CALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / January 4, 2024 / Jade Leader Corp. (TSX.V:JADE) ("Jade Leader" or "the Company") is pleased to provide the following corporate, marketing and exploration update.

Initial marketing (2021-2023) of various jade materials recovered through the Company's pilot scale sampling programs shows increasing sales and increasing International Jade market awareness. The Company's Jade sales have increased to $13,469 in 2023 from US$1,841 and US$12,563 in 2021 and 2022 respectively, based on the Company's annual audited financial statements updated for sales to December 31, 2023. The bulk of these sales, US$25,478, were of our Sky Jade^© materials. In 2021, 21.6 tonnes of bulk Jade-bearing rock were test processed from the Sky Zone (NR#21-09, Oct 25, 2021), from which 16.5 kilos of rough nephrite Jade material have been sold, representing 9% of the 183 kg of potentially marketable Jade recovered. These sales indicate an effective in-situ realized bulk value of US$1,179/tonne to date for rough Jade, excluding sales of finished product. The Company's research publications and outreach efforts are successfully increasing market awareness of both our Wyoming and Washington jades while marketing for the remaining 166 kg of stockpiled marketable Wyoming Sky Jade^© continues. Proceeds from sales will be used to advance exploration and development of our most promising Jade properties.

"Being able to establish a base in-situ value for our Jades is a long-awaited landmark for us, allowing us to begin to treat Jade like diamonds and other gem minerals," said JP Jutras, P.Geol, President and a Director of Jade Leader. "From an exploration and marketing standpoint we are also delighted to have new peer reviewed academic research currently in press showing that the Sky Jade zone may be much larger than initially thought and that at 2.4 to 2.5 Billion years old, Sky Jades are the world's oldest known jades, allowing their marketing as Earth's first Jades".

Wyoming Sky Jades^© research and exploration outlook

Over the last 6 months, as a complement to research published on our "Color Shift Jade" from Washington (NR#23-03, April 11, 2023), the Company worked with academic researchers in Canada and the US to generate an extensive, peer-reviewed research article on its Wyoming Jades. Covering the geological genesis and settings of both its ornamental jades and gem Sky Jades^©, the article was submitted and peer-reviewed in September of 2023, and the final revisions were approved in December 2023. The Company has been notified that the article has been accepted for publication in Gem-A's The Journal of Gemmology and is slated for publication in the first edition of 2024 this coming March. The Journal of Gemmology is the leading academic gemmology journal worldwide and we expect the article to raise Jade Leader's visibility in the international gem community. An immediate benefit of the research is that our Sky Jades^© have now been tied with reliable age dating work and as the oldest known jades on earth and can now be marketed as "Earth's First Jades".

The most important exploration takeaways from this recent in-depth research program are that the Sky Jades^© are now understood to have crystallized as primary nephrite Jade directly from fluids deep within the earth during an ancient continental collision event. This genesis is what gives Sky Jade^© its remarkably high uniformity of color and texture and makes it easy to fashion into gem objects. This contrasts with nephrite jades from other known productive nephrite deposits where the jades formed by recrystallization of older parent rocks. These parent rocks had variable composition and numerous impurities that commonly generated highly variable grain size and texture, color and translucency. These quality variations historically led to jade's reputation as a "gambling stone" which is typically more difficult to process and market than uniform materials such as Jade Leader's Sky Jade^©.

In addition, work conducted for the publication at the University of Alberta's Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department electron microprobe laboratory as well as detailed petrographic examination of thin sections from the Sky Jades^© and its host rock supports the interpretation that the Jade was not, as previously believed, only formed in discrete, isolated shear zones younger than the quartz-epidote host rock but rather formed along multiple structures simultaneously with alteration of its quartz-epidote host rock. This recognition immediately expands the exploration footprint to an alteration zone mapped over 2.3 acres and outlined by high resolution color drone photography. The 2021 pilot scale sampling area, from which the economic results mentioned above came, covered only 0.012 acres (0.005%) of this altered zone, so the newly opened area remains to be systematically explored for more Sky Jade^© occurrences. All required permit applications to pursue further pilot scale testing of the Sky Zone going forward into 2024 are already in place.

Ongoing Jade Sales and Marketing

Jades sales and product inquiries have increased year over year with sales of recovered Jade materials of US$1,841 in calendar 2021, US$12,563 in 2022 and $13,469 in 2023. Our sales reach to date has included customers in Canada, the USA, Germany, New Zealand and China.

The bulk of these sales, US$25,478 (91%), were of Sky Jade^© rough materials, excluding finished jewelry products. In 2021, 21.6 tonnes of bulk Jade-bearing rock were test processed from the Sky Zone (NR#21-09, Oct 25, 2021), from which 16.5 kilos of rough and polished material have now been sold, representing 9% of the 183 kg of marketable Jade recovered. Prices realized for the materials sold to date averaged US$1.55 per gram with individual pieces priced at between US$0.33 per gram to US$3.81 per gram, depending on size, color, translucency and consistency of each piece. These sales reflect an effective, realized in-situ bulk value of US$1,179/tonne at the Sky Zone to date.

The Company continues to grow its online presence through social media (YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn), with now over 107,000 hits on its main educational videos introducing and familiarizing the market with the Company and its Jade products. The Company continues to add additional inventory of finished products from on-hand materials from both the Wyoming Sky Jade and Washington jades pilot scale programs to its online store and gallery at www.jadeleader.shop

Qualified Person

Mr. Jean-Pierre Jutras, P.Geol., President of the Company, is the Company's Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Jutras and Jade Leader personnel have maintained full chain of custody of all sample materials which are the subject of this update throughout the extraction and testing process and has approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release.

About Jade and Jade Leader Corp.

Recent trade articles and mainstream publications suggest that the international jade market is now larger than the better-known worldwide market for rough diamonds, without any participation in the space by publicly listed Companies prior to the formation of Jade Leader Corp.

Jade Leader Corp, with a Board of Directors having over 120 years of combined experience as mineral exploration geologists with proven track records of discoveries, is led by JP. Jutras, B.Sc Hons Geology, P.Geol who is also an internationally recognized jade carver with over 30 years experience.

Jade leader is leveraging this unique combination of mineral exploration expertise and jade carving knowledge to advance a portfolio of 6 jade exploration properties, carrying nephrite jade with varying characteristics, in stable, mining-friendly jurisdictions in the USA.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Jean-Pierre Jutras"

Jean-Pierre Jutras, President/Director

For Further Information Contact: info@jadeleader.ca
Or Jean Pierre Jutras, President
at 1.403.233.0464

The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release.

Except for the historical and present factual information contained herein, the matters set forth in this news release, including words such as "expects", "projects", "plans", "anticipates" and similar expressions, are forward-looking information that represents management of Jade Leader's internal projections, expectations or beliefs concerning, among other things, future operating results and various components thereof or the economic performance of Jade Leader. The projections, estimates and beliefs contained in such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause Jade Leader's actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, those described in Jade Leader's filings with the Canadian securities authorities. Accordingly, holders of Jade Leader shares and potential investors are cautioned that events or circumstances could cause results to differ materially from those predicted. Jade Leader disclaims any responsibility to update these forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Jade Leader Corp.