PHOENIX, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / November 29, 2023 / Ivanhoe Electric Inc. (“Ivanhoe Electric”) (NYSE American:IE; TSX:IE) Executive Chairman, Robert Friedland and President and Chief Executive Officer, Taylor Melvin are pleased to announce that exploration activities have commenced in Saudi Arabia by the 50/50-owned joint venture company (the “Joint Venture”) established between Ivanhoe Electric and Saudi Arabian Mining Company Ma’aden (“Ma’aden”) (Saudi Stock Exchange Tadawul: 1211). Ma’aden and Ivanhoe Electric established the Joint Venture to unlock the significant mineral potential in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Joint Venture has exclusive access to explore approximately 48,500 km2 of underexplored land on the Arabian Shield that Ma’aden will make available to the Joint Venture.
The Joint Venture was formally established in July 2023 and was funded with its initial working capital of approximately $66 million from Ma’aden’s initial $127.1 million investment into Ivanhoe Electric common stock. Ma’aden became a 9.9% shareholder in Ivanhoe Electric and subsequently exercised its top-up right in October 2023, investing an additional $20.4 million as part of Ivanhoe Electric’s September 2023 follow-on equity offering, maintaining its 9.9% ownership interest.
Mr. Friedland commented, “It has been just over a year since we entered into discussions with Ma’aden, which resulted in Ma’aden making a significant investment in Ivanhoe Electric and the status quo of our exploration joint venture in Saudi Arabia in July. Just a few months later, our joint venture unveiled the most ambitious metal mineral exploration program the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has ever seen. We are implementing Ivanhoe Electric’s proprietary Typhoon™ surveying technology, developed through the combined expertise of our joint exploration and geophysics. Vision 2030, which aims to position mining as the third pillar of the Saudi economy. We have a talented team of professionals and technologies to drive a transformational exploration program for electrical and valuable metals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The prospects for long-term discoveries are extraordinary.
Taylor Melvin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ivanhoe Electric, continued, “The commencement of exploration activities in Saudi Arabia with our joint venture partner, Ma’aden, is a significant milestone for Ivanhoe Electric and a major achievement for our team. joint project. The initial exploration activities underway at Al Amar are the first steps in an extensive, multi-year mining exploration crusade in a giant domain of unexplored land in Saudi Arabia. Our team knows Al Amar, Wadi Bidah and Bir Umq as priority targets for our first-year exploration efforts. We are excited to deploy our joint team of highly experienced exploration geologists and geophysics professionals alongside Ivanhoe Electric’s Typhoon™ surveying systems to pursue new critical and valuable mineral resources needed for the global transition to cleaner energy and Vision 2030. “
Overview of the Joint Venture Exploration Program in Saudi Arabia
The joint venture will have exclusive access to approximately 48,500 km2 of land to be explored in Saudi Arabia. The domain includes a combination of granted Exploration Licenses (ELs) and Exploration License Applications (ELAs), as shown in Figure 1. Ma’aden will make replacement land that will be held for exploration through the joint venture if an ELA is not changed to an EL.
Ivanhoe Electric is the operator of the exploration phase. Ma’aden will assume responsibility for the operation if an economically viable deposit is discovered and designated through the joint venture for further development.
Figure 1. Map of 48,500 km2 of exploration land available to the joint venture presenting existing exploration licenses and available exploration license applications.
Given the huge amount of land available, the joint venture’s technical committee and geological staff conducted an in-depth excursion to the site in September 2023. The goal of the site stop was to read about the entire site and prioritize potential spaces for Typhoon™ studies. The Technical Committee is responsible for overseeing the exploration activities of the joint venture, adding this initial stage of land identification. Aerial geological, geochemical and geophysical surveys will additionally advise the deployment of Typhoon™. The joint venture will be limited to research activities with specific exploration drilling to identify potential mineral resources in spaces where Typhoon™ indicates the presence of geophysical anomalies.
Based on the scale at the site and review of existing geological data, the technical committee will concentrate the joint venture’s initial exploration activities in 3 exploration license areas: the Al Amar Belt (first around the existing Al Amar mine in Ma’aden) and the Wadi Bidah region. and Bir belts Umq. La Typhoon™ research, which is being conducted recently, is being located on joint venture land that adjoins and encompasses Ma’aden’s Al Amar gold-copper mine.
Al Amar’s Belt
The twenty-four explorations provide access to 1,934 km2 of the Al Amar belt. The domain is highly prospective for large sulphide volcanic deposit (VMS) and epithermal types, with old drill holes crossing mineralization in the vicinity of the operating Al Amar gold-copper mine. in Ma’aden (which is not part of the joint venture). The domain includes steep hills with flat valleys (wadis) that offer smart access.
The Al Amar region has several known occurrences of mineral VMS. Occurrences of zinc, copper, lead, silver, and gold are known.
Team Typhoon™ running in Al Amar Belt, Saudi Arabia
The exploration license immediately targeted for initial exploration activities, including the Typhoon™ survey in progress, is known as Umm Ash Shalahib (identified in green below), which largely surrounds Ma’aden’s existing Al Amar mine (identified in yellow
below). um Ash Shalahib is located approximately 8 km south of the Al Amar gold mine and covers 65 km2 (the same length as Ivanhoe Electric’s Tintic assignment in Utah) with a number of valuable and basic steel occurrences reported through Ma’aden. um Ash Shalahib has been drilled in 29 shallow old wells with the intersection of 10 m with 1. 13% Cu and 12. 9% Zn. There are several walk-in drill targets in the area.
Figure 2. um Ash Shalahib EL surrounding the Al Amar mine.
Exploration licenses in the Al Amar belt are believed to have the most productive overall data set. Historical exploration paintings made by the French Office of Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM) in 1966, 1972, 1981 and 1992, which included soil sampling. and soil geophysics. BRGM’s paints suggest a deep-seated feeder source that forms polymetallic vein network paints. Ma’aden also carried out exploratory paintings between 2010 and 2012, which included aerial geophysical surveys and further soil and rock sampling.
Building on this work, the joint venture’s first Typhoon™ study will cover all mining of um Ash Shalahib EL and Al Amar with the aim of generating the first data investments until the end of 2023.
The first two Typhoons™ sent to Saudi Arabia will be used in the Al Amar belt.
The Wadi Bidah and Bir Umq belts
Wadi Bidah is located between 220 km and 270 km southeast of Jeddah and about 50 km north of Ma’aden’s Al Hijar gold mine (not included in the Joint Venture). The eighteen exploration licenses available to the Joint Venture cover 978 km2. The area has relatively limited data with its more challenging topography and local communities impacting both airborne and groundwork.
The Bir Umq Belt has fifteen exploration licenses covering approximately 1,229 km2. Extensive recent harrat (basalt) lavas (<2,000 years) form a shallow cover over much of the area, with occasional roads and camel tracks providing access. As a result, the area is largely unmapped and unexplored and hence well suited to Typhoon's reconnaissance survey capabilities.
These belts will be at the center of the joint venture’s exploration activities by mid-2024. Initial exploration work would come with the identification and review of previous BRGM work and drilling in the areas. Mapping and geochemical sampling would also begin in the newly known iron caps at Wadi Bida.
The third Typhoon™ formula delivered to Saudi Arabia will be deployed in Wadi Bidah, and is expected to take position in the first part of 2024.
Charlie Forster, P. Geo, of Ivanhoe Electric. et Senior Advisor to Ivanhoe Electric in the Bir Umq Belt.
Ivanhoe Electric’s Proprietary Typhoon™ Geophysical Survey System Active in the Al Amar Area
Under the terms of the agreement with Ma’aden, Ivanhoe Electric has deployed one of its existing Typhoons™ in Saudi Arabia. This unit arrived in October 2023 and is now active in Al Amar.
The first Typhoon™ unit arrives in Saudi Arabia.
In addition, Ivanhoe Electric also added a second existing unit to the joint venture. Right now, the Typhoon unit will arrive in™ Saudi Arabia in early December and will be showcased at the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh in January 2024 before being deployed in Al Amar.
The joint venture also purchased 3 next-generation Typhoon™ sets. The first of those next-generation Typhoon™ sets is expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2024, with the rest expected in the first part of 2024. Existing assemblies will be retired as next-generation equipment is deployed in the box through the joint venture.
Typhoon™ is the logo for Ivanhoe Electric’s patented electrical geophysical survey transmitter, which can detect the presence of sulfide minerals potentially containing copper, nickel, gold, and silver (as well as water and oil).
Typhoon™ achieves its effects thanks to its unique specifications, which come with an existing output of up to two hundred amps and a voltage output of up to 10,000 volts. The transmitter uses capacitive switches and systems that generate a very natural and solid transmitted signal. , resulting in an incredibly superior signal-to-noise ratio.
Typhoon™ is also capable of transmitting both induced polarization and electromagnetic signals, meaning that the same transmitter can be used to search for a wide variety of mineral deposit types, including VMS copper and gold deposits, as well as epithermal gold, and porphyry copper and gold deposits.
The joint venture’s deployment of Typhoon is made imaginable through its contracted partners, including Canada’s DIAS Geophysical Limited and Saudi seismic facilities company ARGAS, whose staff is trained to conduct Typhoon™™ surveys.
Ivanhoe Electric’s Typhoon™ unit on-site with trainee entrepreneurs.
Contractor survey crew undergoing Typhoon™ training in the Al Amar Belt.
Qualified Persons
Data of a clinical or technical nature included in this press release have been reviewed, verified, and approved by Charles N. Forster, P. Geo. and Mark Gibson, P. Geo. , whether they are Qualified Persons as explained in Regulation S-K, Subpart 1300 enacted through the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Forster is a senior advisor to Ivanhoe Electric and Mr. Gibson is director of geophysics for Ivanhoe Electric. The historical effects of drilling at the um Ash Shalahib prospect were provided through Ma’aden and have been independently verified through qualified persons.
About Ivanhoé Electric
We are a U.S. company that combines advanced mineral exploration technologies with electric metals exploration projects predominantly located in the United States. We use our accurate and powerful Typhoon™ geophysical surveying system, together with advanced data analytics provided by our subsidiary, Computational Geosciences Inc., to accelerate and de-risk the mineral exploration process as we seek to discover new deposits of critical metals that may otherwise be undetectable by traditional exploration technologies. We believe the United States is significantly underexplored and has the potential to yield major new discoveries of critical metals. Our mineral exploration efforts focus on copper as well as other metals including nickel, vanadium, cobalt, platinum group elements, gold and silver. Through the advancement of our portfolio of electric metals exploration projects, headlined by the Santa Cruz Copper Project in Arizona and the Tintic Copper-Gold Project in Utah, as well as other exploration projects in the United States, we intend to support United States supply chain independence by finding and delivering the critical metals necessary for the electrification of the economy. Website: www.ivanhoeelectric.com.
About Maaden
Ma’aden is the largest multi-product mining and metals company in the Middle East and one of the fastest growing mining corporations in the world, with revenues of SAR 40. 2 billion (US$10. 7 billion) in 2022. Ma’aden is about to reach the mining sector in the third pillar of the Saudi economy, in line with Vision 2030, and aspires to be a style for guilty and sustainable operations. Ma’aden operates 17 mines and sites, has more than 6,000 direct workers and exports products to more than 30 countries. Ma’aden is embarking on a major expansion over the next 18 years in the phosphate, aluminium, gold, copper and new minerals sectors. Ma’aden is also the second largest shareholder in Ivanhoe Electric and owns approximately 9. 9% of the latest issued non-unusual shares.
https://www. maaden. com. sa/ Website
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Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release constitute “forward-looking statements” or “forward-looking facts” within the meaning of applicable U. S. securities laws. These statements and data involve known and unknown risks, miscertainties and other points that could cause the actual effects, functionality or achievements of Ivanhoe Electric, its projects or effects on the industry, to be materially different from any long-term effects, functionality or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or data. Such statements may be known by the use of words such as “may,” “could,” “could,” “intends,” “expects,” “believes,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “scheduled,” “forecast,” “predicts” and other terminology, or imply that certain actions, events, or effects “could,” “could,” “could,” “could,” “could,” or “will be taken, occur, or achieved. “These statements reflect Ivanhoe Electric’s existing expectations regarding events, functionality and long-term effects and speak only as of the date of this press release.
Such statements in this press release include, but are not limited to: the use of the TyphoonTM formula to inspect Al Amar, Wadi Bidah, Bir Umq, and other targets in the Arabian Shield; continued use of TyphoonTM at um Ash Shalahib; the structure and delivery of Typhoon equipment for the Ivanhoe Electric and Ma’aden joint venture from December 2023 to the first part of 2024; how our generation works; our ability to boost and reduce the risks of the mineral exploration process; a favorable transition of power in the United States; regulatory tailwinds; an imaginable contraction of copper supply; potential new discoveries and planned or potential advancements in Ivanhoe Electric’s business.
Forward-looking statements are based on management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. Such statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements due to various factors, including changes in the prices of copper or other metals Ivanhoe Electric is exploring for; the results of exploration and drilling activities and/or the failure of exploration programs or studies to deliver anticipated results or results that would justify and support continued exploration, studies, development or operations; the final assessment of exploration results and information that is preliminary; the significant risk and hazards associated with any future mining operations, extensive regulation by the US government as well as local governments; changes in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; the failure of parties to contracts with Ivanhoe Electric to perform as agreed; and the impact of political, economic and other uncertainties associated with operating in foreign countries, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economy. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements and risk factors described in Ivanhoe Electric’s Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
No assurance can be given that such future results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release. Ivanhoe Electric cautions you not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Subject to applicable securities laws, Ivanhoe Electric does not assume any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this news release, and Ivanhoe Electric expressly disclaims any requirement to do so. No assurance can be given that such future results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release. Ivanhoe Electric cautions you not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Subject to applicable securities laws, Ivanhoe Electric does not assume any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this news release, and Ivanhoe Electric expressly disclaims any requirement to do so.
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