First Phosphate Corp. (CSE: PHOS) (OTC: FRSPF) (FSE: KD0) is pleased to announce initial assay results from the first 3,394 m of its 25,000 m drill program at its Bégin-Lamarche Project in Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, Quebec. In total 10,000 m of drilling have been completed to date. Assay results are awaited on 6,606 m and will be released over the coming weeks as they become available.

Highlights:

• Phosphate Mountain Zone: 9 drill holes have been completed to date in the Phosphate Mountain Zone, ones which have intersected high apatite-bearing peridotite visually containing from 30% to 80% apatite over widths of up to 43 m.

• Northern Zone: Drill hole BL-24-25 intersected 9.89% P₂O₅ (phosphate) over 42.80 m starting at a depth of 74.20. Drill hole BL-24-26 intersected 9.44% P₂O₅ over 89.10 m starting at a depth of 6.90 m.

• Northwestern Zone: Drill holes BL-24-49 and BL-24-54 intersected 20 m and 40 m of peridotite, respectively visually containing 30% apatite.

• Southern Zone: Drill hole BL-24-24 intersected 5.22% P₂O₅ over 129.60 m starting at a depth of 61.30 m. Drill hole BL-24-35 intersected a new higher-grade layer of 7.82% P₂O₅ over 22.40 m starting at a depth of 165.10 m.

“We are impressed by the high-grade nature and volume of the phosphate layers being defined at Bégin-Lamarche,” said First Phosphate CEO, John Passalacqua. “Bégin-Lamarche is showing increased open-pit surface feasibility in an area of developed infrastructure with direct paved-road access to the deep-sea port of Saguenay at only 70 km away.”

Apatite versus Phosphate

Apatite is very common as an accessory mineral in igneous and metamorphic rocks where it is the most common phosphate mineral form to be found. Occurrences are usually found as small grains which are often visible only in thin sections. The chemical formula of apatite is Ca₅(PO₄)₃(F,Cl,OH). The molecular weight of the phosphate molecule (PO₄) in apatite is 41.8%. Apatite is also found in clastic sedimentary rock as grains eroded out of the source rock over time. Phosphorite is a phosphate-rich sedimentary rock containing as much as 80% apatite which is present as cryptocrystalline masses. Economic quantities of apatite are also sometimes found in nepheline syenite or in carbonatites. Apatite was recently added to the Critical and Strategic Minerals List of Quebec, Canada. The European Union, South Korea, and the Provinces of Ontario and Newfoundland-Labrador are other jurisdictions that recognize phosphate as a critical and strategic mineral.

Phosphate Mountain Zone

A total of 9 drill holes have been completed to date in the Phosphate Mountain Zone and have intersected high apatite-bearing peridotite visually containing from 30% to 80% apatite over widths of up to 43 m. Hole BL-24-53 intersected 70% apatite over a length of 1.0 m (See Figure 1).

Multiple semi-massive apatite veins have been intersected across the 9 drill holes where the background apatite content is 30-35% These results compare well in terms of the apatite content discovered in this zone during last fall’s surface sample prospection program where more than 50% of surface samples returned results of above 10% P₂O₅. These 9 drill holes have been prioritized for assay analysis and their data should be available in the coming weeks.

Figure 1 -70% Apatite Concentration Visible Over 1.0 m in Drill Hole BL-24-53

Northern Zone

Expanded drilling in the Northern Zone has confirmed grades and widths that were originally identified during the initial 2023 drilling program. In addition, the 3 drill holes BL-24-25, BL-24-26 and BL-24-31 have intersected high grade phosphate layers, grading 9.89% P₂O₅ over 42.80 m from a depth of 74.20 m; 9.44% P₂O₅ over 89.10 m from a depth of 6.90 m; and 10.47% P₂O₅ over 48.05 m from a depth of 4.85 m. These results indicate that there are one or more high grade phosphate layers that outcrop on surface and which may be important starting points for an eventual open-pit mining operation.

Drill hole BL-24-23 intersected 7.02% P₂O₅ over 154.1 m from a depth of 21.0 m and could be interpreted to represent a phosphate layer drilled along dip. If so, this result could be indicative of the average grade for this layer and to be confirmed as the drilling campaign progresses. Results for the Northern Zone are shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1 – Drill Results for the Northern Zone

¹ Lengths are measured along the core. True widths are estimated to be between 50% and 80% of the core interval.l

²These holes have been seemingly drilled parallel to the phosphate layer (potentially along dip)

Northwestern Zone

Two drill holes completed to date in the Northwestern Zone have intersected 30-35% visual apatite. Similarly to the Mountain Zone, visual inspection confirms the apatite content discovered in this zone during last fall’s surface sample prospection program. These 2 drill holes have been prioritized for assay analysis and their data should be available in the coming weeks.

Southern Zone

Results from the Southern Zone confirm those from the initial 2023 drill program and include further intersects of over 100 m of phosphate mineralization. Drill holes BL-24-24 and BL-24-33 intersected 5.22% P₂O₅ over 129.60 m from a depth of 61.6 m and 5.00% P₂O₅ over 106.20 m from a depth of 3.8 m. Preliminary interpretation of the results suggests a tabular and horizontal body of phosphate mineralization with a thickness of over 100 m and grading approximatively 5.0% P₂O₅.

Drill hole BL-24-35 intersected two higher grade phosphate layers located below the tabular body mentioned above. This drill hole intersected 7.82% P₂O₅ over 22.40 m and 6.25% P₂O₅ over 41.20 m. Preliminary interpretation indicates that these two layers may connect with the high-grade phosphate layers discovered in drill holes from the already completed 2023 drill campaign. For example, drill hole BL-23-16 returned 7.60% P₂O₅ over 28.7 m and 9.99% P₂O₅ over 34.5 m. Drill hole BL-23-16 is located 300 m to the southwest of current drill hole BL-24-35. Infill drilling is currently underway in the area between these two drills holes to confirm if connectivity exists between these two layers. Currently available drill results for the Southern Zone are presented in Table 2 below. Drill results from the initial already completed 2023 drill campaign can be found in Table 4 below.

Table 2 – Drill Results for the Southern Zone

¹ Lengths are measured along the core. True width is estimated to be between 60 and 90% of the core interval

Table 3 – Parameters for the Current Drill Holes Being Released

Table 4 – Existing Drill Results from the 2023 Drill Campaign for the Northern and the Southern Zones

Table 4a – 2023 Drill Results for the Northern Zone from the 2023 Drill Campaign

Table 4b – Results for the Southern Zone from the 2023 Drill Campaign

Figure 2 – Drilling Progress at Bégin-Lamarche

Quality Assurance / Quality Control

The sampling of, and assay data from, the drill core is monitored through the Company’s implementation of a quality assurance – quality control (QA-QC) program designed to the CIM Mineral Exploration Best Practices Guidelines.

A formal chain-of-custody procedure was adopted for security of samples until their delivery at the laboratory. Drill core (NQ size) is logged and samples are selected by Laurentia Exploration Inc. geologists and sawn in half with a diamond saw at the project site. Half of the core is retained at the site for reference purposes. Sample intervals may vary from 0.5 to 3 metres in length depending on the geological observations. A blank and a standard are inserted at the beginning of each sample batch, usually one complete hole, and a blank and a standard are then inserted alternatively each 10 samples. Half-core samples are packaged and sent by ground transportation in sealed rice bags to an independent laboratory, Activation Laboratories Ltd. of Ancaster, Ontario (ISO/IEC 17025:2005 with CAN-P-1579). The core samples are crushed up to 80% passing 2mm (10 mesh), riffle split 250 g and pulverized (mild steel) to 95% passing -200 mesh. Each sample is analyzed for whole rock analysis (code 4B) for 10 major oxides and 7 trace elements by lithium metaborate/tetraborate fusion of 3g of material and analyze by ICP-OES. The laboratory has its own QA/QC protocols.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical disclosure for First Phosphate included in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Gilles Laverdière, P.Geo. Mr. Laverdière is Chief Geologist of First Phosphate and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure of Mineral Projects

About First Phosphate Corp.

First Phosphate is a mineral development company fully dedicated to extracting and purifying phosphate for the production of cathode active material for the Lithium Iron Phosphate (“LFP”) battery industry. First Phosphate is committed to producing at high purity level, at full ESG standard and with low anticipated carbon footprint. First Phosphate plans to vertically integrate from mine source directly into the supply chains of major North American LFP battery producers that require battery grade LFP cathode active material emanating from a consistent and secure supply source. First Phosphate holds over 1,500 sq. km of royalty-free district-scale land claims in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean Region of Quebec, Canada that it is actively developing. First Phosphate properties consist of rare anorthosite igneous phosphate rock that generally yields high purity phosphate material devoid of high concentrations of harmful elements.