Black Schist Project Strategy Update

Metals One PLC

22 February 2024

 

22 February 2024 

Metals One Plc

("Metals One" or the "Company")

Black Schist Ni-Zn-Cu-Co Project Strategy Update

Metals One (AIM: MET1), which is advancing critical minerals projects in Finland and Norway, is pleased to announce an update to its Black Schist Ni-Zn-Cu-Co Project strategy.

Following recently announced significant intersections of mineralisation in the black schists of the Kainuu Schist Belt, Finland (see below), Metals One intends to expand its portfolio of high-quality assets within this economically important style of mineralisation. As announced on 12 February 2024, the results included the following:

·    Hole RAU0002 intercepted 14.7m of mineralised black schists from 50m (0.18% Ni, 0.11% Cu, 0.01% Co, 0.57% Zn)[1]

·    Hole RAU0003 intercepted 11m of mineralised black schists from 199.5m (0.22% Ni, 0.10% Cu, 0.01% Co, 0.55% Zn) [2]

The strategy is for the Company to show a clear path to the economic extraction of its assets. This includes a longer-term ambition of potentially defining a 200 Mt resource in the Paltamo area, the scale of which could underpin a significant supply of critical minerals to the European market at what Metals One expects to be a low cost of production.

Black Schist Ni-Zn-Cu-Co Project strategy

Highlights

·    Increase volumes and geological and grade confidence in the R1 and P5 targets through a programme of infill and step-out drilling, as well as further assaying of existing cores

·    Rapidly secure additional targets across the Kainuu Schist Belt using the Company's innovative new prospectivity model for mineralised black schists. The model aims to speed up and de-risk the identification and development of critical minerals in this mineralised system

·    Systematically drill and model these new targets

Metals One holds several exploration licences and reservations across the Kainuu Schist Belt (the "Belt"), including Talvivaara-style mineralisation targets with an existing JORC Inferred Resource (at the R1 target) of 28.1 Mt at a grade of 0.19% Ni (53,800t), 0.10% Cu (27,900t), 0.01% Co (3,400t) and 0.38% Zn (180,000t)[3], and a JORC Exploration Target (at the P5 target) of 16-24 Mt. The Belt is economically significant as it is the host geological sequence to black schists extracted by the nearby Talvivaara mine, considered to be one of Europe's largest nickel-zinc-copper-cobalt producers.

Black schist nickel-zinc-copper-cobalt ore is considered to be one of the lower-cost sources of critical minerals, both economically and environmentally given its amenability to the low cost, low carbon intensive bio heap leaching extraction method which is actively being deployed in Finland. Metals One's objective, through its Black Schist Project, is to identify and define economic resources of Talvivaara-style mineralisation that the Company may take into production directly, through a joint-venture, or sell to an existing mine operator.

New target acquisition

In Q4 2023, Metals One undertook a regional assessment of the Belt to identify additional mineral targets. Through the analysis of historical assays and geophysical data, and by applying the prospectivity model, the Company identified several highly prospective targets in proximity to its existing R1 resource in Rautavaara and P5 target in Paltamo. Metals One moved quickly to secure these targets with the submission of three exploration applications and three reservation applications, totalling almost 15,000 hectares.

Table 1: Metals One permit status at time of publication

Name	Status		Area, ha
Haapaselkä	Exploration Permit Extension Granted	Existing	95.64
Haapaselkä2	Exploration Application	New	586.88
Hankamäki	Exploration Application	New	549.73
Korpimäki	Exploration Application	New	589.01
Kirkkosuo	Reserved	New	72.56
Paltamo	Reserved	New	7543.73
Perakorpi	Reserved	New	1145.12
Rauta 9-11	Exploration Permit Granted	Existing	234.91
Rautavaara	Reserved	New	4517.1
Rautavaara S	Exploration Permit Granted	Existing	373.32

Figure 1: Rautavaara licences/reservations		Figure 2: Paltamo licences/reservation

Prospectivity model

The Company's prospectivity model integrates the discrete geophysical, lithological, and petrological characteristics recently identified at the Rautavaara and Paltamo areas and is a living model that will evolve as it receives new information and insights. Its purpose is to increase the speed and confidence of early mineralisation discovery, maximising the return on exploration expenditure.

Shortly after listing, Metals One built the first iteration of the model using the geological and geophysical information held by the Company on both the R1 and P5 targets. The insights provided by the model subsequently fed into the regional new target acquisition exercise, explained below.

Thanks to advances in exploration technology in the decade since R1 and P5 were last drilled, Metals One has recognised the opportunity to further refine the model with new data. In addition, several unknowns remain in terms of the geological characteristics of the mineralisation, including its magnetic susceptibility.

This would involve a limited drill campaign in proximity to known mineralisation with geological continuity. The Company identified the R1-Hook anomaly as an excellent opportunity to update the model and to potentially provide a future extension to the R1 Inferred Resource.

In November 2023, Metals One was granted an extension to its Rauta 9-11 exploration permit, which provides the Company with the right to prospect on all land within the licence for an additional three years until November 2026. Subsequently, in December 2023, Metals One completed a diamond core drill programme on the R1-Hook target which intercepted mineralised black schists in all eight drill holes and showed geological continuity with the Company's existing resource at R1, supporting possible future expansion of that resource.

The Company applied its new geological and geophysical insights to the prospectivity model, which has helped the Company refine its work programme with an expected reduction in discovery risk on new targets, such as K1 in the Korpimäki area.

Resource development

Rautavaara area

R1 resource and R1-Hook target

The R1 Talvivaara-style mineral resource, with an existing JORC Inferred Resource of 28.1 Mt[4], is a cornerstone asset of Metals One's Black Schist Project. It lies within the Rautavaara area, a highly prospective area for mineralised black schists within which the Company is evaluating several targets.

Metals One identified the R1-Hook target, a strong electromagnetic ("EM") anomaly next to R1, as an opportunity to both refine the prospectivity model and potentially expand the R1 mineral resource. Given its proximity to a known mineralised structure, and the direct comparisons that could be drawn, the Company made the R1-Hook a priority target.

Following the extension of the Rauta 9-11 licence in November 2023, in which both the R1 resource and R1-Hook target are located, the Company moved to execute its drilling programme for the R1-Hook in December 2023.

The objectives of the programme were to confirm the structure and its potential to host Talvivaara-type Ni-Cu-Co-Zn mineralisation. Talvivaara is one of Europe's largest and lowest-cost producers of critical minerals, located just 25km to the north of this target.

The Company drilled 1,551m along what, according to ground and airborne geophysical surveys, appeared to be a fold structure to the east of the Company's R1 resource.

As announced on 12 February 2024, all drill holes intercepted mineralised black schists, with the best thickness and grades intersected on the eastern limb of the main R1 Hook fold. This observation, together with a confirmation of the synform nature of the limb dipping steeply to the south, suggests a significant potential for further mineralisation to the east, beyond the boundary of the Company's existing permit. The Company has lodged a permit application to secure this area, known as Kirkkosuo, intending to confirm the extension of the structure and mineralisation with a limited diamond drill programme in due course.

Figure 3: Eight drill locations superimposed on the EM survey of the R1-Hook target at the Black Schist Project

Figure 4: EM survey of the R1-Hook anomaly and its proximity to the existing mineral resource at the Rauta 9-11 licence area

Figure 5: Mineralised black schist intersection for drill hole RAU001

K1 target

As Metals One continues to develop the prospectivity model, it is already helping to identify additional targets to support the Company's resource expansion in both the Rautavaara and Paltamo areas. One of the key targets identified is K1, which is within the Korpimäki licence application. Past explorers dismissed this target, despite intercepting high grades. With the Company's improved understanding of these strata-bound contiguous orebodies, it believes that this target potentially represents significant volumes of mineralised black schists.

Metals One is currently 3D-modelling the historical drill data with a view to further defining the resource with an initial drill programme. The Company has secured landowner consent to drill, allowing it to drill ahead of the licence application being granted.

In addition, the Company has several similar highly prospective targets in the Rautavaara area that it is currently evaluating and prioritising for further investigation.

Figure 6: Korpimäki prospect (K1 target). EM overlaid with historical drill holes and assays.

Figure 7: Preliminary structural model of the K1 target

Paltamo area

P5 target

The Company's ambition is to define a 200 Mt resource in the Paltamo area. The P5 mineralisation follows a black schist belt that has been folded, as interpreted by Metals One. Previous explorers intercepted mineralisation along the belt, suggesting geological and grade continuity.

Talvivaara showed that this type of ore can be readily processed with low-cost bio heap leaching, with this nearby mine achieving metal recoveries of 99% at a tenth of the carbon cost of processing lateritic ores, such as those of Indonesia.

Assessment of the P5 JORC Exploration Target historical data highlights an opportunity to significantly increase the volume of, and confidence level in, this mineralised structure. The previous permit holder did not assay several of the mineralisation intersections of the cores, which resulted in a lower category JORC Exploration Target of 16-24 Mt[5]. By correlating existing assays with pXRF measurements of un-assayed intersections recently taken by the Company, as well as completing the assays of all intersections. With a modest drill campaign of around 3,000m to confirm grade continuity, it may be possible to define a Mineral Resource.

The Company has completed petrological measurements of the historical cores and is currently preparing and sending samples of un-assayed intersections for assay at a nearby laboratory. It expects to receive the assay results in late March 2024, after which it will update the block model and resource estimate. Metals One expects to share its findings in Q2 2024.

Figure 8: P5 block model based on historical assays and latest XRF

Figure 9: EM image showing conductive material in the bedrock. Mineralised black schists below interpretation overlayed in blue. P5 block model included top centre

Jonathan Owen, Chief Executive Officer of Metals One, commented:

"Our strategy for the Black Schist Project, recently updated and outlined today, unlocks the potential to provide high-quality sources of critical minerals. The European market is seeking to secure such critical minerals from within the security of its own shores, and at the lowest economic and environmental cost. Recent European legislation enhances these considerations, such as the Critical Raw Materials Act, which pursues indigenous supply, and the Battery Regulation, a directive requiring passports for large batteries, stating their material provenance and carbon footprint.

Our strategy includes rapidly converting our P5 Exploration Target to a Mineral Resource, followed by an expansion programme with an ambition to realise, in the longer term, a resource in the order of 200 Mt. It is our view that a resource of that scale could support an economic case for a long-term producing asset."

Metals One has published a new corporate presentation to reflect this update to its Black Schist Project strategy, together with recent updates on the progress of its SRH Råna Project (nickel, copper, cobalt) in Norway. This is available to view on the Company's website here:

https://metals-one.com/investors/#financial-reports-&-presentation.

Enquiries:

Metals One Plc Jonathan Owen, Chief Executive Officer	via Vigo Consulting [phone]
Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nominated Adviser) James Biddle / Roland Cornish www.beaumontcornish.com	[phone]
Shard Capital Partners LLP (Joint Broker) Damon Heath / Erik Woolgar	[phone]
SI Capital Limited (Joint Broker) Nick Emerson	[phone]
Fortified Securities (Joint Broker) Guy Wheatley, CFA www.fortifiedsecurities.com	[phone]
Vigo Consulting (Investor Relations) Ben Simons / Kendall Hill [e-mail]	[phone]

Qualified Person Statement

Craig Moulton is an Independent Non-Executive Director of the Company and the Qualified Person who reviewed and approved the technical disclosures in this news release. Mr Moulton has over 30 years' experience in the mining industry, having worked for Rio Tinto, Cliffs and Wood Mackenzie, and is a trained Geologist and Mineral Economist. Mr Moulton holds a BSc (Hons) in Geology and a MSc in Mineral Economics and is a qualified person under the AIM Rules. Mr Moulton consents to the inclusion of the technical information in this release and context in which it appears.

About Metals One

Metals One is developing critical minerals projects in Finland (Black Schist Project) and Norway (SRH Råna Project), with approximately £9 million of exploration carry exposure through farm-in agreements. Metals One is aiming to help meet the significant critical minerals by defining resources on the doorstep of Europe's major electric vehicle OEMs and battery manufacturers. Metals One's Black Schist Project in Finland, totalling 706 km² across three licence areas, has an Inferred Resource of 28.1 Mt nickel-zinc-copper-cobalt and is located adjacent to Talvivaara, Europe's largest operating nickel mine. Metals One's fully carried SRH Råna Project in Norway covers 18.14 km² across three contiguous exploration licences, with significant opportunity for brownfield exploration of the Råna intrusion, and proven potential for massive sulphide nickel-cobalt-copper mineralisation.

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Nominated Adviser

Beaumont Cornish Limited ("Beaumont Cornish") is the Company's Nominated Adviser and is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Beaumont Cornish's responsibilities as the Company's Nominated Adviser, including a responsibility to advise and guide the Company on its responsibilities under the AIM Rules for Companies and AIM Rules for Nominated Advisers, are owed solely to the London Stock Exchange. Beaumont Cornish is not acting for and will not be responsible to any other persons for providing protections afforded to customers of Beaumont Cornish nor for advising them in relation to the proposed arrangements described in this announcement or any matter referred to in it.

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[1] Refer to RNS announcement dated 12 February 2024

[2] Refer to RNS announcement dated 12 February 2024

[3] Refer to Admission Document - https://metals-one.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Metals-One-Plc-Final-Admission-Document-25.7.23.pdf

[4] Refer to Admission Document - https://metals-one.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Metals-One-Plc-Final-Admission-Document-25.7.23.pdf

[5] Refer to Admission Document - https://metals-one.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Metals-One-Plc-Final-Admission-Document-25.7.23.pdf

 

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