Firebird Grows Oakover Indicated Resource By 80% To 105.8 Million Tonnes

Firebird Metals Limited (ASX: FRB) (“Firebird” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce a significant Resource upgrade at its flagship Oakover Manganese Project, which is located 85km East of Newman in the Eastern Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Highlights

• 80% uplift in Indicated Mineral Resource at flagship Oakover Project from 58.7 Mt to 105.8 Mt
  • 33.9 Mt @ 9.7% Mn Indicated Resource at Karen deposit
  • 13.1 Mt @ 9.7% Mn Indicated Resource at Jay Eye deposit
• Impressive Resource upgrade is a result of the 82 hole, 2,828m infill drill program at the Jay Eye and Karen deposits, completed in October 2022
• Significant intercepts from infill drill program continue to demonstrate the impressive geology of Oakover, highlighted by shallow near surface, thick mineralisation (Refer to Appendix 3 for the full results)
  
  • FRB0278 – 28m @ 10.61% Mn from 2m
  • FRB0287 – 30m @ 10.67% Mn from Surface
  • FRB0301 – 24m @ 10.01% Mn from Surface
  • FRB0243 – 37m @ 10.27% Mn from 5m
  • FRB0266 – 21m @ 10.91% Mn from 7m
• Overall Oakover Mineral Resource increased from 172.3 Mt t to 176 Mt at 10% Mn
• Significant Resource growth upside through:
  • Sixty Sixer – mineralisation remains open to the northwest and southwest
  • Karen - mineralisation remains open to the northwest
• A Scoping Study was completed in July 2020 based solely on the Sixty Sixer deposit, which generated a 10-year Life-of-Mine, NPV of A$329M and EBITDA of $72.7M per annum, see Firebird’s ASX announcement dated 20 July 2022

Additionally, the results have also grown the total Oakover Mineral Resource from 172.3Mt to 176.7Mt.

Commenting on the Resource growth at Oakover Firebird Managing Director Peter Allen said, “This is another fantastic result for Firebird and our shareholders. We are focused on establishing Oakover as major Western Australian manganese operation and this significant milestone announced today is another step towards achieving our primary objective. De- risking the development pathway at Oakover through the addition of another 47 million tonnnes in an Indicated category from Jay-Eye and Karen places us in a strong development position moving forward and we look forward to continuing to progress our flagship Project throughout a busy 2023 and beyond.

“These results come off the back of the Scoping Study that we released last year on Oakover, which delivered strong economics based on a 10-year mine life. That Study did not include the Indicated Resources of Karen and Jay Eye and was produced solely off the Sixty Sixer deposit. The material assumptions and factors that underpin the results of the Scoping Study are set out in Firebird’s announcement dated 20 July 2022.

“Strategically, we are developing Oakover at a time where demand for manganese within the lithium-ion battery sector continues to grow rapidly, as electric vehicle and battery cathode manufacturers have stated their desire to increase the amount of manganese within lithium- ion batteries, due to the cost benefits obtained whilst maintaining energy density.”

Table 1: Updated Oakover Mineral Resource Estimate reported at a cut-off grade of 7% Mn

Figure 1: Oakover Project Mineral Resource

Table 2: Significant Assay Results from Infill Drill Program (Refer to Appendix 3 for the full results)

In July 2022, the Company completed a Scoping Study that produced a manganese concentrate based solely on the Indicated and Inferred tonnage at the Sixty Sixer deposit, which generated a 10-year Life-of-Mine and an NPV of A$329M at a discount rate of 8%, with average EBITDA of approximately $72.2M per annum (based on original modifying factors, refer to ASX announcement “Impressive Results from Manganese Concentrate Scoping Study” dated 20thJuly 2022).

Click here for the full ASX Release

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