Focus Graphite Completes 2022 Exploration and Resource Definition Drilling Program at its Lac Tétépisca Project, Québec Ahead of Schedule and Under Budget

Rhea-AI Summary

Focus Graphite has completed its 2022 drilling program at the Lac Tététpisca project, achieving 14,900.5 metres from 74 holes, including 6,640.2 metres on the Manicouagan Ouest Graphitic Corridor. The project finished ahead of schedule and under budget, highlighting a significant achievement for the company. Analytical results are pending, and the project is expected to yield substantial mineralized drill core for further testing. The Lac Tététpisca project hosts an indicated resource of 59.3 million tonnes, grading 10.61% graphitic carbon.

Positive

• Completed 14,900.5 metres of drilling, exceeding targets.
• Drilling was completed ahead of schedule and under budget.
• Pending analytical results may enhance the project's resource estimates.

Negative

• None.

The Company has completed 14,900.5 metres of core drilling from 74 holes, including 6,640.2 metres of definition drilling from 27 deep holes on its Manicouagan Ouest Graphitic Corridor ("MOGC") deposit.

KINGSTON, ON / ACCESSWIRE / November 30, 2022 / Focus Graphite Inc. (TSXV:FMS)(OTCQB:FCSMF)(FRANKFURT:FKC) ("Focus" or the "Company") is pleased to report the completion of its 2022 core drilling program at its 100%-owned Lac Tétépisca graphite project, located southwest of the Manicouagan Reservoir in the Côte-Nord administrative region of Québec, on the Nitassinan of the Pessamit Innu. The 2022 program, which commenced on March 3 and ended on November 17, consisted of systematic resource definition drilling at depth on the Company's Manicouagan Ouest Graphitic Corridor ("MOGG") deposit together with exploration drilling at the nearby West Limb and Southwest MOGC geophysical (MAG-TDEM) targets. The drilling program was completed ahead of schedule and under budget and in accordance with the Company's flow-through expenditure obligations for 2021 and 2022.

"The 2022 drilling program at Lac Tétépisca was Focus' largest and most ambitious drilling program to date, and I am thrilled that the team was able to complete it under budget and earlier than planned," said Marc Roy, President and CEO of Focus Graphite. "On behalf of the Company I thank Réjean Girard and his team at IOS Services Géoscientifiques for their hard work in getting this done at a time when many are facing delays and other hurdles. It's a substantial achievement."

Highlights from the 2022 drilling program:

• 74 holes completed (total: 14,900.5 metres), from LT-22-107 to LT-22-179, including: 27 holes drilled over a 1.5 km strike length on the MOGC deposit (total: 6,640.2 metres); 29 exploration holes drilled on the West Limb target (total: 5,421.6 metres), and 18 exploration holes drilled on the Southwest MOGC target (total: 2,838.8 metres; Figure 1).
• Drilling completed on the MOGC deposit includes seven (7) 300 m-length vertical HQ-diameter holes (LT-22-173 to LT-22-179; Figure 1), 19 high angled holes drilled to a vertical depth of 200 metres, plus a short hole (LT-22-173A) drilled at moderate angle. These vertical and high angle holes are expected to yield up to 25 tonnes of mineralized drill core from which composite samples will be generated for independent metallurgical processing and flake graphite concentrate recovery, and for subsequent concentrate purification and battery applications and performance tests.
• Excluding seventeen (17) holes remaining to be logged in detail, a total of 3,760 core samples, ranging between 1 to 3 metres in length, have been selected so far for geochemical analysis, of which approximately 75% are for graphitic carbon analysis and 25% are for dolomite analysis (major oxides and trace elements). Core splitting and sample preparation are underway at IOS Services Géoscientifiques Inc. ("IOS") laboratories in Saguenay, Québec.
• Pulverized samples are being expedited to COREM in Québec-City for graphitic carbon (Cg) and total sulfur (S(tot)) determinations, or for whole rock analysis for the dolomite, with 10% duplicates sent to Activation Laboratories in Ancaster, Ontario. The bulk of the analytical work is expected to require up to four months to be completed.

Figure 1 - 2022 Drill targets at the Lac Tétépisca

Analytical results from the 2022 core drilling program will be released by the Company as they are received from COREM and following QA\QC verification and data compilation and analysis by IOS. Please monitor the Company's website at (www.focusgraphite.com) and regulatory filings on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) for the latest news on the Lac Tétépisca project.

Service providers, field and laboratory methods, and QA/QC protocols

The 2022 core drilling program at the Lac Tétépisca project was designed and operated by IOS Services Géoscientifiques Inc. ("IOS") of Saguenay, Québec, under the supervision of Table Jamésienne de Concertation Minière ("TJCM") of Chibougamau, Québec, acting as an independent technical adviser to the Company. Drilling was performed by Forage G4 of Val-d'Or, Québec using a single drill rig.

Starting in March 2022, drill core boxes for each hole were packaged by sequential numbers onto pallets in the field by IOS personnel and then shipped by truck every 2 weeks to IOS's facilities in Saguenay where they were archived. Sampling has been conducted with a diamond saw, with NQ-diameter core from the Southwest MOGC and West Limb targets being halved, while all HQ-diameter core from the MOGC deposit was quartered. Sample preparation work consisting of crushing and grinding began last September and is expected to be completed by next January. Pulverized splits are sent to COREM, an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 certified facility located in Québec City, for graphitic carbon (code LSA-M-B10) and total sulphur (code LSA-M-B41) analysis using LECO induction furnace with infrared spectrometry. Pulverized split samples of dolomitic marble are sent to COREM for main oxide analysis by X-ray fluorescence analysis on borate glasses (Code: LSA-M-A32) with 10% of samples analyzed for 25 trace element analysis using ICP-OES and ICP-MS after an aqua-regia digestion (Code LSA-OEP and LSA-MSP).

The analytical quality control program for the Lac Tétépisca project is designed and implemented by an IOS chemist and is identical to the one used for previous drill programs at Lac Tétépisca or at the Company's Lac Knife project. Under the QA/QC program, about 10% of the core samples will also be analyzed by COREM for total carbon (code LSA-M-B45), organic carbon (code LSA-M-B58) and inorganic carbon (code LSA-M-B11). The same 10% of the samples are duplicated and sent to ACTLABS Laboratories of Ancaster, Ontario (ISO/IEC 17025:2005 with CAN-P-1579) for graphitic carbon (code 5D - C Graphitic) and total sulphur (code 4F - S Combustion infrared detection) determinations and for 35 trace element analysis using ICP-MS after an aqua-regia digestion (code 1E2 - Aqua Regia). About 15% of reference materials are inserted in the sample sequences, either certified or internal reference material samples (CDN-GR1, CMRI12, Oreas-724, GLC-004, NSC-DC-60119, NSC-DC-60120, NSC-DC-60121), duplicates (quarter-split core, crushing or grinding duplicates), and preparation blanks.

Qualified Persons

Mr. Marc-André Bernier, géo. (QC), P.Geo. (ON), M.Sc., Senior Geoscientist for Table Jamésienne de Concertation Minière, a consultant to the Company and a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument (NI) 43 - 101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects has reviewed and approved the technical content this news release.

About the Lac Tétépisca Graphite Project

Focus Graphite's 100%-owned Lac Tétépisca Graphite Project is located in the Southwest Manicouagan reservoir area of the Côte-Nord region of Québec, one of North America's leading emerging flake graphite districts. The project lies on the Nitassinan of the Pessamit, 234 km north-northwest of the city of Baie-Comeau, an industrial city located where the Manicouagan River intersects the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. It comprises two contiguous properties, Lac Tétépisca and Lac Tétépisca Nord. Together, the two properties form a block of 126 map-designated claims (total area: 6,785.14 ha). Focus purchased a 100% unencumbered interest of the mineral rights in the 67 CDC claims constituting the original Lac Tétépisca property from a third party in August 2011. The Lac Tétépisca Nord property was map-staked by the Company in 2012. The Lac Tétépisca Project is accessible year-round by way of a network of secondary gravel roads that extend north from Highway 389, 10 km to the south of the Manic 5 hydroelectric power station.

The Lac Tétépisca project hosts the Manicouagan Ouest Graphitic Corridor ("MOGC") graphite deposit with a pit-constrained Indicated resource of 59.3 Mt tonnes ("Mt") grading 10.61% Graphitic Carbon^1,2 ("Cg") for an estimated content of 6.3 Mt of natural flake graphite (in-situ), and an Inferred resource of 14.9 Mt grading 11.06% Cg^1,2 for an estimated content of 1.6 Mt of natural flake graphite (in-situ)

¹A cut-off grade of 3.9% Cg was applied to all estimates.
²Source: "NI 43-101 Technical Report Mineral Resource Estimate Lac Tétépisca Graphite Project, Québec" by DRA America's Inc., dated April 4, 2022, available on www.sedar.com/, under Focus graphite Inc.

Additional maps of the Lac Tétépisca property showing the location of the MOGC graphite deposit, along with drill sections, are available on the Company's website at www.focusgraphite.com.

About Focus Graphite

Focus Graphite Inc. is an advanced exploration company with an objective of producing flake graphite concentrate at its wholly owned Lac Knife and Lac Tétépisca flake graphite projects located in the Côte-Nord administrative region of Québec. In a second stage, to meet Québec stakeholder interests in developing second transformation industries within the province and to add shareholder value, Focus is evaluating the feasibility of producing value added specialty graphite products including battery-grade spherical graphite.

Focus Graphite is a technology-oriented graphite development company with a vision for building long-term, sustainable shareholder value. Focus also holds a significant equity position in graphene applications developer Grafoid Inc. For more information about Focus Graphite, please visit www.focusgraphite.com.

For more information about Focus Graphite and the Company's Lac Tétépisca and Lac Knife projects, please visit Focus's website at www.focusgraphite.com or contact:

Kimberly Darlington
Communications, Focus Graphite
kdarlington@focusgraphite.com

Judith Mazvihwa-MacLean
CFO, Focus Graphite
jmazvihwa@focusgraphite.com
(613) 581-4040

Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All information contained herein that is not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information, including references to the plans and project of the Company such as proceeding with production at the Company's Project, proceeding with exploration activities on its permits on Lac Tétépisca. Generally, such forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "potential", "high-potential", "expected", "optimistic", "looking forward", "moving forward", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would" or "might". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: (i) volatile stock price; (ii) the general global markets and economic conditions; (iii) the possibility of write-downs and impairments; (iv) the risk associated with exploration, development and operations of mineral deposits; (v) the risk associated with establishing title to mineral properties and assets; (vi) fluctuations in commodity prices; (vii) the risks associated with uninsurable risks arising during the course of exploration, development and production; (viii) competition faced by the issuer in securing purchasers, off-taker markets, clients and experienced personnel and financing; (ix) access to adequate infrastructure to support mining, processing, development and exploration activities; (x) the risks associated with changes in the mining regulatory regime governing the issuer; (xi) the risks associated with the various environmental regulations the issuer is subject to; (xii) risks related to regulatory and permitting delays; (xiii) risks related to potential conflicts of interest; (xiv) the reliance on key personnel; (xv) liquidity risks; (xvi) the risk of litigation; and (xvii) risk management.

Forward-looking information is based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable at the time such statements are made, including but not limited to, continued exploration activities, no material adverse change in metal prices, exploration, and development plans to proceed in accordance with plans and such plans to achieve their stated expected outcomes, receipt of required regulatory approval, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. Such forward-looking information has been provided for the purpose of assisting investors in understanding the Company's business, operations and exploration plans and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is given as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake to update such forward-looking information except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: Focus Graphite, Inc.

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FAQ

What was the outcome of Focus Graphite's 2022 drilling program?

Focus Graphite completed its 2022 drilling program, achieving 14,900.5 metres from 74 holes, including significant drilling on the Manicouagan Ouest Graphitic Corridor.

How much drilling was conducted at the Lac Tététpisca project?

The Lac Tététpisca project saw 14,900.5 metres of core drilling completed in 2022.

What are the key resources identified at the Lac Tététpisca project?

The project hosts an indicated resource of 59.3 million tonnes, grading 10.61% graphitic carbon.

When was the drilling program at Lac Tététpisca completed?

The drilling program concluded on November 17, 2022.

What are the next steps for Focus Graphite after completing the drilling?

Focus Graphite will await analytical results from COREM and proceed with QA/QC verification and data analysis.