Trevali Announces Drill Results For the Newly Discovered T3 Horizon at the Perkoa Mine and Updates on Regional Exploration and the Hanging Wall Lens Infill Programs

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Trevali Mining Corporation (“Trevali” or the “Company”) (TSX: TV, BVL: TV; OTCQX: TREVF, Frankfurt: 4TI) announces additional details from the 2019 exploration and mineral resource expansion program on the discovery of the new volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) lens at the Perkoa Mine, Burkina Faso. To date, the new massive VMS lens has been intersected in multiple drill holes including PUX021 which intersected 3.42 metres at 13.8% Zn while distal alteration and disseminated mineralization can be traced at least 300 m to the southwest from drill hole PUX020. The mineralization is open along strike and at depth down plunge with exploration drilling currently ongoing.

“We are encouraged by the results from the exploration program along the Perkoa T3 horizon,” commented Yan Bourassa, Vice-President of Mineral Resource Management at Trevali. “We are still early in the exploration program of the T3 horizon and our latest drill hole, PUX021, intersected high-grade on the most northern hole drilled to date. Geochemical vectors are getting stronger as drilling moves towards the northeast indicating that the early intercepts could represent the edge of a larger system.”

Highlights

• Hole PUX021 intersected 3.42 metres at 13.8% Zn, including 1.66 metres at 19.4% Zn.
• Hole PUX020a intersected 6.80 metres at 6.4% Zn, including 1.50 metres at 9.5% Zn.
• T3 horizon has been intersected over 400 metres along strike.

Perkoa Discovery

Following the acquisition of the Perkoa mine in August 2017, Trevali recognized the strength of the mineralizing system and targeted expanding Perkoa from a two lens mine into a multi-horizon system. In late 2018, a hole drilled into the Perkoa hanging wall (PUX012) intersected a subtle geochemical anomaly; the first indication of the T3 horizon. By following this geochemical feature, with secondary support from down hole electro-magnetics (DHEM), massive to semi massive sulphide was intersected in PUX020a returning 6.8 metres at 6.4% Zn including 1.5 metres at 9.5% Zn, indicating the high-grade potential.

The follow-up hole PUX021 intersected only anomalous mineralization around the T3 horizon. However, the hole was continued and intersected a second mineralized horizon, which contained massive sulphide over 3.42 metres at 13.8% Zn, including 1.66 metres at 19.4% Zn, approximately 980 metres below surface. System analysis suggests that this second horizon is the same as the massive sulphide horizon seen in PUX020a, but offset approximately 50 metres by a fault.

Figure 1: Plan view of the Perkoa T3 horizon exploration drilling is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e0f66bfd-78fc-44fa-b222-7e6bd93b5e8a

The earlier exploration holes (PUX012, 010a, 013 & 019) all intersected a chemical marker horizon (CMH) which is interpreted as a hanging wall exhalative, a common feature which forms an extensive blanket cover, over VMS deposits. The horizon was traced for over 400 metres before the blind T3 VMS was discovered. The T3 discovery validates and demonstrates the efficiency of the geochemical vectors which are also applied to regional exploration. The VMS mineralization intersected to date is comparable visually and texturally to the Perkoa high-grade Main and Hanging Wall lenses. Exploration of the T3 horizon is at an early stage, but the horizon is open along strike and down-plunge at depth.

Table 1: Summary drill hole assay results. True width unknown due to early stage of exploration but estimated at 65-80% of reported interval.

Regional exploration

Regional exploration has progressed well during 2019, with numerous Perkoa-style systems identified within 16km of the Perkoa Mine. An additional two prospects have been identified with a similar geochemical anomaly to the T3 discovery, one of which is associated with electro-magnetic (EM) anomaly, 4.5km northeast of Perkoa and referred to as Aswé and is budgeted to be drilled in 2020. These anomalies are priority targets for drill testing in early 2020 during the dry season.

During 2019, two new exploration permits along strike of Perkoa were granted, giving Trevali access to an additional 381km² of area to explore. These new permits are around a known historic zinc prospect, which has seen no modern exploration. The application of Trevali’s proven discovery techniques and the understanding the team has developed to this new area makes for an exciting 2020.

Hanging Wall Lens infill

Since September 2019, a second underground diamond drill rig has been active targeting resource conversion on the Hanging Wall Lens at depth. As illustrated in Figure 2, the program is focusing on Indicated to Measured Mineral Resources conversion between depths of -550 metres down to -700 metres, while the program is targeting conversion of Inferred to Indicated Mineral Resources between depths of -700 metres to -800 metres. The program is advancing well and is approximately 50% complete. After the final 4,000 metres of infill drilling is completed in early 2020, this second rig will also be used to explore the T3 horizon.

Results received to date are listed in the table below and have been in line with expected width and grade from the previous modeling and resource estimation.

Figure 2: Longitudinal section of the Perkoa Hanging Wall Lens resource conversion drilling is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0ecf42d2-7c57-4f9f-9f6f-180b8332c037

Table 2: Summary drill hole assay results of the Hanging Wall Lens infill drilling.

About Trevali Mining Corporation

Trevali is a global base-metals mining company, headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. The bulk of Trevali’s revenue is generated from base-metals mining at its four operational assets: the 90%-owned Perkoa Mine in Burkina Faso, the 90%-owned Rosh Pinah Mine in Namibia, the wholly-owned Caribou Mine in northern New Brunswick, Canada and the wholly-owned Santander Mine in Peru. In addition, Trevali owns the Halfmile and Stratmat Properties and the Restigouche Deposit in New Brunswick, Canada, and the past-producing Ruttan Mine in northern Manitoba, Canada. Trevali also owns an effective 44%- interest in the Gergarub Project in Namibia, as well as an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Heath Steele deposit located in New Brunswick, Canada. The shares of Trevali are listed on the TSX (symbol TV), the OTCQX (symbol TREVF), the Lima Stock Exchange (symbol TV), and the Frankfurt Exchange (symbol 4TI). For further details on Trevali, readers are referred to the Company’s website (www.trevali.com) and to Canadian regulatory filings on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Investor Relations Contact:
Brendan Creaney – Vice President, Investor Relations
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +1 (604) 638-5623

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, “forward-looking statements”). Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, expectations and opinions of management of the Company as of the date the statement are published, and the Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required by law. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect management’s expectations or beliefs regarding future events including, but not limited to, statements with respect to the Company’s growth strategies, the continued success of mineral exploration, the content, cost, timing and results of future exploration programs and life of mine expectancies, Trevali’s ability to fund future exploration activities, estimation of mineral reserves and mineral resources, the realization of mineral reserve estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production and capital expenditures, success of mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses and title disputes or claims. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects”, “outlook”, “guidance”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates” or “believes”, or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might”, “will be taken”, “occur” or “be achieved” or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, risks related to actual results of current exploration activities, including the inherent uncertainty of mineral exploration and estimations of exploration targets; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; future prices of zinc, lead, silver and other minerals and the anticipated sensitivity of our financial performance to such prices; possible variations in ore reserves, grade or recoveries; dependence on key personnel; potential conflicts of interest involving our directors and officers; labour pool constraints; labour disputes; availability of infrastructure required for the development of mining projects; delays or inability to obtain governmental and regulatory approvals for mining operations or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities; counterparty risks; increased operating and capital costs; foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; operating in foreign jurisdictions with risk of changes to governmental regulation; compliance with governmental regulations; compliance with environmental laws and regulations; land reclamation and mine closure obligations; challenges to title or ownership interest of our mineral properties; maintaining ongoing social license to operate; impact of climatic conditions on the Company’s mining operations; corruption and bribery; limitations inherent in our insurance coverage; compliance with debt covenants; competition in the mining industry; our ability to integrate new acquisitions into our operations; cybersecurity threats; litigation; and other risks of the mining industry including, without limitation, other risks and uncertainties that are more fully described in the Company’s annual information form, interim and annual audited consolidated financial statements and management’s discussion and analysis of those statements, all of which are filed and available for review under the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Trevali provides no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events may differ from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Compliance with NI 43-101

Yan Bourassa, P.Geo, Trevali’s Vice President, Mineral Resource Management, is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Bourassa supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release and has approved the contents of this news release.