Drilling Outlines Large, High-Grade Zone

Empire Metals Limited, the AIM-quoted and OTCQB-traded exploration and development company, is pleased to report outstanding assay results from its latest drilling campaign at the Pitfield Project in Western Australia ('Pitfield' or the 'Project'). This programme, focused on the in-situ weathered cap at the Thomas Prospect, has delivered some of the highest titanium dioxide ('TiO₂') grades recorded to date and will underpin the Company's maiden JORC-compliant Mineral Resource Estimate ('MRE').

Highlights

Selected exceptional intercepts (>6% TiO2), include:

o 44m @ 7.87% TiO2 from surface (AC25TOM159)

o 50m @ 7.84% TiO2 from 4m (AC25TOM130)

o 54m @ 7.41% TiO2 from surface (AC25TOM118)

o 98m @ 7.05% TiO2 from 2m (RC25TOM062)

o 98m @ 7.05% TiO2 from 2m (RC25TOM068)

• Large, high-grade central core identified averaging circa 6% TiO2 across a continuous 3.6km strike length.
• Nearly two thirds of all drillholes averaged > 4% TiO2, with over 90% exceeding a 2% cut-off.

Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said: "These results confirm the exceptional scale and grade of titanium mineralisation at Thomas. The continuity of high-grade mineralisation near surface is particularly exciting for future mine development. With assays received ahead of schedule, we can now accelerate resource modelling and move rapidly towards announcing our maiden MRE."

MRE Drilling Programme - Key Results

Since commencing the maiden drilling campaign at Pitfield on 27 March 2023 Empire has completed 382 drill holes for a total 32,265 metres (refer Figure 1) comprising:

• 17 Diamond drill holes for 2,704 m
• 140 Reverse Circulation (RC) drill holes for 18,764 m
• 225 Air Core (AC) drill holes for 10,797 m.

The latest May-June campaign comprised:

• 140 AC drillholes (6,360m) on a 400 x 200m grid, average depth 45.4m
• 40 RC drillholes (3,776m) within the AC grid, average depth 94.4m

Figure 1. Grey-scale magnetics overlain by airborne gravity data showing RC, AC and diamond drillhole collar locations and JORC Exploration Target areas.

During the campaign all drill holes were subsampled on a 2m interval, resulting in over 5,000 drill samples being collected, logged by our on-site team of geologists and then prepared for shipment to Intertek's Perth based analytical laboratory. The analytical assay results have now been received, showing continuous TiO2-rich mineralisation across the overall drillhole grid, which extends 5.2km by 2.6km and totals an area of 1,352 hectares (refer Figure 2).

The drilling has confirmed the presence of a large, high-grade central core at the Thomas prospect, this target being selected as the basis for the maiden MRE due to the extensive, thick and high-grade titanium mineralisation known to be hosted within the broad, in-situ weathered zone. Whilst over 90% of all drillhole sample assays show mineralisation well above a 2% TiO2 cut-off grade this central high-grade core, extends over 3.6km north-south, averages around 6% TiO2 (refer Table 1).

Table 1. Breakdown of drillhole assay results by average grade of drillhole and percentage of total drilling.

Significant analytical assay results for each drillhole above 6% TiO2 are reported in Table 2 further below.

Figure 2. RC and AC drill hole collar locations within the Thomas Prospect priority area.

Strategic Significance

The May-June campaign marked a major milestone in the development of Pitfield, laying the foundation for a globally significant MRE and enabling the identification of near-surface, high grade zones to support the development of mine planning and ore scheduling as part of upcoming economic evaluation studies.

Table 2. Significant Intercepts above 6% TiO2.

The Pitfield Titanium Project

Located within the Mid-West region of Western Australia, near the northern wheatbelt town of Three Springs, the Pitfield titanium project lies 313km north of Perth and 156km southeast of Geraldton, the Mid West region's capital and major port. Western Australia is a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction, with mining-friendly policies, stable government, transparency, and advanced technology expertise. Pitfield has existing connections to port (both road & rail), HV power substations, and is nearby to natural gas pipelines as well as a green energy hydrogen fuel hub, which is under planning and development (refer Figure 3).

Figure 3. Pitfield Project Location showing the Mid-West Region Infrastructure and Services