Wallbridge Provides Corporate Update
WALLBRIDGE MINING COMPANY LIMITED TSX: WM www.wallbridgemining.com
129 Fielding Road Lively ON P3Y 1L7 t: 705‐682‐9297 f: 1‐888‐316‐4156 e: [email protected]
Wallbridge Provides Corporate Update
T o r o n t o , O n t a r i o – M a y 1 2 , 2 0 2 1 – W a l l b r i d g e M i n i n g C o m p a n y L i mited (TSX:WM) (“Wallbridge” or the
“Company”) is pleased to provide an update of its exploration and develop ment activities at the Fenelon Gold Property
(“Fenelon” or the “Property”), corporate initiatives and planned spending.
Maiden Resource Estimate (“MRE”)
The Company expects to deliver the Maiden Resource Estimate (“MRE”) on the newly discovered zones (Area 51,
Tabasco, and Cayenne) and the Gabbro zones by the end of the third quarter of 2021 as scheduled. The MRE is expected
to include both a near-surface and an underground component for all these zones.
Surface Exploration Program
Drilling
Wallbridge is conducting a 170,000-metre drill program in 2021, of which 70,000 metres is planned to be completed by
early July 2021, in support of the MRE. A total of 33,962 metres has been drilled as of March 31, 2021.
The decision to use directional drilling to control hole deviation, which is slower but optimizes drill hole spacing and
meterage for the MRE in the Tabasco, Cayenne and Area 51 zones, means the rate of drilling in the first quarter was lower
than the projected 2021 quarterly average. The Company expects to make up any shortfall in metreage during the second
half of the year as the resource focused directional drilling gives way to resource expansion drilling and regional
exploration.
Assays
Assay turn-around time (“TAT”) has increased by 25% to 35% over the past few months, primarily due to COVID-related
restrictions at the assay labs. The Company has now engaged the services of three laboratories, and does not expect the
increase in TAT to adversely affect the timing of the MRE.
Most of the holes drilled at Fenelon intersect multiple gold mineralized zones (Area 51, Tabasco, Cayenne and Gabbro).
On average, 70% of core is within mineralized envelopes and is therefore sent for sampling and assaying. For clarity, the
Company generally announces the assay results for holes once the assays for the entire hole have been received. Delays in
the receipt of assays within a hole, either due to unexpected high grades or the processing sequence used by the labs, can
cause delays in reporting the assays from the entire hole.
Underground Exploration
In January 2021, Wallbridge announced a 10,000-metre underground exploration development program to create
exploration platforms that will allow for more tightly-spaced and deeper drilling in the Area 51, Tabasco and Cayenne
zones to further de-risk the project. The 2021 portion of the two-year program was budgeted at approximately 4,800
metres with two crews operating simultaneously on development of exploration platforms in each of the Area 51 and
Tabasco zones.
Management has since optimized the development schedule and productivities and will continue this program with one
development crew rather than two. As a result, the Area 51 development will be completed prior to starting the Tabasco
ramp and the expected underground development will be reduced to 2,500 metres, with a corresponding decrease in
expenditures, during 2021.
WALLBRIDGE MINING COMPANY LIMITED TSX| WM
WALLBRIDGE MINING COMPANY LIMITED TSX: WM www.wallbridgemining.com
129 Fielding Road Lively ON P3Y 1L7 t: 705‐682‐9297 f: 1‐888‐316‐4156 e: [email protected]
Permits
As disclosed on January 11, 2021, due to the increased size and scope of the project, the Company has paused the
permitting process for a small-scale gold operation in the Gabbro Zone. The Company is now focussing its efforts on
submitting permit applications, supported by an updated project description and environmental and social impact
assessment, for a much larger and more appropriately sized operation following the delivery of the MRE and associated
economic studies.
Planned Spending
At March 31, 2021, cash and equivalents totaled approximately $71 million, and in April 2021 the Company took
advantage of an opportunity to complete a flow-through financing for gross proceeds of $20 million (net $18.5 million) at
a 58% premium ($0.95) to the then market price of the stock thereby minimizing dilution. Surface, underground
exploration and corporate overhead expenditures for the balance of the year based on the revised underground exploration
plan discussed above are expected to be approximately $55 million, leaving the Company financed into 2022..
Regional Exploration
The 2021 exploration program includes regional drilling and fieldwork in the second half of the year. This exploration
will amount to 10-15 % of the budget and will include approximately 20,000 metres of drilling to test for gold
mineralization on various properties within the Company’s large regional land package which includes the Martiniere,
Grasset and Casault target areas.
At Martiniere, the Company is planning to evaluate the resource expansion potential of the Martiniere West and Bug
deposits, which have a combined historical indicated resource of 7,919,598 t @ 2.32 g/t Au for 590,642 oz and have seen
very limited drilling below 350 metres vertical depth. The geology and gold mineralization of these deposits are currently
being reviewed internally and an updated 43-101 resource estimate is expected to be prepared along with the Fenelon
MRE in Q3 2021. In addition, a number of high-priority grassroots gold targets exist elsewhere on the Martiniere property
which may be prioritized for drill testing in 2021.
At Grasset, the Company is planning to follow up on historic intersections in the Grasset Gold showing (1.66 g/t Au over
33.00 metres, including 6.15 g/t Au over 4.04 metres) and elsewhere along the Grasset Ultramafic Complex where assays
grading up to 216 g/t Au over 0.78 metres have been returned.
Nickel-Copper-PGE Assets
Wallbridge entered into an operatorship agreement (the “Operatorship Agreement”) with Lonmin Plc (now Sibanye
Stillwater) on October 29, 2019 to operate the privately-owned Lonmin Canada (“Loncan”) in return for a 20%
ownership interest in Loncan (now diluted to 17.8% due to Loncan equity financing, that Wallbridge chose not to
participate in). The decision to proceed with the Operatorship Agreement provided Wallbridge with an interest in an
advanced stage property that was complementary to Wallbridge’s own suite of Nickel-Copper-PGE assets. The
opportunity, once the Denison Property was closer to production, was to use this project as leverage to advance the
Company’s Nickel-Copper-PGE assets either through joint ventures, partnerships, and/or spin outs. Economic evaluation
of the Denison Property is currently underway.
With its acquisition of Balmoral Resources Ltd. in May 2020, Wallbridge added several Nickel-Copper-PGE assets in
Ontario and Quebec including the Grasset property with its Nickel-PGM resource. As a result, management now believes
that it is in the best interest of its shareholders to assess its current Nickel-Copper-PGE assets with Grasset as the most
advanced project. Wallbridge is currently reviewing a number of alternative structures to unlock the value of its Nickel-
WALLBRIDGE MINING COMPANY LIMITED TSX| WM
WALLBRIDGE MINING COMPANY LIMITED TSX: WM www.wallbridgemining.com
129 Fielding Road Lively ON P3Y 1L7 t: 705‐682‐9297 f: 1‐888‐316‐4156 e: [email protected]
Copper-PGE assets, including joint ventures, partnerships, spin-outs or outright sales, and will provide an update when
available.
About Wallbridge Mining
Wallbridge is currently advancing the exploration and developme nt of its 100%-owned Fenelon Gold Property which is
located along the Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend, an emerging gold b elt in northwestern Québec. The Company completed
approximately 102,000 metres of drilling in 2020 and has begun a fully-funded 2021 program of approximately 170,000
metres of drilling and 2,500 metres of underground exploration development (Phase 1 of a 10,000-metre program). The
Company intends to complete a maiden mineral resource on the Fenelon Gold System in the third quarter of 2021.
Wallbridge now holds several kilometres surrounding its rapidly expanding Fenelon discovery providing room for growth,
as well as future mine development flexibility. Wallbridge's land holdings in Québec along the Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend
are over 900.0 km 2, improving Wallbridge's potential for further discoveries for over 90-kilometre strike length in this
under-explored belt.
Wallbridge is also the operator of, and a 17.8% shareholder in, Lonmin Canada Inc., a privately-held company with a
portfolio of nickel, copper, and platinum-group metals (PGM) projects in Ontario's Sudbury Basin.
This news release has been authorized by the undersigned on behalf of Wallbridge Mining Company Limited.
For further information please visit the Company's website at www.wallbridgemining.com or contact:
Wallbridge Mining Company Limited
Marz Kord, P. Eng., M. Sc., MBA
President & CEO
Tel: (705) 682-9297 ext. 251
Email: [email protected]
Victoria Vargas, B.Sc. (Hon.) Economics, MBA
Investor Relations Advisor
Email: [email protected]
This press release may contain certain “forward-looking statem ents” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities
legislation relating to, among other things, the operations of Wallbridge Mining Company Limited (“Wallbridge” or “Company”)
and the environment within which it operates. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, includ ing,
without limitation, statements regarding future plans and objec tives of Wallbridge, future opportunities and anticipated goals, the
Company’s portfolio, treasury, management team, timetable to mineral resource estimation, permitting and the prospective
mineralization of the properties, are forward-looking statements that involve various risks, assumptions, estimates and uncertainties.
Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “seeks”, “believes”,
“anticipates”, “plans”, “continues”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “expects”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “projects”, “predic ts”,
“proposes”, "potential", “targets” and variations of such words and phrases, or by statements that certain actions, events or results
“may”, “will”, “could”, “would”, “should” or “might”, “be taken”, “occur” or “be achieved”. There can be no assurance that such
statements will prove to be accurate, and ac tual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in su ch
statements.
By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and
specific, that contribute to the possibility that the predicted outcomes could differ materially from those contained in such statements.
These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, dela ys in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental,
regulatory, environmental or other required approval, the actual results of current exploration activities, fluctuations in pri ces of
WALLBRIDGE MINING COMPANY LIMITED TSX| WM
WALLBRIDGE MINING COMPANY LIMITED TSX: WM www.wallbridgemining.com
129 Fielding Road Lively ON P3Y 1L7 t: 705‐682‐9297 f: 1‐888‐316‐4156 e: [email protected]
commodities, fluctuations in currency markets, actual results of additional exploration and development activities at the Company’s
projects, capital expenditures, the availability of any additional capital required to advance projects, accidents, or pandemic
interruptions.
Although the Company has attempted to identif y important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from thos e
contained in forward-looking information, there may be other fact ors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or
intended. These statements reflect the current internal projections, expectations or beliefs of the Company and are based on
information currently available to the Company.
The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
The Company believes that the expectations reflected in those fo rward-looking statements are reasonable but no assurance can be
given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this press release should not
be unduly relied upon by investors as actual results may vary.
Risks and uncertainties about Wallbridge’s busi ness are more fully discussed in the disc losure material filed with the securiti es
regulatory authorities in Canada and available on SEDAR under the Company’s profile at www.sedar.com. Readers are urged to
read these materials and should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.
Covid-19 - Given the rapidly evolving natu re of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandem ic, Wallbridge is actively monitoring the
situation in order to continue to maintain as best as possible the activities while striving to protect the health of its perso nnel.
Wallbridge's activities will continue to align with the guidance provided by local, provincial and federal authorities in Canada. The
Company has established measures to continue normal activities while protecting the health of its employees an d stakeholders.
Depending on the evolution of the virus, me asures may affect the regular operations of Wallbridge and the participation of staf f
members in events inside or outside Canada.