REG - First Class Metals - Operations update - Coco East and OnGold Earn-in

FIRST CLASS METALSAnnouncement

26/06/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 8661T  First Class Metals PLC  26 June 2024

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute
inside information as stipulated under the retained EU law version of the
Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 (the "UK MAR") which is part of UK
law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The information is
disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of the
UK MAR. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is
now considered to be in the public domain.

 

FIRST CLASS METALS PLC

26 June 2024

Operations update - Coco East and OnGold Earn-in.

Admission of Shares

 

First Class Metals PLC ("First Class Metals" "FCM" or the "Company") the UK
listed metals exploration company seeking economic metal discoveries across
its extensive land holdings, remains focused in northern Ontario, Canada, is
pleased to announce that field work on the Coco East base / precious metal
property is now underway.

 

Highlights

·    Field work has commenced  on the Coco East property, base metal
potential

 

·    The Earn-in deal with OnGold Invest Corp ("OnGold") has been
renegotiated, FCM has now acquired 100% of the property as a result  the
exploration work commitment has been removed.

 

Marc Sale First Class Metals CEO Commented:

"In true FCM fashion we are endeavouring to put as much of the available funds
'into-the-ground', though gold prices are soaring the Coco East property has
real potential for base metals. However, the very anomalous gold in lake
sediment samples on the OnGold property constitute a significant target which
too demands follow-up when appropriate.'

 

Coco East

The Coco East block of 30 single cell claims covering ~6.3km² situated about
25km north of the town of Terrace Bay. Geologically the property is on the
eastern sector of the Big Duck Lake Porphyry. The Big Duck Lake Porphyry
contains a number of historic showings as well as the Coco Estelle gold
deposit.

The one showing located within the Coco East property boundary, the Big Birch
occurrence, where two pits are reported with a 5m spacing, striking east-west.
The main pit exposes a 10cm-wide quartz and calcite vein and contains pyrite
and possible chalcopyrite mineralisation; historic assay results have returned
values of 0.56 g/t Au and 2.83 g/t Ag

 

Figure 01 Showing the regional setting of the Coco East claim block with Ontario Mineral Index (OMI) showings.

During the 2022 field season, FCM collected 47 rock samples predominantly in
the area of the Big Birch occurrence and historical drilling. Over the winter
of 2022/23 six lake sediment samples were collected, Assays returned gold and
silver grades that were generally in order of the historic samples,

Figure 02 Showing the main target areas, southern sector being gold and
northern base metals.

The Coco East property not only has potential for precious metal targets but
also base metals. The geophysical anomaly in the northern sector has been
interpreted as a potential eastern continuation of the 'zinc belt' from the
Winston Lake area.

The Winston Lake Mine closed at the end of the 1990s due to low zinc prices.
The Winston deposit was mined between 1988 and 1998, producing approximately
3.3 million tonnes of 14 per cent zinc and one per cent copper.

Today, the critical mineral is hovering between US$2,500 and US$3,000 per
tonne. Zinc is in demand for renewable energy technologies in wind, solar and
battery storage, as well as for the galvanizing, construction and automotive
sectors.

A mine feasibility study published in 2022 shows 2.35 million tonnes at 17.9
per cent zinc and 0.9 per cent copper. There are also some precious metals in
the mix, including one million gold equivalent ounces at 13 grams per tonne.
Source- Metallum Resources: NPV(8) increases to C$383M(1,2) with average
EBITDA of C$102m pa(3) for Superior Lake Zinc Project - Junior Mining Network
(https://www.juniorminingnetwork.com/junior-miner-news/press-releases/2958-tsx-venture/mzn/121493-npv-8-increases-to-c-383m-1-2-with-average-ebitda-of-c-102m-pa-3-for-superior-lake-zinc-project.html)

The focus of the current field exploration programme will be the geophysical
anomaly in the northern sector.

 

OnGold

 

The project is located roughly 21km southeast from the town of Manitouwadge,
Ontario comprising of 163 single cell mining claims covering about 34km(2).
Limited previous exploration has been focussed to investigate several discreet
magnetic anomalies thought to be associated with Ni-Cu-PGE mineralised
mafic-ultramafic intrusions. Similar rock types comprise the Tyko, RJ, Smoke
Lake and the recently discovered West Pickle massive sulphide discovery, see
link below to the full report:

https://www.geologyontario.mndm.gov.on.ca/mndmfiles/afri/data/imaging/20000021101/20000021101_01.pdf

The 103ppb Au lake sediment sample collected by Emerald Geological Services
'EGS' in the winter of 2022/23 also now shows the gold potential of the area.

 

Figure 03 showing the extended North Hemlo claim block with the contiguous
100% owned OnGold claims.

 

FCM, as part of the due diligence process, conducted an extension lake
sediment sampling campaign in April to March 2023 extending from the wider
North Hemlo sampling programme. The initial results from this campaign have
reported gold grades of up to 103ppb.

Bruce MacLachlan, Principle of EGS was  quoted in a previous press release as
saying, "To the best of our knowledge the 103ppb Au Lake sediment value is the
highest lake sediment value collected in the Hemlo Belt outside of the deposit
area".

 While at a very early stage, these initial results are extremely encouraging
and add to the potential for the prospectivity of the property.

Figure 04 Showing geophysical targets identified by OnGold as well as location
of the lake sediment samples with the very anomalous 103ppb Au result.

The terms of the revised Agreement, which is now a Purchase Agreement, not
Earn-In as the property is now 100% controlled by FCM and the annual work
requirements are removed:

Structure of Deal

 

FCM has assumed  100% of the claim block constituting the 'OnGold deal',
being the previous executed Agreement.

 

·    The claims cells will be transferred to First Class Metals Canada
Inc.

 

·      The existing 2% NSR on southern block with 50% buy back for
$500k, remain as is but the buy back is transferred to FCM.

 

·      OnGold to be granted a 2% NSR on northern block with 50% buy back
of $500k.

 

·      OnGold to be granted £100k shares in FCM subject to the
publication of an FCA approved prospectus..

 

The amendments made to the original deal are advantageous for FCM, as they
grant the company 100% control over the property. This development, if further
exploration success ensues, is expected to significantly bolster future value
potential as complete ownership will be retained solely by FCM.

 

The  original deal is detailed in the RNS published 14 June 2023
polaris.brighterir.com/public/first_class_metals/news/rns/story/xlkm7gw
(https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/first_class_metals/news/rns/story/xlkm7gw)

 

 

Admission of Shares

The Company has become aware that 300 ordinary shares of 0.1p each ("Shares")
that were issued in connection of the exercise of warrants announced on 23
January 2023, were not admitted to trading.

Application is therefore being made for 300 Shares to be admitted to trading
on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange which is expected to be on or
around 1 July 2024. These shares rank pari passu with the existing Shares of
the Company.

Following the issue of the 300 new Shares, the Company's issued ordinary share
capital shall consist of 82,046,029 Shares. This figure of 82,046,029
represents the total voting rights in the Company and should be used by
shareholders as the denominator for the calculation by which they can
determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to
their interest in, the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority's
Disclosure Guidance & Transparency Rules.

 

Ends

 

For further information, please contact:

 

 James Knowles, Executive Chairman  JamesK@Firstclassmetalsplc.com (mailto:JamesK@Firstclassmetalsplc.com)  07488 362641
 Marc J Sale, CEO                   MarcS@Firstclassmetalsplc.com (mailto:MarcS@Firstclassmetalsplc.com)    07711 093532

Novum Securities Limited

 

(Financial Adviser)

 

 David Coffman/ George Duxberry   www.novumsecurities.com   (0)20 7399 9400

 

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

First Class Metals PLC - Background

First Class Metals listed on the LSE in July 2022 and is focused on metals
exploration in Ontario, Canada which has a robust and thriving junior mineral
exploration sector. In particular, the Hemlo 'camp' near Marathon, Ontario is
a proven world class address for gold exploration, featuring the Hemlo gold
deposit operated by Barrick Gold (>23M oz gold produced), with the past
producing Geco and Winston Lake base metal deposits also situated in the
region.

FCM currently holds 100% ownership of seven claim blocks covering over 180km²
along a 150km strike of the Hemlo-Schreiber-Dayohessarah greenstone belt,
exploring for gold, base metals, and rare earth element mineralization. In
addition, FCM is carrying out a joint venture with Palladium One on the West
Pickle Lake Property in the region, a drill-proven ultra-high-grade Ni-Cu
project.

The flagship property North Hemlo had a high-definition low level magnetic
Heli-borne survey flown in April 2022, this was followed with ground
prospecting which ultimately defined the 'Dead Otter Trend' which is a
discontinuous 4.5km gold anomalous trend with a 19.6g/t Au peak grab sample.
This sampling being the highest known assay ever recorded on the North Limb of
Hemlo.

In October 2022 FCM completed the option to purchase the historical high-grade
past-producing Sunbeam gold mine near Atikokan, Ontario, ~15 km southeast of
Agnico Eagle's Hammond Reef gold deposit (3.3 Moz of open pit probable gold
reserves).

FCM acquired the Zigzag Project near Armstrong, Ontario in March 2023. The
property features Li-Ta-bearing pegmatites in the same belt as Green
Technology Metals' Seymour Lake Project, which contains a Mineral Resource
estimate of 9.9 Mt @ 1.04% Li2O. Zigzag was drilled prior to Christmas 2023
and results have now been released.

The significant potential of the properties for precious, base and battery
metals relates to 'nearology', since all properties lie in the same districts
as known deposits (Hemlo, Hammond Reef, Seymour Lake), and either contain
known showings, geochemical or geophysical anomalies, or favourable structures
along strike from known showings (e.g. the Esa project, with an inferred
Hemlo-style shear along strike from known gold occurrences).

 

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements in this announcement may contain forward-looking statements
which are based on the Company's expectations, intentions and projections
regarding its future performance, anticipated events or trends and other
matters that are not historical facts. Such forward-looking statements can be
identified by the fact that they do not relate only to historical or current
facts. Forward-looking statements sometimes use words such as 'aim',
'anticipate', 'target', 'expect', 'estimate', 'intend', 'plan', 'goal',
'believe', or other words of similar meaning. These statements are not
guarantees of future performance and are subject to known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Given these risks and uncertainties, prospective investors are cautioned not
to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements speak only as of the date of such statements and, except as
required by applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update or
revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.

 

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