Drilling at the Advanced High-Grade Copper Cowley Park Prospect to Commence Mid-April 2023
Gladiator has engaged Kluane Drilling Limited, a global drilling company with more than 35 years of experience headquartered in Whitehorse, Yukon.
Gladiator has committed to drilling an initial ~3,000m of diamond core targeted at Cowley Park, a high-grade copper prospect area.
Gladiator is also establishing a core processing facility to log and process an estimated 10,000 metres of backlogged uncut core.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 20, 2023) - GLADIATOR METALS CORP. (TSXV: GLAD) (OTC Pink: GDTRF) ("Gladiator" or the "Company"), a mineral exploration company focused on the advancement of multiple high-grade copper prospects in Canada's Whitehorse Copper Belt is pleased to report the Company has entered into a binding drilling contract to commence drilling at the advanced and high grade copper Cowley Park prospect from mid April, 2023.
Gladiator has engaged Kluane Drilling Limited, a global drilling company with more than 35 years of experience who are headquartered in Whitehorse, YT.
Gladiator has committed to drilling an initial ~3,000m of diamond core targeted at Cowley Park, a high grade copper prospect area, to lay the foundations of establishing a future copper mineral resource. The 3000m drilling program will focus on confirming and extending mineralization at the Cowley Park prospect area.
Additionally, Gladiator is well advanced in establishing a core processing facility in Whitehorse to process and log drill core, including processing an estimated 10,000 metres of backlogged uncut core collected from previous drilling campaigns.
Gladiator has continued to identify significant near-term shallow exploration targets outside of the historic areas of operation at the Whitehorse Copper Project, supported by the ongoing collation of historical drilling data.
Exploration Update
The Company is currently undertaking a significant data compilation and review of the available historic data, including drilling over the greater tenement package. This work has identified a number of drill ready, high-grade regional targets associated with copper rich skarns at the contact between the Cretaceous age Whitehorse Plutonic Suite and the Triassic to Jurassic Lewes River Group clastic and carbonate metasediments. Cumulatively, there is more than 35km of underexplored strike on the contact which is highly prospective for high-grade Copper+/-Molybdenum+/-Silver+/- Gold (refer to Figure 1 below).
Gladiator's position is enhanced at Whitehorse, with the project having near year-round access for work programs, including an established road and drill access network, low capital infrastructure requirements due to the projects proximity to Whitehorse and a strong partnership with the owners of the Whitehorse Copper Project, an experienced local mining service provider.
Figure 1: Plan map of the Whitehorse Copper Project showing geology and location of key prospects within the main trend.
Reference to historic resources on the Whitehorse Copper Project, refer to and are based solely on a report by Watson, P.H, 1984, entitled "The Whitehorse Copper belt - A Compilation, prepared for the Yukon Geological Survey" that can be accessed at https://data.geology.gov.yk.ca/Reference/42011#InfoTab.
The historical mineral resources discussed in this press release were calculated using mining industry standard practices of the applicable time period for estimating Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserves prior to the implementation of the current CIM Definition Standards for mineral resource estimation (as defined by the CIM Definition Standard on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves dated May 30, 2014). The reader is cautioned not to treat them, or any part of them, as current mineral resources or reserves. An independent Qualified Person ('QP'), has not done sufficient work to classify the estimate discussed as current mineral resources or reserves and therefore the estimate should be treated as historical in nature and not current mineral resources or mineral reserves. The historical resources have been included simply to demonstrate the mineral potential of the Whitehorse Copper Project. A thorough review of all historical data performed by a QP, along with additional exploration work to confirm results, would be required in order to produce a current mineral resource estimate for each of the key prospects. For greater certainty, the Company confirms that it does not have a current mineral resource on any part of its Whitehorse Copper Project.
Qualified Person
All scientific and technical information in this news release has been prepared or reviewed and approved by Kell Nielsen, a "qualified person" as defined by NI 43-101.
Market Making and Investor Relations
The Company has retained Generation IACP Inc. ("IACP") to provide market making services in accordance with TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") policies. IACP is a company based in Toronto which is in the business of providing market making services to publicly listed companies. IACP will trade the securities of Gladiator on the TSX Venture Exchange for the purposes of maintaining an orderly market. In consideration of the services provided by IACP, Gladiator will pay IACP a monthly cash fee of CAD$7,500, for a minimum term of six months, for aggregate consideration of CAD$45,000, which will be paid from the Company's general working capital. The Company's engagement of IACP is renewable after the initial six month term. Gladiator and IACP are unrelated and unaffiliated entities. IACP will not receive shares or options as compensation. IACP does not have any interest, direct or indirect, in the Company or its securities nor does it have any right or intent to acquire such an interest; however, IACP and its clients may acquire a direct or indirect interest in the securities of the Company from time to time. The capital used for market making will be provided by IACP. IACP is a registered broker and member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, the TSXV and the Canadian Securities Exchange, and is a Participating Organization as such term is defined in the rules and policies of the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The Company has entered into a consulting agreement with GRA Enterprises LLC ("GRA"), a United States based investor communication and media services provider, pursuant to which GRA will provide the Company with investor relations services. The consulting agreement has a term of twelve (12) months, unless terminated earlier in accordance with its terms. The investor relations services provided by GRA will be in consulting with the Company's management in building investor awareness of the Company through GRA's network in North America. As consideration for the provision of the investor relations services and in accordance with the terms and provisions of the consulting agreement, the Company will pay GRA a fee of US$100,000, which is payable at the beginning of the twelve month term and will be paid from the Company's general working capital. GRA and its' principal are arm's length from the Company and do not have any interest, direct or indirect, in the Company or its securities nor do they have any right or intent to acquire such an interest. The Company's engagement of GRA is subject to the acceptance of the TSXV.
The Company has entered into a consulting agreement with Marco Messina ("Messina"), a German based communications and media services provider, pursuant to which Messina will provide the Company with investor relations services. The consulting agreement has a term of nine (9) months, unless terminated earlier in accordance with its terms. The investor relations services provided by the Messina will be in consulting with the Company's management in building investor awareness of the Company through Messina's network in Europe. As consideration for the provision of the investor relations services and in accordance with the terms and provisions of the consulting agreement, the Company will pay Messina a fee of EUR100,000, which is payable at the beginning of the twelve month term and will be paid from the Company's general working capital. Messina is at arm's length from the Company and Messina does not have any interest, direct or indirect, in the Company or its securities nor does Messina have any right or intent to acquire such an interest. The Company's engagement of Messina is subject to the acceptance of the TSXV.
ABOUT GLADIATOR METALS CORP.
Gladiator Metals Corp. is a mineral exploration company focused on the advancement of multiple high-grade copper prospects at its Whitehorse Copper Project (the "Project") an advanced-stage copper (Cu) ± molybdenum (Mo) ± silver (Ag) ± gold (Au) skarn exploration project in the Yukon Territory, Canada. The Project comprises 314 contiguous claims covering approximately 5,380 Hectares (13,294 acres) in the Whitehorse Mining District.
Copper mineralization was first discovered in 1897 on the Whitehorse Copper Belt, as it became to be known. The Whitehorse Copper Belt comprised over 30 copper-related, primarily skarn occurrences covering an area of 35 by 5 km in a north westerly trending arc. Exploration and mining development have been carried out intermittently since that time with the main production era lasting between 1967 and 1982 where production totaled 267,500,000 pounds copper, 225,000 ounces of gold and 2,838,000 ounces of silver from 11.1 million tons of mineralized skarn ore were milled (Watson, 1984).
Given the proximity to Whitehorse, the Project will benefit from all year access, excellent infrastructure (local Yukon miner Minto Metals currently export copper concentrate from nearby Skagway) and a strong relationship with local partners for drilling services and developing positive community relations. With global copper metal demand currently forecast to outstrip future supply due to the global government's coalition focus on developing electric vehicle and clean energy markets for Net Zero 2050, the Project provides excellent exposure to potential high grade significant copper resources in a stable tier 1 jurisdiction.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
"Jason Bontempo" Jason Bontempo President and CEO
For further information contact: Dustin Zinger, Investor Relations +1-604-653-9464 dzinger@gladiatormetals.com
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.
Certain of the statements and information in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information". Any statements or information that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "plans", "estimates", "intends", "targets", "goals", "forecasts", "objectives", "potential" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions) that are not statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements or information.
Forward-looking statements or information are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements or information, including, without limitation, the need for additional capital by the Company through financings, and the risk that such funds may not be raised; the speculative nature of exploration and the stages of the Company's properties; the effect of changes in commodity prices; regulatory risks that development of the Company's material properties will not be acceptable for social, environmental or other reasons; availability of equipment (including drills) and personnel to carry out work programs; and that each stage of work will be completed within expected time frames. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements or information. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, described or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.
The Company's forward-looking statements and information are based on the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and opinions of management as of the date of this news release, and other than as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements and information if circumstances or management's assumptions, beliefs, expectations or opinions should change, or changes in any other events affecting such statements or information.
