S LITHIUM DIV
ISION
The Company has five pegmatite hosted Lithium Projects in the Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field,
located in SE Manitoba.
Three of the projects are drill ready
. This Pegmatite Field hosts the world
class Tanco Pegmatite that has been mined for Tantalum,
Cesium and Spodumene (one of the primary
Lithium ore minerals) in varying capacities, since 1969. NAM’s Lithium Projects are strategically
situated in this prolific Pegmatite Field.
Presently, NAM is the largest mineral claim holder for
Lithium in the Win
nipeg River Pegmatite Field.
On
January
15
th
2018,
NAM
announced
an
agreement
with
Azincourt
Energy
Corporation
(see
Jan
15,
2018
Press
Release)
whereby
Azincourt
will
commit
up
to
$3.85
million
dollars
in
exploration,
up
to
3
million
shares
of
Azincourt
stock
to
NAM,
up
to
$210,000
in
cash,
and
a
2%
net
smelter
royalty
on
all
5
projects.
Exploration
plans
for
2018
are
currently
in
progress.
A
BOUT NAM’S PGM DIVISION
NAM’s
flagship project is its
100% owned River Valley
PGM Project (
NAM Website
–
River Valley
Project
)
in the Sudbury Mining District of Northern Ontario (100 km east of Sudbury, Ontario).
Presently the River Valley Project is Canada’s largest
undeveloped
primary
PGM deposit with
Measured + Indicated resources of 91 million
tones
@ 0.58 g/t Palladium, 0.22 g/t Platinum, 0.04
g/t Gold,
with a total metal grade of 1.28 g/t
at a cut
-
off grade of 0.8 g/t PdEq for 2,463,000 ounces
PGM plus Gold.
This
equates to 3,942,910 PdEq ounces.
In the Northern portion of the project
(Dana North)
, not including the new high
-
grade Pine Zone, there is 24 million tonnes @ 1.58 PdEq.
The River Valley PGM mineralized zones remain open to expansion.
The company has
recently
completed a
phase one
drill program
on the Pine and
T3
Zones
.
In 2016, the Company acquired the River Valley extension property from Mustang Minerals which
added approximately 4 kilometres to the project
’
s mineralized strike length to the
southern portion
of the intrusion.
8
On February 7
th
2018 NAM
s
management announced an aggressive 2018 exploration and
development program on the River Valley
P
roject, which includes a large geophysical program, the
updated 43
-
101 resource calculation, and
a program to outline drill targets on the company
’
s newly
discovered footwall
mineralization
zone
s
.
(see
Feb. 7
th
, 2018 Press Release
)
QUALIFIED PERSON
The contents contained herein that relate to Exploration Results or Mineral Resources is based on
information compiled, reviewed or prepared by Carey Galeschuk, a consulting geoscientist for New
Age Metals.
Mr. Galeschuk is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43
-
101 and has
reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
“
Harry Barr”
Harry G. Barr
Chairman and CEO
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Ven
ture
Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking State
ments: This release contains forward
-
looking statements that involve risks and
uncertainties.
These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results and are based on current expectations or
beliefs.
For this purpose, statements of hi
storical fact may be deemed to be forward
-
looking statements.
In addition, forward
-
looking
statements include statements in which the Company uses words such as “continue”, “efforts”, “expect”, “believe”, “anticipate
”,
“confident”, “intend”, “strategy”, “
plan”, “will”, “estimate”, “project”, “goal”, “target”, “prospects”, “optimistic” or similar
expressions.
These statements by their nature involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially depending on a
variety of important factor
s, including, among others, the Company’s ability and continuation of efforts to timely and completely make
available adequate current public information, additional or different regulatory and legal requirements and restrictions tha
t may be
imposed, and o
ther factors as may be discussed in the documents filed by the Company on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), including the most
recent reports that identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the for
ward
-
looking
st
atements.
The Company does not undertake any obligation to review or confirm analysts’ expectations or estimates or to release
publicly any revisions to any forward
-
looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect
the
occurrence of unanticipated events.
Investors should not place undue reliance on forw
ard
-
looking statements.