Trilogy Metals Inc. (TSX/NYSE American: TMQ) is pleased to announce the first set of high-grade copper and cobalt assay results from this summer’s exploration diamond drilling program at the Bornite Project, a part of the Company’s Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects located in the Ambler mining district of Northwest Alaska.  Sample results from these four holes comprise approximately 3,871 meters from the recently completed 10,123 meter drill campaign.  All four drill holes contain copper mineralization and were designed as infill holes to the 300 to 400 meter step-out holes drilled by the Company’s previous round of drilling completed in 2017.

At a cutoff grade of 0.5% copper the results are as follows:

• RC18-246 intersected three mineralized intervals of:
  • 19.6 metres averaging 2.06% copper;
  • 6.1 metres averaging 2.36% copper; and
  • 7.6 metres averaging 1.04% copper.

• RC18-243 intersected one mineralized interval of:
  • 2.0 metres averaging 2.23% copper.

•  RC18-244 intersected one mineralized interval of:
  • 20.4 metres averaging 0.83% copper.

• RC18-247 intersected two mineralized intervals of:
  • 20.1 metres averaging 4.55% copper, including 16.4 meters grading 5.34% Copper and 0.21% Cobalt (The results of this mineralized interval were disclosed in the Company’s press release dated August 23, 2018); and
  • 33.4 metres averaging 0.82% copper.

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, President and CEO of Trilogy Metals commented, “We continue to see narrow zones of high-grade copper and cobalt mineralization overlain by broader zones of lower grade mineralization at Bornite.  The continuity of the mineralized envelop continues to impress.  With another eight holes of results due to come out over the next several weeks, we will continue to release results as they become available.  After all results are in, we expect to complete an updated resource estimate at Bornite in the first half of next year.”

The 2018 drilling budget of $10 million for Bornite this year was funded entirely by South32 Limited (ASX, LSE, JSE: S32; ADR: SOUHY) (“South32”) and represents the second $10 million payment under the Option Agreement with South32 and maintains the Option Agreement in good standing.  In August 2018, South32 agreed to increase its contribution to this year’s Bornite drilling program by funding an additional $800,000 to the Company for an increased budget at Bornite totaling $10.8 million, which allowed the Company to expand drilling from 8,000 meters to 10,000 meters this summer.  The additional funding will reduce South32’s 2019 minimum exploration budget commitment of $10 million to $9.2 million.  For more information on the Option Agreement see the Company’s press release on April 10, 2017 (https://Trilogy PR April 10 2017).

This year’s program was comprised of 12 drill holes totaling approximately 10,123 meters through a combination of infill and expansion drill holes in and around the known deposit. The original drilling campaign was budgeted to be 8,000 metres but was subsequently expanded to 10,000 metres with the addition of two more drill rigs. The 2018 program followed up on drilling completed during the 2017 exploration program which was one of the larger programs in the history of drilling at the Bornite Project. During 2017, the Company drilled nine diamond drill holes comprising 8,437 metres to test the extension of the of the currently defined resource^†.

Trilogy Metals has recently completed its summer exploration drilling program at Bornite and geotechnical activities at its Arctic Project. Additional drill results are anticipated to be released regularly over the next couple of months as they become available.  The objective of the 2018 drill campaign is to infill and expand the currently defined open pit and underground mineral resources. 

Results are presented in Table 1 at a cutoff grade of 0.5% copper to be comparable with previous drill results released by the Company.  All the intersected widths are normal to stratigraphy and therefore can be considered to be true widths. Results at a more selective higher-grade cutoff of 1.5% copper are also presented in Table 2 to show locally higher-grade intervals.  Table 3 shows drill hole locations.  Figure 1 shows the location of the drill holes on a plan map and Figure 2 shows a cross-section through drill hole RC18-0246.

Table 1 – 0.5% Cu cut-off with maximum 3 m internal waste – Minimum 1.5 m interval

Table 2 – 1.5% Cu cut-off with maximum 3 m internal waste – Minimum 1.5 m interval

Table 3 – Bornite Drill Hole Locations

Mineralization within the Bornite deposit occurs as a series of “Reefs” hosted by both the Upper and Lower Bornite Carbonate sequences separated by generally unmineralized phyllite units. The Cu-Co mineralization at Bornite occurs in three distinct carbonate zones, the Upper Reef, the Lower Reef, and the South Reef.  All three zones were drill tested this year. 

Mineralization is typically observed as breccia matrix replacement and is generally dominated by chalcopyrite and sometimes by bornite with chalcocite – particularly in the higher-grade zones.  Mineralization can also be observed as vein and replacement zones containing chalcopyrite and calcite/dolomite gangue.  These styles of mineralization were observed in all holes mentioned in this press release with bornite, chalcocite mineralization observed in RC18-0247, RC18-0246, and minorly within RC18-0244; and chalcopyrite dominating mineralization observed in RC18-0243.

Bornite Resource

The resource estimate utilized assay data from drill holes completed by the Company between 2011 and 2013 and re-sampled historic holes Kennecott drilled in the 1960s and 1970s. On June 5^th, 2018 the Company announced an updated resource estimate for the Bornite project of 5.5 Billion pounds of copper inferred resource at a grade of 1.74% Cu and 913 Million pounds of copper indicated resource at a grade of 1.02% Cu and total Inferred Cobalt resources (in-pit and below-pit) of 182.4 million tonnes grading 0.019% Co for 77 million pounds of contained cobalt. Trilogy Metals filed a National Instrument 43-101 technical report in July 2018.  See the Bornite Technical Report as well as the Company’s press releases dated June 5, 2018 (https://Trilogy PR June 5 2018) and the Company’s press release on the filing of the updated NI43-101 Technical Report for Bornite on July 20, 2018 (https://Trilogy PR July 20 2018).

QA/QC Program

The drill program, sampling protocol and data verification were managed by qualified persons employed by the Company. Diamond drill holes were typically collared at PQ or HQ diameter drill core and reduced to HQ and NQ diameter during the drilling process. Samples were collected using a 0.2-metre minimum length, 2.5-metre maximum length and 1.8-metre average sample length. Drill core recovery averaged 87% overall and 94% within the prospective lithologies. Three quality control samples (one blank, one standard and one duplicate) were inserted into each batch of 20 samples. The drill core was sawn, with half sent to ALS Minerals in Fairbanks for sample preparation and the sample pulps forwarded to ALS’s North Vancouver facility for analysis. ALS Minerals in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada, is a facility certified as ISO 9001:2008 and accredited to ISO / IEC 17025:2005 from the Standards Council of Canada. The Company will submit 5% of the assay intervals from prospective lithologies to an independent check assay lab.

Qualified Persons

Andrew W. West, Certified Professional Geologist, Exploration Manager for Trilogy Metals Inc., is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. West has reviewed the technical information in this news release and approves the disclosure contained herein.

About Trilogy Metals

Trilogy Metals Inc. is a metals exploration and development company focused on exploring and developing the Ambler mining district located in northwestern Alaska. It is one of the richest and most-prospective known copper-dominant districts located in one of the safest geopolitical jurisdictions in the world. It hosts world-class polymetallic volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits that contain copper, zinc, lead, gold and silver, and carbonate replacement deposits which have been found to host high-grade copper and cobalt mineralization. Exploration efforts have been focused on two deposits in the Ambler mining district – the Arctic VMS deposit and the Bornite carbonate replacement deposit. Both deposits are located within the Company’s land package that spans approximately 143,000 hectares. The Company has an agreement with NANA Regional Corporation, Inc., a Regional Alaska Native Corporation that provides a framework for the exploration and potential development of the Ambler mining district in cooperation with local communities. Our vision is to develop the Ambler mining district into a premier North American copper producer.