Patriot Completes Highly Successful In-Fill & Development Drill Program Propelling Shaakichiuwaanaan Down the Development Pipeline

November 26, 2024

High-grade mineralised intercepts including 100.5 m at 1.62% Li₂O from in-fill drilling at the cornerstone CV5 Deposit, plus extensive geotechnical and hydrogeological drill programs completed supporting the Feasibility Study

Highlights

• Extensive in-fill drilling program successfully completed at the cornerstone CV5 Spodumene Pegmatite Deposit to support the ongoing Feasibility Study.
  • No further in-fill drilling is anticipated to achieve the primary objective of upgrading Inferred Mineral Resources to the Indicated category.
• Record 65,384 m drilled during summer/fall program, for a total of 128,052 m during calendar 2024, further de-risking and advancing the Project.
• Wide, well-mineralized, and high-grade pegmatite intercepts from in-fill drilling at CV5.
  • 124.5 m at 1.25% Li₂O, including 16.5 m at 2.32% Li₂O (CV24-613).
  • 100.5 m at 1.62% Li₂O, including 55.5 m at 2.01% Li₂O (CV24-651).
  • 77.3 m at 1.66% Li₂O, including 17.5 m at 2.16% Li₂O (CV24-639).
  • 67.2 m at 1.18% Li₂O, and 25.8 m at 2.65% Li₂O, including 17.6 m at 3.30% Li₂O (CV24-661).
  • 55.1 m at 1.31% Li₂O, including 9.5 m at 2.07% Li₂O (CV24-609).
  • 44.3 m at 1.47% Li₂O and 58.1 m at 1.21% Li₂O (CV24-591).
  • 48.5 m at 1.85% Li₂O, including 8.5 m at 4.86% Li₂O (CV24-616).
• Expansive geotechnical and hydrogeological drill campaigns also now largely complete at CV5 and at proposed infrastructure development sites – 70 holes (1,514 m) completed as part of the summer-fall program.
• Core assay results are reported in this announcement for 64 in-fill drill holes (22,408 m) at CV5 and 70 geotechnical & hydrogeological drill holes (1,514 m) to support CV5 development and the ongoing Feasibility Study.
  • Results for 98 drill holes (31,513 m) remain to be reported from CV5 – 90 in-fill (29,754 m) and 8 geomechanical (1,759 m).
  • Results for 33 drill holes (9,950 m) remain to be reported from CV13 – focused on extensions of the high-grade Vega Zone.
• Delivery of Feasibility Study and maiden Ore Reserve Estimate for the CV5 Spodumene Pegmatite remains on schedule for Q3-2025.

Darren L. Smith, Patriot Executive and Vice President of Exploration, comments: “We are extremely pleased with the considerable amount of work completed and results to date from our 2024 summer-fall drill program, which focused on advancing the CV5 Spodumene Pegmatite to Feasibility. The team has done a phenomenal job executing the program efficiently and cost effectively, delivering high-quality datasets that have exceeded our expectations in many regards. The successful completion of the 2024 drill programs at the cornerstone CV5 Spodumene Pegmatite marks a very significant milestone for the Project, laying the foundations for the Feasibility Study and maiden Ore Reserve Estimate, which remains on schedule for Q3-2025.

“With the bulk of the in-fill and development drilling now behind us, the team is focusing on other key workstreams and objectives to advance the Project through development. We are looking forward to a pivotal year ahead in 2025,” added Mr. Smith.

Patriot Battery Metals Inc. (the “Company” or “Patriot”) (TSX: PMET) (ASX: PMT) (OTCQX: PMETF) (FSE: R9GA) is pleased to announce the completion of its 2024 summer-fall drill programs and reporting of the first batch of core assay results for in-fill holes at the CV5 Spodumene Pegmatite, which forms part of the Company’s wholly owned Shaakichiuwaanaan Property (the “Property” or “Project”), located in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region of Quebec.

The Shaakichiuwaanaan Property hosts a consolidated Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) of 80.1 Mt at 1.44% Li₂O Indicated and 62.5 Mt at 1.31% Li₂O Inferred[1]. The CV5 Spodumene Pegmatite is accessible year-round by all-season road and is situated approximately 14 km from a major hydroelectric powerline corridor.

The focus of the 2024 summer-fall drill program at Shaakichiuwaanaan was to collect all remaining drill data required to support a Feasibility Study for the CV5 Spodumene Pegmatite, scheduled for completion in Q3-2025. This included:

• Significant in-fill drilling at CV5 to underpin a Mineral Resource update (focused on converting Inferred Resources to Indicated Resources) to underpin a maiden Ore Reserve Estimate, which will be declared as part of the Feasibility Study.
• Expansive geotechnical and hydrogeological drilling at CV5, and areas of proposed infrastructure in support of development.
• Geomechanical drilling targeting various areas of the anticipated open-pit and underground development at CV5.

Drill results for 64 in-fill drill holes at the CV5 Spodumene Pegmatite are reported in this announcement (Figure 1). Results continue to demonstrate that high grades and large spodumene crystal sizes are consistently present along the 4.6 km mineralized pegmatite strike length defined to date (Figure 2 and Figure 3).

The in-fill drill program at CV5 was completed in early October and targeted Inferred classified blocks within the current Mineral Resource (see news release dated August 5, 2024), which are anticipated to be included in the Feasibility Study mine plan.

Additionally, optical and acoustic televiewer data was collected in more than 20 holes at CV5 during the program to capture oriented structural data to support geological modelling and mine design. The various datasets collected are currently undergoing final validation and are being incorporated into an updated pegmatite and host rock geological model.

The Company and its geological consultants are working closely to finalize this geological model over the next few weeks as the program’s final assays are received, which will then advance towards a classified block model (Indicated / Inferred) to underpin Feasibility mine design.

Figure 1: Drill holes completed to date at CV5 with result highlights in this announcement.

Figure 2: Very high-grade spodumene pegmatite interval with very large spodumene crystals from the western area of CV5 (drill hole CV24-616), located approximately 2 km west of the high-grade Nova Zone. The core grades 4.76% Li₂O over 8.5 m (286.9 m to 295.4 m).

Figure 3: Very large, near inclusion free, spodumene crystals in quartz pegmatite at CV5 from drill-hole CV24-627 (depth of 166.5 m).

From the summer-fall program, results for a total of 98 drill holes (31,513 m) remain to be reported from CV5 – 90 in-fill (29,754 m) and 8 geomechanical (1,759 m). Additionally, results for a total of 33 drill holes (9,950 m) remain to be reported from CV13 – focused on the high-grade Vega Zone (Figure 5) (see news release dated July 7, 2024). Core sample assays for drill holes reported herein are presented in Table 1 for all pegmatite intersections >2 m. Drill-hole locations and attributes are presented in Table 2.

In addition to the in-fill drilling at CV5, a large component of the summer-fall program comprised an expansive geotechnical and hydrogeological drill program at CV5 and areas of proposed infrastructure in support of development and the ongoing Feasibility Study. This included locations for the proposed process plant, mining camp, stockpiles, waste rock and tailings management facilities, as well as the envisioned open-pit and underground development areas of the CV5 Spodumene Pegmatite (Figure 4).

The objective of the hydrogeological drilling is to characterize the shallow and deep groundwater flow regime over the Project area. The objective of the geotechnical drilling is to characterize the overburden and immediate bedrock contacts to support infrastructure build design. Often both hydrogeological and geotechnical data is collected from the same drill hole. No mineralized pegmatite intervals were encountered in these holes, as was expected due to their typically very shallow nature (average depth of 22 m) and regional locations (see news release dated October 27, 2024, for additional program details).

A collective 70 drill holes were completed as part of the summer-fall geotechnical and hydrogeological program, all reported in this announcement. Location and attribute information for the geotechnical and hydrogeological drill holes are presented in Table 3.

Figure 4: Geotechnical and hydrogeological drill holes completed in support of CV5 development.

Figure 5: Drill holes completed during 2024 at the CV5 and CV13 spodumene pegmatites

Table 1: Core assay summary for drill holes reported herein at the CV5 Spodumene Pegmatite.

Table 2: Attributes for drill holes reported herein at the CV5 Spodumene Pegmatite.

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