Battery Mineral Resources Announces Positive Drill Results From Punitaqui Copper Mine

Battery Mineral Resources Corp. (TSXV: BMR) has announced encouraging drill core assay results from its 2024 underground exploration and in-fill drill program at the Punitaqui copper mine complex in Chile. This development comes after the company resumed mill operations and copper concentrate production at Punitaqui on May 13, 2024.

The current underground drilling campaign is being conducted in the Sand Andres and Cinabrio mines. Initial assay results from five drillholes have been promising, with notable findings including:

• Drillhole SAM-24-01: 4.3 meters at 1.4% total copper (CuT) and 24 grams per tonne (g/t) silver (Ag).
• SAM-24-02: 4.0 meters grading 1.1% CuT & 7.8 g/t Ag.
• SAM-24-04: 3.5 meters at 1.0% CuT & 23.3 g/t Ag.
• SAM-24-05: 4.3 meters at 1.2% CuT & 19.2 g/t Ag.

This initial underground drilling at San Andres targeted a scheduled production area and included 282 meters of diamond core drilling across five drillholes. The drilling aimed to confirm the geological model, mineralization, and copper grade within the planned extraction area, as well as to explore extensions of the mineralization to the north and south.

The 2024 San Andres drill program is designed to confirm resources identified by previous drilling programs and expand these resources along strike and at depth. All drillholes reached their target depths and intersected the targeted shale horizons hosting the copper mineralization. These results will be integrated into three-dimensional geology and resource models to update mine designs and optimize mining schedules.

Currently, one contract underground diamond drill is operating on-site in the Cinabrio underground, where 14 drillholes totaling 426.5 meters have been completed. This campaign focuses on three planned production areas, with assay results pending.

Battery CEO Martin Kostuik stated, “With the same team that was hugely successful in our prior campaign, we are pleased to announce these new encouraging copper intercepts. This drilling confirmed the copper grades which exist in the current geological model and better delineated the extent of the mineralization. We believe these new results demonstrate our keen understanding of the geological controls of the copper mineralization and how a well-planned and executed drilling program has the potential to provide the company with additional copper resources. These potential new resources are important in that they could provide additional sources of feed to the mill without the need for extensive capital investment in mine development to access them.”

Following a successful surface drill program of 33,000 meters, which resulted in 6.172 million tonnes of Indicated resources at 1.14% CuT and 3.07 million tonnes of Inferred resources at 0.93% CuT, BMR has initiated this new underground drill program. The goal is to upgrade existing Inferred Resources to a higher category and potentially add new resources adjacent to the Inferred Resource areas.

The 2024 drill plan allows for flexibility in timing and sequencing of target areas, enabling shifts between the Cinabrio mine and the adjacent San Andres underground. Sample assay results from the first five underground drill holes completed on Level 448 at San Andres have been reported, confirming both the geological model and the extent of the mineralization within the scheduled extraction area.

For instance, Drillhole SAM-24-01 intersected mineralized intervals in the upper shale unit between 0m – 27.8m, with copper intercepts including 1.4m at 0.9% CuT & 24g/t Ag. Similarly, Drillhole SAM-24-02 tested the TSU unit within the northern part of the extraction area, confirming the geological modeling of the shale units that host the copper mineralization.

The San Andres resource is part of the Punitaqui project, situated within a 25km long mineralized district that is a classic IOCG and manto style copper belt. Historic wide-spaced drilling completed by previous operators between 2011-2017 totaled 58 holes for 5,927m. During 2021-2022, BMR completed 38 diamond drillholes totaling 8,212m, culminating in an NI 43-101 resource estimate for San Andres.

The company's focus on quality control includes rigorous sample preparation, analysis, and security procedures. BMR has implemented formal analytical quality control monitoring for all field sampling and drilling programs, ensuring high-quality and reliable assay data.