Lion One Drills 1517.79 g/t Gold over 0.3 M at Tuvatu Gold Mine in Fiji

North Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - December 17, 2024) - Lion One Metals Limited (TSXV: LIO) (OTCQX: LOMLF) ("Lion One" or the "Company") is pleased to report significant new high-grade gold results from Zone 5 infill and grade control drilling at its 100% owned Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project in Fiji.

Assay results are presented here for infill and grade control drilling in the Zone 5 area of Tuvatu. Drill results include multiple bonanza grade gold assays such as 1517.79 g/t, 513.50 g/t, 113.76 g/t, 137.50 g/t, and 115.25 g/t (see Table 1 below). These results are all located proximal to underground development in the near-surface portion of the mine. Drilling was focused on the up-dip and down-dip areas of the UR2 and URW3 lodes. Previous drill results from the Zone 5 area are available in the June 12, 2024, June 5, 2024, and December 13, 2023 news releases.

Top New Drill Results:

• 1517.79 g/t Au over 0.3 m (TGC-0237, from 42.6 m depth)

• 513.50 g/t Au over 0.3 m (TGC-0263, from 60.47 m depth)

• 67.45 g/t Au over 0.75 m (TGC-0254, from 90.75 m depth)

• 17.89 g/t Au over 2.7 m (including 113.76 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TGC-0225, from 94.6 m depth)

• 25.73 g/t Au over 1.8 m (including 96.78 g/t Au over 0.4 m) (TGC-0251, from 46.9 m depth)

• 18.42 g/t Au over 2.5 m (including 62.83 g/t Au over 0.4 m) (TGC-0240, from 44.0 m depth)

• 30.99 g/t Au over 1.4 m (including 137.50 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TGC-0239, from 97.8 m depth)

• 64.25 g/t Au over 0.6 m (TGC-0256, from 98.11 m depth)

• 72.55 g/t Au over 0.5 m (TGC-0245, from 91.0 m depth)

• 115.25 g/t Au over 0.3 m (TGC-0250, from 52.7 m depth)

*All drill intersects are downhole lengths, 3.0 g/t cutoff. See Table 1 for additional data.

Figure 1. Location of the Zone 5 drilling reported in this news release. Left image: Plan view of Tuvatu showing Zone 5 drillholes in relation to the mineralized lodes at Tuvatu, shown in grey. Yellow dashed square represents the area shown in the right image. Right image: Oblique view of Zone 5 drilling looking approximately east-northeast. Zone 5 drilling is targeting the up-dip and down-dip extensions of the mineralized lodes above and below current underground developments, shown in red.

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Table 1. Highlights of composited grade control and infill drill results in the Zone 5 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 3 in the appendix.

 
*All drill intersects are downhole lengths

Zone 5 Drilling

The Zone 5 area of Tuvatu is located along the main decline and includes the principal north-south oriented lodes (UR1 to UR3), the principal northeast-southwest oriented lodes (UR4 to UR8), and several of the western lodes (URW2, URW2A, URW3). These lodes are steeply dipping structures that converge at approximately 500 m depth to form Zone 500, which is the highest-grade part of the deposit and is interpreted to be the feeder zone at Tuvatu. The system remains open at depth with the deepest high-grade intersections occurring below 1000 m depth.

The drilling reported in this news release targeted the near-surface portions of the UR2 and URW3 lodes. Drilling was focused on the up-dip and down-dip areas of the UR2 and URW3 lodes, directly above and below current underground developments. The drilling targeted a 320 m strike length of the UR2 and URW3 lodes. The current total strike length of the UR2 lode is approximately 620 m, while that of the URW3 lode is approximately 330 m. Both lodes remain open along strike and at depth.

Zone 5 grade control drilling is being conducted from three underground locations: the 1130 drill cuddy, the 1135 drill cuddy, and the 1090 drill cuddy. These drillholes are designed to intersect the mineralized lodes in a perpendicular to sub-perpendicular orientation such that the mineralized intervals approximate the true width of the lodes. Grade control drilling is being conducted on 10 m centers to provide a detailed understanding of the geometry and mineralization of the Zone 5 lodes. The purpose of the current Zone 5 grade control drill program is to enhance the mine model and inform stope design in advance of mining in the target areas. Highlights of the Zone 5 drilling reported here are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Zone infill and grade control drilling with high-grade intersects highlighted, 3.0 g/t gold cutoff. View is looking down with north to the left. The primary areas targeted by the Zone 5 drilling are the up-dip and down-dip areas of the UR2 and URW3 lodes above and below current underground developments. These areas are scheduled for near-term mining. Drill holes are oriented perpendicular to sub-perpendicular to the mineralized lodes.

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Competent Persons Statement

The information in this report that relates to mineral exploration at the Tuvatu Gold Project is based on information compiled by the Lion One team and reviewed by Melvyn Levrel, who is the company's Senior Geologist. Mr Levrel is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration, and to the activity being undertaken, to qualify as a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43- 101"). Mr Levrel consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on the information in the form and context in which it appears.

Lion One Laboratories / QAQC

Lion One adheres to rigorous QAQC procedures above and beyond basic regulatory guidelines in conducting its drilling, sampling, testing, and analyses. The Company operates its own geochemical assay laboratory and its own fleet of diamond drill rigs using PQ, HQ and NQ sized drill rods.

Diamond drill core samples are logged by Lion One personnel on site. Exploration diamond drill core is split by Lion One personnel on site, with half core samples sent for analysis and the other half core remaining on site. Grade control diamond drill core is whole core assayed. Core samples are delivered to the Lion One Laboratory for preparation and analysis. All samples are pulverized at the Lion One lab to 85% passing through 75 microns and gold analysis is carried out using fire assay with an AA finish. Samples that return grades greater than 10.00 g/t Au are re-analyzed by gravimetric method, which is considered more accurate for very high-grade samples.

Duplicates of 5% of samples with grades above 0.5 g/t Au are delivered to ALS Global Laboratories in Australia for check assay determinations using 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). The Lion One lab can test a range of up to 71 elements through Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES), but currently focuses on a suite of 23 important pathfinder elements with an aqua regia digest and ICP-OES finish.

About Lion One Metals Limited

Lion One Metals is an emerging Canadian gold producer headquartered in North Vancouver BC, with new operations established in late 2023 at its 100% owned Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project in Fiji. The Tuvatu project comprises the high-grade Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Deposit, the Underground Gold Mine, the Pilot Plant, and the Assay Lab. The Company also has an extensive exploration license covering the entire Navilawa Caldera, which is host to multiple mineralized zones and highly prospective exploration targets.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Walter Berukoff, Chairman & CEO

Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Service Provider accepts responsibility or the adequacy or accuracy of this release

This press release may contain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking information. Generally, forward-looking information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "proposed", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. This forward-looking information reflects Lion One Metals Limited's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to Lion One Metals Limited and on assumptions Lion One Metals Limited believes are reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to, the actual results of exploration projects being equivalent to or better than estimated results in technical reports, assessment reports, and other geological reports or prior exploration results. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance, or achievements of Lion One Metals Limited or its subsidiaries to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: the stage development of Lion One Metals Limited, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of current research and development or operational activities; competition; uncertainty as to patent applications and intellectual property rights; product liability and lack of insurance; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; changes in legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting mining, timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; not realizing on the potential benefits of technology; conclusions of economic evaluations; and lack of qualified, skilled labor or loss of key individuals. Although Lion One Metals Limited has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Lion One Metals Limited does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Appendix 1: Full Drill Results and Collar Information

Table 2. Collar coordinates for drillholes reported in this release. Coordinates are in Fiji map grid.

Table 3. Composite results from drillholes reported in this news release (composite grade >3.0 g/t Au)

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