Tectonic Metals Inc. (TSX-V:TECT) (OTCQB: TETOF)  announced the first set of assay results from the completion of its 3,202 metre 27 hole Rotary Air Blast drilling campaign at the Tibbs Gold Project. Drilling at the Michigan Zone focused on systematically stepping out to the northeast and southwest along a prominent northeast trending lineament in the centre of Michigan, where 2019 RAB drilling intersected 6.03 grams per tonne gold over 28.95m, and 2020 RAB drilling intersected a highlight intercept of 6.71 g/t Au over 9.14m, including 19.3 g/t Au over 3.05m. In addition, Tectonic collected 1,453 soil and 109 rock samples at Tibbs over prospective ground with the goal of generating new drill targets for follow up. Tectonic is also excited to announce the completion of its Summer 2020 drill campaign at the Company’s Seventymile Gold Project, with 2,582m of drilling completed over 26 holes, and looks forward to sharing assay results as soon as they are available.

Michigan Drilling Highlights and Key Takeaways

• Step out drilling identifies additional high-grade gold at Michigan – highlights include:
  • 6.71 g/t Au over 9.14m including 19.3 g/t Au over 3.05m (TBRB20-029)
  • 2.61 g/t Au over 12.19m including 5.56 g/t Au over 3.05m (TBRB20-026)
  • 3.73 g/t Au over 7.62m including 12.8 g/t Au over 1.52m (TBRB20-025)
• Expansion Potential
  • Michigan remains open along strike and at depth
  • Drilling delineated over 275m of strike with all 2020 drill holes intersecting gold mineralization along a northeast-trending corridor open to the northeast, southwest, and at depth
• Pogo Geological Model Relevant
  • Mineralized low-angle structural features observed at Michigan
  • Similar to structural controls at the Pogo gold deposits, both low and high-angle mineralized structures are now interpreted at Tibbs
  • Recognition of mineralized low-angle features at Michigan within the damage zone suggests an interplay between high-angle faulting and low-angle regional extension and shearing
• High-Grade Gold and Intersecting Structures
  • Structures containing high-grade quartz-pyrite-arsenopyrite-stibnite veining (e.g. 19.3 g/t Au over 3.05m, TBRB20-029) are found within broad, lower-tenor mineralized envelopes comprised of disseminated pyrite, arsenopyrite, and stibnite within sericite-altered granodiorite
  • Intersection zones between low and high-angle mineralized structures appear to result in increased tenor and width of gold mineralization
  • Identifying these intersections will be key to unlocking the full potential of the Michigan Zone
• Next Steps
  • Induced Polarization (IP) geophysical survey to commence at Michigan in the coming weeks with the goal of testing the strike and depth extent of mineralization in the Michigan structural corridor
  • Drill assays from Lower Trench, Wolverine Zones at Tibbs expected in near future
  • Tibbs soil and rock sampling campaigns completed, assays pending; 1,453 soils and 109 rocks collected
  • Prospecting and mapping campaigns completed at the Maple Leaf and Mt. Harper Projects, assays and interpretations pending
  • Seventymile drilling – 6 zones tested by 2,582m of RAB drilling. Assays pending

Eric Buitenhuis, VP Exploration, commented, “Tectonic is pleased to have completed our Summer 2020 drill programs at Tibbs and Seventymile and to release the first, highly encouraging assay results from our Tibbs campaign. The presence of high-grade gold mineralization within broad, lower-tenor mineralized envelopes at Michigan is indicative of a productive hydrothermal system within the corridor, and the intersection of low and high-angle structures appears to result in an increase in both tenor and width of mineralization. These newly recognized low-angle mineralized features may be related to low-angle regional shearing, a critical structural control on mineralization in the Goodpaster District, including at the Pogo mine. Interestingly, several low-angle faults have been mapped within Paleozoic gneisses in the western region of the Tibbs project – an ideal Pogo analogue. We look forward to announcing the remaining results from the Lower Trench and Wolverine Zones, the soil sampling and prospecting programs, and the Seventymile drill campaign as soon as they are available.”

Drill Highlights – Michigan Zone

A table of drill results from Tectonic’s 2020 drill holes at the Michigan Zone as well as maps, cross sections, and drill assay sheets associated with this news release can be viewed by clicking here.

Additional information about the Tibbs Gold Project, including historical information, can be found in the Amended and Restated NI 43-101 Technical Report, Tibbs Property , Alaska, United States of America with an effective date of October 31, 2019, prepared by Carl Schulze, P.Geo., of Aurora Geosciences Ltd. in accordance with NI 43-101, which is filed on the Company’s profile on SEDAR.

Tibbs Gold Project – 2020 Drill Strategy, Objectives, and Goals

Building upon 2019’s exploration success with Ground Truth America’s RAB drill, Tectonic chose to utilize this cost-effective and rapid drill method to step out on 2019’s highlight drill intersection at the Michigan Zone of 6.03 g/t Au over 28.95m. Drilling in 2020 focused on stepping out from this highlight drill intercept, while also testing for additional Michigan-style structures along a 3km long prospective corridor at the Lower Trench and Wolverine Zones.

Drilling was conducted as fences of angled holes designed to cross interpreted high-angle mineralized structures. Drill holes were dominantly oriented to the east or southeast, depending on the zone being drill tested, with dips of 55 degrees to cut the dominantly northwest dipping structures.

A goal metreage of 2,500m drilled was outlined prior to the commencement of the drill season. Tectonic significantly exceeded this goal at Tibbs, drilling 3,202m in total, with 1,637m drilled at Michigan alone over 275m of drilled strike.

Geology and Mineralization

Drilling at Michigan in 2020 has identified an approximately 100m wide northeast trending structural corridor which hosts both interpreted low-angle and high-angle, northwest-dipping mineralized structures. Tectonic’s drilling has delineated 275m of strike within the central corridor, which is open to the northeast, southwest, and at depth.

High-grade mineralization is characterized by quartz-pyrite-arsenopyrite-stibnite veining, with the best drilled intervals consisting nearly entirely of quartz-sulphide vein material. Low-tenor mineralization at Michigan consists of strongly sericite-altered granodiorite with disseminated sulphides (pyrite, arsenopyrite and stibnite). Alteration and sulphide mineralization are controlled by a northeast trending structural corridor interpreted as a damage zone. Within the damage zone, stacked, low-angle, tabular bodies of northwest-dipping mineralization appear to be cut by higher-angle structures. The relationship between low and high-angle structures and quartz-sulphide vein density is currently unclear, though it is likely that increased alteration and higher-tenor mineralization observed in 2020 drill hole TBRB20-029 and 2019 drill hole TBRB19-003 is the result of structural intersections. These structural intersections are critical to finding high-tenor gold mineralization.

Additional drilling was conducted at the Lower Trench and Wolverine Zones, both >1km long, northeast trending structural corridors with associated gold, arsenic, and antimony anomalism defined by soil and rock geochemistry and air photo lineaments. Assays are pending for both targets.

For additional information on the Lower Trench and Wolverine Zones, please see here.

Exploration Upside and Next Steps

In order to rapidly test the scale potential of the Michigan Zone, Tectonic is planning to conduct a follow-up induced polarization (IP) geophysical survey over the >1km long structural corridor in late September. The goal of the survey is to determine the geophysical signature of drilled, near-surface mineralization at Michigan within the centre of the target and test for a similar signature both at depth and along strike within the corridor. The survey will provide valuable information on the extent of mineralization along the deformation zone where RAB drilling was unable to be completed due to terrain constraints, as well as beneath talus cover and valley fill.

In addition to the 2020 RAB program, Tectonic collected 1,453 soil samples at the Tibbs property. The goal of the soil sampling program was to expand the historic soil grid to the west over a package of paragneiss and orthogneiss of Paleozoic age, where previous workers mapped several low-angle thrust faults. The interplay of low-angle regional shears and high-angle fault structures is clearly observed at the Pogo gold deposits, where both styles of structure acted as hydrothermal fluid conduits. Low-angle structural features observed within the Michigan damage zone suggest that similar relationships may be present within the western gneissic rocks at Tibbs, illuminating a new exploration targeting concept for the Tibbs property. Assays are pending for the 2020 soil campaign.

Qualified Person & QA/QC

Tectonic’s disclosure of a technical or scientific nature in this press release has been reviewed, verified, and approved by Eric Buitenhuis, M.Sc., P.Geo., Tectonic’s Vice President Exploration, who serves as a Qualified Person under the definition of National Instrument 43-101. Quality Assurance and Quality Control procedures include the systematic insertion of blanks and standards into the drill sample string at a rate of approximately 1/10 (10%). In addition, field duplicate samples are systematically collected at a rate of 3 duplicates per 100 samples. Samples are placed in sealed bags and shipped directly to the Bureau Veritas Laboratories preparation facility in Fairbanks, Alaska.

The analytical work for the 2020 Tibbs RAB drilling program was performed by Bureau Veritas Laboratories, an internationally recognized and accredited analytical services provider, which is independent of Tectonic. All RAB drill samples were prepared using procedure PRP70-250 (crush, split, and pulverize 250g to 200 mesh) at BV’s Fairbanks, Alaska facility. Samples were then sent to Vancouver, Canada, where they underwent analysis for gold by method FA430 (30-gram Fire Assay fusion with an atomic absorption finish (AAS). Samples returning >10 g/t Au were re-analyzed using method FA530-Au (30g Fire Assay with gravimetric finish). Following this, a 0.25g pulp was sent to the Vancouver, British Columbia lab for four-acid Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission Spectrometer (ICP-ES) analysis for 35 elements using method MA300.

About Tectonic

Tectonic Metals Inc. is a mineral exploration company created and operated by an experienced and well-respected technical and financial team with a track record of wealth creation for shareholders.  Key members of the Tectonic team were involved with Kaminak Gold Corporation, the company that raised C$165 million to fund the acquisition, discovery and advancement of the Coffee Gold Project in the Yukon Territory through to the completion of a bankable feasibility study before selling the multi-million ounce gold project to Goldcorp Inc. (now Newmont Goldcorp) for C$520 million in 2016.

Tectonic is focused on the acquisition, exploration, discovery and development of mineral resources from district-scale projects in politically stable jurisdictions that have the potential to host world-class orebodies.

Tectonic believes that responsible mineral exploration and development can positively impact the communities in which the company lives and operates and is committed to early and ongoing community engagement, best practices in environmental stewardship and the development of a strong safety culture. Whether at home or at work, the Tectonic team is grounded on the following core values: passion, integrity, patience, focus, perseverance, honesty, fairness, accountability, respect, and a play big mindset. The company works for its shareholders and is committed to creating value for them.