Royalty Financing

Osisko Metals and Osisko Royalties have agreed to amend (the “NSR Amendment”) the existing 1.5% NSR royalty held by Osisko Royalties on the Pine Point Project (see news release dated December 3, 2019). Pursuant to the NSR Amendment, Osisko Metals will grant a further 0.5% NSR royalty to Osisko Royalties on the Pine Point Project for cash consideration of $6.5 million, which will result in Osisko Royalties holding a combined 2% NSR royalty on the Pine Point Project. The 2% NSR royalty held by Osisko Royalties on the Pine Point Project is not subject to buy-back rights in favour of Osisko Metals.

Non-Brokered Unit Financing

Osisko Metals will complete a non-brokered private placement of up to 4.2 million Units at a price of $0.48 per Unit for gross proceeds of up to $2 million. Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company (each, a “Common Share”) and one-half-of-one common share purchase warrant of the Company (each whole warrant, a “Warrant”). Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one Common Share at a price of $0.58 per share for a 24-month period following the closing date of the Offering.

The Offering is expected to close on or about December 20 or such other date as the Company may determine. The securities to be issued under the Offering will have a hold period of four months and one day from the closing date of the Offering in accordance with applicable securities laws.

The following “insiders” of the Company intend to subscribe for the following Units:

Insider                                              Category  Number of Units  Subscription Amount

Robert Wares  10% Security Holder; Chairman, CEO and Director        1,050,000             $504,000           

Osisko Mining Inc. also intends to subscribe for 1,050,000 Units as part of the Offering, representing a subscription amount of $504,000. The net proceeds from the Offering will be used for the development of Osisko Metals’ Pine Point Project, specifically drilling and hydrogeological studies, as well as general corporate purposes.

Completion of the NSR Amendment and the Offering are conditional upon the satisfaction of certain closing conditions, including the receipt of all required regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

The bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 335 to 78 on December 8, 2020, requires most Department of Defense systems to use REE mined and refined entirely outside of China within five years and directs the government to prefer US suppliers of strategic and critical materials (which includes REE) in the acquisition process.

The bill also requires the Secretary of Defense to make several assessments on the best actions to improve the domestic availability of REE, such as investments through the Defense Production Act or restrictions on foreign suppliers. This will include an annual report to Congress on the state of REE domestic production, including supply chain gaps and vulnerabilities.

Ucore Chairman and Interim CEO, Pat Ryan, P.Eng., commented, “The NDAA for FY21 takes critical steps for REE that will help the US defense industrial base and domestic providers of critical minerals. It also supports Ucore’s strategy of being the preeminent long-term and secure provider and processor of heavy rare earth oxides for US defense and commercial needs.”

The provisions of the NDAA stand to strengthen the prospects of Ucore’s Bokan-Dotson Ridge Heavy Rare Earth Element Project (“Bokan”) eventually becoming the go-to source for heavy rare-earth mining in the United States. The NDAA’s directive regarding REE refining and separation will also help Ucore in the nearer-term to develop the Alaska Strategic Metals Complex (“Alaska SMC”) in Ketchikan, Alaska, a planned facility initiated with long-term, non-Chinese feedstock supply agreements and domestic offtake arrangements.

Ucore VP & COO, Mike Schrider, P.E., stated, “The timing of this NDAA coincides with a change to the Chinese export control law which may impact the supply of rare earth elements from China – a move that has created a significant recent price increase for rare earth oxides used in the production of magnets. Our planned Alaska SMC will be designed to produce the full complement of the magnetic rare earth oxides and we are highly encouraged by these emerging rare-earth market sector commercial opportunities and enhanced government support as we enter 2021.”

The U.S. Senate is projected to pass the bill in the next several days.###

Chris Taylor, president and chief executive officer of Great Bear, said: “Our second deep drill hole at Dixie has more than doubled the depth of the Hinge zone to over 850 vertical metres. The deep intercept demonstrates the significant expansion potential of the Dixie project at depth. While our drilling remains mostly focused on the larger LP fault zone, we believe the Hinge and Dixie Limb zones have comparable potential to other successful ‘Red Lake style’ projects in the district. To expand on this potential, we plan to add additional drills in 2021 that will be focused on the Hinge and Dixie Limb zones, while the current five drills remain focused on the LP fault.”

Drill results highlights:

• Previously reported LP Fault drill hole BR-036 (Oct. 30, 2019: 10.32 grams per tonne gold over 18.2 m from 58.8 m to 77 m) was extended from its original final depth of 537 m to a new downhole depth of 1,425 m to intersect the Hinge zone at depth.
• BR-036 intersected the deep extension of the Hinge zone 850 m vertically below the surface and 510 m down plunge from the previous deepest Hinge zone intercept. The new intercept is located close to the regional D2 fold axial plane that controls the Hinge zone mineralization.
• BR-036 intersected identical quartz veining with red-brown hydrothermal biotite alteration, and similar grades and widths to those observed at shallower depths, assaying 15.18 g/t gold over 4.9 m, from 1,190.9 m to 1,195.8 m, within a broader interval of six g/t gold over 15.3 m, from 1,190.2 m to 1,205.5 m. The centre of the mineralized zone assayed 55.95 g/t gold over one m from 1194.8 m to 1195.8 m.
• Previously reported deep drill hole BR-085, which targeted the deep extension of the Dixie Limb zone (May 11, 2020: 10.19 g/t gold over 19 m from 1,008.55 m to 1,027.55 m), also intersected three similar Hinge-zone-style veins, approximately 200 m northwest of the intercept in BR-036 (including 25.5 g/t gold over 0.5 m from 1,180.85 m to 1,181.35 m).

                 ASSAY RESULTS FROM BR-036,
     THE FIRST DEEP DRILL HOLE TARGETING THE HINGE ZONE
  
Drill hole     From (m)    To (m)  Width* (m)  Gold (g/t)   Zone 

BR-036         1,182.00  1,184.50        2.50        2.50  Hinge
including      1,182.00  1,182.50        0.50        5.28           
and            1,190.20  1,205.50       15.30        6.00           
including      1,190.90  1,195.80        4.90       15.18          
and including  1,190.90  1,191.40        0.50       15.30          
and including  1,193.55  1,195.80        2.25       28.86          
and including  1,194.20  1,195.80        1.60       37.89          
and including  1,194.80  1,195.80        1.00       55.95          
and including  1,203.25  1,203.80        0.55       19.60          

* True widths are 90 per cent of interval widths based on intersection points of the drill-hole intercept with the geological model and oriented drill core data. Interval widths are calculated using a 0.1 g/t gold cut-off grade with up to three m of internal dilution of zero grade.

New regional vein zone northwest of the Hinge zone

The company has also identified a new regional exploration target. LP fault drill hole BR-074 (Dec. 16, 2019) was extended from an original depth of 576 m to a new downhole depth of 1,359 m into the area approximately halfway between the Hinge and Arrow (June 18, 2020: 19.32 g/t gold over 2.1 m within three g/t gold over 15 m) zones, located approximately 600 m to the northwest of the deep Hinge intercept in BR-036.

BR-074 intersected one of the widest occurrences of locally gold-bearing quartz veins observed at the Dixie project to date. Multiple quartz veins with minor carbonate veining were intersected over more than 130 m of drill length from approximately 1,122 m to 1,258 m downhole. Visible gold was noted in two locations, with the interval from 1,165.5 m to 1,166 m assaying 2.53 g/t. At the Dixie project, this type of widespread veining and alteration helps identify the overall hydrothermal footprint of the gold-mineralizing system and provides key targets for follow-up drilling.

Further regional drilling will be undertaken in this area to determine if significant gold mineralization is present where this large new vein swarm intersects various geological contacts and structures. The new vein zone may also be an on-strike continuation of the Hinge zone.

Planned 2021 drill program expansion

The company intends to expand its current drill program by an additional 100,000 m in 2021. The company currently has approximately $41-million in cash and the expanded program is expected to cost approximately $25-million through the end of 2021.

Great Bear has been operating with three to five drill rigs throughout 2020, with approximately 25,000 m drilled per fiscal quarter. The company recently acquired a larger additional core logging facility located in the town of Red Lake and plans to increase the number of drill rigs during 2021.

Additional drills will be largely used to expand and define the mineralized zones at the Hinge and Dixie Limb zones, while the current five drill rigs remain focused on the larger LP fault target. The additional drills may also be used at various times throughout the calendar year to drill other regional targets at the Dixie project, and/or at Great Bear’s other Red Lake area properties.

About the Dixie project

The Dixie project is 100 per cent owned, comprising 9,140 hectares of contiguous claims that extend over 22 km and is located approximately 25 km southeast of the town of Red Lake, Ont. The project is accessible year-round by a 15-minute drive on a paved highway, which runs the length of the northern claim boundary, and a network of well-maintained logging roads.

The Dixie project hosts two principal styles of gold mineralization:

• High-grade gold in quartz veins and silica-sulphide replacement zones (Dixie Limb, Hinge and Arrow zones). Hosted by mafic volcanic rocks and localized near regional-scale D2 fold axes. These mineralization styles are also typical of the significant mined deposits of the Red Lake district.
• High-grade disseminated gold with broad moderate- to lower-grade envelopes (LP fault). The LP fault is a significant gold-hosting structure, which has been seismically imaged to extend to 14 km depth (Zeng and Calvert, 2006) and has been interpreted by Great Bear to have up to 18 km of strike length on the Dixie property. High-grade gold mineralization is controlled by structural and geological contacts, and moderate to lower-grade disseminated gold surrounds and flanks the high-grade intervals. The dominant gold-hosting stratigraphy consists of felsic sediments and volcanic units.

Quality assurance/quality control and core sampling protocols

Drill core is logged and sampled in a secure core storage facility located in Red Lake, Ont. Core samples from the program are cut in half, using a diamond cutting saw, and are sent to Activation Laboratories in Ontario, an accredited mineral analysis laboratory, for analysis. All samples are analyzed for gold using standard fire assay-AA techniques. Samples returning over 10.0 g/t gold are analyzed utilizing standard fire assay-gravimetric methods. Pulps from approximately 5 per cent of the gold mineralized samples are submitted for check analysis to a second lab. Selected samples are also chosen for duplicate assay from the coarse reject of the original sample. Selected samples with visible gold are also analyzed with a standard one kg metallic screen fire assay. Certified gold reference standards, blanks and field duplicates are routinely inserted into the sample stream, as part of Great Bear’s quality control/quality assurance program (QA/QC). No QA/QC issues were noted with the results reported herein.

The proceeds from this offering will be used to finance exploration, including a 17,000-metre drill program to be completed before the end of Q2 2021, and for general corporate purposes. Drilling will focus on mineralized trends on the Tarabala and Samagouela targets discovered at the company’s Sikasso property in southern Mali. Phase one of this program, consisting of 3,000 metres of drilling on the first of these targets, is fully financed and has commenced. Initial drill results are expected near the end of December.

Certain insiders of the company are participating in the offering. Further, subject to compliance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable securities legislation, the company will pay a finder’s fee to certain registered dealers in connection with the offering comprising: (i) a cash fee equal to 6 percent of the gross proceeds received from the sale of common shares sold to purchasers introduced to the company by the finder, and (ii) warrants exercisable for a period of two years following the closing of the offering to acquire that number of common shares of the company, at a purchase price of 20 cents per share, equal to 6 per cent of the number of common shares sold to purchasers introduced to the company by the finder.

All the shares issuable pursuant to the offering will be subject to a hold period expiring four months and one day after the date of issuance.

Subject to the receipt of funds and subscription agreements from investors, as well as the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange, the offering is expected to close on or about Dec. 14, 2020.

Participation by insiders in the offering will be exempt from the valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 — Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions by virtue of the exemptions contained in Sections 5.5(b) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101.

The Watershed property surrounds the Cote gold project, a joint venture between Iamgold (70 per cent) and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. (30 per cent), which demonstrates potential to produce 460,000 ounces of gold annually at low all-in sustaining costs of approximately $700 per ounce in the first six years of production with an 18-year mine life. Cote is located in Northern Ontario approximately 20 kilometres southwest of Gogama and 130 km southwest of Timmins. Cote is now scheduled to become one of Canada’s largest gold mines as a production decision, by the partners, and ground breaking was announced in July, 2020 (see Iamgold press release dated July 21, 2020). Part of the Watershed claims are included in the Nov. 1, 2018, feasibility study boundary and the balance of the claims surround the project.

Trey Wasser, president and chief executive officer of Ely Gold, commented on the transactions: “We are excited to be a part of one of Canada’s largest gold mines. While the Watershed royalty may be a longer-term investment, the existence of the deferred payments makes the purchase a compelling value and an excellent addition to the growth profile of our royalty portfolio. We continue to see compelling value in royalty investment, like Cote, on long-lived gold assets in key mining jurisdictions.”

The Watershed royalty purchase

Ely Gold acquired the Watershed royalty from Sanatana for total consideration of $2.5-million in cash and one million Ely Gold warrants. The Ely Gold warrants have a five-year term and will have an exercise price of $1.31. They can be accelerated if Ely Gold’s common shares trade at a 50-per-cent premium to the exercise price for a 10-day period. Securities issued under the Ely Gold warrants will be subject to a four-month hold period. The Watershed royalty is subject to a buy-down provision whereby the royalty rate can be reduced to 0.5 per cent for a payment of $2-million.

Purchase agreement assignment

Sanatana and Ely Gold also executed definitive agreement whereby Sanatana assigned its rights and interest in the purchase agreement to Ely Gold for $10,000 cash. In connection with the assignment, Ely Gold purchased 1,666,666 Sanatana common shares at 31 cents, $500,000 in through a non-brokered private placement.

The purchase agreement provides for certain deferred payments as follows:

1. $1.5-million upon a production decision by Iamgold on the Watershed property;
2. $1.5-million upon the commencement of commercial production by Iamgold on the Watershed property.

Private placement

In connection with the assignment, Sanatana has announced a non-brokered private placement of $500,000 in Sanatana common shares to be purchased by Ely Gold at a price of 30 cents per common share. Securities issued under the private placement will be subject to a four-month hold period, which will expire four months and one day from the date of closing of the private placement. Ely Gold did not pay any finders’ fee in connection with transactions.

The completion of the transactions was subject to:

1. Receipt by Sanatana of a waiver from Iamgold of its right of first refusal as provided in Watershed royalty, which was received by Sanatana prior to the closing of the agreement;
2. Receipt by Sanatana of a consent from Iamgold for the purchase agreement assignment, which was received by Sanatana prior to the closing of the agreement;
3. Applicable approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Qualified person

Stephen Kenwood, PGeo, is director of the company and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Kenwood has reviewed and approved the technical information in this press release.

Highlights

• Discovered gold in several dry stream beds between Mesquite and Imperial:
  • Highlight samples include 1.4 grams per tonne and 0.5 g/t gold.
• Enhances thesis that fault structures from Mesquite to Imperial have potential to host multiple gold discoveries similar in scale to Mesquite or Imperial;
• Geophysical interpretation previously defined 19 kilometres of fault structures including:
  • Mesquite East, Ogilby, Imperial East and Imperial West target areas;
  • Each multikilometre target area has potential to host a new gold deposit.
• More outcrop sampled than anticipated, indicating shallow alluvial cover;
• Currently permitting a 140-plus pad drill program for district-scale exploration program.

Next steps

• Complete program sampling on Imperial-Picacho area (complete by January, 2021);
• Conduct follow-up detailed soil sampling and geophysics to prioritize drill targets in the first half of 2021;
• Drill test highest priority targets; permit for larger program now expected mid-2021.

Kore’s chief executive officer, Scott Trebilcock, stated: “We are extremely encouraged to discover stream bed gold occurrences which align with our geophysical model on our Mesquite-Imperial exploration area. The discoveries support our thesis that there are multiple new gold deposits to be discovered close to surface. Kore’s job now is to find the source or sources of the gold by targeting the 19 kilometres of fault structures interpreted earlier this year. Imperial county has over 140 years of gold mining history. The Mesquite-Imperial-Picacho district and the Imperial gold project could extend that history for many future generations with new gold discoveries and provide much-needed employment and economic development.”

Sampling and mapping program details

Discovery of gold in the dry stream beds (also called arroyos or washes) on the Mesquite East and Ogilby targets areas are several kilometres from Mesquite and Imperial and not downstream from either, indicates that gold is being generated from another source. Kore intends to explore for and discover those sources.

In the course of collecting the samples and mapping the area, Kore encountered more outcrop than originally anticipated. This is positive as it means the alluvial cover is shallow in those areas, making a new oxide gold discovery easier and more attractive. Kore also found evidence of historic small-scale mining activities including hand and bulldozer trenches, an exploration shaft and signs of historic placer mining activity. The mapping and sampling program continues on the east part of the District toward Picacho.

Kore’s exploration team collected 435 stream bed and rock chip samples over the last three months, prospecting the district. This news release includes results from 199 dry stream bed samples with assays pending on the remainder. Samples collected averaged six kilograms in size and were taken at an average depth of 0.4 metre below surface. Of the 199 samples, 95 assayed over the gold detection limit of five parts per billion and 49 assayed over 100 parts per billion (0.1 g/t).

Next steps

The continuing 2020 mapping and sampling program will be complete by January, 2021. The program was designed to provide an indicative first pass to the district. Kore intends to follow up on anomalies with further detailed soil sampling grids and detailed geological mapping, and infill geophysics in the first half of 2021 ahead of the planned 2021 exploration drilling program.

Imperial project update

Kore’s development team based in Imperial, Calif., has been active since delivering the positive preliminary economic assessment for the Imperial deposit in April, 2020, building the capacity and social licence to advance Imperial toward production. COVID-19 has had a major impact on local stakeholders in Imperial county. The team has done an incredible job in the face of this challenge and has worked to support the local community and government agencies in a safe and responsible manner. Recent project activity:

• Opened an office in Imperial county in Q3 2020 under the local banner Imperial Gold;
• Hired local team of environment, permitting, government relations and community relations experts;
• Actively engaging community and government stakeholders with over 100 in-person and Zoom meetings, actively building local social licence for Imperial;
• Donated COVID-19 test kits and food to local charities supporting those hit hardest by the pandemic;
• Engaged environmental and archeological experts to conduct baseline work for project permitting;
• Building relationships with local Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office and Imperial County permitting agencies.

Kore is currently permitting a large 140-plus pad drill program via a plan of operations (PO) process with the BLM local office. Kore had previously planned to permit a smaller program in 2020 using a notice of intent process but was required by the BLM to move to the more robust and time intensive PO process including an associated environmental assessment (EA). Given the robustness of the PO process, Kore decided to increase the scale of the proposed drill program adding time to the resubmission. The process has been further impacted by COVID-19 and permits are now expected in mid-2021.

Kore is committed to operate within the stringent environmental and labour standards of California. Kore plans to concurrently reclaim drill pad locations and ensure measures are taken to mitigate any impacts to biological and cultural resources. Kore has designed the drill program to maximize the existing public road/trail network in the area so as to limit any new disturbances, and the company will be adjusting its drill pad locations as needed to avoid any sensitive sites should any be encountered during the EA investigations.

About the Imperial gold project

Kore owns 100 per cent of the Mesquite-Imperial-Picacho district which consists of 26,323 acres on 1,007 claims, capturing the entire 28-kilometre trend from the operating Mesquite mine (Equinox Gold) to the closed Picacho mine and including Kore’s Imperial project. In the district, gold is hosted in local fault structures related to a series of regional faults connecting the known district deposits. Those three district deposits (Mesquite-Imperial-Picacho) were discovered in exposed outcrops and from placer workings. The rest of the district is covered by alluvium and has never been systematically explored.

The Mesquite-Imperial-Picacho district centres on Kore’s Imperial project. Imperial is a structurally controlled intermediate sulphidation epithermal gold deposit. The 100 per cent oxide gold deposit is currently defined at 2.44 kilometres long and up to 0.75 kilometre wide, and is open both along strike and down dip. It is hosted in a shallowly southwest-dipping, amphibolite grade metamorphic rock suite along a west-northwest-trending low-angle regional thrust fault system. The thrust fault system controls the regional geometry of mineralization. East-west striking, postmineralization normal faults control the property-scale geometry of mineralization. Geophysical characterization of the deposit and regional controlling structures is an essential component of exploration for additional resources.

Imperial has a mineral resource estimate and a positive preliminary economic assessment effective April 6, 2020, with the following highlights:

• Robust economics: $343-million (U.S.) NPV (net present value) 5 per cent posttax with 44-per-cent internal rate of return (IRR) at $1,450 (U.S.) per ounce gold;
• Low capital intensity project with only $143-million (U.S.) preproduction capital cost;
• 146,000 ounces gold per year over eight years for 1.2 million ounces total production;
• Technically simple project: shallow open-pit, run-of-mine heap leach with existing infrastructure;
• Value enhancement through Mesquite-Imperial-Picacho district exploration and resource expansion.

The company’s National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource and preliminary economic assessment is titled “Preliminary Economic Assessment — Technical Report Imperial Gold Project” effective as of April 6, 2020, and issued on May 19, 2020, prepared by Terre Lane and Todd Harvey of Global Resource Engineering and Glen Cole of SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc.

The closing of the offering is anticipated to occur on Dec. 17, 2020, or such other date as the company and the agents may agree. Closing of the offering is subject to customary closing conditions, including, but not limited to, execution of an agency agreement and receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the securities regulatory authorities and the TSX Venture Exchange.

The company intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to finance continuing work programs to advance the Lanxess project, including continuing testing and optimization work under way at the SiFT lithium carbonate crystallization pilot plant and the direct lithium extraction demonstration plant (which utilizes the company’s proprietary LiSTR technology), preliminary engineering work to advance commercial development of the company’s proprietary lithium extraction process; negotiation and development of a joint venture with Lanxess Corp.; and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

The company will use commercially reasonable efforts to list the shares on the TSX-V, subject to the company fulfilling all of the listing requirements of the TSX-V. A copy of the preliminary short form prospectus is available under the company’s profile on SEDAR or by e-mail request to Roth Canada at ecm@rothcanada.ca or Echelon at ECM@echelonpartners.com.

The Common Shares will commence trading on the TSX effective as of the open of the market on December 9, 2020. Upon listing on the TSX, the Common Shares will continue to trade under the symbol “KNT”.

In conjunction with listing on the TSX, the Common Shares will be voluntarily delisted from the TSX Venture Exchange effective at the commencement of trading on the TSX.

“This listing on the TSX represents another significant milestone for K92 and its shareholders as we continue with our successful growth story at the Ka i nantu Mine ,” stated John Lewins, Chief Executive Officer and Director of K92. “The TSX is Canada’s premier stock exchange and this move is reflective of the Company’s progress and potential. The TSX listing will increas e the Company’s visibility, providing access to a broader range of institutional investors and capital markets.”

As a result of this graduation, there will be no further trading under the symbol KNT on the TSX Venture Exchange after Dec. 8, 2020, and the company’s shares will be delisted from the TSX Venture Exchange at the commencement of trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Hole DDH 20-009 intersected a broad zone of silver and gold mineralization within the oxide horizon, as well as a substantial zone of gold mineralization at the base of the oxides, beneath which there is a zone of gold mineralization associated with copper sulphides. This extends the company’s knowledge of the mineralized system at depth, beneath the Whittle pit. Highlight intercepts are shown in the attached drill result highlights table and include an 83-metre interval, starting from 171 metres downhole, grading 289.4 grams per tonne silver and 1.45 grams per tonne gold.

Partial results of hole DDH 20-008 were announced on Oct. 26, 2020, and complete results are now available. The hole was drilled south of the known mineralized system and obtained a silver intersection extending the zone in this direction, together with a gold zone associated with high-grade copper at depth.

                            DRILL RESULT HIGHLIGHTS FROM DDH 20-008 AND DDH 20-009
 
Drill hole               From       To        Type    Interval      Ag      Au      Cu   AgEq g/t (1)   AuEq g/t (1)
                           (m)      (m)                     (m)    g/t     g/t       %   
                                                                                     
DDH-20-008*               181      184      Oxides           3    78.4       -       -          78.4           1.04
DDH-20-008*               188    194.5      Oxides         6.5   123.4    0.15       -         134.6           1.79
DDH-20-008*             272.5      287   Sulphides        14.5       -       -    0.51           n/a            n/a
DDH-20-008                352      360   Sulphides           8       -    1.66    2.01           n/a           4.42
DDH-20-009                171      254      Oxides          83   289.4    1.45       -         398.2           5.31
DDH-20-009 including      191      251      Oxides          60   287.3    1.87       -         427.6           5.70
DDH-20-009 including      176      182      Oxides           6   648.0    0.44       -         681.0           9.08
DDH-20-009 including      216      222      Oxides           6   735.4    2.42       -         916.9          12.23
DDH-20-009 including      221      228      Oxides           7   321.6    3.13       -         556.4           7.42
DDH-20-009 including      234      238      Oxides           4   304.5    4.57       -         647.3           8.63
DDH-20-009                269      271      Oxides           2   103.2    2.14       -         263.7           3.52
DDH-20-009                275      280      Oxides           5    98.7    4.16       -         410.7           5.48
DDH-20-009                287      289   Sulphides           2    55.0    5.29    2.04         661.6           8.82
DDH-20-009              307.3    308.3   Sulphides           1    44.2    3.07    1.37         415.4           5.54
DDH-20-009              311.5    318.5   Sulphides           7       -    0.70    0.77         131.7           1.76

* Denotes results that were previously released.
Note: All results in this news release are rounded. Assays are uncut and undiluted. Widths are drilled widths, 
not true widths. True widths are estimated to be approximately 80 per cent of the interval widths.
(1) Silver equivalent and gold equivalent calculations for reported drill results are based on $20 (U.S.) per 
ounce Ag, $1,500 (U.S.) per oz gold and $3 (U.S.) per pound copper. The calculations assume 100-per-cent 
metallurgical recovery and are indicative of gross in situ metal value at the indicated metal prices. Refer to 
technical notes for metallurgical recoveries assumed in the 2018 preliminary economic assessment study on 
Diablillos.
 

Dave O’Connor, chief geologist, commented: “We are extremely pleased with the results of hole DDH 20-009, which expands our knowledge of the deeper oxide gold zone that is associated with hydrothermal breccias developed along the basal unconformity of the andesite volcanics, as well as the underlying sulphide gold-copper mineralization at Oculto.”

Hole DDH 20-009

The broad zone of high-grade silver and mineralization in hole DDH 20-009 (83 metres at 398 g/t silver equivalent) intersected a 171-metre to 254-metre depth, significantly enhances the grade of oxide silver resource estimated within the Whittle pit boundary and also expands the resource beneath the base of the pit, where it includes gold associated with copper sulphide mineralization.

Exploration program update

To date, the company has reported results from a total of 11 diamond drill holes in the Oculto zone as part of its recently expanded exploration program. To date, the company has completed drilling a total of 28 diamond drill holes and is awaiting results for the remaining holes. The priority drilling targets are:

• To continue to expand the company’s knowledge of the deeper oxide gold zone;
• To add to the resource base northeast of the Whittle pit boundary;
• To define a shallow gold zone (from surface to approximately 100-metre depth), which would benefit early open-pit mining operations.

About Diablillos

The 80-square-kilometre Diablillos property is located in the Argentine Puna region — the southern extension of the altiplano of southern Peru, Bolivia and northern Chile — and was acquired from SSR Mining Inc. by the company in 2016. There are several known mineral zones on the Diablillos property, with the Oculto zone being the most advanced with approximately 90,000 metres drilled to date. Oculto is a high-sulphidation epithermal silver-gold deposit derived from remnant hot spring activity following Tertiary-age local magmatic and volcanic activity. Comparatively nearby examples of high-sulphidation epithermal deposits include: El Indio, Chile; Veladero, Argentina; and Pascua Lama on the Chilean-Argentine border.

              2018 MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE FOR THE OCULTO DEPOSIT, DIABLILLOS PROJECT
 
Category             Tonnage              Ag              Au         Contained Ag         Contained Au
                      (000 t)           (g/t)           (g/t)          (000 oz Ag)          (000 oz Au)

Indicated             26,900            93.0            0.85               80,300                  732
Inferred               1,000            46.8            0.89                1,505                   29

Effective Aug. 31, 2017, the resource estimate and supporting technical report are National Instrument 43-101 compliant. Full details of the mineral resources are available in a company news release dated March 2, 2018. For additional information, please see technical report on the Diablillos project, Salta province, Argentina, dated April 16, 2018, completed by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. and available on SEDAR.

Quality assurance/quality control and core sampling protocols

Abraplata applies industry standard exploration methodologies and techniques, and all drill core samples are collected under the supervision of the company’s geologists in accordance with industry practices. Drill core is transported from the drill platform to the logging facility, where drill data are compared and verified with the core in the trays. Thereafter, it is logged, photographed and split by diamond saw prior to being sampled. Samples are then bagged, and quality control materials are inserted at regular intervals. These include blanks and certified reference materials, as well as duplicate core samples, which are collected to measure sample representivity. Groups of samples are then placed in large bags, which are sealed with numbered tags, to maintain a chain of custody during the transport of the samples from the project site to the laboratory.

All samples are received by the SGS offices in Salta, which then dispatch the samples to the SGS preparation facility in San Juan. From there, the prepared samples are sent to the SGS laboratory in Lima, Peru, where they are analyzed. All samples are analyzed using a multielement technique consisting of a four-acid digestion followed by ICP/AES detection, and gold is analyzed by 50-gram fire assay with an AAS finish. Silver results greater than 100 g/t are reanalyzed using four-acid digestion with an ore grade AAS finish.

Qualified persons

David O’Connor, PGeo, chief geologist for Abraplata, is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 (Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects), and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release.

Technical notes

All results in this news release are rounded. Assays are uncut and undiluted. Intervals are drilled widths, not true widths. AgEq calculations for reported drill results are based on $20 (U.S.) per oz Ag, $1,500 (U.S.) per oz Au and $3 (U.S.) per lb Cu. The calculations assume 100-per-cent metallurgical recovery and are indicative of gross in situ metal value at the indicated metal prices. The most recent technical report for the Diablillos project is the 2018 preliminary economic assessment (PEA) written by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. The PEA assumes average metallurgical recoveries of 82 per cent silver and 86 per cent gold. No metallurgical testwork has yet been completed on the recovery of copper.

Exploration highlights (see attached table) include:

• Drill hole OM100-20-001 intersected 8.60 metres grading 11.45 per cent zinc and 3.57 per cent lead in the northern portion of the L65 deposit to validate results from a historical hole. Results confirm well-developed tabular mineralization in this location that is part of the current Central zone underground mineral resource. Further drilling will aim to expand and connect the mineralization present in this immediate area to a 900-metre-long open trend parallel to, and north of, the main portion of the L65 tabular deposit.
• Drill hole OM97-20-001 intersected 3.00 metres grading 2.01 per cent Zn and 2.94 per cent Pb in near-surface tabular mineralization, located 1,300 metres west of the historic K77 deposit, in an area for which most historical holes have no reported assays. This hole suggests potential to expand mineralization toward the previously mined K77 deposit (historical production (Cominco): 500,000 tonnes grading 12.8 per cent Pb plus Zn).

New induced polarization anomaly suggests prismatic mineralization. A recently completed induced polarization (IP) geophysical survey has identified a distinct chargeability and resistivity target between the Main and North trends measuring 250 metres long by 150 metres wide and extending from surface to an approximate depth of 200 metres. There is no previous drilling in this target. It exhibits characteristics similar to previous IP surveys done over known prismatic deposits which are higher grade than tabular deposits. Drill hole OM103-20-001, a stratigraphic hole drilled 260 metres to the south of the IP anomaly (before the survey was completed), intersected strong dolomitic alteration in the key Sulphur Point formation, which is the primary host to all mineralization at Pine Point.

Robert Wares, chairman and chief executive officer, commented: “Results obtained to date from this program, disclosed in the last three press releases, clearly indicate the excellent potential for expansion of tabular mineralization at Pine Point. Furthermore, several untested geophysical anomalies, including the strong IP anomaly described above, point to potential for new discoveries of high-grade Prismatic deposits. The Pine Point project is advancing very well on all fronts in what we believe is the start of a sustained rising zinc commodity market. We look forward to another season of successful exploration at Pine Point in the new year.”

Results for all drill holes are reported in the attached table. Drill hole OM100-20-002 confined mineralization in an outlier portion of the L65 mineral resource block to the northeast of OM100-20-001. Drill hole OM101-20-001 also confined mineral resources on the edge of the proposed K68 pit. All remaining holes tested various gravity responses with targets compiled from existing data.

                                       DRILL HOLE COMPOSITE ASSAY RESULTS

                                                                    Drilled
Hole name             Area      Deposit     From (m)      To (m)   width (m)      Pb (%)      Zn (%) Pb + Zn (%)


OM100-20-001  Central zone   Definition       51.80       60.40        8.60        3.57       11.45       15.02
OM100-20-002  Central zone  Exploration       60.50       61.50        1.00        0.02        1.44        1.45
OM101-20-001  Central zone  Exploration
OM102-20-001  Central zone  Exploration       57.36       59.36        2.00        0.45        0.50        0.95
OM103-20-001  Central zone  Exploration  No significant results
OM28-20-001       Gap zone  Exploration  No significant results
OM31-20-001   Central zone  Exploration       59.50       61.75        2.25        0.28        1.90        2.18
OM31-20-001   Central zone  Exploration       65.50       66.50        1.00        0.49        2.00        2.48
OM49-20-001   Central zone  Exploration       82.00       84.00        2.00        0.72        1.05        1.77
OM50-20-001    South trend  Exploration
OM53-20-001    South trend  Exploration       66.60       67.60        1.00        4.62        5.03        9.65
OM54-20-001   Central zone  Exploration  No significant results
OM64-20-001   Central zone  Exploration  No significant results
OM69-20-001    South trend  Exploration  No significant results
OM91-20-001   Central zone  Exploration  No significant results
OM97-20-001   Central zone  Exploration       63.00       66.00        3.00        2.94        2.01        4.95

Note regarding mineral resources and qualified persons

Robin Adair is the qualified person and the vice-president of exploration for Osisko Metals. He is responsible for the technical data reported in this news release and is a professional geologist registered in the Northwest Territories.

Quality assurance/quality control

Osisko Metals adheres to a strict quality assurance and quality control program with regard to core handling, sampling, transportation of samples and lab analyses. Drill core samples from the Pine Point project area were securely transported to its core facility at the Pine Point project site, Northwest Territories, where they were logged and sampled. Samples selected for assay were shipped via secure transportation to the ALS Canada Ltd.’s preparation facility in Yellowknife. Pulps were analyzed at the ALS Canada Ltd. facility in North Vancouver, B.C. All samples are analyzed by four-acid digestion followed by both ICP-AES and ICP-MS for ultratrace level detection for a multielement suite with a 1-per-cent upper detection limit for base metals. Samples reporting over 1 per cent for Zn and 1 per cent for Pb are analyzed by assay grade four-acid digestion and ICPAES analysis with an upper detection limit of 30 per cent and 20 per cent respectively. Samples reporting Zn over 30 per cent and or Pb over 20 per cent are analyzed by traditional titration. Current drill program is following strict COVID-19 protocols, has been under way since Aug. 30, and is now completed. Further results are pending.

Highlights

The visible gold mineralization in very recent drill hole BTU-20-53 is not near any outcrop or historic drilling and constitutes a new gold discovery in this rapidly developing Dixie Creek area of the prolific Red Lake gold camp.

Finding visible gold in drill core is rare and its discovery clearly validates the exploration work carried out over the past year that was aimed at discovering gold in bedrock in the north-central part of the 100-per-cent-controlled, 200-square-kilometre Dixie Halo property.

The gold mineralization is approximately 100 metres below surface, near the bottom of drill hole BTU-20-53 and spatially close to the location of a topographic low feature and a creek bed that may mark the location of a significant D2 structural trend. The lack of outcrop and historical data nearby supports the potential for the presence of additional mineralization in the area.

Assays have been received for holes BTU 20-43 to 20-49, the early holes of the current drill program. Details of results may be accessed at the company’s website. The highest gold mineralized intersection is 1.45 metres at 0.503 gram per tonne Au in BTU-20-44 (193 to 194.45 m down hole).

Paul Wood, BTU chief executive officer, said: “As recently as a couple of weeks ago we announced additional positive gold-in-till results and indicated we were zeroing in on promising target areas on our very large Dixie Halo property. To now discover visible gold in a drill hole clearly validates our exploration methodology and is an exciting development. This discovery of gold in drill core sets the stage for us to continue to work towards discovering other areas of gold mineralization. Drilling, core logging and core sampling as well as geophysics will continue until at least midmonth before a short break into early January after which we will restart field operations and when we’ll immediately continue to follow up on promising results on our now 15-kilometre southwest-northeast structural trend.”

Gold-in-till sampling

Tracing of anomalous gold-in-till sample results back to their source as a methodology to locate new areas of gold mineralization under overburden has been proven to be a valid, unique and powerful way to discover new gold deposits.

The most recent till results are consistent with past results in showing high total gold-in-till counts across the southwest-northeast geological trend which mirrors the Great Bear LP-fault sequence.

The till results are notable for having a high proportion of gold grain morphology classified as pristine or modified relative to the reshaped grains, indicating that the malleable gold grains have not travelled far from their bedrock source, most likely within a few hundred metres.

Exploration program update and recent assay results

The company has now received assay results for the sampled intervals from drill holes BTU-20-43 up to drill hole BTU-20-49. The most significant gold mineralized interval came from BTU-20-44 (1.45 metres of 0.503 g/t Au). Holes 43, 46 and 48 had one-metre intersections between 0.1 and 0.2 g/t Au. No other significant gold mineralization was encountered in these holes. More detailed information on results from drill holes BTU-20-43 to BTU-20-49 can be found on the company’s website.

The gold discovered in drill hole BTU-20-53 is fine grained and is located very close to the bottom of the drill hole, only 100 metres below surface. The broader area of this drill hole has had very little exploration to date, so there are no other geological datapoints such as outcrops or drill hole information for at least 1.2 kilometres in either direction along the interpreted strike extent of the target structure. This new discovery is an extensive, underexplored area that is considered to be highly prospective and is located along BTU’s 15 km southwest-northeast structural trend.

Strong gold-in-till gold grain counts obtained over the past year identified an overall southwest-northeast geological and structural trend, and increased sample density has helped vector toward several bedrock targets that the company will be continuing to evaluate.

Drill core samples for holes from BTU-20-50 to BTU-20-54 will be soon shipped to the assay lab for analysis. Next results, including assays for the interval containing the visible gold, will be reported as they become available. Drilling is continuing and the company remains on track to complete at least 2,000 metres before year-end. Grid construction, geophysical surveys and processing of till samples is also continuing.

Quality assurance/quality control

BTU staff collected and processed samples and securely sealed and shipped them to SGS Canada Inc. in Red Lake, Ont., for sample preparation that includes drying, crushing until 80 per cent passes a two-millimetre sieve, then riffle splitting (250 grams) and pulverizing (mild steel) to 95 per cent passing 105 micrometres. The resulting pulps are analyzed for gold by fire assay in Red Lake, and for geochemistry by a multielement aqua regia ICP-OES technique in Burnaby, B.C. All assay data have undergone internal validation of QA/QC; noting there is an established sampling control program with blind insertion of assay blanks, certified industry standards and sample duplicates. A QA/QC program is also in place at SGS and includes insertion of blanks, standards and duplicate reanalysis of selected samples. SGS is a Canadian assay laboratory and is accredited under ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO 9001. Overlimit protocols are in place for gold, silver and copper. Intervals in this release are drilled intervals. True widths could not be determined at this early stage of target evaluation.

COVID-19

The company’s exploration work at its Red Lake, Ont., projects remains largely on schedule with no major disruption due to the COVID-19 government guidelines. The company continues to monitor this situation, continues to be careful to conduct all work in compliance with COVID-19 guidelines, and will adjust its activities and timelines as deemed appropriate.

Bruce Durham, PGeo, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this press release.

The proceeds from this offering will be used to finance exploration, including a 17,000-metre drill program to be completed before the end of Q2 2021, and for general corporate purposes. Drilling will focus on mineralized trends on the Tarabala and Samagouela targets discovered at the company’s Sikasso property in southern Mali. Phase 1 of this program, consisting of 3,000 metres of drilling on the first of these targets, is fully financed and has commenced. Initial drill results are expected near the end of December.

Larry Phillips, Compass’s president and chief executive officer, said: “The response from our existing shareholder to this offering has been very robust, and we appreciate their continued support. As with last year’s offerings, we have used this opportunity to expand our share register by adding strong and experienced investors, including major institutional resource funds who recognize how far Compass has progressed and the tremendous potential to be realized over the coming year. Our discovery team, led by Dr. Madani Diallo and Dr. Sandy Archibald, is committed to bold objectives for 2021, and now we have the resources to help them deliver the results that will benefit all of us as shareholders.”

Mr. Phillips continued: “We also wish to welcome the team from Red Cloud Financial and acknowledge their excellent work in bringing important new investors into this expanded offering. It is clear to me that the Red Cloud team shares our vision and excitement for the valuable opportunities that Compass Gold presents. We look forward to their assistance in the months ahead to build and expand our communications and market outreach activities. As we embark upon a year of important and regular reporting of drill results, we are committed to generating and building our relationships within the resource investment community, throughout North America and beyond.”

Certain insiders of the company are participating in the offering. Further, subject to compliance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable securities legislation, the company will pay finders’ fees to certain registered dealers in connection with the offering comprising: (i) a cash fee equal to 6 per cent of the gross proceeds received from the sale of common shares sold to purchasers introduced to the company by the finder; and (ii) warrants exercisable for a period of two years following the closing of the offering to acquire that number of common shares of the company, at a purchase price of 20 cents per share, equal to 6 per cent of the number of common shares sold to purchasers introduced to the company by the finder.

All the shares issuable pursuant to the offering will be subject to a hold period expiring four months and one day after the date of issuance.

Subject to the receipt of funds and subscription agreements from investors as well as the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX-V, the offering is expected to close on or about Dec. 14, 2020.

Participation by insiders in the offering will be exempt from the valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of Multilateral Instrument 61-101, Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions, by virtue of the exemptions contained in sections 5.5(b) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101.

Red Cloud retained for capital markets advisory services

The company has engaged Red Cloud Securities Inc. and Red Cloud Financial Services Inc. to provide the company with a range of corporate advisory and capital-market-related services. Red Cloud is a globally focused mining boutique and capital markets advisory group. It uses its unique broad global distribution network and its extensive capital markets experience in the mining industry to assist companies identify, build and maintain important relationships with key investors. Red Cloud Securities is registered as an IIROC (Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada) market dealer in all provinces of Canada as well as in Yukon and is subject to applicable securities regulation.

Effective at the opening, Friday, Dec. 11, 2020, the shares of Ucore Rare Metals Inc. will commence trading on the TSX Venture Exchange on a consolidated basis. The company is classified as a mining company.

Postconsolidation

Capitalization:  unlimited shares with no par value, of which 41,049,982 shares are issued and outstanding

Escrow:  nil shares subject to escrow

Transfer agent:  Computershare Investor Services Inc.

Trading symbol:  UCU (unchanged)

Cusip No.:  90348V 30 1 (new)

A total of 80,188,966 shares were voted at the meeting either in person or by proxy, with a total of 76,866,649 shares, or 96 per cent of total votes, being in favour of the share consolidation, as described in the company’s management information circular dated Nov. 3, 2020.

Having received the support of the company’s shareholders, the company expects that the share consolidation will be implemented and its common shares will begin trading on a postconsolidation basis beginning at the open of markets on Dec. 11, 2020. The postconsolidation common shares will continue to trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the current symbol UCU. The new Cusip number will be 90348V301.

The share consolidation will result in the number of issued and outstanding common shares of the company being reduced from 410,499,826 to approximately 41,049,982 on a non-diluted basis. The percentage of the company owned by each shareholder will not change as a result of the share consolidation. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the exact number of common shares outstanding after the share consolidation will vary based on the elimination of fractional shares.

The decision to implement the share consolidation was taken by the board of directors after careful consideration of a number of factors, including the potential broadening of United States-based investor interest in the company. A reduced number of shares outstanding will make the company’s shares more attractive to certain investors and potential strategic partners who find shares valued above certain minimum prices to be preferable from an investment perspective. In addition, the board is of the opinion that the reduced number of shares may better position the company for a potential future listing on a senior U.S. stock exchange where the company’s technology assets and related scientific, technological and engineering capabilities may be further appreciated.

The share consolidation will impact all of the company’s shareholders equally, including holders of outstanding securities that are convertible or exercisable for shares that are outstanding on the effective date of the share consolidation, except for minor changes or adjustments resulting from the treatment of fractional shares. On the effective date of the share consolidation, the exercise prices and number of shares issuable on the exercise of any warrants, options or other convertible securities of the company will be automatically proportionally adjusted based on the one-for-10 consolidation ratio.

No fractional shares will be issued as a result of the share consolidation. All fractions of postconsolidation shares will be rounded down to the nearest whole number. The exact number of common shares that will be outstanding after the share consolidation will vary based on the elimination of fractional shares.

A letter of transmittal regarding the share consolidation will be mailed to the company’s registered shareholders. All registered shareholders will be required to send their certificate(s) or direct registration (DRS) advice representing preconsolidation shares, along with a properly executed letter of transmittal, to the company’s registrar and transfer agent, Computershare Trust Company of Canada, in accordance with the instructions provided in the letter of transmittal. Shareholders who hold their common shares through a broker, investment dealer, bank or trust company should contact that nominee or intermediary for their postshare consolidation positions. Until surrendered, each share certificate or DRS representing preconsolidation shares will represent the number of whole postconsolidation shares to which the holder is entitled as a result of the share consolidation. A copy of the letter of transmittal will be posted on the company’s issuer profile on SEDAR.

The share consolidation will be contingent upon the prior approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Highlights

• over strong 99.9-per-cent-purity lithium carbonate produced (also known as “three nines”);
• Successful proof of concept of modern lithium processing technology;
• Start-to-finish direct extraction of lithium from brine in Arkansas; production of purified, concentrated intermediate; final conversion to high-purity battery quality lithium carbonate end-product.

Better than battery quality

The culmination of the proof of concept was to convert and crystallize the LiCl solution produced by the company’s first-of-its-kind direct lithium extraction (DLE) demonstration plant (see news release dated Sept. 9, 2020). The LiCl solution shipped from Arkansas was concentrated further using industry-standard reverse osmosis technology, and then converted at the company’s SiFT pilot plant located in British Columbia, Canada. The lithium carbonate recrystallized as per the SiFT technology and the resulting high-purity lithium carbonate was sent for third party chemical analysis. Third party analysis of the final product is provided in the attached table.

         ANALYSIS OF LITHIUM CARBONATE
 
                             Concentration in
Contaminant            lithium carbonate (ppm)

Chloride                                  141                  
Sulphate                                  <50                  
Aluminum                                   14                   
Barium                                   5.34                  
Calcium                                   179                  
Chromium                                    2                   
Copper                                   <0.8                  
Iron                                       10                   
Potassium                                 <10                  
Magnesium                                58.5                  
Manganese                                <0.4                  
Sodium                                    229                  
Strontium                                  42                   
Titanium                                  2.4                  
Yttrium                                   0.8                  
Zinc                                        3                   
Silicon                                    81                   
Total impurities                        99.92  wt.%              

As seen in the attached table, the lithium carbonate produced from the Arkansas brine is of very high-purity (over 99.92 weight per cent), as opposed to the normal industry benchmark for battery quality, which is usually understood to be over 99.5 weight per cent. Conversion of the lithium chloride to carbonate using a conventional process is continuing, and is being performed by a third party original equipment manufacturer/vendor in Plainfield, Ill. Data from these tests will be released when available.

Continuing optimization and precommercial operations

Standard Lithium continues to operate both the LiSTR DLE plant in Arkansas and the SiFT pilot plant in British Columbia in order to gather additional operational data and refine design parameters to allow for future commercial scaling of the technologies. When current pandemic-related restrictions are eased or lifted, it is still the company’s intention to relocate the SiFT plant to Arkansas so that it can be tied into the existing plant and operate on a continuous and integrated basis.

Dr. Andy Robinson, president and chief operating officer of Standard Lithium, commented: “This is an extremely important milestone for Standard Lithium. We’ve managed to demonstrate the first-of-its-kind continuous extraction of lithium from Smackover brine and we’ve converted it into better than battery quality material. Not only that, but we’ve done it at a large scale, which now allows us to keep on working towards commercialization. This proof of concept validates our approach over the past four years, and is testament to the hard work and ingenuity of our deep and diverse technical team.”

Quality assurance

Dr. Ron Molnar, professional metallurgical engineer (Ontario PE No. 100111288), is a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101, and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release. Dr. Molnar is independent of the company.

Gold mineralization at the HGZ, hosted by brecciated rhyolite of the Beaupre block, consists of bonanza-grade hangingwall and footwall veins which flank an anomalous to low-grade mafic intrusive rock. Gold is in the veins and is associated with sphalerite and pyrite as shown in an image on the company’s website. A longitudinal section of the HGZ is shown in another image on the company’s website and highlights include:

• Hole PE-20-217 intersected 10.55 metres of 20.88 grams per tonne gold over the entire HGZ including a very high-grade core of 1.50 metres of 144.90 g/t Au, which shows homogeneous distribution of gold within the hangingwall vein including 0.50 metre of 72.55 g/t Au, 0.50 metre of 119.58 g/t Au and 0.50 metre of 242.58 g/t Au at a vertical depth of approximately 560 metres. This intercept occurs at the western margin of the upper portion of the HGZ and significantly increases the strike length of the bonanza-grade portion as shown in the longitudinal section on the company’s website.
• Hole PE-20-197 intersected 6.65 metres of 5.89 g/t Au over the entire HGZ including 0.60 metre of 31.68 g/t Au and 0.90 metre of 19.72 g/t Au at a vertical depth of approximately 1,000 metres, which expands the strike length to the east of the HGZ at depth by about 75 metres.
• Hole PE-20-187W2 intersected 7.90 metres of 13.87 g/t Au over the entire HGZ including 2.20 metres of 49.04 g/t Au, which includes 0.55 metre of 106.04 g/t Au and 0.55 metre of 87.92 g/t Au at a vertical depth of approximately 1,065 metres.

Jacques Trottier, PhD, executive chairman of Amex, said: “Over the past two years our high-grade zone has consistently produced exceptional drill results. The HGZ is continuous and predictable as indicated by the strike length expansion of about 75 metres in hole PE-20-197 as well as the expected bonanza grades encountered in hole PE-20-187W2. However, hole PE-20-217 was unexpected and is very exciting to our exploration team, as it produced a very high metal factor in an area of the HGZ that was expected to be weakly mineralized, thus the western extension of the HGZ is now wide open, along with many other areas in the immediate vicinity, for additional high-grade mineralization. We continue to intercept significant gold at depth as well, further expanding the footprint of the system.”

Dr. Trottier continued: “Our 10th drill rig has arrived on the property ahead of schedule and we expect to drill in excess of 10,000 m a month. We have many holes pending at the lab, particularly for the Denise zone, which we are keen to receive and release to the market.”

                 ASSAY RESULTS FROM THE HIGH-GRADE ZONE AT EGZ

Hole ID                  From               To           Length               Au
                          (m)              (m)              (m)            (g/t)

PE-20-187W2          1,159.10         1,167.00             7.90            13.87
including            1,164.80         1,167.00             2.20            49.04
including            1,164.80         1,165.35             0.55           106.04
including            1,165.35         1,165.90             0.55            87.92
PE-20-193              607.50           618.35            10.85             2.43
including              609.95           612.00             2.05            11.71
including              609.95           610.70             0.75            27.28
including              610.70           612.00             1.30             2.72
PE-20-217              602.50           613.05            10.55            20.88
including              606.00           607.50             1.50           144.90
including              606.00           606.50             0.50            72.55
including              606.50           607.00             0.50           119.58
including              607.00           607.50             0.50           242.58
PE-20-197            1,094.40         1,101.05             6.65             5.89
including            1,094.40         1,095.00             0.60            31.68
including            1,095.00         1,095.90             0.90            19.72

* Note that drill results are presented uncapped and lengths represent core 
lengths. True width is estimated to be about 75 per cent in the HGZ with the 
exception of the metallurgical holes, which begin with the prefix PEM that 
are estimated to be about 50 per cent.

Geology of the eastern gold zone

At the eastern gold zone, Amex clearly has two different orogenic Archean gold mineralization types adjacent to each other — the high-grade zone (HGZ) and the Denise zone. The Denise zone is located roughly 50 m to a 100 m to the south of the HGZ and is a shear-zone-type gold mineralization that consists mainly of a wide (from five m to more than 100 m of width) subvertical deformation zone of highly sheared and highly silicified, sericitized and pyritized altered rhyolite. The Denise zone also has a distinctive feature consisting of heavily deformed, pinched and swells transposed quartz veins and veinlets containing various sulphide minerals, such as pyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite and galena, and also frequently fine grains of native free gold. The occurrence of scattered fine free native gold in the Denise zone could explain the higher gold content of this mineralized shear zone (for example, hole PE-19-83 that returned 23.91 g/t Au over 9.30 m). The HGZ is typically a bonanza vein type characterized by very high-grade gold content (up to 393.33 g/t Au over 1.70 m in hole PE-19-22) usually consisting of two parallel continuous quartz veins containing multiple native coarse free gold grains located at the contact on both sides of a linear vertical mafic foliated gabbro intrusive crosscutting a massive rhyolitic host unit.

Qualified person

Maxime Bouchard, PGeo, MScA (OGQ 1752), and Dr. Jerome Augustin, PGeo, PhD (OGQ 2134), independent qualified persons as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101 standards, have reviewed and approved the geological information reported in this news release. The drilling campaign and the quality control program have been planned and supervised by Mr. Bouchard and Dr. Augustin. Core logging and sampling were completed by Laurentia Exploration. The quality assurance and quality control protocol include insertion of blank or standard every 10 samples on average, in addition to the regular insertion of blank, duplicate and standard samples accredited by Laboratoire Expert during the analytical process. Gold values are estimated by fire assay with finish by atomic absorption and values over three parts per million Au are reanalyzed by fire assay with finish by gravimetry by Laboratoire Expert Inc., Rouyn-Noranda. Samples containing visible gold mineralization are analyzed by metallic sieve. For additional quality assurance and quality control, all samples were crushed to 90 per cent less than two millimetres prior to pulverization, in order to homogenize samples, which may contain coarse gold. Core logging and sampling were completed by Laurentia Exploration.

The qualified persons have not completed sufficient work to verify the historic information on the property, particularly in regard to historical drill results. However, the qualified persons believe that drilling and analytical results were completed to industry-standard practices. The information provides an indication of the exploration potential of the property but may not be representative of expected results.

The issuance of the units and shares for debt to the creditors is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities issued will be subject to a four-month hold period, which will expire on the date that is four months and one day from the date of issue.

As certain insiders participated in the debt settlement, it is considered to be a related-party transaction under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 (Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions). All of the independent directors of the company, acting in good faith, considered the transactions, and have determined that the fair market value of the securities being issued to insiders and the consideration being paid are reasonable. The company intends to rely on the exemptions from the valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 contained in sections 5.5(b) and 5.7(b) of MI 61-101.

The company also announces that the company and certain insiders and consultants of the company have agreed to cancel up to 6.25 million stock options held by the optionees issued between 2016 and 2018.