Leading Edge Materials Receives Approval for First-Year Exploration Program in Romania

Rhea-AI Summary

Leading Edge Materials Corp. has received approval for its first-year exploration program at the Bihor Sud exploration license, focusing on surface mapping and reopening historical mine galleries. The project aims to validate geological potential, with significant rock grab samples reporting grades of up to 6.8% Cobalt and 28% Nickel. Activities will include geological mapping, geophysical studies, and underground exploration during winter. The license covers a 25 square kilometer area in the Northern Apuseni Mountains of Transylvania, facilitating a secure supply of critical materials for the European battery industry.

Positive

• Approval of the exploration program allows for immediate commencement of geological work.
• High-grade cobalt (6.8%) and nickel (28%) found in rock samples indicate strong mineral potential.
• Establishment of an exploration camp will enhance operational efficiency.
• The project aligns with growing demand for cobalt and nickel in lithium-ion batteries.

Negative

• Caution advised as the precise location and extent of mineralized zones are unknown.

Vancouver, July 14, 2022 – Leading Edge Materials Corp. (“Leading Edge Materials” or the “Company”) (TSXV: LEM) (Nasdaq First North: LEMSE) (OTCQB: LEMIF) (FRA: 7FL) is pleased to report that it has received confirmation that the National Agency for Mineral Resources (“NAMR”) has approved the first-year exploration program (the “Exploration Program”) for the Bihor Sud exploration license (the “Project”).

Highlights:

• Exploration to focus on surface mapping and re-opening historical galleries
• Rock grab samples from mine dumps report grades up to 6.8% Cobalt and 28% Nickel

The Exploration Program covers a number of initial exploration activities to validate the geological potential of the Project and further build on information acquired under the earlier prospecting permit. Planned exploration activities include geological and topographical mapping, geophysical studies and surface sampling. Owing to a vast amount of historical underground mine workings and exploration adits within the perimeter, an additional focus area will be to prepare for and re-open an initial three mine galleries which would allow the exploration team to continue exploration activities underground during the winter season. The Company is working on organizing the local exploration team and required land, environmental and local permits which upon completion will allow camp establishment and start of exploration work.

(Figure 1: Map showing exploration license perimeter, exploration target zones and selection of identified historical mine gallery entrances.)

Initial exploration work will focus on establishing an exploration camp in the Leucii Zone in the south-western area of the license perimeter. Entrance to this area is facilitated by an existing forestry road and will grant the exploration team and consultants a base for accessing gallery openings G7 and G4 in the Leucii Zone, and G Dibarz in the Dibarz Zone (See Figure 1). This area was prioritized based on results from previous work done and sampling of historical mined material during the prospecting permit as presented in the table below. Most mine gallery openings are located on the hillsides in the valleys with waste rock having been deposited outside of the openings on the slopes below. During the prospecting work rock grab samples were collected from these mine dumps often resulting in high grade cobalt and nickel grades from assays. Notably, many of these samples represent disseminated mineralization in dark schist and carbonate derived from unknown zones in the galleries. One of the immediate exploration targets would be to identify the location and extent of these zones once the galleries are accessible.

Sample ID	Easting Stereo70	Northing Stereo70	Altitude	Sample Wt. kg	Co ppm	Co%	Ni ppm	Ni%	Au ppm	Au ppm
Assay Method					ME-ICP61a	Co-OG62	ME-ICP61a	Ni-OG62	Au-ICP21	Au-GRA21
Leucii Zone
LEMHG2-01	320072	515459	775	1.27		1.115		1.805	0.09
LEMHG7-01	318831	546106	590	1.3		1.585		1.755	0.77
LEMHG7-02	318740	546076	590	0.57		1.755		2.320	0.68
LEMHG7-03	318740	546076	590	1.31		1.415		3.430	0.34
LEMHG7-04	318740	546076	590	1.25		0.944		25.500	3.36
LEMHG7-05	318740	546076	590	1.87	45800			12.700		17.75
LEMHG7-06				0.08	21800			16.550	8.12
LEMHG7-07				0.67	19500		89600		1.07
LEMHG7-08				0.14	1410			18.250	0.517
LEMHG7-09				0.66	15700		28000		0.334
LEMHG7-10				0.37	8400			28.000	2.52
LEMHG7-11				1.21	25900		26500		1.91
Dibarz Zone
LEMDIB-01	320356	546974	845	0.21		1.020		9.410	0.72
Avram Zone
LEMHG11N-01	322186	548867	1124	0.45		5.490	32400		0.54
LEMHG16bis-01	322115	548752	1129	0.14	13800			25.100	0.419
LEMHGAR-01	321964	549119	1148	0.07		6.830	39500		0.436
LEMHG14/16-01	320336	549030	1128	0.32	48600		44300		0.168
LEMHG14/16-02	320336	549030	1128	0.20	38500		40400		0.075
LEMHG14/16-03	320336	549030	1128	0.39		5.630	69600		0.178
LEMHG14/16-04	320336	549030	1128	0.42	530		680		0.005
LEMHG14/16-05	320336	549030	1128	0.19		6.320	73200		0.457
LEMHG14/16-06	320336	549030	1128	0.10		5.960	68800		0.337
LEMHG10-01	320328	549412	1186	0.86	9950		12100		0.699
LEMHG10-02	320328	549412	1186	0.17	15200		21900		0.844
LEMHG10-03	320328	549412	1186	0.03		6.610	54200		0.201

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Filip Kozlowski, CEO of the Company states: “The approval of the first-year exploration program takes us another step closer to commencing the real exploration work on the ground in Bihor Sud. Primary focus within the exploration program will be to establish an exploration camp within the Leucii Zone to build on some of the very promising results discovered under the prospecting permit. In parallel, commencing work on re-opening the G7, G4 and G Dibarz galleries creates an opportunity to potentially continue underground exploration work over the winter season giving us a running start as we look ahead to further exploration work in 2023.”

The Bihor Sud exploration license perimeter covers a 25 square kilometer area in the Northern Apuseni Mountains of Transylvania. Located approximately 90 km south-east from Oradea which is the administrative capital of Bihor County, the Project lies within the Upper Cretaceous and Neogene Carpathian magmatic arcs which extend from Turkey to Hungary and are host to several well-known mines and mineral deposits such as the Timok-Bor-Majdanpek copper-gold zone, Skouries and Chelopec. The Northern Apuseni Mountains have documented high grade skarn and carbonate replacement mineral deposits and historic production of Cu, Mo, Ag, Au, Zn, U and Pb. Within the License area, there is a significant amount of historical mine works including a substantial former underground uranium mine which stopped production in the 1990s. The demand for nickel and cobalt is expected to grow significantly over the next decade due to their use in high-energy density cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries. With Europe currently reliant on importing these critical raw materials from third countries that control mining and refining along the value chain, establishing primary sources and refining capacity within the European Union would enable a more secure and sustainable alternative for European battery manufacturers.

The Project is developed by Leading Edge Materials through its 51% owned local Romanian joint-venture subsidiary, LEM Romania SRL (“LEMR”), with a local Romanian arm’s length part owning the residual 49%. Pursuant to a JV Agreement, Leading Edge Materials will be transferred an additional 39% ownership interest in LEMR (for an aggregate 90% ownership) triggered by the filing on SEDAR of a positive Feasibility Study technical report for the Project (see news release April 29, 2018 and August 9, 2018).

QA/QC and Qualified Person
The position of rock grab samples from the mine dumps were recorded with GPS (the not GPS-recorded samples LEMHG7-06 to -11 all come from mine dumps below gallery G7) and sent for sample preparation to ALS Romania SRL’s laboratory in Rosia Montana, Alba, Romania (CRU-31, PUL-31, SPL-22Y). Gold assays were performed at ALS Romania, and all other elements were assayed at the ALS laboratory in Dublin, Ireland, as per the assay codes in the table above. ALS followed the standard QA/QC protocol. The Company believes that the reported results are accurate and repeatable but cautions that neither the precise location nor the extent of mineralized zones in the galleries are currently known, and that no inferences on the grade and size potential of mineralized zones can be made at this stage.

Martin S. Oczlon, PhD Geo, CEng MIMMM, a consultant to Leading Edge Materials and Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101, has reviewed and verified the technical content of this press release.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Leading Edge Materials Corp.

Filip Kozlowski, CEO

For further information, please contact the Company at:
info@leadingedgematerials.com
www.leadingedgematerials.com

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About Leading Edge Materials
Leading Edge Materials is a Canadian public company focused on developing a portfolio of critical raw material projects located in the European Union. Critical raw materials are determined as such by the European Union based on their economic importance and supply risk. They are directly linked to high growth technologies such as batteries for electromobility and energy storage and permanent magnets for electric motors and wind power that underpin the clean energy transition towards climate neutrality. The portfolio of projects includes the 100% owned Woxna Graphite mine (Sweden), Norra Karr HREE project (Sweden) and the 51% owned Bihor Sud Nickel Cobalt exploration alliance (Romania).

Additional Information
The information was submitted for publication through the agency of the contact person set out above, on July 14, 2022, at 4:00 am Vancouver time.

Leading Edge Materials is listed on the TSXV under the symbol “LEM”, OTCQB under the symbol “LEMIF” and Nasdaq First North Stockholm under the symbol "LEMSE". Mangold Fondkommission AB is the Company’s Certified Adviser on Nasdaq First North and may be contacted via email CA@mangold.se or by phone +46 (0) 8 5030 1550.

Reader Advisory

This news release may contain statements which constitute “forward-looking information” under applicable Canadian securities laws, including statements regarding plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities of the Company. The words “may”, “would”, “could”, “will”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking information. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future business activities and involves risks and uncertainties, and that the Company’s future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to; the Company’s objectives, goals or future plans, statements; exploration results, potential mineralization, the estimation of mineral resources, exploration and mine development plans; the Company has yet to generate a profit from its activities; there can be no guarantee that the estimates of quantities or qualities of minerals disclosed in the Company’s public record will be economically recoverable; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future; competition with other companies within the mining industry; the success of the Company is largely dependent upon the performance of its directors and officers and the Company’s ability to attract and train key personnel; changes in world metal markets and equity markets beyond the Company’s control; the possibility of write-downs and impairments; the risks associated with uninsurable risks arising during the course of exploration, development and production; the risks associated with changes in the mining regulatory regime governing the Company; the Company’s ability to secure necessary permits to complete exploration work; the potential re-opening of mine galleries in Bihor Sud; and the uncertainty relating to a positive Feasibility Study technical report being filed. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the Forward-Looking Statements, 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 Statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such Forward-Looking Statements. Such Forward-Looking Statements 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 Statements. Forward-Looking Statements are made as of the date hereof, and the Company does not undertake to update such Forward-Looking Statements except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

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

Attachments

• 20220714 LEM Receives Approval for first-year exploration program press release
• 20220714 Bihor Sud exploration map

FAQ

What is the focus of Leading Edge Materials' exploration program at Bihor Sud?

The exploration program focuses on surface mapping and reopening historical mine galleries to validate geological potential.

What grades of cobalt and nickel were reported in the preliminary samples?

Rock grab samples reported grades up to 6.8% Cobalt and 28% Nickel.

How large is the area covered by the Bihor Sud exploration license?

The Bihor Sud exploration license covers a 25 square kilometer area in the Northern Apuseni Mountains.

Why is the Bihor Sud project significant for Europe?

It aims to establish primary sources of cobalt and nickel, crucial for the growing European battery manufacturing industry.

What percentage ownership does Leading Edge Materials hold in LEM Romania SRL?

Leading Edge Materials currently holds 51% ownership in LEM Romania SRL, with plans to increase to 90% upon filing a positive feasibility study.