REG - First Class Metals - Sunbeam Property Expansion

FIRST CLASS METALSAnnouncement

04/09/2025 07:00

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RNS Number : 9288X  First Class Metals PLC  04 September 2025

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

4 September 2025

Sunbeam Property Expanded - Strategic Position Between Agnico Eagle Holdings

 

First Class Metals PLC ("First Class Metals" "FCM" or the "Company") the UK
listed company focused on the discovery of economic metal deposits across its
exploration properties in Ontario, Canada, is pleased to announce that it has
entered into an option agreement ("Option Agreement") over two additional
claim blocks ("Sunbeam SE" or "Sunbeam South East") contiguous to the Sunbeam
Property, increasing the total land package to approximately 90km².

The Sunbeam Property is strategically located between Agnico Eagle's Hammond
Reef deposit - which hosts 3.3 million ounces of open pit probable reserves
(123.5Mt @ 0.84 g/t Au) - and Agnico Eagle's wider regional holdings. This
positioning underscores Sunbeam's exceptional potential within a highly
endowed and infrastructure-accessible gold district.

Highlights

·    Strategic Expansion: Option Agreement secured over two new claim
blocks contiguous to Sunbeam, increasing the project size to in excess of
 ~90km².

·    Prime Location: Consolidates a gap between Sunbeam and Agnico Eagle's
Melema property, only ~15km from Agnico Eagle's 3.3Moz Hammond Reef deposit.

·    Enhanced Footprint: Enlarged land package now exceeds 90km²,
consolidating a highly prospective position across multiple mineralised
structures and strengthening the exploration case and scale at Sunbeam.

·    Very Low Frequency ("VLF")-magnetic survey: 905 stations across
17.1km of grid surveyed; data undergoing interpretation to refine targets
ahead of possible drill planning.

·    Cost-Effective Growth: Option ("Option") secured at modest cost -
C$31,000 cash and C$55,000 in ordinary shares of £0.001 each ("Shares") over
three years - with a 1.5% NSR royalty, 50% re-purchasable for C$400,000.

 

Marc J. Sale CEO First Class Metals Commented:

"The accretion of this parcel of claims to the expanding Sunbeam property is a
sensible addition to our project portfolio. The new claims have added ~4km(2)
to the property further progressing the district scale potential.

Work is ongoing on the Sunbeam Property, specifically on the >10km Roy
lineament. We eagerly await the results of the soil survey and the VLF
interpretation so we can plan the next steps for this field season."

 

Sunbeam Property

The Sunbeam property, which now extends over >90km(2), contains three
historic development sites: i) Sunbeam, the most exploited and the only site
with recorded production, ii) Roy and iii) Pettigrew; these all sit on
previously identified mineralised, district scale, structures, see Figure 1.

In addition, along these three mineralised structures a number of other
significant gold bearing sites have been identified, such as Road zone and AL
308. A potential 4(th) lineation, the Burger structure, has not been explored
by FCM, neither has the Rubble zone.

The historic developments as well as the widespread occurrence of gold
emphasise the mineral endowment of the property and the potential for a major
discovery.

Figure 1 showing the mineralised trends on the Sunbeam property and with the
locations of the lake sediment samples, the area of soil / VLF survey as well
as the recently staked claims.

Sunbeam is situated between two extensive properties held by Agnico Eagle,
both these properties have mineralised northeast striking structures, with the
western property hosting the Hammond reef deposit of 3.3M oz of gold, see
Figure 2.

Figure 2 showing the Sunbeam property's neighbours (Agnico Eagle) and similar
mineralised structures

The 'new' claims that form the Option Agreement are contiguous to both the
southeastern margin of the Sunbeam block and the northwestern margin of the
Agnico Eagle's Melema property filling in a prospective as well as
logistically important location, see Figure 3.

 

Figure 3 showing the new 'Sunbeam SE' claims in light blue, relative to the
main property

 

The area is equivalent to 48 single cell claims and importantly, as stated are
contiguous to the main property, which has positive implications for
assessment credits, the new claims increased the property size from roughly
88km(2) to above 90km(2) making it truly district scale in its potential.

The key commercial terms of the Agreement are:

 Due Date                                        Common Share Payments                                                        Cash Payment (CAD)
 Signing the Agreement                           Payment of $ 10,000 to be satisfied by the allotment of 276,924 Shares at a  $5,000
                                                 price of 1.95 pence per share within 30 days of execution
 On the 1(st) anniversary of the Effective Date  $45,000 in Shares at a price equal to the closing mid-price on the 1(st)     $6,000
                                                 anniversary.
 On the 2(nd) anniversary of the Effective Date  nil                                                                          $8,000
 On the 3(rd) anniversary of the Effective Date  nil                                                                          $12,000
 Total                                           $55,000 in share value                                                       $31,000

 

There is also 1.5% NSR Royalty associated with the property with the ability
to buy-back 50% of the same for C$ 400,000

 

Other developments

o  Soil sampling

The results of the soil sampling programme are still to be received and will
report once in-house and interpreted.

 

o  VLF / magnetic survey

A VLF and magnetic survey has resumed over the southern, (Roy section) of the
district lineament as well as completion of the central grid area which now
has 6km line survey.

 

The southern grid (over the Roy shafts) as well as 'tie lines' orientated
northeast, southwest bring the total surveyed on this grid at month's end to
12.1km. This data will be processed and then interpreted before completing the
remainder (northern grid) of the survey.

Issue of Equity

276,924 Shares are being issued to cover the first Sunbeam South East Share
Payment, they will rank Pari passu with the Company's existing issued ordinary
shares. The Company intends to allot and issue these new ordinary shares under
its existing authorities on a non-pre-emptive basis.

Application is being made to the FCA for admission of the 276,924 Shares to
the Equity Shares (transition) category of the Official List and to the London
Stock Exchange for admission to trading on the Main Market for listed
securities (together, "Admission"). Admission is expected to occur on or
around 10 September 2025.

Following Admission, the Company's issued ordinary share capital will be
233,932,820 ordinary shares, which may be used by shareholders as the
denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are
required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the
share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and
Transparency Rule

 

Qualified Person

 

The technical disclosures contained in this announcement have been drafted in
line with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum standards
and guidelines and approved by Marc J. Sale, who has more than 30 years in the
gold exploration industry and is considered a Qualified person owing to his
status as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

 

 

For Further Information:

Engage with us by asking questions, watching video summaries, and seeing what
other shareholders have to say. Navigate to our Interactive Investor hub here:

https://fcm-l.investorhub.com/link/MP7o0P
(https://fcm-l.investorhub.com/link/MP7o0P)

For further information, please contact:

James Knowles, Executive Chair

Email: JamesK@Firstclassmetalsplc.com

Tel: 07488 362641

Marc J Sale, CEO and Executive Director

Email: MarcS@Firstclassmetalsplc.com

Tel: 07711 093532

Novum Securities Limited (Financial Adviser)

David Coffman / Dan Harris

Website: www.novumsecurities.com (http://www.novumsecurities.com)

Tel: (0)20 7399 9400

Axis Capital Markets (Broker)

Lewis Jones

Website: Axcap247.com (http://www.axcap247.com)

Tel: (0)203 026 0449

 

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 Mining (>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 250km²
in northwest Ontario. A further three blocks are under option and cover an
additional 30km(2).FCM is focussed on exploring for gold but has base metals
and critical metals mineralisation. FCM is maintaining a joint venture with GT
Resources on the West Pickle Lake Property a drill-proven ultra-high-grade
Ni-Cu project.

The flagship properties, North Hemlo and Sunbeam, are gold focussed. North
Hemlo has a significant discovery in the Dead Otter trend which is a
discontinuous 3.5km gold anomalous trend with a 19.6g/t Au peak grab sample.
This sampling being the highest known assay from a grab sample 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 successfully drilled prior to
Christmas 2023 and results have now been released.

The Kerrs Gold property, acquired under option by First Class Metals in April
2024, is located in northeastern Ontario within the Abitibi Greenstone Belt,
one of the world's most prolific gold-producing regions. The project holds a
historical inferred resource of approximately 386,000 ounces of gold,
underscoring its potential as a meaningful addition to FCM's expanding gold
portfolio. Kerrs Gold complements the Company's exploration strategy and
provides exposure to a well-established mining district. FCM is currently
reviewing plans to advance the project and further unlock its value.

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).

For further information see the Company's presentation on the web site:

www.firstclassmetalsplc.com

 

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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