VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 09, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NRG Metals Inc. (“NRG” or the “Company”) (TSX-V:NGZ) (OTCQB:NRGMF) (FrankfurtOGPN), the Company provides an exploration update, and advises of the acceleration of the expiry date of certain warrant holders.
2018 Exploration Program
Recent surface sampling at the 3,287 hectare Hombre Muerto North lithium project (“HMN Project ”) located in the province of Salta, returned highly favorable results listed below (as previously reported January 26, 2018). Lithium values ranged from 353 milligrams per liter Li to 1,216 mg/l Li, with a favorable Li/Mg ratio in most samples.
| Sample No. | Property | Li (mg/L) | K (mg/L) | Mg (mg/L) | Mg/Li | SO4 |
| HMN-1 | Tramo | 1,120 | 8,554 | 3,594 | 3.2 | 9,158 |
| HMN-2 | Tramo | 792 | 6,049 | 2,392 | 3.0 | 9,627 |
| HMN-4 | Tramo | 1,011 | 9,236 | 2,378 | 2.4 | 7,441 |
| HMN-6 | Tramo | 1,216 | 10,368 | 3,718 | 3.1 | 5,316 |
| HMN-7 | Alba Sabrina | 353 | 3,059 | 2,674 | 7.6 | 10,388 |
| HMN-9 | Natalia Maria | 911 | 8,857 | 1,300 | 1.4 | 8,528 |
| HMN-11 | Natalia Maria | 793 | 8,870 | 1,075 | 1.4 | 7,985 |
| HMN-003, HMN-5, HMN-8 and HMN-10 were blanks and duplicate samples that returned acceptable values. | ||||||
A field visit was conducted by key management, directors, and Chemphys, our strategic lithium partner during the month of January. Road access to the project is excellent, with a rail line and gas pipeline also nearby. During the trip to Argentina, management has interviewed several drill contractors and service providers. The first phase of exploration will consist of the building of two drilling access roads directly onto the salar at the location of the Tramo Claim Group, and one drilling access road at the Alba Sabrina Claim Group. Drill pads will be constructed to accommodate both core drilling, and large diameter drilling used for pumping well testing. The first drill phase will consist of core holes to test geology and confirm lithium values and permeability. If the core holes indicate good lithium mineralization and permeable basin sediments, a pumping well will be rapidly drilled to determine the projects potential to host a lithium resource.
The HMN Project is located at the northern end of the prolific Hombre Muerto Salar, adjacent to FMC’s producing Fenix mine and Galaxy Resources’ Sal de Vida development stage project. The HMN Project’s location in a producing salar combined with recently reported surface lithium values give the Company a high degree of confidence in the projects potential.
Salar Escondido, Catamarca Province, Argentina
The first hole at Salar Escondido as announced January 23, 2018, confirmed the presence of significant lithium mineralization and provided important geological information to guide the next phase of drilling. Most importantly, the results have confirmed the target concept that Salar Escondido has the potential to host a significant lithium deposit with suitable chemistry. Given the history of lithium exploration at other salars in Argentina, the Company believes that the potential to encounter higher grades at greater depths is good. In addition to discovering lithium in the first hole, another positive characteristic of the basin noted during drilling is the potential for high permeability. The material that hosts the brine zone is comprised of mainly loosely consolidated sand and conglomerates, which should be highly permeable and allow high pumping and recharge rates. High permeability is an important factor in evaluating the potential of lithium brine bearing salars. The first drill hole ended in sediments so the thickness of the basin remains open at depth along with the potential of these sediments to host lithium bearing brine.
Interviews with drill contractors were completed during a January visit to Salta, Argentina. A request for quotation has been made to several groups, and the Company is awaiting proposals. The updated program will resume as soon as practicable utilizing tri-cone or rotary drilling with perforated casing that will facilitate sampling of the brine targets defined by the geophysical surveys and our first test drill hole. The Company intends to quickly define the new lithium discovery at Salar Escondido. NRG controls 29,000 hectares at Salar Escondido, covering most of the interpreted basin of the salar.
Mr. William Feyerabend, a Certified Professional Geologist and a Qualified Person under NI 43-101, supervised and approves the scientific and technical disclosure contained in this press release
Warrant Acceleration
In order to provide additional working capital for the exploration programs noted above, the Company announces that it is accelerating the expiry date of common share purchase warrants (the “Warrants”) issued on November 24, 2016. The Warrants were issued in connection with a non-brokered private placement of units, with each Warrant exercisable into one common share of the Company at a price of $0.20 per share until November 24, 2018. No other warrants are being called at this time.
The Warrants were subject to the right of the Company to accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants if the Company's common shares close at or above $0.40 per share for more than 20 consecutive trading days. The Company is entitled to accelerate the expiry of the Warrants to that date that is 30 days from the date of issuance of a news release announcing the exercise of the acceleration right. The news release is issued today, February 9, 2018.
The expiry date of the Warrants has now been accelerated to February 16, 2018
In order for Warrant holders to exercise their Warrants, each Warrant holder is required to complete and submit the Notice of Exercise attached to their respective Warrant certificate on or before 5:00 pm on February 16, 2018. For detailed exercise requirements, please refer to your Warrant certificate.
The Company currently has approximately 107 million shares issued and outstanding, and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol NGZ, on the OTCQB Market under the symbol, NRGMF, and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol, OGPN.
On behalf of the board of directors of NRG Metals Inc.:
Adrian F.C. Hobkirk
President and C.E.O.
Investors / Shareholders Call 855-415-8100
E: ahobkirk@nrgmetalsinc.com
W: www.nrgmetalsinc.com
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed the content of this news release and therefore does not accept responsibility or liability for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this news release.
This news release contains certain “forward- looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained herein constitutes forward- looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based upon opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The transaction described in this news release is subject to a variety of conditions and risks which include but are not limited to: regulatory approval, shareholder approval, market conditions, legal due diligence for claim validity, financing, political risk, security risks at the property locations and other risks. As such, the reader is cautioned that there can be no guarantee that this transaction will complete as described in this news release. We seek safe harbour.