NGEx Minerals Ltd. (TSX: NGEX) (OTCQX: NGXXF) is pleased to provide the third update on its ongoing Phase 3 drill program at the 100% owned Lunahuasi high-grade copper-gold-silver project in San Juan, Argentina. Six drill rigs are currently turning at Lunahuasi with seven holes completed and 12,800mdrilled. Two additional rigs are scheduled to start before the end of February and the planned program has been expanded from 20,000m to 25,000m. PDF Version

Lunahuasi Geology Drill Plan 2025 Feb (CNW Group/NGEx Minerals Ltd.)

This news release includes remaining results for three holes partially released earlier (DPDH024, DPDH025, and DPDH026), and partial results for an additional three holes (DPDH027, DPDH028, DPDH029), as indicated below in Table 2. Results from the upper parts of DPDH024 and DPDH025 were released on December 18, 2024 and January 21, 2025. 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.

Wojtek Wodzicki, President and CEO, commented, “Lunahuasi continues to deliver very high-grade, copper-gold-silver intersections over considerable widths and with these latest drill results, which include positive results received from our biggest step out holes to date, we are starting to significantly extend the mineralized system and demonstrate that at Lunahuasi we have a rare combination of very high grades and very large size potential.

The intercepts in DPDH028 (53.5m @7.79% CuEq) and DPDH029 (157m @ 2.16%CuEq) are particularly important because they are large step-outs from previously intercepted mineralization. The intercept in DPDH028 is deeper and to the west of all previous holes and is open in all directions. The intercept in DPDH029 is 470m south of DPDH028 and correlates well with a large structure seen in DPDH 021, 022, 027, and 028. DPDH029 is the largest step-out to the south to date. Results have been received to a depth of 1060m and the hole is continuing to drill to depth.

Drilling to date has now encountered mineralization over a minimum north-south extent of just over 1km from DPDH025 in the north to DPDH029 in the south, a minimum vertical extent of just over 1km and a minimum east-west extent of also just over 1km. These are minimum dimensions – the deposit remains open in all directions and every hole drilled into it has encountered multiple mineralized intersections. Our focus remains on continuing to push the boundaries and try to determine how big this unique deposit might be.”

Highlights:

• Drillhole DPDH024 intersected:
  • 75.45m at 4.95% copper equivalent (“CuEq”) from 773.80m
    • Including 15.25m at 16.56% CuEq from 834.00m
• Drillhole DPDH026 intersected:
  • 42.40m at 3.44% CuEq from 679.60m, including:
    • 3.65m at 20.97% CuEq from 692.35m, plus:
  • 44.20m at 2.86% CuEq from 794.80m
• Drillhole DPDH027 intersected:
  • 49.00m at 2.98 g/t Au and 241.1 g/t Ag from 447.00m, including:
    • 19.30m at 5.77 g/t Au and 560.6 g/t Ag from 450.20m
• Drillhole DPDH028 intersected:
  • 59.10m at 5.07% CuEq from 834.50m, including:
    • 10.50m at 10.02% CuEq from 872.60m, plus:
  • 53.50m at 7.79% CuEq from 1219.50m, including:
    • 8.00m at 12.93% CuEq from 1230.50m, and
    • 4.87m at 31.25% CuEq from 1249.50m (11.33 g/t gold)
• Drillhole DPDH029 intersected:
  • 13.00m at 5.50% CuEq from 540.00m, plus:
  • 157.70m at 2.18% CuEq from 776.90m, including:
    • 3.50m at 10.32% CuEq from 807.50m, and
    • 38.90m at 4.35% CuEq from 870.70m

DPDH024 was collared from the same platform as DPDH014 and drilled at -58 degrees towards the west 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 hole intersected several mineralized structures as noted in the table above. This hole has been completed to a final depth of 968.0m and all assays have been reported.

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. Several intersections in this hole indicate that the system is open to the north, and additional northern step-out holes are currently underway. This hole has been completed to a final depth of 1303.8m and all assays have been reported.

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 and earlier news releases. This hole has been completed to a final depth of 1261.2m and all assays have been reported.

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. This hole was successful in intersecting several mineralized structures including a wide zone of gold/silver mineralization which may be the southern continuation of a major structure intersected by holes DPDH021, 22 and 28. This hole extends mineralization up to 200m south of DPDH021. The hole is still underway and assays have been reported to a depth of 1075.1m.

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. Three major structures were intersected by this hole in addition of numerous smaller ones. In particular, the zone from 1219.5m is below the depth of other holes in this area and is completely open in all directions. This hole has been completed to a final depth of 1600.4m and assays have been reported to a depth of 1273.0m.

DPDH029 was collared adjacent to DPDH027 and drilled towards the southwest (229) at a dip of -50 degrees in order to explore the southern extent of the deposit. As with other holes, numerous mineralized intersections were drilled including a broad zone from 776.9m that includes some higher-grade, gold-rich sub zones. This zone appears to correlate well with the large structure noted above in DPDH021, 22, 27 and 28. If this correlation is correct, this intersection is 470m south of the intersection in hole 28 (and 350m away from the closest intersection in hole 27) and appears to be a compelling exploration target on its own. This hole is still underway and assays have been reported to a depth of 1060.0m.

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.

Assay composites are calculated based on a 2% CuEq cutoff with a maximum of 10 consecutive metres of waste material included.  Intervals are then reviewed and manually adjusted to reflect coherent geological intervals where necessary.

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.