Empire Metals (LON:EEE, OTCQB:EPMLF) is an exploration and resource development company focused on Australia, gaining global recognition for its discovery and swift advancement of what is believed to be the world’s largest titanium deposit.
The company’s primary focus is the Pitfield project in Western Australia — a premier mining jurisdiction. With over 1,000 square kilometres of land and a titanium-rich mineral system extending 40 kilometres in strike length, Pitfield is shaping up to be a district-scale discovery with the potential to significantly influence the global titanium supply chain.
Pitfield’s prime location in Western AustraliaEmpire’s focus on titanium comes at a pivotal time, as it is officially recognized as a critical mineral by both the EU and the US for its essential role in aerospace, defence, medical, clean energy, and advanced industrial applications. Demand for titanium dioxide — the most widely used form — is surging, while global supply is increasingly constrained by geopolitical risks, resource depletion, and environmental challenges. With over 60 percent of supply concentrated in countries like China and Russia, Western markets face growing vulnerabilities.
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Empire Metals (OTCQB:EPMLF, AIM:EEE) is unlocking one of the world’s largest and purest titanium deposits at its flagship Pitfield project in Western Australia. With growing global demand, a looming supply deficit, and near-term development milestones, Empire offers a compelling investment opportunity in the critical minerals space.
Empire Metals (OTCQB:EPMLF, AIM:EEE) is an Australian focused exploration and resource development company rapidly gaining international attention for its discovery and rapid development of what is believed to be the world’s largest titanium deposit.
The company is focused on advancing its flagship asset, the Pitfield project, located in Western Australia, a tier 1 mining jurisdiction. With a dominant landholding of more than 1,000 sq km, and a titanium mineral system that spans 40 km in strike length, Pitfield is emerging as a district-scale “giant” discovery with the potential to reshape the global titanium supply landscape.
Empire’s strategic focus on titanium comes at a pivotal time. Titanium is officially recognized as a critical mineral by both the European Union and the United States, owing to its essential role in aerospace, defense, medical technologies, clean energy and high-performance industrial applications. Global demand for titanium dioxide — the most widely used form of titanium — is surging due to its unmatched properties as a pigment and as a feedstock for titanium metal. Titanium supply chains are also increasingly being constrained by geopolitical risks, mine depletion and environmental challenges associated with traditional production. More than 60 percent of the global supply chain is currently concentrated in a handful of countries, notably China and Russia, creating significant vulnerabilities for Western markets.
Titanium has been designated as a critical mineral in both the EU and the US.
Against this backdrop, Empire Metals offers investors a compelling opportunity to gain exposure to a strategically vital metal through a large-scale, high-grade and clean titanium discovery. Unlike many traditional titanium sources, Pitfield's mineralization is exceptionally pure — free from detrimental amounts of uranium, thorium, chromium and other contaminants — making it ideally suited for premium, high-purity end markets. Furthermore, the mineralized zone is near-surface and laterally extensive, allowing for low-strip and scalable bulk mining with conventional processing technologies.
With more than 22,000 meters of drilling already completed and only a fraction of the mineral system tested, Empire is aggressively advancing Pitfield towards a maiden JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate, targeted for H2-2025. Alongside this work, the company is also undertaking bulk sampling and metallurgical processing to advance flowsheet design and optimize product specifications. It is also engaging with industry players to assess product suitability for premium pigment and titanium sponge markets. Empire is planning to finalize, during the current calendar year, a mining study to evaluate the potential for a low-cost strip mining approach, utilizing continuous mining techniques.
The company is supported by a seasoned leadership team with deep expertise in exploration, resource development, mining, metallurgy and capital markets — ensuring that strategic decisions are guided by both technical excellence and a strong track record of value creation.
Located in Western Australia, the Pitfield project is Empire Metals’ flagship asset and represents one of the most exciting titanium discoveries globally. Spanning an area of approximately 1,042 sq km, the project has revealed a colossal mineral system measuring 40 km in length and up to 8 km in width, with geophysical indications of mineralization extending to at least a depth of 5 km.
Pitfield’s prime location in Western Australia
Extensive drilling across the project has intercepted thick, laterally continuous zones of high-grade titanium dioxide mineralization, highlighting the system’s enormous scale and consistency.
The titanium at Pitfield occurs predominantly in the minerals anatase and rutile within a weathered, in-situ cap that begins at surface. These minerals are exceptionally pure, often exceeding 90 percent titanium dioxide. They are free from harmful amounts of contaminants like uranium, thorium, chromium and phosphorus — qualities that are likely to make the deposit uniquely suitable for premium, high-purity titanium applications in aerospace, defense and clean technologies.
Pitfield is strategically located near the town of Three Springs, approximately 150 km southeast of the port city of Geraldton. The project benefits from direct access to essential infrastructure, including sealed highways, rail lines and an available water supply. This connectivity significantly enhances development potential by reducing logistics costs and simplifying future project build-out. Moreover, the Western Australian government actively supports critical mineral development, and Empire is operating within a stable, mining-friendly jurisdiction known for streamlined permitting and investment security.
Empire has completed more than 22,000 meters of drilling, confirming standout titanium dioxide (TiO2) results such as 154 meters at 6.76 percent TiO2, 148 meters at 6.49 percent TiO2, and 150 meters at 6.44 percent TiO2. Notably, mineralization remains open at depth in all tested zones, and to date, only around 5 percent of the interpreted system has been drilled. This underscores the immense upside potential for resource expansion.
The project’s development advantages are equally compelling: the mineralization is near-surface and amenable to simple, bulk mining methods with conventional processing. Its location in a tier-one mining jurisdiction offers access to infrastructure, a skilled workforce and strong regulatory support.
The Pitfield project presents a scalable processing pathway. Photo shows a gravity flotation test in process (left) and a close-up of a flotation test (right)
Pitfield is advancing toward a maiden JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate, expected by H2-2025. The project is already being recognized as a potential cornerstone asset in the global titanium supply chain.
In addition to Pitfield, Empire Metals maintains a portfolio of early-stage exploration assets offering optionality and exposure to other strategic and precious metals. Empire holds interests in two Western Australian projects — the Walton and Eclipse gold projects — both situated in historically productive mineral belts. While these assets are not the current focus, they contribute exploration upside and optionality within the company’s broader strategy.
Neil O’Brien is the former SVP exploration and new business development at Lundin
Mining, until he retired in 2018. He has an extensive global mining career as a PhD economic geologist, exploration leader and board executive.
Shaun Bunn is a metallurgist based in Perth, Western Australia, with expertise in international exploration, mining, processing and development. He has a successful track record managing mining projects through all stages of development.
Based in London, Greg Kuenzel is a chartered accountant, and corporate finance and financial management expert. He has extensive experience working with resources-focused AIM listed companies.
With more than 20 years of corporate and finance experience focused in the natural resources sector, Peter Damouni holds executive and director roles in TSXV and LSE listed companies where he has played key roles in significantly enhancing shareholder value.
Phil Brumit is a veteran mining engineer and operations expert, delivering major global operations. His previous roles include international leadership positions at Freeport-McMoRan, Lundin Mining and Newmont Corporation.
Narelle Marriott is a former BHP senior process engineer. Most recently, she was the general manager for process development for Hastings Technology Metals.
Andrew Faragher is a former Rio Tinto exploration manager with more than 25 years of experience working across multiple commodities.
Arabella Burwell is a former Senior Director Corporate Development at NASDAQ-listed GoDaddy and a Partner, Capital Raising and Strategic Partnerships, at Hannam & Partners in London and South Africa.
Carrie brings over 20 years of international experience in environmental management, project development, regulatory approvals, and impact assessment. Her expertise spans mine closure and reclamation, stakeholder engagement, and the remediation of contaminated sites. She has led projects across Australia (Western Australia and Victoria) and New Zealand and has also contributed to initiatives in Malawi and Greenland.
David Parker brings over 20 years of experience in equity capital markets, with a strong focus on the mining, industrial, and technology sectors. He has held senior roles as director and company secretary for several ASX-listed companies, providing strategic leadership and commercial oversight across diverse corporate environments.
Advancing a game-changing, globally significant titanium project in Western Australia.
An updated corporate presentation, reflecting the Company's latest developments, is available on the Company's website at: https://www.empiremetals.com/investors/shareholder-documents/presentations/.
**ENDS**
For further information please visit www.empiremetals.co.uk or contact:
About Empire Metals Limited
Empire Metals is an AIM-listed and OTCQB-traded exploration and resource development company (LON:EEE)(OTCQB:EPMLF) with a primary focus on developing Pitfield, an emerging giant titanium project in Western Australia.
The high-grade titanium discovery at Pitfield is of unprecedented scale, with airborne surveys identifying a massive, coincident gravity and magnetics anomaly extending over 40km by 8km by 5km deep. Drill results have indicated excellent continuity in grades and consistency of the mineralised beds and confirm that the sandstone beds hold the higher-grade titanium dioxide (TiO₂) values within the interbedded succession of sandstones, siltstones and conglomerates. The Company is focused on two key prospects (Cosgrove and Thomas), which have been identified as having thick, high-grade, near-surface, bedded TiO₂ mineralisation, each being over 7km in strike length.
An Exploration Target* for Pitfield was declared in 2024, covering the Thomas and Cosgrove mineral prospects, and was estimated to contain between 26.4 to 32.2 billion tonnes with a grade range of 4.5 to 5.5% TiO2. Included within the total Exploration Target* is a subset that covers the weathered sandstone zone, which extends from surface to an average vertical depth of 30m to 40m and is estimated to contain between 4.0 to 4.9 billion tonnes with a grade range of 4.8 to 5.9% TiO2.
The Exploration Target* covers an area less than 20% of the overall mineral system at Pitfield which demonstrates the potential for significant further upside.
Empire is now accelerating the economic development of Pitfield, with a vision to produce a high-value titanium metal or pigment quality product at Pitfield, to realise the full value potential of this exceptional deposit.
The Company also has two further exploration projects in Australia; the Eclipse Project and the Walton Project in Western Australia, in addition to three precious metals projects located in a historically high-grade gold producing region of Austria.
*The potential quantity and grade of the Exploration Target is conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource.
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Highlights
This campaign not only delivered over 70 tonnes of metallurgical bulk samples but also produced analytical data that will directly inform the planning of a maiden JORC-compliant Mineral Resource Estimate, targeted for Q3 2025.
Total drilling at Pitfield has surpassed 22,000m across 202 holes, providing a robust geological foundation ahead of resource definition.
Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said:"These exceptional results demonstrate the sheer scale and quality of titanium mineralisation at Pitfield. The consistency of high-grade intervals from near-surface, along with the depth and continuity of weathering, has surpassed our expectations. The bulk samples will now feed directly into upscaled metallurgical testwork aimed at fast-tracking product development."
AC Drill Results Summary
The drilling campaign consisted of 85 AC drillholes for a total 4,437m drilled, that both tested the extent of, and bulk sampled, the high-grade zones of titanium mineralisation that were previously discovered within the strongly weathered cap covering this giant, titanium-rich mineral system.
The drilling focused on areas within the Thomas and Cosgrove Prospects. These areas contained thick, highly weathered in-situ zones of high-grade titanium mineralisation, previously identified from reverse circulation ('RC') and diamond drillholes ('DD'). The total combined drilling covered an area over 60 hectares, on a 100m by 100m grid, with the following key results:
Thomas Prospect:
Cosgrove Prospect:
Two drill holes at each prospect were "twin holes", designed to validate the geological and assay data quality of the AC drill holes, focusing on the weathered portion of three existing RC drillholes and one diamond core drill hole located within the target areas.
The drill programme confirmed thick, strongly weathered zones of high-grade titanium mineralisation of between 7% and 10% TiO2 at both the Thomas and Cosgrove Prospects, with assays peaking up to 18% (refer Table 1). Importantly, all drill holes confirmed continuous mineralisation, with an average grade of 5.79% TiO2 from 2,208 samples.
Table 1: Significant intercepts from February 2025 AC Drilling
Pitfield Project Combined Drilling Summary 2023-2025
The Company completed its maiden reconnaissance drilling programme at the Pitfield Project in early 2023 (announced 24 April 2023), which consisted of 21 RC drill holes focused mainly to the north of the giant mineral system, near Mt Scratch. The Company executed two further drill campaigns in late 2023, a three-hole DD drill programme, which confirmed the mineralisation to a depth of over 350m below surface (announced 20 November 2023) and a 40-hole RC drill programme which confirmed the high-grade, near surface mineralisation at what is now referred to as the Thomas and Cosgrove Prospects (announced 22 January 2024).
Further RC and DD campaigns were carried out in early 2024, which identified the much higher grade, in-situ weathered cap and confirmed the presence of clean, titanium dioxide minerals (anatase and rutile) which occur as a result of the natural weathering of the interbedded in-situ sediments near surface (announced 5 June 2024). A subsequent DD drilling campaign (announced 24 October 2024) encountered extensive weathered zones from very near surface to depths of around 60 metres, nearly double that previous encountered at the Cosgrove and Thomas prospects, confirming the extremely soft and friable nature of the bedded sandstones in this weathered zone.
With the successful completion of the recent 85-hole AC drilling campaign the total exploration drilling completed at the Pitfield Project now stands at:
Figure 1 below shows all the prior drill holes across the mineralised system and the recent AC drilling at the high-grade target areas within the Cosgrove and Thomas Prospects.
Figure 1. Pitfield Project Drill Hole Collar Location
February 2025 AC Drilling Programme
Cosgrove Prospect
Drilling at Cosgrove was focused on a priority area off approximately 500m by 600m (refer Figure 2).
The weathered zone interval width from this drill programme confirmed previous drilling in the area, however the average TiO2 grades for each drill hole were higher than any prior programme.
There are broad zones of high-grade mineralisation over the weathered zone, for example 60m at 6.30% TiO2 from surface [AC25COS001] and 56m @ 7.15% TiO2 from surface [AC25COS042]. The depth of weathering of the Cosgrove drill area was shown to be on average 50.1m and contains very high-grade intervals of mineralisation of up to 18% TiO2.
There are broad zones of high-grade mineralisation close to surface, for example 14m at 11.66% TiO2 from 2m [AC25COS036] and 18m at 10.00% TiO2 from 10m [AC25COS036].
All 42 drill holes confirmed the continuity of high-grade TiO2 mineralisation, with total hole average grades ranging from 3.48% to 7.15% TiO2. The overall average grade from the 1,060 assayed samples is 5.34% TiO2.
Figure 2. Air Core drillhole collar locations within the Cosgrove Prospect priority area.
Thomas Prospect
Drilling at Thomas was focused on a priority area of approximately 300m by 1,000m (refer Figure 3).
The depth of weathering at Thomas was consistently deeper than that encountered at Cosgrove, with the deepest AC drill hole reaching 66m from surface.
There are broad zones of high-grade mineralisation over the weathered zone, for example 57m @ 7.48% TiO2 from surface [AC25TOM040] and 49m @ 7.49% TiO2 from surface [AC25TOM021]. There are broad zones of high-grade mineralisation close to surface, for example 16m at 10.00% TiO2 from 6m [AC25TOM040] and 14m at 10.06% TiO2 from 4m [AC25TOM041].
All 43 drill holes confirmed the continuity of high-grade TiO2 mineralisation, with total hole average grades ranging from 4.41% to 7.88% TiO2. The overall average grade from the 1,148 assayed samples is 6.20% TiO2.
Figure 3. Air Core drill hole collar locations within the Thomas Prospect priority area.
Next Steps:
Acceleration of Mineral Resource Estimate ('MRE') Drill Programme
Based on the highly encouraging AC drill campaign results the Company is planning an enlarged programme of works at the Thomas and Cosgrove Prospects. Results from the AC, RC and DD drilling indicate the potential for a significant mineral resource at both prospects. The strategic importance of a resource for Empire Metals is significant for the company moving forward with the project. As such planning has begun on generating a MRE, which will include RC and AC drilling, with the drilling focused on a significantly expanded target area.
Interpretation of the drilling data highlights the Thomas Prospect as the best place to drill the initial resource due to the better consistency of geology and grade with thicker zones of weathering. A second phase of drilling will be planned in late 2025 to drill a resource at the Cosgrove prospect.
Metallurgical Test Programme
The broad zones of high-grade mineralisation encountered at or near surface within the in-situ weathered cap have been shown to hold the highest percentage of the most important titanium bearing minerals, anatase and rutile, and these will form the primary feedstock for the upscaled metallurgical test work programme.
The Pitfield Titanium Project
Located within the Mid-West region of Western Australia, near the northern wheatbelt town of Three Springs, the Pitfield titanium project lies 313km north of Perth and 156km southeast of Geraldton, the Mid West region's capital and major port. Western Australia is ranked as one of the top mining jurisdictions in the world according to the Fraser Institute's Investment Attractiveness Index published in 2023, and has mining-friendly policies, stable government, transparency, and advanced technology expertise. Pitfield has existing connections to port (both road & rail), HV power substations, and is nearby to natural gas pipelines as well as a green energy hydrogen fuel hub, which is under planning and development (refer Figure 4).
Figure 4. Pitfield Project Location showing the Mid-West Region Infrastructure and Services
Competent Person Statement
The technical information in this report that relates to the Pitfield Project has been compiled by Mr Andrew Faragher, an employee of Empire Metals Australia Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Empire. Mr Faragher is a Member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Faragher 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 Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Mr Faragher consents to the inclusion in this release of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure
Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, as incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, until the release of this announcement.
**ENDS**
For further information please visit www.empiremetals.co.uk or contact:
About Empire Metals Limited
Empire Metals is an AIM-listed and OTCQB-traded exploration and resource development company (LON: EEE) with a primary focus on developing Pitfield, an emerging giant titanium project in Western Australia.
The high-grade titanium discovery at Pitfield is of unprecedented scale, with airborne surveys identifying a massive, coincident gravity and magnetics anomaly extending over 40km by 8km by 5km deep. Drill results have indicated excellent continuity in grades and consistency of the mineralised beds and confirm that the sandstone beds hold the higher-grade titanium dioxide (TiO₂) values within the interbedded succession of sandstones, siltstones and conglomerates. The Company is focused on two key prospects (Cosgrove and Thomas), which have been identified as having thick, high-grade, near-surface, bedded TiO₂ mineralisation, each being over 7km in strike length.
An Exploration Target* for Pitfield was declared in 2024, covering the Thomas and Cosgrove mineral prospects, and was estimated to contain between 26.4 to 32.2 billion tonnes with a grade range of 4.5 to 5.5% TiO2. Included within the total Exploration Target* is a subset that covers the weathered sandstone zone, which extends from surface to an average vertical depth of 30m to 40m and is estimated to contain between 4.0 to 4.9 billion tonnes with a grade range of 4.8 to 5.9% TiO2.
The Exploration Target* covers an area less than 20% of the overall mineral system at Pitfield which demonstrates the potential for significant further upside.
Empire is now accelerating the economic development of Pitfield, with a vision to produce a high-value titanium metal or pigment quality product at Pitfield, to realise the full value potential of this exceptional deposit.
The Company also has two further exploration projects in Australia; the Eclipse Project and the Walton Project in Western Australia, in addition to three precious metals projects located in a historically high-grade gold producing region of Austria.
*The potential quantity and grade of the Exploration Target is conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
“DAN25008 was prioritised for assay due to the abundance of visual sulphides observed during drilling, and these results have underpinned our confidence in those visuals prevalent in the Company’s prior work. We believe this drill hole ranks among the most significant copper intersections globally within the last 50 years and comfortably sits within the top 10 globally reported “grade-metre” copper results.
This discovery and outstanding results from Danvers is a clear testament to our technical team’s expertise and geological understanding, in particular the professionalism and persistence of Olga Solovieva and Sam Vaughan.
Our improved geological understanding of the Danvers area indicates a mineralised system that extends from surface over more than 175m vertically and potentially 7km in strike length - both to the northeast and southwest, providing scope for further high-impact intercepts from upcoming drilling. With our work updating the geological understanding at Danvers, we adapted our drill targets and DAN25008 resulted in mineralisation at least 30 metres below historical limits, with the hole terminating in high-grade copper mineralisation - suggesting considerable additional potential at depth. The increase in grade toward the bottom of the hole is encouraging and is validation of our methodology.
To illustrate the magnitude of this result, the DAN25001 intercept of 52m at 1.2% Cu - a strong result in its own right - now appears modest when viewed alongside the 175m @ 2.5% Cu from DAN25008. In the context of global copper supply constraints, the Company is well positioned to leverage these results with mineralisation from surface, supporting potential open pit mining activities and an open water port less than 80km from the deposit.
Troy Whittaker - Managing Director
FURTHER INFORMATION
Figure 1 - White Cliff’s Rae Copper Project Area.
Figure 2 - Danvers Project. High grade historic copper occurrences present along a regional NE/SW trending fault zone for 7.5km’s. Inset map shows drillhole collars, covering only a fraction of the wider prospective corridor. See ASX announcement dated 23 April 2025 “Extensive sulphides observed in step out drilling at Rae Copper Project” for observations relating to the field samples/rock chips.
Table 1 - Table of rock sample locations in Figure 2 for pending rock chip assay results. See ASX announcement dated 23 April 2025 “Extensive sulphides observed in step out drilling at Rae Copper Project” for observations relating to the field samples/rock chips.
Figure 3 - Drill section of DAN25008. Reported intervals are considered drilled thicknesses until true thickness can be proved.
Drillhole DAN25008 is an important step in the development of the Danvers copper deposit. An intercept of 175.26m at 2.5% copper is an outstanding result illustrating the continuous mineralisation which commences just below surface at 7.62m downhole. The final 30m of DAN25008 which averages 2.37% Cu and 10.51g/t Ag exists below the trace of historic drilling, effectively extending the known high-grade mineralisation.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from White Cliff Minerals Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
finlay minerals ltd. (TSXV: FYL) (OTCQB: FYMNF) ("Finlay" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the receipt of TSX Venture Exchange (the " Exchange ") conditional acceptance for its previously announced earn-in agreement (the " PIL Earn-In Agreement ") with Freeport-McMoRan Mineral Properties Canada Inc. (" Freeport "), a wholly owned subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) relating to its PIL property (" PIL Property "). The PIL Property consists of 50 mineral claims in the Toodoggone District of northern British Columbia . The Company also entered into an earn-in agreement (the " ATTY Earn-In Agreement ") with Freeport relating to its ATTY property (the " ATTY Property ", together with the PIL Property, the " Properties "). The ATTY Earn-In Agreement is not subject to Exchange approval, as it qualifies as an "Exempt Transaction" under Exchange Policy 5.3 Acquisitions and Dispositions of Non-Cash Assets . The PIL and ATTY earn-in agreements are arm's length transactions, and no finder's fees are payable in connection with either earn-in agreement.
Pursuant to the PIL Earn-In Agreement, Freeport may acquire an 80% interest in the PIL Property by making aggregate cash payments of CAD $3,000,000 to Finlay and completing an aggregate of $25,000,000 of exploration expenditures on the PIL Property over a 6-year period. Pursuant to the ATTY Earn-In Agreement, Freeport may acquire an 80% interest in the ATTY Property by making aggregate cash payments of CAD $1,100,000 to Finlay and completing an aggregate of $10,000,000 of exploration expenditures on the ATTY Property over a 6-year period. The earn-in in respect of each of the Properties may be exercised separately, and the full details of the exercise requirements for each earn-in are set out in the table below. Following the completion of the earn-in on either of the Properties, Freeport and Finlay will respectively hold interests of 80% and 20% in such Property, and a joint venture company will be formed for further exploration and development. In the event that a party does not fund their portion of further joint venture programs, their interests in the joint venture company will dilute. Any party that dilutes to below a 10% interest in the joint venture company will exchange its joint venture company interest for a net smelter returns (" NSR ") royalty of 1% on the applicable Property, which is subject to a 0.5% buyback for USD $2,000,000 .
Table 1 . Staged cash and expenditure terms for the PIL and ATTY earn-in agreements.
PIL | ATTY | |||
Cash | Work | Cash | Work | |
Year 1 | $ 550,000 | {replace1}nbsp; 750,000 | {replace1}nbsp; 150,000 | {replace1}nbsp; 500,000 |
Year 2 | $ 350,000 | $ 1,000,000 | {replace1}nbsp; 100,000 | {replace1}nbsp; 1,000,000 |
Year 3 | $ 375,000 | $ 3,000,000 | {replace1}nbsp; 125,000 | {replace1}nbsp; 1,500,000 |
Year 4 | $ 400,000 | $ 5,250,000 | {replace1}nbsp; 150,000 | {replace1}nbsp; 2,000,000 |
Year 5 | $ 500,000 | $ 5,500,000 | {replace1}nbsp; 275,000 | {replace1}nbsp; 2,000,000 |
Year 6 | $ 825,000 | $ 9,500,000 | {replace1}nbsp; 300,000 | {replace1}nbsp; 3,000,000 |
Total (CAD) | $3,000,000 | $25,000,000 | $1,100,000 | $10,000,000 |
These earn-in requirements can be accelerated by Freeport at its discretion. During the earn-in period, Finlay will be the operator on the Properties, collecting an operator's fee, under the direction of a joint technical committee that will approve work programs and budgets during the earn-in period.
The PIL & ATTY Properties are each subject to a 3.0% NSR royalty held by Electrum Resource Corporation (" Electrum "), a private company, the outstanding voting shares of which are held by Company directors John A. Barakso and Ilona B. Lindsay . The Company has a current right to buy back ½ of the royalty (1.5%) on each property for an aggregate payment of $2,000,000 and $1,500,000 respectively. Finlay and Electrum have entered into amended and restated royalty agreements (the " A&R Royalty Agreements ") relating to each of the PIL and ATTY Properties, pursuant to which upon and subject to the exercise of the earn-in in respect of each Property by Freeport , the buy-back right will be amended to provide for a 2.0% royalty buy-back for each Property, in consideration for an increased buy-back payment that will be sole-funded by Freeport without joint venture dilution to Finlay, and will be divided equally between Finlay and Electrum. For the PIL Property, the increased buy-back will be:
For the ATTY Property, the increased buy-back will be:
Under the A&R Royalty Agreements, Finlay and Electrum have also agreed, subject to the exercise of the applicable Freeport earn-in, to extinguish share issuance obligations of 1,000,000 common shares and 500,000 common shares owing to Electrum prior to or on a production decision on the PIL and ATTY Properties respectively.
Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) is a leading international metals company focused on copper, with major operations in the Americas and Indonesia and significant reserves of copper, gold, and molybdenum.
About the PIL Property:
The 100% owned PIL Property covers 13,374 hectares of highly prospective ground in the prolific Toodoggone mining district of north-central British Columbia. The core PIL claims were staked over 30 years ago by the founders of the Company. Over the decades, numerous Cu-Au-Mo porphyry and porphyry-related Au-Ag epithermal targets have been identified at PIL. The identified targets are central to a broader 70 km porphyry corridor trend, which includes: Centerra Gold's past producing Kemess South Cu-Au porphyry mine and Kemess Underground Cu-Au-Ag porphyry resource, Thesis Gold's Lawyers-Ranch Au-Ag epithermal resource, and the newly discovered Amarc Resources and Freeport AuRORA Cu-Au-Ag porphyry. Readers are cautioned that mineralization on the foregoing regional properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization on the PIL Property. The PIL Property is road accessible and permitted for the 2025 season.
About the ATTY Property:
The 100% owned ATTY Property covers 3,875 hectares in the prolific Toodoggone mining district of north-central British Columbia. The ATTY Property adjoins Centerra Gold's Kemess Project and Amarc Resources and Freeport's JOY property. Several epithermal-style Ag ± Au ± Cu ± base-metal veins are exposed on the ATTY Property, and geochemical and geophysical work have outlined at least two promising porphyry targets, including the drill-ready KEM Target. The ATTY Property is road accessible and permitted for the 2025 season.
Qualified Person:
Wade Barnes , P. Geo. and Vice President, Exploration for Finlay and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.
About finlay minerals ltd.
Finlay is a TSXV company focused on exploration for base and precious metal deposits with five 100% owned properties in northern British Columbia : the PIL and ATTY properties in the Toodoggone, the Silver Hope Cu-Ag Property (21,322 ha) and the SAY Cu-Ag Property (26,202 ha) and JJB Property (15,423 ha) in the Bear Lake Corridor of BC.
Finlay Minerals is advancing the ATTY, PIL, JJB, SAY and Silver Hope Properties that host copper-gold porphyry and gold-silver epithermal targets within different porphyry districts of northern and central BC. Each property is located in areas of recent development and porphyry discoveries with the advantage of hosting the potential for new discoveries.
Finlay trades under the symbol "FYL" on the TSXV and under the symbol "FYMNF" on the OTCQB. For further information and details, please visit the Company's website at www.finlayminerals.com
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Robert F. Brown
President, CEO & Director
Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Information: This news release includes certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements in this news release that address events or developments that we expect to occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, although not always, identified by words such as "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "project", "target", "potential", "schedule", "forecast", "budget", "estimate", "intend" or "believe" and similar expressions or their negative connotations, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could", "should" or "might" occur. All such forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements regarding, among others, the exploration plans for the Properties and the potential exercise of Freeport's option to acquire an interest in the Properties. Although Finlay believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploration successes, and continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. These forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions including, among other things, assumptions regarding general business and economic conditions, the timing and receipt of regulatory and governmental approvals, the ability of Finlay and other parties to satisfy stock exchange and other regulatory requirements in a timely manner, the availability of financing for Finlay's proposed transactions and programs on reasonable terms, and the ability of third-party service providers to deliver services in a timely manner. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. Finlay does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.
SOURCE finlay minerals ltd.
