New Nickel Discovery in Ontario Shows Potential

• Aston Minerals has made a new nickel discovery called Bardwell near Timmins, Ontario. They have drilled over 60 holes to define the deposit.
• The deposit is 2km long, 200m wide, with an average depth of 500m and as deep as 750m. Grades are 0.3-0.4% nickel and 0.04% cobalt.
• Metallurgical testing shows 70% recoveries for nickel and cobalt, with potential to increase to 75-80% with further optimization.
• Aston has raised $29 million and spent $20 million on drilling so far. They plan to complete a resource estimate in December 2022.
• Strategic partners and acquirers are interested after further de-risking work is completed. Aston is open to a range of options.

Major New Nickel Discovery in Canada's Prolific Timmins District

Aston Minerals, an Australian exploration company listed on the ASX, has made significant progress on their new nickel discovery called Bardwell near Timmins, Ontario over the past 9 months. “It was found approximately nine months ago and we’ve taken it to the point where we’re ready to produce a joint resource made in York resource on it. So it’s all happened very rapidly and it looks to be quite sizable”, stated Dale Ginn, Managing Director of Aston Minerals.

Rapid Pace of Exploration Defines Large Mineralized System

Located in the heart of Canada’s mining region, the Bardwell discovery was made through over 60 drill holes completed in under a year, on average 500m deep and spaced 100-150m apart. “The deposit now has been drilled off in about 100 to 150-meter spacings over a two-kilometer length. So the dimensions are pretty easy to understand - basically two kilometers long in this deposit, say 200 meters wide and drilled to about a 500-meter average depth”, explained Ginn. Some holes have reached as deep as 750m, helping to define the vertical extent of the deposit.

The drilling has outlined wide zones of disseminated nickel sulfide mineralization, grading 0.3-0.4% nickel on average, with zones up to 0.5% nickel. “There's also an addition of cobalt at about 0.04% to the nickel grades. And the cobalt we find is recoverable, the same as the nickel. So it's not just an add-on, it's actually recoverable cobalt”, Ginn added.

Initial Metallurgy Shows Highly Recoverable Nickel and Cobalt

Initial metallurgical test work on core samples has demonstrated that a significant portion of both nickel and cobalt are expected to be recoverable using conventional processing methods. “The 70% is really good for a first pass because that's without any tweaking, without any fine-tuning, it's a coarse grind. So these types of recoveries are very good. We expect with a closed circuit and some tweaking to increase that say by 10 to 15%”, said Ginn. Recoveries of 75-80% would be considered exceptional.

"Given the size that and the rarity, I think it could be more than just a partner it could be an outright sale."

With the rapid pace of discovery and drilling, Aston is aiming to produce an initial mineral resource estimate for Bardwell before Christmas 2022. “We’re going to produce a York this month both for the nickel and we also have that gold deposit we originally had and there’ll be a dork out on that as well”, Ginn stated. The pending resource will be an important milestone for the company as it looks to attract interest from strategic partners and potential acquirers.

Aston has already raised significant capital, completing a A$29 million financing in Spring 2022, of which A$20 million has been deployed on exploration drilling. “Given the size that and the rarity, I think it could be more than just a partner it could be an outright sale”, said Ginn. The company is considering spinning out the gold assets into a separate entity to unlock value.

The Bardwell discovery was initially found while exploring for gold deposits in the region. Drilling at the Sorolla gold project encountered nickel mineralization to the east, leading Aston geologists to stake additional ground and discover Bardwell in the right geological setting - an ultramafic intrusive rock formation. “I would say I’m a convert from gold to nickel. I had to learn again or relearn very quickly”, remarked Ginn, reflecting on the unexpected but fortuitous discovery.

"I would say I’m a convert from gold to nickel. I had to learn again or relearn very quickly."

The location in a mature mining district bodes well for potential development, with access to infrastructure, mining services, and processing facilities already in place. Ginn noted “It’s a new nickel Discovery located near Timmins Ontario major mining Center in the heart of Canada's mining country.” The project can leverage not only local capabilities but global expertise, as the Timmins region shares geological similarities with major nickel producing regions in Australia.

With nickel in strong demand for electric vehicle batteries, Aston Minerals now finds itself well-positioned with a significant new discovery of a key battery metal. “There’s been a bit of a shift in sentiment overall that's helped but aside from that I mean it's getting obvious that like the fact that we're producing a dork within a year it's obvious the dimensions are obvious so it's not hard to figure out it's going to be sizable”, said Ginn. The pending resource will provide crucial information for strategic partners as well as investors as the company charts its path forward.

The Investment Thesis for Aston Minerals

• Large new nickel sulfide discovery in a premier mining jurisdiction
• Over 60 drill holes define scale - 2km long, 200m wide, 500m deep
• Grades of 0.3-0.4% nickel and 0.04% cobalt
• Excellent metallurgical recoveries of 70-80% for nickel and cobalt
• Located near infrastructure in the prolific Timmins mining district
• Resource estimate pending, will outline size and grade
• Attractive to strategic partners and acquirers
• Strong management team with financing and M&A experience
• Nickel demand growth from electric vehicles provides upside