VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 26, 2023 / Emergent Metals Corp. (TSXV:EMR)(OTCQB:EGMCF)(FRA:EML)(BSE:EML) ("Emergent" or the "Company") announces the discovery (the "Discovery") of a new porphyry and skarn exploration target at its New York Canyon Property, Nevada ("NYC" or the "Property"). The Discovery, made by Kennecott Exploration Company ("KEX"), a subsidiary of Rio Tinto plc (RIO), is located on Emergent's north block ("North Block") of claims. Named the Emma ("Emma") exploration target, it is about 1,650 m (5,400 ft) long (north-south) by 1,400 m (4,600 ft) wide (east-west) and is open in all directions.

Emma represents an addition to three known copper porphyry and skarn exploration targets located on Emergent's south block ("South Block") of claims at NYC. The South Block, located four miles south of the North Block, hosts the Copper Queen, Longshot Ridge, and Champion exploration targets. Emergent has an Earn-in with Option to Joint Venture Agreement (the "Agreement") with KEX whereby KEX has three options to earn up to a 75% interest in NYC by completing exploration expenditures of US$22.5 million on the North and South Block.

Emma was identified by a combination of rock chip, soil sampling, a UAV orthophoto survey, and a UAV magnetic geophysical survey done by KEX as part of its annual exploration work completed at NYC in 2022 (the "2022 Exploration Program"). Significant rock chip samples (greater or equal to 1.00% Cu) from this field work are shown in Table 1 below:

Table 1
North Block
Significant Rock Chip Samples
(>= 1.00% Cu)

Twenty of 41 rock chip samples taken had grades greater than or equal to 1.00% Cu. Three samples had gold grades greater than or equal to 1.00 g/t Au. Fifteen samples had silver grades greater than or equal to 10 g/t Ag. Note that 1.0 ppm Au or Ag equals 1.0 g/t Au or Ag respectively.

Significant soil samples (greater or equal to 500 ppm Cu) from this field work are shown in Table 2 below. Seventeen of the 41 soil samples taken had grades greater than equal to 500 ppm Cu. Five samples had grades greater than or equal to 1,000.0 ppm Cu. Four samples had Ag grades greater than or equal to 1.0 g/t silver. Note that 10,000 ppm Cu equals 1.0% Cu.

Table 2
North Block
Signifcant Soil Samples
(>= 500 ppm Cu)

Details of the rock chip and soil sampling programs are outlined below, including QA/QC procedures.

The geology at the Emma exploration target is similar to the Copper Queen, Longshot Ridge and Champion exploration targets, where copper skarn mineralization is present in Mesozoic limestone, including Luning Formation. Porphyry copper mineralization is also present in igneous intrusive rocks of Cretaceous age. At Emma quartz monzonite, porphyritic quartz monzonite, and quartz eye porphyry have been identified.

David Watkinson, President and CEO of Emergent, states, "Emergent is extremely excited by KEX's discovery of the Emma target at NYC. The rock chip and soil sampling results, along with alteration mapping and geophysics, indicate potential for a porphyry and skarn deposits to be found on the North Block, which has previously been unexplored by either Emergent or KEX. KEX has already completed permitting to test this target, with diamond core drilling planned in the first quarter of 2023. They also plan to further test the extension of the Copper Queen deposit to the southeast on the South Block, with diamond core drilling also planned in the first quarter of 2023."

About the Emergent-Kennecott Earn-in with Option to Joint Venture Agreement

As announced on February 11, 2020, Emergent signed an Earn-in with Option to Joint Venture Agreement (the "Agreement") with KEX at NYC. Key points of the Agreement include:

• KEX has an option (the "First Option") to acquire a 55% undivided interest in the Property by incurring US$5.0 million in expenditures over a 5-year period, of which US$1.0 million is a committed expenditure that must be completed prior to the 18-month anniversary of the Agreement.
• KEX has a second option (the "Second Option") to earn an additional 10% undivided interest in the Property (for a total of 65%) by incurring an additional US$7.5 million in expenditures over a 3-year period.
• KEX has a third option (the "Third Option") to earn an additional 10% undivided interest in the Property (for a total of 75%) by incurring an additional US$10 million in expenditures over a 3-year period.
• For clarity, KEX can earn up to a 75% interest in the Property by completing up to US$22.5 million in total exploration expenditures under the First, Second, and Third Options.
• Any expenditure in excess of an option expenditure requirement in a given time period will be credited against subsequent option expenditure requirements. KEX may, at any time or from time to time, accelerate its satisfaction of the First, Second, or Third Option by paying Emergent money in lieu of incurring expenditures.
• While earning in, KEX has the right to make exploration and development decisions.
• KEX must maintain the Property in good standing during the option period(s), including payment of BLM and County maintenance fees.
• KEX will have the right to elect to form a joint venture (the "Joint Venture") with Emergent upon completion of either the First, Second, or Third Option. Upon establishing a Joint Venture each participant will fund the joint venture according to its participating interest, with KEX acting as the Manager of the joint venture. If a party's participating interest falls below 10%, then such parties participating interest will be converted to a 1% Net Smelter Royalty, capped at US$25 million.

To date, KEX has spent an estimated US$5.24M as exploration expenditures on the Property to year-end 2022. Based on the Agreement, they have until February 7, 2025, to exercise the First Option under the Agreement.

About the NYC Property

NYC is located 30 miles east of Hawthorne, Nevada. The Property, subject to the Agreement, consists of 21 patented claims and 152 unpatented claims owned by Emergent and 265 unpatented claims owned by KEX., for a total of 21 patented claims and 417 unpatented claims (3,520 ha or 8,700 acres in size). The claims are located in two blocks, North and South. The North Block, subject to the Agreement, consists of 27 unpatented claims. The South Block, subject to the Agreement, consists of 21 patented claims and 390 unpatented claims. To date, all the exploration targets at NYC have been found on claims subject to the Agreement.

KEX has staked an additional 257 unpatented claims around the North Block (the "North Buffer Claims") and 110 unpatented claims around the South Block (the "South Buffer Claims"), for an additional 367 unpatented claims. These additional claims do not fall under the Agreement and are outside the Area of Influence that is part of the Agreement. This brings the total number of claims that make up the New York Canyon Property to 21 patented claims and 784 unpatented claims, or approximately 6,350 ha (15,700 acres).

About the 2022 Exploration Program at NYC

North Block (Emma Target)

The Emma exploration target, located on the North Block, is one mile south of the historic Santa Fe Mine. The Santa Fe gold-silver deposit was discovered in the late 1970's and mined by Corona Gold in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Historic production estimated from Santa Fe Mine is 345,499 ounces of gold and 710,629 ounces of silver between 1989 and 1995 (source: The Nevada Mineral Industry, Special Publication MI-2017, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology). Santa Fe Mine is controlled and being explored by Lahontan Gold Corp. (TSXV:LG). Note that the vicinity of the Property to a past producing mine is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization that may be hosted at NYC, and does not mean that a similar deposit will be found However, the rock chip sampling completed to date at Emma appears to indicate higher gold and silver grades may be found in the North Block as compared to the South Block at NYC, which might be related to mineralization associated with the nearby Santa Fe Mine.

Exploration on the North Block in 2022 consisted of soil sampling, rock chip sampling, a UAV magnetics geophysics survey, and a UAV orthophoto survey. Table 3 itemizes results from 43 rock chip samples taken on the North Block. Rock samples were taken in monzonite, quartz monzonite, granite, limestone, marble, and skarn bedrock. Results show elevated copper and other indicator minerals as listed. Copper grades ranged from 0.012% Cu to 14.750% Cu. Average grade of the 41 samples was 1.735% Cu, 300 ppb Au, 39.74 g/t Ag, 49.9 ppm Mo, 24.7 ppm Pb, and 1,007.1 ppm Zn. Twenty of the 41 rock chip samples taken had grades greater than or equal to 1.00% Cu. Three samples had gold grades greater than or equal to 1.00 g/t Au. Fifteen samples had silver grades greater than or equal to 10 g/t Ag.

Table 3
Rock Chip Sampling Results - Key Indicator Minerals
North Claim Block Sampling