Tectonic Metals Assaying Uncovers New Mineralized Zones & Validates Reduced Intrusion-Related Gold System at Golden Apex, Flat Gold Project

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 5, 2024 / Tectonic Metals Inc. (TSX-V:TECT)(OTCQB:TETOF)(FSE:T15B) (the "Company" or "Tectonic") today announced 2024 assay results from four historical core holes drilled in 2003 at the Flat Gold Project ("Flat"), Alaska. These 2024 drill assay results have revealed multiple new, intrusion-hosted gold corridors at Chicken Mountain and validated the presence of a Reduced Intrusion-Related Gold System (RIRGS) at Golden Apex, one of six identified intrusion targets at Flat.

Tony Reda, President & CEO of Tectonic Metals, stated: "The results from our historic drill core assaying program continue to underscore the potential for uncovering a significant gold resource at not one but several intrusions at Flat. This low-cost initiative has not only validated and expanded upon existing historical data but also offered critical insights into the geometry of the mineralized envelope, as well as the orientations of higher-grade corridors and structures within the known mineralized intrusion. Additionally, the program has provided valuable geochemical vectoring information that points to potential new, previously unexposed intrusion-hosted targets. By deepening our geological understanding of the Flat gold system and identifying emerging drill targets, we are strategically positioning Tectonic for success in making new discoveries in our forthcoming exploration programs."

In 2003, the previous explorer at the Flat Gold Project completed a diamond drilling campaign during which the recovered drill core was selectively sampled and assayed, despite initial assay results of up to 27 g/t Au. In 2024, through an extensive and meticulous relogging campaign, Tectonic has now identified and analyzed previously unsampled sections of these 2023 drill cores. Four historical drill holes from Golden Apex and Chicken Mountain, totalling 1,043.5 meters with 720 metres recently assayed by Tectonic, are situated in largely unexplored areas of the Flat Gold Project. These results validate the presence of intrusion targets and reveal significant new discoveries that warrant immediate follow-up drilling. This data highlights the Project's substantial exploration potential and capability to host multiple large-scale volcanic intrusions and associated gold mineralization.

Key Findings

1. Identification of new mineralized zones, confirmation of historical intersections, new sampling results in increased mineralized widths, and validation of geochemical and geophysical vectors to mineralization. Additionally, recent Tectonic 3D magnetic inversions reveal that the mineralization associated with gold bearing intrusive rocks at Chicken Mountain is linked to very low magnetic susceptibility

2. Recent structural data and the application of the Reduced Intrusion-Related Gold System ("RIRGS") geological model to Flat clearly demonstrate that the four historical drill holes were not optimally oriented or specifically targeting RIRGS mineralization.

3. Golden Apex: A RIRGS target is now validated at this 2.5 kilometre x 2.0 kilometre ("km") intrusion target.

4. Assaying of unsampled sections of historic drill holes confirms the historic intercepts and identifies a previously unrecognized gold mineralized zone.

5. Drill hole GA03-02 findings include the following:

GA03-02 Highlight Intervals:

• 12.34 m @ 1.08 g/t Au

• 22.86 m @ 1.00 g/t Au

• 9.60 m @ 0.93 g/t Au

  • Initially, a buried intrusion was believed to exist at depth at Golden Apex. However, recent drill assays from 2024 have validated the presence of RIRGS distal mineralization. These assays and resulting geochemical zonation patterns suggest that it is closer to the surface than previously thought, particularly in the western part of the target area. This conclusion is further supported by recent Tectonic 3-D inversion of magnetic data, which reveal that the mineralization associated with gold-bearing intrusive rocks at Chicken Mountain are linked to very low magnetic susceptibility. This low magnetic signature has now been identified and mapped at Golden Apex, just west of drill hole GA03-02, prompting Tectonic to drill this target this 2024 drill season.

  • There are only two historical drill holes at Golden Apex across the expansive 2.5 km-long and 2.0 km-wide Golden Apex target. Both drill holes were not drilled in the optimum orientation, were drilled directly into a fault zone, and did not adequately test for the presence of underlying intrusions in the area. These new assay results will be used to further support additional drilling at Golden Apex aligned to the RIRGS model.

vi. Chicken Mountain: Drill holes CM03-25 and CM03-26 findings include the following: 2024 assaying of unsampled sections from two historical drill holes at the northeastern portion of Chicken Mountain, a 6.5 km long x 6.0 km wide intrusion target:

• Increased Mineralization: Assaying of unsampled sections of two historical drill holes significantly enhanced both the width and grade of gold mineralization compared to the selectively sampled intervals from 2003 historical analyses.

• New Mineralized Corridors: Newly identified gold mineralized zones in these historical holes suggest previously unrecognized northeast-trending mineralized corridors. These zones remain open for expansion along strike and at depth.

• Drill Hole CM03-25 revealed 263.65 metres of gold mineralization, which started and ended within mineralized zones.

CM03-25 Highlight Intervals:

• 35.06 m at 1.05 g/t Au

• 7.62 m at 5.66 g/t Au

• The broader mineralized interval is 263.65 metres at 0.40 g/t Au and the nearest adjacent drill hole is 170 metres away.

• Drill Hole CM03-26 revealed 288.22 metres of gold mineralization starting and ending in mineralization. The closest adjacent drill hole is 233 m away.

CM03-26Highlight Intervals:

• 19.81 m at 0.53 g/t Au

• 7.62 m at 1.00 g/t Au

Table 1. Assay Highlights from Golden Apex Drill hole GA03-02

All widths are interval widths as insufficient data exists currently to determine true zone widths.
Composites combine 2003 assay intervals with newly assayed 2024 intervals.

Table 2. Drill Hole Location Details GA03-01 and GA03-02

Coordinates in NAD 83, Zone 4

Table 3: Assay highlights from Chicken Mountain drill holes CM03-25 and CM03-26

All widths are interval widths as insufficient data exists currently to determine true zone widths Composites combine 2003 assay intervals with newly assayed 2024 intervals

Table 4. Drill Hole Location Details CM03-25 and CM03-26

Coordinates in NAD 83, Zone 4

Table 5. Complete Table Significant Results can be found here:

Figure 1: Location of Historic Drill holes

Figure 2: Oblique View of Historic Drill Hole Locations

The Flat Gold System - Alaska's Next Tier 1 Opportunity

Tectonic Metals is advancing the 99,840-acre Flat Gold System and recently published the results of the Company's 2023 drill program at Flat's Chicken Mountain intrusion target where all 19 holes intersected gold. ¹ Flat is a network of interconnected geophysical anomalies that indicate six confirmed and potential bulk tonnage intrusion-related gold systems. The system spans a 20 km trend and has produced approximately 1.4 million ounces of Placer Gold between 1908 and 1966. ²

Tectonic's 2023 drill program demonstrated gold at 300 m depth and delineated 1.8 km of mineralized strike with mineralization remaining open in all directions ¹ . These results further strengthen the case for a potential open-pit, multi-million-ounce opportunity. A total of 74 holes have been drilled at the Chicken Mountain intrusion target with each drill hole intersecting gold mineralization, which is remarkable and reinforces the notion that Flat is a very robust gold system ^1,3 .

Preliminary metallurgical analysis to-date has demonstrated rapid leach kinetics and gold recoveries averaging 95% from bottle roll testing. ⁴ This, combined with gold intersections at or near the surface, suggests Chicken Mountain may also be an open-pit, heap leach opportunity.

1. Please refer to Tectonic's news release dated February 7, 2024 for 2023 drill results..

2. Placer production figures from " Mineral Occurrence and Development Potential Report, Locatable and Salable Minerals, Bering Sea-Western Interior Resource Management Plan, BLM Alaska Technical Report 60", prepared by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, November 2010.

3. Please refer to Tectonic's news release dated September 28, 2021 for historic drill results.

4. Please refer to Tectonic's news release dated February 16, 2023 for metallurgical testing.

About Tectonic Metals Inc. ("Tectonic" or the "Company")

Tectonic Metals Inc. is a gold exploration company founded by the same key executives who transformed Kaminak Gold from a $3 million venture into a $520 million success story. These leaders raised $165 million to fund the acquisition, discovery, and advancement of the Coffee Gold Project in the Yukon Territory, including the completion of a bankable feasibility study, before selling the multi-million-ounce gold project to Goldcorp Inc. (now Newmont) for C$520 million in 2016.

Success with the Coffee Gold Project is only one example, as each member of the Tectonic team has a significant track record of success in all facets of exploration and mining, including over 30 Moz of gold discoveries, 18 feasibility studies, 20 projects permitted, over $3 billion in M&A transactions and over $2 billion in capital raising.

Tectonic's mission statement is "to be the number one mineral exploration company in the world." The Company applies a disciplined, up-front de-risking strategy to address the economics, community benefits, and sustainability of its projects and refers to this as the "Shift in the Game."  The Tectonic team is focused on demonstrating tier-1 mining opportunities, not drill plays.

Whether at home or at work, the Tectonic team is grounded on the following core values: passion, integrity, patience, focus, perseverance, honesty, fairness, accountability, respect and a big mindset. The Company's vision is to create transformational wealth for our shareholders by identifying, discovering and developing world-class gold districts in North America with a commitment to high standards of environmental stewardship and maximizing social and economic benefits to the communities in which they live and operate.

View our 2024 Fact Sheet or Corporate Presentation here.

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Tour the Flat Gold Project 

Tectonic invites you to take a virtual tour of our Flat Gold Project with both the CEO of Tectonic and one of Alaska's largest for-profit Native Regional Corporations, Doyon, by clicking here .

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Qualified Person 

Tectonic Metals' disclosure of technical or scientific information in this press release has been reviewed, verified and approved by Peter Kleespies, M.Sc., P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration, who is a Qualified Person in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101.

The analytical work for the 2024 Flat historic core sampling program was performed by ALS Global (ALS) an internationally recognized and accredited analytical services provider, which is independent of Tectonic. All samples were submitted to ALS's Fairbanks, Alaska facility where they were prepared and shipped to ALS's ALS Global Reno, Nevada facility where preparation comprising crushing to >70% passing below 2mm, and split using a rotary splitter with1000g splits pulverized to 85% passing below 75 microns PRP70-250 (crush, split, and pulverize 250g to 200 mesh). All samples underwent analysis for gold by Au-AA23, a 30-gram Fire Assay fusion with an atomic absorption finish (AAS). Additional pulp samples were then sent to ALS Vancouver, Canada, where they underwent analysis for multi-element (ME-MS61, 48 element, 0.25g pulp with four acid digestion and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP_MS) finish) and mercury (Hg-MS42, 0.50g pulp with aqua regia digestion and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP_MS) finish).

Quality Assurance and Quality Control procedures include the insertion of coarse blanks and certified assay standards into the sample string, ¼ core and second RC split field duplicates, and Tectonic supplied sample bags for pulp duplicates at a rate of approximately 1/10 (10%). Samples are placed in sealed and security tagged bags and shipped directly to the ALS preparation facility in Fairbanks, Alaska. 

On behalf of Tectonic Metals Inc.,
Tony Reda
President and Chief Executive Officer

For further information about Tectonic Metals Inc. or this news release, please visit our website at www.tectonicmetals.com or contact Jesse Manna, Investor Relations, toll-free at 1.888.685.8558 or by email at [email protected]. 

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking information and statements under applicable securities law. Any statements that are contained in this news release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "may", "should", "anticipate", "expect", "intend" and similar expressions and include, but are not limited to, the potential for mineralization at Tectonic's projects, any future exploration activities and the size; the receipt of any regulatory approvals, including the final approval of the TSXV.

Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management at the date the statements are made including, among others, assumptions about future prices of gold and other metal prices, currency exchange rates and interest rates, favourable operating conditions, political stability, obtaining governmental and other approvals and financing on time, obtaining required licenses and permits, labour stability, stability in market conditions, availability of equipment, accuracy of any mineral resources, successful resolution of disputes and anticipated costs and expenditures. Many assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of Tectonic, and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct.

Although Tectonic considers these beliefs and assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect, and the forward-looking statements in this release are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks, including, without limitation: the Company's ability to implement its business strategies; risks associated with mineral exploration and production; risks associated with general economic conditions; adverse industry events; marketing and transportation costs; loss of markets; volatility of commodity prices; inability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favourable terms; industry and government regulation; changes in legislation, income tax and regulatory matters; competition; currency and interest rate fluctuations; and other risks.

Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Although Tectonic 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. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Tectonic does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Tectonic Metals Inc.