Trilogy Metals Inc. (TSX/NYSE American: TMQ) is pleased to announce the third, and final, set of copper and cobalt assay results for five holes from the 2018 summer 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.  Assay results from these five holes comprise approximately 3,024 meters from the 10,123-meter drill campaign.  All five of the drill holes contain significant copper mineralization and were designed as infill and extension 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:

• RC18-0254 intersected seven mineralized intervals of:
  • 123.9 meters averaging 1.07% copper;
  • 10.0 meters averaging 0.81% copper;
  • 13.5 meters averaging 0.78% copper;
  • 46.0 meters averaging 0.98% copper;
  • 8.0 meters averaging 0.91% copper; and
  • 29.0 meters averaging 1.68% copper.

• RC18-0252 intersected five mineralized intervals of:
  • 2.9 meters averaging 1.95% copper;
  • 3.6 meters averaging 2.63% copper;
  • 12.5 meters averaging 1.49% copper;
  • 1.9 meters averaging 1.12% copper; and
  • 7.5 meters averaging 2.25% copper.

• RC18-0251 intersected three mineralized intervals of:
  • 13.6 meters averaging 0.72% copper;
  • 1.7 meters averaging 1.01% copper; and
  • 1.3 meters averaging 0.98% copper.

• RC18-0255 intersected four mineralized intervals of:
  • 1.0 meter averaging 11.47% copper;
  • 5.4 meters averaging 0.88% copper;
  • 14.3 meters averaging 0.97% copper; and
  • 3.1 meters averaging 1.96% copper.

• RC18-0256 intersected three mineralized intervals of:
  • 12.9 meters averaging 0.94% copper;
  • 6.6 meters averaging 1.36% copper; and
  • 15.0 meters averaging 2.54% copper.

On August 23, 2018, the Company announced initial assay results from the first drill hole, RC18-0247, from the Bornite Project. Subsequently, on October 9, 2018, the Company announced additional assay results for three additional drill holes (RC18-0243, RC18-0244, RC18-0246 as well as RC18-0247). Additional drilling results, comprising assay results from three drill holes (RC18-0248, RC18-0249 and RC18-0250) were released on November 19, 2018. The current release contains the results for the five remaining drill holes (RC18-0251, RC18-0252, RC18-0254, RC18-0255 and RC18-0256). Hole RC18-0253 was re-collared as RC18-0254 before reaching its target depth. In total, 12 holes were drilled at the Bornite Project during the 2019 summer exploration program.  

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, President and CEO of Trilogy Metals commented, “The latest drilling results confirm the extent and continuity of the copper and cobalt mineralized system at the Bornite Project, and continue to demonstrate that the system is open. The results from drill hole RC18-0254 show additional thick zones of continuous copper-cobalt mineralization which is what was seen in RC13-0224, which contains 236.0 meters of 1.90% copper, including 6.6 meters of 7.70% copper (please see the press release dated October 7, 2013). Hole RC18-0254 is approximately 150 meters to the southwest of RC13-0224. Within the central part of the Bornite deposit, drill holes RC18-0252, RC18-0255 and RC18-0256 partially in-fill the doughnut hole – an area previously undrilled as seen in figure 2. These three drill holes extend the mineralized envelope towards the surface – potentially expanding the open pit resource. The results from RC18-0251 extend the South Reef Zone up-dip to the south – albeit at lower grades but the mineralized system remains open up-dip towards the surface.  Overall, all four of these holes (RC18-0251, RC18-0252, RC18-0255 and RC18-0256) show that the South Reef mineralization is open up dip and joins with the Main Lower Reef mineralization that makes up the open pit resource.”

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 meters but was subsequently expanded to 10,000 meters 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 meters to test the extension of the of the currently defined resource^†.

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 approximately true widths. Results at a more selective higher-grade cutoff of 1.5% copper are presented in Table 2.  Table 3 shows drill hole locations while Figure 1 shows the location of the drill holes on a plan map along with cross section lines A-A’, B-B’ and C-C’ (Figures 3, 4 and 5).  Figure 2 shows the location of the drill holes on a grade thickness contour map which will be updated in a press release summarizing the 2018 drill results to be issued at a later date.  

Table 1 – 0.5% Cu cut-off with maximum 4 m internal waste

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

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.

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. Assays from historic Kennecott holes that were not re-sampled were also used in the resource estimation. 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-meter minimum length, 2.5-meter maximum length and 1.9-meter average sample length. Drill core recovery averaged 93% overall and 95% 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.