Appia Announces Commencement of 2022 Drilling and Exploration Program at Alces Lake Rare Earth Property, Northern Saskatchewan
Toronto, March 9, 2022 - Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp. (CSE: API) (OTCQB: APAAF) (FSE: A0I) (FSE: A0I.MU) (FSE: A0I.BE) (the "Company" or "Appia") is pleased to announce that the Alces Lake field camp has been reopened and the team has mobilized to commence the 2022 drilling and exploration program at Appia's high-grade, rare earth element ("REE") and gallium Alces Lake property (the "Property"), located in northern Saskatchewan.
- Largest ever drilling program for Appia with 12,000+ metres planned for 2022
- Drilling will continue to evaluate the WRCB (Wilson, Richard Charles, Bell and including, Ivan, Dante and Dylan) discovery area to determine the size, orientation and continuity of high-grade mineralization
- Drilling on the trend northwest and southeast of the WRCB area (see Figure 1) to evaluate the potential of Hinge, Ermacre, Quartzite and Danny targets as well as Strocen and Augier, to investigate significant tonnage potential
- Continue exploration and delineation drilling on the Western Anomaly to evaluate the most promising discoveries including Sweet Chili Heat, Zesty and Diablo, as well as other undrilled targets
- Cash and working capital position of $11.8 million at February 23, 2022 with in-the-money warrants that could bring in additional funds to the treasury.
Appia's President, Frederick Kozak, stated: "after the most active drilling program in the company's history in 2021, we are going back to Alces Lake earlier than ever to take advantage of our year-round infrastructure. We are about to start a very ambitious drilling and exploration program and look forward to further delineating identified targets within the 27 square kilometres of prospective exploration lands. To date, high grade REE and gallium mineralization has been identified in the WRCB area. In 2021, the Company identified the highly prospective Western Anomaly where a number of highly mineralized targets have been drilled. The Western Anomaly will be a significant focus in 2022."
The team is now onsite at the Alces Lake camp and is preparing the camp for arrival of geologists, technicians and drillers. Necessary supplies have been shipped on the ice road to Uranium City and will be transported to the camp shortly. Weather permitting, drilling is expected to commence with one diamond drill before the end of March and as daylight hours increase, the Company plans to add a second drill later in April, for two drills operating on a 24/7 basis. Initial drilling will concentrate on the WRCB area where mineralization has been identified through drilling and at surface. Appia intends to better define the known mineralization, extend the discoveries, and evaluate new targets within the 27 square kilometres high grade rare earths areas that have yet to be tested.
Figure 1 - 2022 Target Areas
To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:
https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5416/116113_cc70e3360447a872_005full.jpg.
Prioritization of some of the 2022 drilling targets at Alces Lake is contingent on receipt of assay results from the 2021 program. Due to a number of factors, Appia is still awaiting the assay results for almost 50% of the assays from drilling carried out in the 2021 program. Appia now expects the data to be received by the end of March. Once the assay results are compiled and evaluated, Appia will update its geologic model to refine some drilling targets for 2022.
Appia had expected to release a technical report in accordance with NI 43-101 (including updated geological interpretations and 3D geological models) for the Alces Lake project in early 2022; however, due to the extreme delay receiving assay results, this report is also delayed and is now expected to be published towards the end of the second quarter of 2022.
ALCES LAKE HIGH-GRADE REE PROJECT
Appia plans to drill significantly deeper holes in 2022 compared to the 100 holes (approximately 8,075 metres) drilled in 2021. This is designed to allow Appia to determine continuity at depth and along the identified REE mineralization trends. With high-grade REE mineralization now been identified in many locations within an area covering approximately 27 km2 of the Alces Lake block, the Company believes the project has the potential to be a world-class source of high-grade critical rare earth bearing monazite.
The Alces Lake project encompasses some of the highest-grade total and critical* REEs and gallium mineralization in the world, hosted within a number of surface and near-surface monazite occurrences that remain open at depth and along strike.
* Critical rare earth elements are defined here as those that are in short-supply and high-demand for use in permanent magnets and modern electronic applications such as electric vehicles and wind turbines (i.e: neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), dysprosium (Dy) and terbium (Tb)).
The Alces Lake project is located in northern Saskatchewan, the same provincial jurisdiction that is developing a "first-of-its-kind" rare earth processing facility in Canada (currently under construction by the Saskatchewan Research Council and scheduled to become operational in early 2023). The Alces Lake project area is 35,682 hectares (88,173 acres) in size and is 100% owned by Appia.
To ensure safe work conditions are met for the workforce, the Company has developed exploration guidelines that comply with the Saskatchewan Public Health Orders and the Public Health Order Respecting the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District in order to maintain social distancing and help prevent the transmission of COVID-19.
The geologic content in this news release was reviewed and approved by Dr. Irvine R. Annesley, P.Geo, Advisor to Appia's Board of Directors, and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. SRC Geoanalytical Laboratories' management system operates in accordance with ISO/IEC 17025:2005 (CAN-P-4E), General Requirements for the Competence of Mineral Testing and Calibration Laboratories.
About Appia
Appia is a Canadian publicly-listed company in the rare earth element and uranium sectors. The Company is currently focusing on delineating high-grade critical rare earth elements and gallium on the Alces Lake property, as well as exploring for high-grade uranium in the prolific Athabasca Basin on its Otherside, Loranger, North Wollaston, and Eastside properties. The Company holds the surface rights to exploration for 105,026 hectares (259,525 acres) in Saskatchewan. The Company also has a 100% interest in 12,545 hectares (31,000 acres), with rare earth element and uranium deposits over five mineralized zones in the Elliot Lake Camp, Ontario.
Appia has 119.9 million common shares outstanding, 142.4 million shares fully diluted.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This News Release contains forward-looking statements which are typically preceded by, followed by or including the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "estimates", "intends", "plans" or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance as they involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward- looking statements and shareholders are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such statements.
Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
For further information, please contact:
Tom Drivas, CEO and Director: (cell) 416-876-3957, (fax) 416-218-9772 or (email) appia@appiaenergy.ca
Frederick Kozak, President: (cellular) 403-606-3165 or (email) fkozak@appiaenergy.ca
Frank van de Water, Chief Financial Officer and Director, (tel) 416-546-2707, (fax) 416-218-9772 or (email) fvandewater@rogers.com
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