High-Grade Gold And Platinum Group Elements With Battery Metals At The Pine Target

VANCOUVER - Stillwater Critical Minerals reported the first tranche of results from work completed in 2022 on Pine Target at Stillwater West platinum group element, nickel, copper, cobalt, and gold (PGE-Ni-Cu-Co + Au) project adjacent to Sibanye-Stillwater's mining operations in Montana.

Rock chip samples taken across approximately two meters of exposed shear in a trench at the Pine target in 2022 returned high-grade gold, palladium and platinum mineralization with an average of 9.0 g/t Au, 0.69 g/t Pd, and 0.69 g/t Pt. Significant nickel and cobalt values are also reported, consistent with past results from this area. Work in 2022 also included the acquisition of historic core to support the advancement of drill-defined high-grade mineralization at Pine towards completion of an NI-43-101-compliant resource. Mineralization at Pine was not included in the five deposits delineated by the 2021 MRE at the Chrome and Iron Mountain target areas, up to nine kilometers east of Pine within the Stillwater Igneous Complex.

Historic drilling at Pine returned values of 16.94 g/t 3E (16.19 g/t Au, 0.24 g/t Pt, 0.50 g/t Pd) over 7.98 meters and 31.02 g/t 3E (28.7 g/t Au, 1.06 g/t Pt, 1.27 g/t Pd) over 2.6 meters in the area of the 2022 trench samples. Mineralization remains open to expansion in all directions including towards very high-level gold-in-soil anomalies extending up to two kilometers west of Pine, in addition to the adjacent high-level palladium, platinum, and nickel-copper soil anomalies. Elevated gold values are also demonstrated in high-grade drill results two kilometers east of Pine at the Chrome Mountain deposit area, and nine kilometers east at the Iron Mountain deposit area.

Danie Grobler, Vice-President of Exploration. said, "The Pine samples display an anomalous suite of shear zone hosted mineralization with elevated Au, Ni, Co and PGEs. These shear zones appear to trend in an NNW direction, forming an exciting and important target for advancement. The host rock is intensely sheared and altered Bronzite Cumulate with disseminated to massive chromite and possibly formed the focus for a cross-cutting post-magmatic hydrothermal alteration event. Recently identified precious and base metal in soil anomalies at the Gold Ridge and Pegmatoid Ridge targets to the west of Pine are coincident with large, intense anomalies in geophysical surveys and have not been explored in the past."

Michael Rowley, President and CEO, commented, "Our expanding understanding of high-grade gold and platinum group element mineralization, alongside the wealth of critical minerals that the Stillwater district is known for, highlights the surprisingly under-explored nature of the lower Stillwater Igneous Complex and the potential that exists for the advancement of multiple world-class ore bodies across the 32-kilometer span of the Stillwater West project. We look forward to additional reports on recent work including our updated mineral resource estimate as those results become available, and beyond that to announcing our 2023 plans for continued expansion in this iconic American district."