Lion One Metals Reports New High-grade Gold Results at Tuvatu

North Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 14, 2023) - Lion One Metals Limited (TSXV: LIO) (OTCQX: LOMLF) (ASX: LLO) ("Lion One" or the "Company") is pleased to report significant new high-grade gold results from ongoing grade control drilling at its 100% owned Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project in Fiji.

Assay results are presented here for grade control drilling completed in the Zone 2 area of Tuvatu, focusing primarily on the URW1, URA1 and Murau lode systems. Mining of the URA1 lode and the URW1 lode system is ongoing and grade control drilling is being conducted in advance of future mining in these areas (see news releases dated April 3, 2023 and May 18, 2023). The results reported here represent material that is scheduled to be mined in Q4 2023 and throughout 2024.

Lion One Chairman and CEO Walter Berukoff commented: "The results from our grade control drill program continue to exceed expectations. The program is continuously returning very high-grade material with excellent mining widths. As we increase our drill density at Tuvatu we continue to identify very high-grade zones upon which to focus and prioritize our mining plan, and which will help us to add additional tonnage to our growing stockpile of high-grade material as we ramp up to our first gold production in Q4 2023".

Highlights of new Zone 2 grade control drilling (3 g/t Au cutoff):

• 19.78 g/t Au over 6.0 m (including 31.52 g/t Au over 3.0 m) (TGC-0071, from 114.0 m depth)

• 14.83 g/t Au over 6.0 m (including 25.16 g/t Au over 2.4 m) (TGC-0055, from 90.9 m depth)

• 18.08 g/t Au over 3.6 m (including 32.74 g/t Au over 1.5 m) (TGC-0073, from 90.0 m depth)

• 25.25 g/t Au over 2.4 m (including 149.63 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TGC-0078, from 95.2 m depth)

• 45.89 g/t Au over 0.9 m (TGC-0080, from 23.4 m depth)

• 8.00 g/t Au over 4.8 m (including 21.05 g/t Au over 0.9 m) (TGC-0080, from 47.4 m depth)

• 8.52 g/t Au over 3.3 m (including 11.16 g/t Au over 1.8 m) (TGC-0053, from 13.8 m depth)

• 17.73 g/t Au over 1.5 m (including 20.98 g/t Au over 0.9 m) (TGC-0053, from 56.4 m depth)

• 14.13 g/t Au over 1.8 m (including 18.64 g/t Au over 1.2 m) (TGC-0062, from 67.5 m depth)

Note: Grade control drillhole composites are calculated using a 3 g/t Au cutoff with maximum internal dilution intervals of 1 m at < 3 g/t Au.

Figure 1. Location of Zone 2 Grade Control Drillholes. Left image: Plan view of Tuvatu showing Zone 2 grade control drillholes in relation to the mineralized lodes. Drillholes are shown in black, mineralized lodes in pale grey, and underground developments in red. The yellow dashed circle represents the Zone 2 area of the deposit. 

Table 1. Highlights of composited grade control drill results in the Zone 2 area. Composites are calculated using a 3 g/t Au cutoff with maximum internal dilution intervals of 1 m at <3 g/t Au. For full results see Table 2 in the appendix. For full results using a 0.5 g/t cutoff see Table 3 in the appendix.

Zone 2

The Zone 2 area of Tuvatu is located in the northwest part of the system along the western decline. It is the first part of the deposit scheduled for mining and encompasses a number of distinct lode systems, including the URW1, URA1, and Murau lode systems.

The URW1 lode system was the primary target for the current round of drilling. It consists predominantly of narrow, high-grade to locally bonanza-grade vein arrays and vein swarms that strike approximately N-S and dip sub-vertically to steeply east. Current modelling suggests that there are multiple separate lodes within the URW1 lode system. The first two of these lodes, URW1a and URW1b, are currently being mined. As reported on July 13, 2023 and July 27, 2023, mineralization in these lodes is both higher grade and more laterally extensive than initially anticipated. Grade control drilling in the URW1 area is targeting the up-dip and down-dip extensions of these lodes, 20 m to 40 m above and below the current mine drives. The URW1 lode system has a current strike length of approximately 300 m in the N-S direction, and a vertical extent of approximately 300 m.

Similarly, the URA1 lode is a narrow, steeply dipping, high-grade to locally bonanza-grade vein system. It was discovered during the development of the western decline and is intersected by the decline at approximately 75 m from the portal entrance. It trends approximately northeast-southwest and dips steeply to the southeast. It has a current strike length of approximately 100 m, and a vertical extent of approximately 120 m.

Figure 2. URA1 Lode and URW1 Lode System. Plan view (top) and view looking north (bottom) of the URA1 lode and the URW1 lode system in relation to the grade control holes reported here. Mining is ongoing in the URA1 lode (shown in purple) and the URW1a and URW1b lodes (shown in light brown). Additional lodes included in the URW1 lode system are shown in blue. Grade control drilling is targeting the up-dip and down-dip extensions of these lodes, focusing primarily on the URW1a and URW1b lodes, as evident in the bottom image. 

The Murau lode system consists of a series of stacked relatively flat lying lodes that strike approximately east-west and dip moderately to the south. Mining is scheduled to begin on the upper part of the Murau lode system in Q4 2023. The portion of the Murau lode system that is currently targeted for mining consists of a 110 m strike length in the east-west direction, a vertical extent of 55 m, and a down-dip extension of 100 m.

Figure 3. Murau Lode System. Plan view (left) and view looking east (right) of the Murau lode system in relation to the grade control drillholes reported here. Mining on the upper part of the Murau lode system is scheduled to start in Q4 2023. The stacked nature of the Murau lodes and their moderate dip to the south is visible in the right-hand image. 

Grade Control Drilling

Figure 4. Location of High-Grade Intercepts from Zone 2 Grade Control Drilling, 3.0 g/t Au cutoff. Plan view (top) and view looking north (bottom) of the URA1 lode, the URW1 lode system, and the Murau lode system in relation to the grade control drillholes reported here, with high-grade intercepts highlighted. Downhole composite intervals with grades between 3 and 10 g/t Au are shown in orange, intervals with grades between 10 and 30 g/t Au are shown in red, and intervals over 30 g/t Au are shown in purple. Select high-grade intervals are identified. Grades shown are gold grades in g/t. Underground developments are shown in pale transparent grey to increase visibility of the mineralized intervals. 

Grade control drilling is being conducted from underground as well as from near the mine portal and is targeting near surface mineralization scheduled for mining in the next four to sixteen months. It is targeting 5-10 m centers and is designed to provide a detailed understanding of the geometry and mineralization of lode arrays in advance of underground development. Results from the grade control drill program will be used to help optimize mine development and mineral extraction in these areas. The Zone 2 grade control drill program is ongoing. Examples of mineralization observed in the Zone 2 drillholes reported here are shown in Figure 5.

A total of 83 grade control drillholes have been completed to date in the Zone 2 and Zone 5 areas at Tuvatu, including 24 grade control drillholes included in this news release. Previous grade control drill results are available in the news releases dated April 25, 2023 and June 14, 2023.

Figure 5. Example Mineralization from Zone 2 Grade Control Drilling. Left: Monzonite-hosted chalcedonic silica veins with abundant coarse grained honey sphalerite rimmed by fine-grained sooty pyrite (TGC-0064, 182.9-183.2 m) Width of core is 4.76 cm. Top center: Banded silica-roscoelite-pyrite vein with visible gold (TGC-0076, 89.7-90.0 m) Width of image is approximately 2 cm. Top right: Fracture face coated with silica, sphalerite, pyrite, and multiple grains of visible gold (TGC-0073, 91.5-91.8 m). Core diameter is 4.76 cm. Bottom right: Monzonite-hosted quartz veinlet with visible gold (TGC-0073, 90.3-90.6 m). Width of image is approximately 3 cm. Bottom center: Monzonite-hosted quartz veinlet with multiple flecks of visible gold (TGC-0083, 56.9-57.2 m). Width of image is approximately 3 cm. 

About Tuvatu

The Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project is located on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji. The January 2018 mineral resource for Tuvatu as disclosed in the technical report "Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Tuvatu Gold Project, Republic of Fiji", dated September 25, 2020, and prepared by Mining Associates Pty Ltd of Brisbane Qld, comprises 1,007,000 tonnes indicated at 8.50 g/t Au (274,600 oz. Au) and 1,325,000 tonnes inferred at 9.0 g/t Au (384,000 oz. Au) at a cut-off grade of 3.0 g/t Au. The technical report is available on the Lion One website at www.liononemetals.com and on the SEDAR website at www.sedarplus.ca.

Qualified Person

In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43- 101"), Sergio Cattalani, P.Geo, Senior Vice President Exploration, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has reviewed and is responsible for the technical and scientific content of this news release.

QAQC Procedures

Lion One adheres to rigorous QAQC procedures above and beyond basic regulatory guidelines in conducting its sampling, drilling, testing, and analyses. The Company utilizes its own fleet of diamond drill rigs, using PQ, HQ and NQ sized drill core rods. Drill core is logged and split by Lion One personnel on site. Samples are delivered to and analyzed at the Company's geochemical and metallurgical laboratory in Fiji. Duplicates of all samples with grades above 0.5 g/t Au are both re-assayed at Lion One's lab and delivered to ALS Global Laboratories in Australia (ALS) for check assay determinations. All samples for all high-grade intercepts are sent to ALS for check assays. All samples are pulverized to 85% passing through 75 microns. Gold analysis is carried out using fire assay with an AA finish. Samples that have returned grades greater than 10.00 g/t Au are then re-analyzed by gravimetric method. For samples that return greater than 0.50 g/t Au, repeat fire assay runs are carried out and repeated until a result is obtained that is within 10% of the original fire assay run. Lion One's laboratory can also assay for a range of 71 other elements through Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES), but currently focuses on a suite of 9 important pathfinder elements. All duplicate anomalous samples are sent to ALS labs in Townsville QLD and are analyzed by the same methods (Au-AA26, and Au-GRA22 where applicable). ALS also analyses 33 pathfinder elements by HF-HNO3-HClO4 acid digestion, HCl leach and ICP-AES (method ME-ICP61).

About Lion One Metals Limited

Lion One's flagship asset is 100% owned, fully permitted high grade Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project, located on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji. Lion One envisions a low-cost high-grade underground gold mining operation at Tuvatu coupled with exciting exploration upside inside its tenements covering the entire Navilawa Caldera, an underexplored yet highly prospective 7km diameter alkaline gold system. Lion One's CEO Walter Berukoff leads an experienced team of explorers and mine builders and has owned or operated over 20 mines in 7 countries. As the founder and former CEO of Miramar Mines, Northern Orion, and La Mancha Resources, Walter is credited with building over $3 billion of value for shareholders.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of
Lion One Metals Limited
"Walter Berukoff", Chairman and CEO

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Appendix 1: Full Drill Results and Collar Information

Table 2. Composited results from grade control drillholes in the Zone 2 area, 3.0 g/t Au cutoff

Table 3. Composited results from grade control drillholes in the Zone 2 area, 0.5 g/t Au cutoff

Table 4. Collar coordinates for grade control holes reported in this release. Coordinates are in Fiji map grid.