Emperor Metals asked to clarify Feb 25 news release

Given the abundant visible gold observed in the DQ24-12 intersection and the discrepancies between the initial results and geological observations, a more representative method was used to provide a more accurate result.

CEO John Florek commented: "The discovery of high-grade gold lenses, which contain visible gold and were previously thought to be lower-grade, is a highly significant development for the economics of this deposit and strengthens the potential of the project. This opens up the opportunity to add additional high-grade zones within a large gold system. The presence of abundant free gold, not well-documented in earlier drilling, presents a unique opportunity to substantially increase both the gold grade and ounces within the conceptual open pit. This is further supported by our metallurgical results, visual observations, and high gold grades with minimal sulfide content. With additional infill drilling, we anticipate further improvements in both grade and ounces within this type of deposit."

The 2024 drilling program comprised 8,166 meters across 19 drill holes, alongside approximately 8,000 meters of historical core assaying. To date, 100% of both the 2024 drilling and historical sampling program, including new drilling and resampling of historical core, has been reported for the 2024 season.  Figure 1, Table 1, and Table 2 highlight the significant intercepts related to this press release.

Following the high-grade sample reported in our January 8 press release for DQ24-12, which recorded 2.5 meters at 57.8 g/t Au, Emperor re-assayed the interval using a larger, more representative sample than our standard protocol, employing a screened metallics method for greater accuracy. The screened metallics fire assay is a specialized technique used to accurately determine gold concentrations in samples that may contain coarse gold particles, a phenomenon known as the "nugget effect." This method is particularly useful when traditional fire assay techniques might underestimate gold content due to the presence of large gold grains. This method is particularly beneficial in regions where coarse gold is prevalent, as it helps mitigate the risk of underreporting gold content due to the nugget effect. This result upgrades the 2.5 m interval of 57.8 g/t Au to 2.5 m of 301.1 g/t Au, representing a substantial increase of 5.2 times.

This work, combined with the discovery of visible gold-bearing lenses (shown in Figure 2) and significant low-grade bulk tonnage zones, underscores the project's substantial resource growth potential. Emperor's AI capability to effectively utilize this tool to generate targets was crucial for our targeting, where information is not well understood. With the results from the 2024 drilling season now complete, we will leverage our AI technology to rebuild the models, generate new targets, and develop our strategic drilling plan for 2025.

These findings are expected to make a significant contribution to the upcoming Q1 or early Q2 mineral resource estimate. 

Resample and Historical Core Highlights: (see tables 1 and 2 for complete results)

• DQ24-12: The discovery of visible gold (VG) within a 21.7m section grading 7.2 g/t Au prompted Emperor Metals to conduct screen metallics analysis on the VG sample rejects (286.9m to 289.4m / 2.5m). This analysis returned an exceptionally high grade of 301 g/t Au, revealing a substantial amount of gold not captured in the original split core analysis and updating the zone to 21.7 m of 35.2 g/t Au.

• DQ06-02 (Historical Core): Sampling results have expanded three previous zones and increased mineralization to 3.0 m of 6.17 g/t Au, 2.45 meters of 1.13 g/t Au, and 7.0 meters of 2.14 g/t Au. These results were obtained from sheared and altered mafic volcanics, as well as a zone associated with altered quartz-feldspar porphyry and ultramafic sequences.

• DO-11-21 (Historical Core): Sampling results reveal an additional 23.8 meters of 0.4 g/t Au in a completely new zone within an altered quartz-feldspar porphyry (QFP).

• DQ06-12 (Historical core): Sampling results show an additional 2.35 meters of 4.2 g/t Au within a weakly brecciated mafic flow.

• DQ95-22 (Historical core): Sampling results show an additional 6 meters of 2.28 g/t Au within the contact zone between altered QFP and a sheared mafic volcanic unit.

• DQ95-31 (Historical core): Sampling results show an additional 6.88 meters of 1.14 g/t Au and 7.92 meters of 1.59 g/t Au, associated with an altered QFP and a brecciated flow/tu

• DQ09-09 (Historical core): Sampling results show an additional 8.8 meters of 0.54 g/t Au within an altered syenite porphyry, and 2.1 meters of 3.83 g/t Au in a strongly altered QFP unit.

• DQ94-2 (Historical core): Sampling adds 4.58 meters of 1.05 g/t Au at the contact between a weakly sheared mafic volcanic unit and a strongly sheared and fractured QFP.

• DQ96-70 (Historical core): Sampling results show an additional 11.75 meters of 0.58 g/t Au within a highly altered diorite unit.

Emperor's focus in 2024 was on near-surface drilling for open-pit mining, Emperor aims to economically expand its resource base by including lower grades in the conceptual open-pit environment compared to higher grades in an underground mining scenario. This allows Emperor to add ounces more rapidly to the resource. Deposits in the region with currently active open pits have been economic at grades equal 0.30 g/t Au (see Agnico Eagles press release dated Feb 15, 2024 - Detour Lake Deposit cut-off grade, pg. 52.)

Emperor is targeting a multi-million-ounce resource, utilizing a combination of conceptual open-pit and underground mining scenarios. There is no guarantee that further exploration will define a current resource. The Property currently hosts a historical inferred mineral resource estimate of 727,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 5.42 g/t Au1,2. The historical mineral resource estimate predates modern Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (CIM) guidelines and a Qualified Person on behalf of Emperor has not reviewed or verified the mineral resource estimate, therefore it is considered historical in nature and is reported solely to provide an indication of the magnitude of mineralization that could be present on the property. Emperor is committed to delivering an updated Mineral Resource Estimate in Q1 or Early Q2 of 2025.

Figure 1: Location of High-grade Screen metallic results from DQ24-12 and Historical drill holes with reported results from previously unsampled historical core.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
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Figure 2: Visible Gold Occurrences in DQ24-12.

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Strategic Plan

The 2024 drilling campaign at Emperor's Duquesne West Gold Project in Quebec continues to identify extensive low-grade bulk tonnage zones surrounding the previously known high grade areas. These latest results further solidify the project's potential and underscore the company's commitment to unlocking substantial value for its shareholders.

The 2024 season leverages advanced exploration techniques to test several scenarios to add ounces and/or expand the footprint. The reader should be aware that further work is required without any guarantee that success will be realized.

1) Explore Lower Grade Discoveries: Target additional discoveries within the host rock containing high-grade gold lenses, focusing on the conceptual open-pit model.

2) Increase the Thickness of the High-Grade Lenses: Incorporate previously unaccounted lower-grade gold from the margins of high-grade lenses to enhance their overall thickness.

3) Expand Mineralized Zones: Extend the lateral footprint of mineralized zones along strike and dip.

4) Discover New Zones: Explore potential new zones not yet included in the conceptual open-pit model, with a particular focus on eastward expansion.

These latest results continue to build on the strong momentum generated by last year's drilling program and confirm the presences of extensive low grade bulk tonnage zones surrounding the known high-grade regions.

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