Benton Resources' Great Burnt Discovery – Drill Results Demonstrate High-Grade Copper-Gold Upside

• Benton Resources is focused on advancing its high-grade Great Burnt copper-gold project in Newfoundland.
• The company also has projects in lithium and platinum group elements (PGEs). It plans to spin out its lithium asset into a separate listed company.
• Benton recently completed 6000m of drilling at Great Burnt, intersecting high grades over significant widths. More drilling is planned.
• The historical drill data at Great Burnt was inaccurate, so Benton sees potential to substantially expand and improve on the historical resource.
• Clean Air Metals, of which Benton owns 24.6M shares, also offers exposure to a high-grade magmatic copper-nickel PGE deposit.

Canadian mineral exploration company Benton Resources is advancing several projects, but its current focus is on expanding the potential of its Great Burnt copper-gold discovery in Newfoundland. With recent promising early drill results, Benton’s CEO Steven Stares sees Great Burnt as the company’s most prospective project to date in his 17 years in the industry.

The Great Burnt Opportunity

Benton optioned Great Burnt in August 2023 from Spruce Ridge Resources and has committed to spend $2.5M to earn a 70% interest in the project. Great Burnt is located within the Baie Verte mining district in Newfoundland, near major discoveries like New Found Gold’s Queensway project. Historically it saw exploration in the 1960s and 1970s which defined a deposit, but limited subsequent work failed to expand on this.

What attracted Benton to Great Burnt was the potential to improve on the historical drilling, as CEO Stares explains: “The grades were really based on 2% and a 12% copper and it's based on probably 80% of the historical drill holes which we now know are completely inaccurate.” The opportunity exists to substantially boost grades and widths compared to the historical drilling.

Recent Benton Drilling Results

Benton has hit significant high-grade copper and gold mineralization in its 6000m maiden drill campaign completed in November 2023. Results included 12.3m at 7.2% copper equivalent and 18.8m at 3% copper equivalent. The mineralization remains open down plunge and Stares sees strong potential for the next round of assay results due shortly.

“By the time we're done, I believe it will be a substantial resource."

Upside from Improved Drilling Techniques and Targeting

Historically at Great Burnt, there were issues with poor core recoveries and inaccurately targeting the mineralized zones. Benton is now applying improved, modern drilling and sampling methodologies. It is also utilizing updated geophysical surveys to target mineralization better.

Where Benton has redrilled areas with modern techniques, it has achieved substantially higher grades and widths compared to the historical holes. This confirms a significant upside in re-evaluating the historical drilling.

Ongoing and Future Exploration Plans

Benton just completed a 6000m drill program at Great Burnt and is funded to continue advancing exploration. It plans infill and extension drilling focused on expanding the current zones. This drilling will also test depth extensions of the mineralization.

The company recognizes around 40,000m of drilling is required to adequately test the multiple target zones. It also plans trenching and field mapping over the next year to improve its understanding of the structural geology.

Benton aims to deliver ongoing positive drill results to demonstrate the potential scale of Great Burnt. CEO Stares sets out the goal: “Find more deposits and also define the ones that we're drawing off.”

Beyond Great Burnt – Other Prospective Projects

While Great Burnt is the current focus, Benton also has earlier-stage projects adding optionality:

• Lithium projects in Newfoundland, to be spun out into a dedicated company called Vinland Minerals. Benton will retain shareholdings.
• 24.6M shares in Clean Air Metals Corp which holds the high-grade magmatic Thunder Bay North PGE-copper-nickel deposit in Ontario. Benton also retains a 0.5% royalty over this project.

The Investment Thesis for Benton Resources

• Recent drilling shows strong potential to substantially expand and improve on the known Great Burnt copper-gold deposit, given issues with historical drilling.
• Assay results pending from the latest drilling offer further near-term catalysts.
• Well-funded for ongoing drill programs to demonstrate scale potential at Great Burnt.
• Multiple additional prospective projects provide free option value upside.
• Great Burnt can advance rapidly from drill discovery towards resource definition and economic studies given its excellent location near infrastructure.

Benton offers exposure to an exciting drill stage copper-gold discovery at Great Burnt, with strong news flow expected from systematic exploration of the known zones and testing of new targets across the project area. The current share price offers leverage to this potential value creation over the coming 6-12 months.

Benton Resources aims to rapidly advance exploration of its Great Burnt Discovery to demonstrate the potential for a substantial high-grade copper-gold deposit in Newfoundland's productive Baie Verte mineral belt. Systematic drilling over the next year will look to substantially improve on the grades and widths from historical drilling. Success could propel Great Burnt quickly towards an initial mineral resource estimate. The current sub-$10M market capitalization offers strong re-rating potential as exploration continues to unlock the upside at Great Burnt and across Benton’s portfolio of projects.