Formation Metals Announces Acquisition of N2 Property in Quebec's Casa Berardi Gold Trend, Highlighting 810,000 oz Historical Gold Resource

VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Formation Metals ("Formation" or the "Company") (CSE: FOMO), a North American mineral acquisition and exploration company, is pleased to announce that, subject to the approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "Exchange"), the Company has executed an option (the "Option Agreement"), dated January 15, 2025, for the right to purchase an undivided 100% interest in the N2 property (the "Property") from Wallbridge Mining Company Limited ("Wallbridge Mining").

The N2 property comprises 87 claims that cover ~4,400 ha of land within the Abitibi subprovince of Northwestern Quebec. The Property is just 25 km south of Matagami, Quebec and the claims are accessible year-round by provincial highways and logging roads (Fig. 1).

Property Highlights

• The claims are situated along the Casa Berardi mine trend, which hosts numerous multiple million-ounce gold deposits (Fig. 1)^[2]
  - ~1.5 km east of the former-producing Vezza gold mine (Nottoway Resources)
  - ~30 km east of the Douay gold project (511 Koz Au indicated, 2.53 Moz inferred; Maple Gold Mines)
  - ~120 km east of the Casa Berardi gold mine (P&P 1.3 Moz Au; Hecla Mining)
• The N2 property hosts two historical non 43-101 compliant resources: 18.2 Mt grading 1.48 g/t Au (~810,000 oz Au) across four zones (A, East, RJ-East, and Central) and 243 Kt grading 7.82 g/t Au (~65,000 oz Au) across the RJ zone^[1].
• Compilation and geophysical work by Balmoral Resources Ltd. (now Wallbridge Mining) from 2010 to 2018 generated numerous targets that have not yet been investigated with diamond drilling.

Figure 1: Regional claim ownership along the Casa-Berardi trend; 1: Maudore Minerals Ltd. MRE, 2012; 2. Hecla Mining Company Technical Report, 2024; 3. Maple Gold Mine NI-43-101, 2022; 4. Non-compliant with NI-43-101 Cyprus MRE, 1994
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The Property hosts six known zones of gold mineralization (Fig. 2), four of which yielded a historical resource of 18.2 Mt grading 1.48 g/t Au at a cut-off of 0.5 g/t Au (~810,000 oz Au; Cyprus, 1994, non-compliant with NI-43-101 standards)^[1]. A separate historical geological resource estimate (non-compliant with NI 43-101) of 243,000 t grading 7.82 g/t Au (in-situ contained resource of ~67,000 ounces of gold)^[1] was reported for a fifth zone, the RJ zone, located in the western part of the Property along strike to the Vezza deposit. In addition to the known zones, compilation and geophysical work by Balmoral Resources from 2010 to 2018 (Mag, EM, HEM, VTEM, and IP) generated numerous targets that have not yet been investigated with diamond drilling. The Property has not been drilled since 2008, and all known zones of gold mineralization remain open for expansion at depth and along strike.

Figure 2: Geology and gold zones of the N2 claims; Geology after SIGEOM, 2024
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"We are thrilled to announce the acquisition of the N2 property in the jurisdiction of Quebec, the best mining province in Canada", stated CEO Deepak Varshney.

He continued: "With a proven gold system and numerous areas with a high exploration upside, the N2 Property is in the perfect position to support immediate and sustained increases in value. Formation intends to implement a diverse work program that will confirm the historic gold resource and intercepts, whilst simultaneously advancing the numerous, less well understood gold zones on the Property to ensure our shareholders see the growth benefits of this Property in both the short- and long-term."

Property Summary

The Property has been explored primarily since the 1980s with the majority of the exploration work completed on the northern portion of the Property (Northway) where five zones of gold mineralization, related to shearing along volcanic-sedimentary rock contacts, were identified. The most extensive of these zones, the A Zone, was traced in shallow drilling for over 1.0 kilometre to depths of 25 to 350 vertical metres. All zones remain open to depth and several zones remain open along strike. 

In 1994, a historical geological resource estimate (non-compliant with NI 43-101) of 18.2 Mt grading 1.48 g/t Au (in-situ contained resource of 810,000 ounces of gold)^[1] was reported for four zones (A, RJ East, East, and South), based on near-surface drilling of approximately 230 diamond drill holes. Preliminary metallurgical tests conducted on drill core from the A Zone recovered 91.7% of the gold in a flotation concentrate after a moderately fine-grind.

A separate historical geological resource estimate prepared in 1994 (non-compliant with NI 43-101) of 243,000 t grading 7.82 g/t Au (in-situ contained resource of 67,000 ounces of gold)^[1] was reported for the RJ zone. In 2007, expansion and exploration drill programs led to the discovery of a new zone of gold mineralization in the hanging wall to the RJ Zone with similarities to the mineralization at Vezza. Follow-up geophysical surveys outline down-hole geophysical anomalies associated with this zone which remain to be tested.

Balmoral Resources Ltd., which merged with Wallbridge Mining in 2020, acquired the Property in 2010. Thereafter, Balmoral conducted a property wide VTEM, data compilation, and an IP orientation survey of 14.4 km that covered the three known horizons of mineralization. The results from these surveys showed a strong correlation between chargeability response and known gold mineralization, and emphasized chargeability anomalies along trend from gold mineralization where no drilling had been previously conducted.

Property Geology

The area covered by the N2 claims is located in the east end of the Harricane Turgeon belt of the Abitibi subprovince. The bedrock geology of the claims is dominated by two major lithological packages - the Taibi Sedimentary Domain and the Cartwright Volcanic Domain – which are separated by the Douay-Cameron Deformation Zone. The Taibi group metasedimentary rocks are host to other regionally significant gold deposits (Casa Berardi, Douay, Vezza), and contain the majority of the gold zones on the N2 property (Fig. 2).

The Taibi sedimentary rocks dominates the northern portion of the claim group and consist mainly of siliciclastic turbidite sequences that contain less abundant horizons of iron formation, conglomerate and graphic argillite. Local felsic to mafic volcanic rocks are intercalated with the metasedimentary rocks. The Cartwright Volcanic Domain occurs in the claim's southern portion and is composed of primarily intermediate to mafic volcanic rocks that are locally pillowed or plagioclase-phyric, and also contains less voluminous clastic metasedimentary rocks and local ultramafic intrusions. Several diabase dykes crosscut both Archean rock packages at a northeasterly orientation.

The Douay-Cameron Deformation Corridor is a regionally significant structure in the Abitibi subprovince (Fig. 1), stretching for more than 150 km, with a footprint up to 5 km wide. This major structural break is associated with numerous gold mines and deposits in the Abitibi, as well as some VMS deposits in the Joutel camp. In the N2 area this corridor consists of an anastomosing series of east-west striking shear zones that straddle the contact between the Cartwright and Taibi domains. In the northern part of the claim group, the Casa Berardi Deformation Corridor separates the turbidites of the Taibi group from rocks derived from a more proximal depositional facies.

Exploration Strategy

Formation intends to advance the Property by conducting property-wide surveys to assess the exploration upside and potential for continued discoveries prior to defining the gold resources reported in historic work. The orientation IP survey conducted by Balmoral Resources showed that the gold horizons on the N2 property yield a reliable response. To build off this success, Formation intends to add property-wide, or partial infill, grids over areas to identify chargeability and resistivity anomalies in the bedrock that can be followed up with diamond drilling.

Once the groundwork has been laid to establish a pipeline of future discoveries, Formation plans to advance the known gold zones through drill programs designed to test extensions along strike and depth of the historical resources at the Property.

The Terms of the Agreement

Pursuant to the Option Agreement, the Company may acquire a 100% interest in the Property by paying $550,000 cash, issuing an aggregate of 4,000,000 common shares in the capital of the Company, and completing $5,000,000 of work expenditures as indicated in the table below:

Qualified person

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Deepak Varshney, P.Geo., a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Historical reports provided by the optionor were reviewed by the qualified person. The information provided has not been verified and is being treated as historic non-compliant intercepts.

About Formation Metals Inc.

Formation Metals Inc. is a North American mineral acquisition and exploration company focused on the development of quality critical metal properties that are drill-ready with high-upside and expansion potential.

FORMATION METALS INC.

Deepak Varshney, CEO and Director

For more information, please call 778-899-1780, email info@formationmetalsinc.com or visit www.formationmetalsinc.com.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Note 1:  A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. The Company is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves.

Note 2:  Readers are cautioned that the geology of nearby properties is not necessarily indicative of the geology of the Property.

Forward-looking statements:

This news release includes "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation, including statements respecting the Company's earn-in under the Option Agreement and the Company's plans for the Property. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on a number of estimates and/or assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties, uncertain and volatile equity and capital markets, lack of available capital, actual results of exploration activities, environmental risks, future prices of base and other metals, operating risks, accidents, labour issues, delays in obtaining governmental approvals and permits, and other risks in the mining industry.

The Company is presently an exploration stage company. Exploration is highly speculative in nature, involves many risks, requires substantial expenditures, and may not result in the discovery of mineral deposits that can be mined profitably. Furthermore, the Company currently has no reserves on any of its properties. As a result, there can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.

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