North Vancouver, British Columbia, July 21, 2026 – Lion One Metals Limited (TSXV: LIO) (OTCQX: LOMLF) ("Lion One" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the start of Phase 1 of the Company’s phased Mill Expansion project to 700 TPD at it’s 100% owned Tuvatu Gold Mine in Fiji. Phase 1 consists of the Filtered Tailings Expansion Project and is anticipated to increase overall plant capacity from 300 TPD to 400 TPD once complete.
Highlights of Phase 1 Plant Expansion:
- Double filtration capacity at Tuvatu processing plant
- Remove primary bottleneck from processing operations
- Increase plant capacity from 300 TPD to 400 TPD
- Increase production by an estimated 2,100 oz of gold per annum
- Capital expenditure of C$1.9M
- Estimated additional revenue of C$11.8M per year at current gold price
- Achieve 3-month payback and significant ongoing benefits
- Targeted completion date by end of Q1 2027
The Tuvatu processing plant has a nominal capacity of 300 TPD. The Tuvatu Mill Expansion Project is designed to increase plant capacity from 300 TPD to 700 TPD and will be constructed in phases with a total estimated capital cost of C$13,500,000.
Phase 1 of the 700 TPD expansion is now in progress and consists of the Filtered Tailings Expansion Project, which is designed to double the filtration capacity at the plant. The filtration circuit at Tuvatu has been identified as the primary bottleneck for processing operations and currently consists of two filter presses. The Filtered Tailings Expansion Project includes the addition of two new filter presses, one filter feed tank, two filter feed pumps, associated structural and piping modifications, and one additional tailings truck. Once complete, the project is anticipated to increase nominal mill capacity substantially from 300 TPD to 400 TPD. This increase in production is anticipated to generate an additional 2,100 oz of gold per year based on a minimal incremental gold grade of 3 g/t.
The overall cost for the Filtered Tailings Expansion Project is C$1,900,000, with additional incremental operating costs of C$230,000 annually. At US$4,000 per ounce of gold, the increase in production to 400 TPD represents approximately C$11,800,000 in additional revenue per year for the Company. After accounting for operating costs, the project is expected to achieve payback within 3 months of operation, with significant ongoing annual benefits.
Design and construction activities have begun on the Filtered Tailings Expansion Project. The new filter presses will be identical to the filter presses currently in operation at Tuvatu thereby ensuring commonality of component parts and operating procedures. Construction of the filtration expansion project is anticipated to take 6 to 9 months, with a target completion date by the end of Q1 CY2027. No additional mining or processing equipment is needed to support the increase in production to 400 TPD.
Lion One President and CEO Ian Berzins stated: “We’re very excited to start Phase 1 of our mill expansion project. The filter press expansion is a key component of the expansion to 700 TPD and it will have an immediate impact on our production capacity once complete. The economics of the project are very strong with only a 3-month payback period. It’s very rare to have a capital project with such a significant impact to also have such a short payback period, so we’re very excited to start this project and look forward to its completion in early 2027.”
Figure 1. Tuvatu Filtration System. Left: Two filter presses currently in operation at Tuvatu. Right: Filter press water filtrate, which is recycled back to the processing facility.
Corporate Update
The Company also announces the appointment of Shayla Forster as Corporate Secretary. Ms. Forster has extensive experience in providing corporate secretarial, governance, compliance, facilitating financings and disclosure consulting services to numerous publicly listed issuers, including companies listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, Canadian Securities Exchange and OTCQB.
Qualified Persons Statement
In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43- 101”), William J. Witte, P.Eng., Principal Advisor to the Company, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has reviewed and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release.
Lion One Laboratories / QAQC
Lion One adheres to rigorous QAQC procedures above and beyond basic regulatory guidelines in conducting its drilling, sampling, testing, and analyses. The Company operates its own geochemical assay laboratory and its own fleet of diamond drill rigs using PQ, HQ and NQ sized drill rods.
Diamond drill core samples are logged by Lion One personnel on site. Exploration diamond drill core is split by Lion One personnel on site, with half core samples sent for analysis and the other half core remaining on site. Grade control diamond drill core is whole core assayed. Core samples are delivered to the Lion One Laboratory for preparation and analysis. All samples are pulverized at the Lion One lab to 85% passing through 75 microns and gold analysis is carried out using fire assay with an AA finish. Samples that return grades greater than 10.00 g/t Au are re-analyzed by gravimetric method, which is considered more accurate for very high-grade samples.
Duplicates of 5% of samples with grades above 0.5 g/t Au are delivered to ALS Global Laboratories in Australia for check assay determinations using the same methods (Au-AA26 and Au-GRA22 where applicable). ALS also analyses 33 pathfinder elements by HF-HNO3-HClO4 acid digestion, HCl leach and ICP-AES (method ME-ICP61). The Lion One lab can test a range of up to 71 elements through Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) but currently focuses on a suite of 26 important pathfinder elements with an aqua regia digest and ICP-OES finish.
About Lion One Metals Limited
Lion One Metals is an emerging Canadian gold producer headquartered in North Vancouver BC, with new operations established in late 2023 at its 100% owned Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project in Fiji. The Tuvatu project comprises the high-grade Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Deposit, the Underground Gold Mine, the Pilot Plant, and the Assay Lab. The Company also has an extensive exploration license covering the entire Navilawa Caldera, which is host to multiple mineralized zones and highly prospective exploration targets.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Ian Berzins, Chief Executive Officer, President, and Board Member
Contact Information
Email: info@liononemetals.com
Phone: 1-855-805-1250 (toll free North America)
Website: www.liononemetals.com
Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Service Provider accepts responsibility or the adequacy or accuracy of this release
This press release may contain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking information. Generally, forward-looking information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "proposed", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. This forward-looking information reflects Lion One Metals Limited’s current beliefs and is based on information currently available to Lion One Metals Limited and on assumptions Lion One Metals Limited believes are reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to, the actual results of exploration projects being equivalent to or better than estimated results in technical reports, assessment reports, and other geological reports or prior exploration results. 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 Lion One Metals Limited or its subsidiaries to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: the stage development of Lion One Metals Limited, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of current research and development or operational activities; competition; uncertainty as to patent applications and intellectual property rights; product liability and lack of insurance; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; changes in legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting mining, timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; not realizing on the potential benefits of technology; conclusions of economic evaluations; and lack of qualified, skilled labor or loss of key individuals. Although Lion One Metals Limited has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Lion One Metals Limited does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.