Empire Metals Limited / LON: EEE / Sector: Natural Resources

5 June 2024

Empire Metals Limited

('Empire' or the 'Company')

Major New Titanium Dioxide Mineral Discovery at Pitfield

Empire Metals Limited (LON: EEE), the AIM-quoted resource exploration and development company, is pleased to announce the discovery of a highly significant, titanium dioxide mineral deposit, comprised of rutile and anatase, at the Pitfield Project in Western Australia ('Pitfield' or the 'Project') This newly identified, potentially high-value deposit is located within the near-surface, strongly weathered "saprolite" zone of bedrock which covers the extent of this giant, 40km long, titanium-rich mineral system.

Highlights

·    The discovery of naturally occurring rutile and anatase within the extensive weathering cap that covers the deeper bedrock titanium deposit, will have a material and immediate positive impact on the overall project economics.

·    Rutile and anatase are both highly valuable titanium dioxide minerals that contain >95% TiO₂ and are both important feedstocks for the titanium pigment and titanium metal markets.

·    Recent diamond core and RC drill chip logging has confirmed extensive weathering of the uppermost 40m of mineralised bedded sandstones, coincident with high TiO₂% grades, covering both the Cosgrove and Thomas mineral prospect areas.

·    The strongest weathering, found within the top 10m from surface, has resulted in the disintegration of the parent bedrock and has completely altered the titanite (the principal titanium ore mineral in the unweathered bedrock) to titanium dioxide minerals, rutile and/or anatase.

·    Preliminary mineralogical assessment of the strongly weathered mineralised sandstones indicates an abundance of these natural titanium dioxide minerals, comprising around half of all titanium minerals present by mass, and ongoing studies will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the mineral assemblage, including the relative proportions of rutile and anatase.

·    This discovery reinforces the potential for Empire to develop a fully integrated, single site, mine to high quality TiO₂ product project and it opens up the possibility of a new, staged development plan whereby the Company can look to develop the much higher-grade, high-value, more easily accessible titanium dioxide mineral-rich surface deposits whilst it continues to develop a processing route for the titanite-rich bedrock deposits.

Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said: "This is a game changing development for Empire and one which is expected to accelerate timescales and further enhance the economics of Pitfield. This new discovery has been formed by the originally titanite-rich, near-surface bedded sandstones being strongly weathered over time by "Mother Nature" to form rutile and anatase, creating a completely new, discreet high-grade saprolite-hosted deposit, sitting above the giant, titanite-dominant, fresh bedrock deposit. Significantly, this highly weathered zone has virtually no waste overburden, sitting right at surface, and is extremely soft and friable which bodes well for low-cost mining and mineral processing techniques. The fact that it represents the higher-grade portions of the giant mineral system makes the discovery even the more exciting.

"The Pitfield Project is a unique giant-scale, high-grade, soft-rock deposit, comprising a suite of non- refractory titanium-bearing minerals that potentially can be processed to produce high value TiO₂ pigments and/or titanium metal. Our vision remains to develop the project as a fully integrated, single site based, mining, processing and refining operation. This most recent discovery takes us one step closer to this goal, as not only do we already have high-value, titanium dioxide minerals in the near-surface ores, these minerals have been formed from the simple weathering of the titanite, providing further evidence that TiO₂ products can be derived from this titanite ore source."

Impact of Discovery on Project

The discovery of an extensive weathering cap that is enriched with titanium dioxide minerals, rutile and anatase, has material and immediate positive impacts on the project such as:

o  A possible new, staged development plan whereby the Company looks to develop the much higher-grade, titanium dioxide mineral-rich saprolite deposits whilst it continues to develop a processing route for the titanite-rich bedrock deposits.

o  The strongly weathered cap represents a distinct titanium deposit in its own right, one that could be mined first and be amenable to very low cost strip mining methods due to its surficial position, broad extent and soft, friable nature due to weathering.

o  More of the titanium in the rock is contained within extractable titanium dioxide ore minerals that require little further beneficiation to produce a high-quality TiO₂ product.

o  The km-scale extent of this TiO₂-rich weathering cap allows the possibility for large tonnages of titanium dioxide ore to be developed and mined over several years of initial mining operations before any primary titanite ore needs to be mined and processed.

o  The potentially simpler beneficiation and processing characteristics of a titanium dioxide ore may provide for an expedited path to the successful completion of a demonstration plant.

Mineralogical Study Results

The diamond core drill campaign carried out through February and March this year has provided a new perspective on the potential value of the giant titanium-rich mineral system at Pitfield. As announced 28 May 2024, the core logging confirmed extensive weathering of the uppermost 40m of mineralised bedded sandstones, coincident with high TiO₂% grades, covering the Cosgrove and Thomas mineral prospect areas. This was the first opportunity for the Company to view the substantial alteration in the near-surface weathered sandstones as no near-surface samples were collected from the original diamond core holes drilled in Q4 2023 (announced 29 November 2023) due to the drilling technique.

A total of 67 RC drillholes and six diamond core drillholes have now been completed within the Cosgrove and Thomas mineral prospects. The plan view of the drilling shows a high-grade (>5% TiO₂), more than 1km wide central core running on a north-south trend through both mineral prospects (Figures 1 and 2). The entire area is capped by a zone of strongly weathered sandstone, known as saprolite, typically found in the top 10m following any soil or sand cover. A zone of less strongly weathered 'transitional" sandstones continues for a further 30-40m depth, under which lies the fresh bedrock (Figure 3).

The diamond drilling, particularly the near-surface core, provided important samples for ongoing metallurgical and mineralogical studies, and sections of core was submitted for Tescan Integrated Mineral Analyzer ('TIMA') analysis and Scanning Electron Microscope ('SEM') microprobe work to determine the mineral assemblage within the strongly weathered zone.

The results of the TIMA analysis on the diamond core and selected RC samples are presented in Table 1 and show a dominance of titanium dioxide minerals, rutile and anatase, within the upper levels of the weathered cap, with little to no titanite (CaTiSiO₅) and only minor ilmenite (FeTiO₃) observed. Rutile and anatase are two of the three natural minerals composed of just TiO₂, the other being brookite, which is quite rare. Anatase is regularly formed by weathering of titanite, and it is itself  altered to rutile. The ongoing metallurgical and mineralogical studies will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the mineral assemblage, including the presence and relative proportions of the specific titanium dioxide minerals (rutile and anatase).

The levels of titanite increase at depth with a corresponding decrease in the levels of titanium dioxide minerals suggesting that the titanium dioxide minerals have formed at the expense of titanite during the weathering process, which has been further supported by the SEM microprobe analyses. A typical cross section showing the progression of strongly weathered saprolite to transitional sandstones to fresh bedrock from surface, and their respective titanium mineral assemblages, is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 1.  Cosgrove Prospect Drill Collar Location: including colour coding for drill holes based on TiO₂ assay grade.

Figure 2.  Thomas Prospect Drill Collar Location: including colour coding for drill holes based on TiO₂ assay grade.

Figure 3.  Cross Section from DD24COS002 showing strongly weathered saprolite, transitional and fresh bedrock zones with respective titanium mineral assemblages.

Table 1 highlights the increase of titanium dioxide minerals at the expense of titanite within the upper, strongly weathered zone. Previous mineralogical results showed abundant titanite in the fresh mineralised sandstone bedrock at depth and only minor titanium dioxide minerals.

TIMA Results - Strongly Weathered and Transitional Sandstone Intervals

Table 1.  TIMA results for diamond core and RC drill chip samples taken from various depths within the strongly weathered and transitional sandstone zones.

*Geological Description of the various zones:

-       Cover: cover in the area is generally soil, ranging from yellow, wind-blown sand to loams suitable for pasture, typically top one to twenty metres

-       Strongly Weathered Sandstone: highly oxidized, saprolitic zone, typically in the top 10 metres following the cover.

-       Transitional Sandstone: a zone of weathered, oxidised sandstone between the strongly weathered sandstone section and the bedded sandstone section, typically in the top 30-40 metres following the strongly weathered sandstone.

-       Bedded Sandstone: a section of bedded sandstone that is fresh bedrock, which sometimes includes conglomerate and siltstones, that has been tracked as deep as 300m+.

Various studies into the weathering of titanite have confirmed that titanite is not stable in the highly weathered soil horizons and completely disappears after disintegration of the parent bedrock to form natural titanium dioxide minerals such as rutile and anatase, according to the chemical reaction below:

2CaTiSiO₅(titanite) + 2H⁺ + CO₂(g) ↔ Ca²⁺ + CaCO₃(calcite) + 2TiO₂(rutile) + SiO₂(aq) + SiO₂(quartz) + H₂O ^*

(*Reference: Geoscience Frontiers 11 (2020) "Authigenic titanite in weathered basalt: Implications for paleoatmospheric reconstructions" by Alexey A. Novoselov, Dailto Silva and Carlos Roberto de Souza Filho.)

The formation of calcite is a by-product of the disintegration of the titanite and calcite is clearly visible in the strongly weathered core samples recovered from the recent diamond drill programme at Pitfield (Figure 4).

Figure 4.  Photo of DD24COS002 from core tray #3 showing calcite veining (white) in strongly weathered zone around 5m-6m depth.  Note the weathered reddish sandstone contains the titanium dioxide minerals.

It is important to note that the Company's preliminary mineralogical and metallurgical studies, carried out on unweathered, fresh bedrock confirmed titanite as the most abundant Ti-bearing mineral, accounting for approximately 67% of the total contained TiO₂ and making up around 20% of the potential Pitfield ore by mass (announced 5 March 2024). Core evidence and analytical results indicate nearly all of this titanite has converted to titanium dioxide minerals (rutile/anatase) in the strongly weathered zone, which explains the very high concentration of these titanium dioxide minerals present in the strongly weathered samples tested.

The Pitfield Project

Located within the Mid-West region of Western Australia, near the northern wheatbelt town of Three Springs, Pitfield lies 313km north of Perth and 156km south of Geraldton, the Mid West region's capital and major port. Western Australia is ranked as one of the top mining jurisdictions in the world according to the Fraser Institute's Investment Attractiveness Index published in 2023, and has mining-friendly policies, stable government, transparency, and advanced technology expertise. Pitfield has existing connections to port (both road & rail), HV power substations, and is nearby to natural gas pipelines as well as a green energy hydrogen fuel hub, which is under planning and development (refer Figure 5).

Figure 5. Pitfield Project Location showing the Mid-West Region Infrastructure and Services.

Since commencing its maiden drill campaign in March 2023, the Company has completed a total of 107 drillholes for 17,003m (including seven diamond core holes for 2,025m), of which 67 RC drillholes and six diamond core drillholes were drilled within the Cosgrove and Thomas prospects (Figure 6). The drilling shows a high-grade (>5% TiO₂), more than 1km wide central core running on a north-south trend through both mineral prospects, which could join between the two prospects thereby representing a potential total strike length of more than 20km. Significantly, the RC drillhole results clearly indicate elevated TiO₂ grades are present within the top 40m (announced 15 May 2024). No near-surface samples were collected from the original diamond core holes drilled in Q4 2023 (announced 29 November 2023) due to the drilling technique, however the four recent diamond core drillholes were far more successful in recovering core from the weathered zone.

Figure 6.  Grey-scale magnetics map overlain by airborne gravity survey results with the location of the 2023 and 2024 RC and Diamond Core drillholes, with Cosgrove and Thomas target areas shown.

Competent Person Statement

The technical information in this report that relates to the Pitfield Project has been compiled by Mr Andrew Faragher, an employee of Eclipse Exploration Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Empire. Mr Faragher is a Member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Faragher has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Mr Faragher consents to the inclusion in this release of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, as incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, until the release of this announcement.

**ENDS**

For further information please visit www.empiremetals.co.uk  or contact:

About Empire Metals Limited

Empire Metals is an AIM-listed (LON: EEE) exploration and resource development company with a project portfolio comprising copper, titanium and gold interests in Australia and Austria.

The Company's strategy is to develop a pipeline of projects at different stages in the development curve. Its current focus is on the Pitfield Project in Western Australia, which has demonstrated to contain a newly recognised giant titanium-rich mineral system that hosts a globally significant titanium discovery.

The Company also has two further exploration projects in Australia; the Eclipse Project and the Walton Project in Western Australia, in addition to three precious metals projects located in a historically high-grade gold producing region of Austria.