Mr. Walter Berukoff reports

LION ONE: TUVATU GOLD MINE CONSTRUCTION IS 75% COMPLETE

Lion One Metals Ltd. has provided an update on construction progress at its 100-per-cent-owned Tuvatu alkaline gold project in Fiji.

Highlights:

• Mine construction is approximately 75 per cent complete.
• Earthworks and concrete works are substantially complete, structural steel is 70 per cent complete.
• The project is fully financed and on schedule for delivery of first gold in Q4 calendar year (CY) 2023.

Mine construction is approximately 75 per cent complete and remains on schedule for delivery of first gold in Q4 2023. Earthworks and concrete works are substantially complete, with over 3,500 cubic metres of concrete poured to date. Structural steel is 70 per cent complete and is progressing rapidly. All the components required to commission the processing plant are on site, and a team of 350 contractors and employees are working together to bring the project toward completion. Once complete, Lion One plans to operate the processing plant at an initial production capacity of 300 tonnes per day for the first 18 months of operations, before increasing the capacity to 500 tonnes per day in mid-2025. Lion One is fully financed to complete mine construction and bring the Tuvatu alkaline gold project into production by the end of the year.

Videos of construction progress can be viewed on the company's website. A summary of construction items that are in progress or complete is shown in the table entitled "Status of major mine components under construction."

Site infrastructure

A large portion of the site infrastructure is complete, including the site office, the mine change room, the mine workshop, the fresh water supply system, the sewage treatment plant, and the waste rock crusher and screener, all of which are commissioned and in use. The construction of the power plant, which consists of six 800 kW (kilowatt) generators and one 1,500 kW generator, for a total 6.3 MW (megawatts), is in progress.

Crushing and conveying

The Lion One processing plant will treat material using a two-stage crushing process, with a primary jaw crusher and a secondary cone crusher. A system of three conveyor belts will transport material between the two crushers and on to the processing plant. The jaw crusher, cone crusher, conveyor belt 1 and conveyor belt 2 are all in place, while conveyor belt 3 has been fabricated and needs to be lifted into place. Piping and electrical work remains to be completed. The ROM (run of mine) pad has also been constructed and is in use, with minor upgrades remaining to be completed.

Grinding, concentrating, leaching and recovery

Material from the crushing process will be fed to a two-stage grinding circuit, followed by an integrated two-stage gravity concentration circuit. Some concentrates will then be treated by an intensive cyanide leaching reactor and the remainder of the concentrates will be leached using conventional cyanide carbon-in-leach (CIL) technology. Gold will be recovered from the gold-laden carbon using conventional absorption-desorption recovery (ADR) technology and smelted on site to produce gold dore bars. Construction is advancing rapidly on the grinding, concentrating and leaching circuits, as well as on the necessary supporting infrastructure such as warehouses and workshops. Ball mills 1 and 2 are in place, the leaching tanks are in place, and reagent warehouse 1 is nearing completion. All other components of the processing plant are in progress at varying levels of completion. Electrical and piping work remains to be completed.

Tailings storage facility (TSF)

Tailings from the processing plant will be treated using the SO2 (sulphur dioxide)/air process to remove any residual cyanide, and will be filtered to produce filtered tailings which will then be transported to the TSF for storage. Stage 1 of the TSF will consist of a dam with a finish level at 115 metres elevation, and a pond with enough capacity for 18 months of operation. The tailings dam has currently been built to an elevation of 107 m. TSF construction has been continuing since June, 2022, and the TSF is anticipated to be in operation in Q4 of 2023. Other components of the TSF, such as diversion channels, dam spillway and liner installation are advancing simultaneously.

Underground developments

Underground mining of the URA1, URW1a and URW1b lodes is continuing. The main decline has reached a vertical depth of 99.4 m below surface and a total length of 344 m from the mine portal. The link drive connecting the main decline to the historical exploration decline has been completed and measures 140 m from the junction with the main decline to the junction with the historical exploration decline. The link decline was driven from the main decline to the exploration decline and broke through the exploration decline on June 21, 2023.

The completion of the link drive is a major milestone in the development of the mine as it enables the stage 1 primary ventilation system to be installed. The stage 1 primary ventilation system consists of four 55 kW exhaust fans that are being installed at the entrance to the historical exploration decline, and which will provide ventilation throughout the mine. The stage 1 primary ventilation system will provide sufficient ventilation to mine all the way down to the 500 zone, which is part of the high-grade feeder zone underlying Tuvatu and which comprises a major component of the mine plan. The completion of the link drive also enables mineralized lodes to be mined both from the historical exploration decline as well as from the main decline, thereby increasing the number of faces available to mine and adding considerable flexibility to the mining operations.

In addition to the link drive and ventilation system, a high-voltage power plant and an underground compressor are also being installed to support underground mining operations.

About Tuvatu

The Tuvatu alkaline gold project is located on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji. The January, 2018, mineral resource for Tuvatu, as disclosed in the technical report entitled "Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Tuvatu Gold Project, Republic of Fiji," dated Sept. 25, 2020, and prepared by Mining Associates Pty. Ltd. of Brisbane, Queensland, comprises 1,007,000 tonnes indicated at 8.50 grams per tonne gold (274,600 ounces Au) and 1,325,000 tonnes inferred at nine g/t Au (384,000 oz Au) at a cut-off grade of three g/t Au. The technical report is available on the Lion One website and on the SEDAR website.

Qualified person

In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Patrick Hickey, chief operating officer, is the qualified person for the company, and has reviewed and is responsible for the technical and scientific content of this news release.

About Lion One Metals Ltd.

Lion One's flagship asset is the 100-per-cent-owned, fully permitted, high-grade Tuvatu alkaline gold project, located on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji. Lion One envisions a low-cost, high-grade underground gold mining operation at Tuvatu coupled with exciting exploration upside inside its tenements covering the entire Navilawa caldera, an underexplored yet highly prospective seven-kilometre-diameter alkaline gold system. Lion One's chief executive officer Walter Berukoff leads an experienced team of explorers and mine builders and has owned or operated over 20 mines in seven countries. As the founder and former CEO of Miramar Mines, Northern Orion and La Mancha Resources, Mr. Berukoff is credited with building over $3-billion of value for shareholders.

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