NGEx Minerals Ltd. (TSX: NGEX) (OTCQX: NGXXF) is pleased to provide the second update on its ongoing Phase 3 drill program at the 100% owned Lunahuasi high-grade copper-gold-silver project in San Juan, Argentina. Drilling started in mid-October 2024, and six diamond drill rigs are currently working on the project. Due to positive initial results from the program, two additional drills are scheduled to be added in February, and the planned program has been expanded from 20,000m to 25,000m.

Map (CNW Group/NGEx Minerals Ltd.)

This news release includes partial results received to date for five holes, as indicated in Table 2 below. Results from the upper parts of DPDH024 and DPDH025 were released on December 18, 2024. A summary of assay intervals by news release date is included in Table 3. The highlighted intersections from this release, including notable gold values, are shown below, and individual metal grades and estimated true widths of all intersections are shown in Table 1. Updated drill program progress and collar locations are shown in Table 2.

Highlights 

• Drillhole DPDH024 intersected:
  • 7.40m at 5.81% copper equivalent (“CuEq”) from 715.00m
• Drillhole DPDH025 intersected:
  • 29.80m at 4.80% CuEq from 369.05m, including:
    • 5.74m at 21.22% CuEq from 372.45m(19.13 g/t gold)
• Drillhole DPDH026 intersected:
  • 21.50m at 3.07% CuEq from 529.20m, including:
    • 2.40m at 17.47% CuEq from 529.20m
• Drillhole DPDH028 intersected:
  • 2.00m at 11.82% CuEq from 230.10m (10.13 g/t gold), plus:
  • 205.35m at 5.08% CuEq from 378.50m (3.20 g/t gold), including:
    • 51.10m at 13.84% CuEq from 464.30m (9.70 g/t gold), including
      • .50m at 22.28% CuEq from 467.50m (5.93 g/t gold), and
      • 8.20m at 35.84% CuEq from 504.10m (39.11 g/t gold), plus
    • 7.20m at 13.93% CuEq from 542.50m

Wojtek Wodzicki, President and CEO, commented, “Lunahuasi continues to surprise to the upside and deliver some of the best copper-gold intercepts in the world. DPDH028 is a remarkable hole which is a significant step-out below previous drilling and includes the widest high-grade copper-gold intercept to date, with results for the final 1,000m of the hole still pending. Furthermore, it is becoming evident that Lunahuasi is also a very significant gold deposit with intervals and grades that rival those from known high-grade gold deposits. The deposit remains open in all directions and step-out drilling to expand the known zones and test for a porphyry source to the west remains a top priority. We are highly encouraged by the results to date and have decided to expand the program from 20,000m to 25,000m by adding two additional drill rigs which will bring the total to eight. The $175 million financing completed in October, 2024 provides full flexibility to adjust the program as results are received. With the drill program in full swing, we expect to be able to release a steady flow of results well into mid-year.”

 

DPDH024 was collared from the same platform as DPDH014 and drilled at -58 degrees towards the west in order to test for an extension to the high-grade zone in hole 14 and for extensions to other mineralized structures to the north and at depth. The main zone in hole 14 appears to have been intersected over 12.3m from 139.8m to 152.0m (22.35% CuEq; 9.36% Cu, 18.16 g/t Au, 84.7 g/t Ag – see News Release from December 18, 2024). The hole went on to intersect several other structures including those noted in the Table 1. This hole has been completed and assays from 757.0m to the end of the hole at 968.0m are pending.

DPDH025 was collared 50m to the north of hole 24, on the same platform as DPDH012 and drilled at -45 degrees towards the west to test for northern extensions to the mineralized structures. An intersection of 11.9m at 10.74% CuEq (8.00% Cu, 3.02 g/t Au, 61.4 g/t Ag – see News Release from December 18, 2024) is interpreted as the northern extension of the zone intersected in DPDH014 and is 105maway. A particularly strong intersection at 372.45m (5.74m at 21.22% CuEq) includes 19.13 g/t gold. This hole has been completed and assays from 652.0m to the end of the hole at 1,303.8m are pending.

DPDH026 was collared 216m to the east of DPDH014 and drilled towards the west at -60 degrees to test for the down-dip extension of the mineralized structures. Several structures were intersected as shown in Table 1. All intersections above 400m depth appear to be new structures which lie to the east of anything intersected by previous drilling. This hole has been completed and assays from 553.0m to the end of the hole at 1,261.2m are pending.

DPDH027 was collared from the same platform as DPDH021, which was the southernmost hole prior to this season’s program, and drilled at -46 degrees towards the WSW (226 degrees) in order to test for a southern extension to the numerous mineralized structures seen in DPDH021. Only a few weakly mineralized structures are indicated by the assay results received so far, but assays from 459.0mto the end of the hole at 1,192.0m are pending. This hole is still in progress.

DPDH028 was collared from the same platform as DPDH022 and drilled towards the west at -53 degrees in order to undercut hole 22 and test the down-dip extension of the structures intersected by it. A major structure intersected from 378.5m in this hole correlates well with a similar interval in DPDH022 from 380.0m. In both holes this zone is characterized by very high grades, especially with respect to gold, including a 8.2m interval at 39.11 g/t gold with a best sample of 1.5m at 115.00 g/t gold in DPDH028 and two samples over 70 g/t gold within a 38.9m interval at 10.09 g/t from 408.0m in DPDH022. This very high-grade zone also correlates well with an intersection 120m away to the south in DPDH021 of 4.8m at 24.34 g/t gold from 480.5m (see News Release dated June 9, 2024). This hole has been completed and assays from 588.0m to the end of the hole at 1,600.4m are pending.

Six drill rigs are currently turning at Lunahuasi with five holes completed and just over 9,500m drilled, the details of which are presented in Table 2. Details of assay intervals completed by news release date are presented in Table 3. Additional intersections will be released once assays are received, analyzed, and confirmed by the Company.

 

Qualified Persons and Technical Notes

The scientific and technical disclosure included in this news release have been reviewed and approved by Bob Carmichael, B.A.Sc., P.Eng. who is the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Carmichael is Vice President, Exploration for the Company.

Samples were cut at NGEx’s operations base in San Juan, Argentina by Company personnel. Diamond drill core was sawed and then sampled in maximum 2-meter intervals, stopping at geological boundaries. Core diameter is a mix of PQ, HQ and NQ depending on the depth of the drill hole. Samples were bagged, tagged and packaged for shipment by truck to the ALS preparation laboratory in Mendoza, Argentina where they were crushed and a 500g split was pulverized to 85% passing 200 mesh. The prepared sample splits were sent to the ALS assay laboratory in either Lima, Peru or Santiago, Chile for copper, gold and silver assays, and multi-element ICP. ALS is an accredited laboratory which is independent of the Company. Gold assays were by fire assay fusion with AAS finish on a 30g sample. Copper and silver were assayed by atomic absorption following a 4-acid digestion. Samples were also analyzed for a suite of 48 elements with ME-MS61 plus mercury. Copper and gold standards as well as blanks and duplicates (field, preparation, and analysis) were randomly inserted into the sampling sequence for Quality Control. On average, 9% of the submitted samples are Quality Control samples. No data quality problems were indicated by the QA/QC program.

Copper equivalent (CuEq) for drill intersections is calculated based on US$3.00/lb Cu, US$1,500/oz Au and US$18/oz Ag, with 80% metallurgical recoveries assumed for all metals. The formula is: CuEq % = Cu % + (0.7292 * Au g/t) + (0.0088 * Ag g/t).

True widths are rounded to the nearest metre for widths over 10 m and to the nearest 0.1 m for widths less than 10 m, as this better reflects the precision of the estimates. True widths should be regarded as approximate as these are derived from an estimation that uses a preliminary interpretation of the geological model and are subject to change as more information becomes available.

Core scanning and integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into our core logging and geological interpretation processes is being implemented to improve workflows for more routine tasks and to give geologists more time for targeting and interpretation.

 

About NGEx Minerals

NGEx Minerals is a copper and gold exploration company based in Canada, focused on exploration of the Lunahuasi copper-gold-silver project in San Juan Province, Argentina, and the nearby Los Helados copper-gold project located approximately nine kilometres to the northeast in Chile’s Region III. Both projects are located within the Vicuña District, which includes the Caserones mine, and the Josemaria and Filo del Sol deposits.

NGEx owns 100% of Lunahuasi and is the majority partner and operator for the Los Helados project, subject to a Joint Exploration Agreement with Nippon Caserones Resources LLC, which is the indirect 30% owner of the operating Caserones open pit copper mine located approximately 17 kilometres north of Los Helados. Lundin Mining Corporation holds the remaining 70% stake in Caserones.

The Company’s common shares are listed on the TSX under the symbol “NGEX” and also trade on the OTCQX under the symbol “NGXXF”. NGEx is part of the Lundin Group of Companies.

Additional information relating to NGEx may be obtained or viewed on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.