Arctic Drill Program At The Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects

VANCOUVER - Trilogy Metals Inc. reported on the drilling for the 2022 summer field season at the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (UKMP) located in northwestern Alaska. The UKMP includes the Arctic (volcanogenic massive sulphide, or "VMS") deposit (Arctic), the Bornite (carbonate-hosted copper, or "CHC") deposit (Bornite), and prospective mining claims in the surrounding area. The drill program was completed by Ambler Metals LLC, the joint venture operating company equally owned by Trilogy and South32 Limited.

The 2022 field program included 10,738 meters of diamond drilling, of which 8,376 meters was drilled at Arctic, the most ever drilled at Arctic in a single field season, while the remainder of the meterage was used on regional targets in the Ambler VMS Belt and near Bornite. The 2022 field program prioritized advancing Arctic with additional infill drilling to further improve the confidence in the resource and for geotechnical studies to further de-risk the project.

Drill holes AR22-0192 and AR22-0195 were drilled as part of the 2022 Arctic infill program designed to increase confidence from Indicated to Measured in areas of the mineral resource block model that would be mined during the first four years of production, based on Trilogy's 2020 Arctic feasibility study† mine plan and with the highest estimated metal value. Significant zones of high-grade copper, zinc, lead, gold, and silver mineralization were intersected, including: AR22-0192 intersected four mineralized intervals, including 9.63 meters of 3.58% copper, 5.89% zinc, 1.07% lead, 0.32 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 53.52 g/t silver for a copper equivalent grade of 6.78%; and AR22-0195 intersected five mineralized intervals, including of 5.55 meters of 3.84% copper, 7.40% zinc, 1.37% lead, 0.36 g/t gold and 63.70 g/t silver for a copper equivalent grade of 7.81%.

Tony Giardini, President and CEO of Trilogy, commented, "We are pleased to collaborate with Ambler Metals, South32 and NANA on the largest exploration program in the history of the Arctic deposit, and to continue unlocking its world-class mining district potential as a critical source of green metals for the US economy, in line with President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act."

The drill results are from the first seven drill holes of the 2022 Arctic drill program, AR22-0191 through to AR22-0197, which include four infill holes and three geotechnical holes (AR22-0194, 0196 and 0197). All drill holes are sized HQ3 (63.5 mm diameter). Within the Arctic deposit, mineralization occurs as stratiform semi-massive sulphide to massive sulphide beds within primarily graphitic to chloritic schists and fine-grained quartz schists. Sulphide mineralogy is similar for all intercepts: chalcopyrite, sphalerite and galena. Results indicate mineralization is reasonably continuous, especially in Zone 5 which is typically the highest grade and thickest zone at Arctic. The results of the remaining holes are expected to be announced in the coming months.

As part of the goal of de-risking Arctic, the geotechnical holes were planned to further define the talc horizons in the pit design as outlined in the 2020 Feasibility Study. The holes were drilled at or beyond the edges of the resource and as expected, drill holes AR22-0194 and 0196 did not intersect mineralization while hole AR22-0197 intersected a narrow zone of weak mineralization. Trilogy anticipates that the results may impact engineering of the Arctic open-pit design by pushing back the pit slope in the northeast corner which may increase the strip ratio, improve mine life and slightly reduce reserve grade. The Company intends to prepare a technical study on Arctic effective this fiscal year-end to comply with SEC mining disclosure regulations under SK-1300, and an updated National Instrument 43-101 feasibility study.

Exploration outside of the Arctic deposit focused on discovering copper-rich satellite deposits near Arctic, and in the Cosmos Hills. As part of the regional program, two VMS targets in the Ambler Belt, 98-9 and East Dead Creek, and two CHC targets near Bornite were drill tested (assays pending). In addition, an area covering more than 50km2 was mapped and prospected, and over 3,900 soil samples were collected.