NGEx Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V: NGEX) is pleased to report the first set of drill results from the current program at the Lunahuasi Project located in the Vicuña District in San Juan Province, Argentina.

Highlights

• Drillhole DPDH009 intersected 62.0m at 6.98% copper equivalent from 144.0m, including:
  • 26.1m at 13.36% CuEq from 168.9m
  • 4.5m at 18.37% CuEq from 171.8m
  • 6.5m at 26.00% CuEq from 188.5m
  • The intercepts above are included within a broader interval of 128.3m at 4.01% CuEq from 144.0m
  • Estimated true widths of the intersections are shown in Table 1 below
  • Hole completed to a depth of 582.0m and all assays complete.
• Drillhole DPDH010 intersected 62.6m at 5.84% CuEq from 226.0m, including:
  • 9.4m at 12.10% CuEq from 232.0m
  • 4.2m at 19.70% CuEq from 282.2m
  • The intercepts above are included within a broader interval of 102.0m at 4.56% CuEq from 192.0m
  • Estimated true widths of the intersections are shown in Table 1 below
  • Hole was completed to a depth of 1,070.2m and assays to 355.3m are complete with the remainder pending.

Wojtek Wodzicki, President and CEO, commented, “Our second drill campaign at Lunahuasi is well underway, and we are very excited about these initial results. Not only are we demonstrating the size and continuity of our new high-grade discovery, but we are beginning to understand the orientations of the zones and the overall deposit geometry. In parallel with the drill campaign which has initially focused around area of the initial Lunahuasi discovery hole, DPDH002, our geologists have been hard at work on surface mapping and sampling and we have developed some exciting new targets which will be drilled in the near future.”

Drilling is beginning to outline three main mineralized structures which are trending north-northwest and dipping steeply to the west. The two holes reported here are interpreted to have intersected the middle structure, which also includes the discovery intersection of 60.0m at 7.52% CuEq (5.65% Cu, 2.04 g/t Au, 44.0 g/t Ag) from hole DPDH002 drilled in our inaugural campaign last year. Relative to that intersection, the 62.0m interval reported from DPDH009 is 60m above and the 62.6m interval reported from DPDH010 is 87m to the southwest at the same elevation.

The mineralized structures are comprised of “ledges” defined by zones of intense silicification, brecciation, stockwork and veins. Copper mineralization occurs primarily in enargite with lesser covellite as breccia fillings, disseminations, veinlets and massive pyrite-enargite veins up to several metres in width. Gold and silver values are notable throughout, including bonanza grades (e.g. gold up to 21.9 g/t and silver up to 1,490 g/t in hole DPDH009).

All three structures remain open along strike in both directions and vertically to depth and to surface and the potential for discovery of parallel mineralized structures is excellent based on completed surface work.

Table 1: Significant Intercepts 

Figure 1: Plan View of Lunahuasi Drill Holes

Outlook for 2024

Drilling has restarted after a short holiday break with four rigs currently active. Holes DPDH001 through DPDH008 were completed and reported last season, and the first hole from the current season is DPDH009. A total of 15,000m is planned for the current program with 4,407m drilled to date. Three holes have been completed to date (DPDH009 to 582m, DPDH010 to 1,070m and DPDH011 to 419m) and four holes are currently ongoing (DPDH012 at 704m, DPDH013 at 596m, DPDH014 at 965m and DPDH015 at 71m). Assays have been received for 921m of the current program with the remainder pending. Assay results for completed holes will be released as they are received, analyzed, and confirmed by the Company.

Table 2: Drill Hole Information

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 sampled in maximum 2-meter intervals, stopping at geological boundaries, using a rock saw. Core diameter is a mix of PQ, HQ and NQ depending on the depth of the drill hole. Samples were bagged and 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 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).

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 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 Minerals 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 49% owner of the operating Caserones open pit copper mine located approximately 17 kilometres north of Los Helados. Lundin Mining Corporation holds the remaining 51% stake in Caserones.