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Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp
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Shares Issued 121,484,621
Close 2022-05-18 C$ 0.375
Market Cap C$ 45,556,733
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Appia drills 50+ m of anomalous radioactivity at Alces

2022-05-18 10:51 ET - News Release

Mr. Tom Drivas reports

APPIA ANNOUNCES OPERATIONAL AND DRILLING UPDATE WITH NEW INTERSECTIONS OF 50+ METRES OF ANOMALOUS RADIOACTIVITY AT ALCES LAKE RARE EARTH PROPERTY, NORTHERN SASKATCHEWAN

Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp. has provided an update on the company's 2022 drilling program at Alces Lake. As previously announced, the winterized camp was opened in early March and drilling has been under way since mid-March. A second drill became operational on May 4 and both drills are operating 24 hours a day.

Highlights:

  • All 2021 assay results are now in-house and being analyzed and evaluated prior to release;
  • 24 holes (4,889 metres) drilled to date in 2022 and drilling continues;
  • Expansion of WRCB area along strike to the southeast with no boundary found to date;
  • Potential discovery on Augier prospect with drilling of thick section of anomalous radioactivity in first three holes (51.2 metres, 70.1 metres and 58 metres). Drilling continues.

To the middle of May, 24 holes have been drilled at Alces Lake, totalling 4,889 metres. For comparison, a total of 100 holes were drilled in 2021 at Alces Lake, totalling 8,076 metres. Appia expects that the 2022 program will be a minimum of 12,000 metres to as much as 20,000 metres, all of which will be financed with available cash on hand.

Augier discovery -- early positive indications

The Augier discovery was made in 2021 and was channel sampled. The assay results returned seven metres of 0.57 weight per cent TREO (total rare earth oxide). This discovery is approximately 1,500 metres directly southeast of the WRCB area and is along a well-defined kilometre-scale structural corridor.

The very first hole drilled into the discovery in 2022 intersected an encouraging 51.2 m of anomalous radioactivity beginning at the top of hole. The drilled width of this near-surface anomaly is unprecedented when compared with previous drilling campaigns at Alces Lake. The core has been sampled and submitted for assay. The second hole, 22-AUG-002, undercut 22-AUG-001 and confirmed the result, also intersecting 70.1 metres of anomalous radioactivity from the top of the hole. The third hole at 22-AUG-003 explored the strike extent of this trend and intersected 58 metres, starting at a depth of 23 metres. This is the same anomalous radioactive unit as the two previous holes and is on strike 150 metres southeast of 22-AUG-002.

Continued delineation of the WRCB discovery

Appia continues to delineate the magnitude of the rare earth elements discovery at WRCB with longer and deeper holes to build on the 2021 information. The results so far are encouraging.

Of the 2022 holes, 19 have been drilled at WRCB and all holes in the WRCB complex have intersected intervals of anomalous radioactivity over drilled widths ranging up to 11 metres, some with visible monazite. The 2022 drilling has expanded the WRCB area of interest with identified intervals of anomalous radioactivity up to 120 metres farther along strike to the southeast. This has increased the overall length of the trend of anomalous radioactivity in WRCB drill core from 160 metres to 280 metres of strike length, and the program is continuing. The WRCB area is still open along strike in both the northwest and southeast directions.

Additional 2022 exploration activities at WRCB will include an induced polarization survey over the centre of the WRCB discovery area to evaluate the methods applicable across the property.

2021 drill results and metallurgical program

The company has now received all 2021 assay results and is currently analyzing and evaluating the information. A summary of the results is expected to be released in the near future. As recently announced, a 900-kilogram sample has been taken from the property and 600 kilograms is en route to SGS Canada's Lakefield facility in Ontario for crushing and sizing ahead of test work. The remainder of the sample will be shipped at a later date. Upon completion of the preparatory work, the sample will be shipped to CanmetMining and the test programs will begin to optimize and enhance the development of an Alces Lake project flowsheet. In addition, Appia has requested proposals for additional airborne and ground radiometric surveys.

Appia commenced drilling at Alces Lake in mid-March, 2022, and plans to drill significantly deeper holes compared with the 100 holes (approximately 8,076 metres) drilled in 2021. This is designed to allow Appia to determine continuity at depth and along the identified REE mineralization trends as the company works toward a maiden resource estimate in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 for the area. With high-grade REE mineralization now identified in many locations within an area covering approximately 27 square kilometres of the Alces Lake block, the company believes the project has the potential to be a world-class source of high-grade critical rare earth bearing monazite.

About the Alces Lake project

The Alces Lake project encompasses some of the highest-grade total and critical* REEs and gallium mineralization in the world, hosted within several surface and near-surface monazite occurrences that remain open at depth and along strike.

*Critical rare earth elements are defined here as those that are in short supply and high demand for use in permanent magnets and modern electronic applications such as electric vehicles and wind turbines (that is, neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), dysprosium (Dy) and terbium (Tb)).

The Alces Lake project is located in Northern Saskatchewan, the province that is developing a first-of-its-kind rare earth processing facility in Canada (currently under construction by the Saskatchewan Research Council and scheduled to become operational in early 2023). The Alces Lake project area is 35,682 hectares (88,173 acres) in size and is 100 per cent owned by Appia.

To ensure safe work conditions are met for the work force, the company has developed exploration guidelines that comply with the Saskatchewan Public Health Orders and the public health order respecting the Northern Saskatchewan administration district in order to maintain social distancing and help prevent the transmission of COVID-19.

The metallurgical content in this news release was reviewed and approved by John Goode, PEng, metallurgical consultant to Appia's board of directors and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The geologic content in this news release was reviewed and approved by Dr. Irvine R. Annesley, PGeo, adviser to Appia's board of directors and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. SRC Geoanalytical Laboratories' management system operates in accordance with ISO/IEC 17025:2005 (CAN-P-4E) general requirements for the competence of mineral testing and calibration laboratories.

About Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp.

Appia is a Canadian publicly listed company in the rare earth element and uranium sectors. The company is currently focusing on delineating high-grade critical rare earth elements and gallium on the Alces Lake property, as well as exploring for high-grade uranium in the prolific Athabasca basin on its Otherside, Loranger, North Wollaston and Eastside properties. The company holds the surface rights to exploration for 105,026 hectares (259,525 acres) in Saskatchewan. The company also has a 100-per-cent interest in 12,545 hectares (31,000 acres), with rare earth element and uranium deposits over five mineralized zones in the Elliot Lake camp, Ontario.

Appia has 123.1 million common shares outstanding and 142.1 million shares fully diluted.

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