Toronto, Ontario–(Newsfile Corp. – September 2, 2021) – Appia Energy Corp. (CSE: API) (OTCQB: APAAF) (FSE: A0I.F) (FSE: A0I.MU) (FSE: A0I.BE) (the “Company” or “Appia”) is pleased to announce today that Mr. Nicolas Guest, has been appointed Vice President, Exploration of the Company with immediate effect. Nic joins the executive team of Appia after having served as Project Manager Alces Lake, the Company’s active rare earths exploration program in northern Saskatchewan.
Nic is a very well experienced explorationist, having gained the bulk of his experience at the Goldcorp/Newmont Musselwhite Mine, where he led teams responsible for all phases of exploration and achieved record annual reserve replacement. He has been leading Appia’s 2021 exploration program at Alces Lake as Project Manager with great success and has coordinated a very active field exploration program with ground and aerial geophysics, an extensive team of geologists and technicians as well as managing the coordination of two drills and overall logistics. He is a graduate of Laurentian University with a Master of Science in Mineral Exploration and is a Professional Geologist.
Frederick Kozak, President of Appia, commented: “We are delighted to announce the appointment of Nic to Vice President, Exploration at Appia to lead the Company’s rare earths program as well as continuing the important exploration work on Appia’s uranium exploration assets. The Alces Lake Project continues to demonstrate significant additional exploration potential and Nic has been quick to capitalize on priorities on the Alces Lake block. This is a very important year for Appia’s field exploration and I am excited to have Nic leading the team.”
Nic Guest, Vice President, Exploration of Appia, commented: “I am pleased to continue working with Appia to advance their properties as Vice President, Exploration. Alces Lake is a very compelling project and we have been establishing a strong team to further its development. With several new targets and the largest exploration program in the company’s history, it’s easy to be excited for what the future will bring.”
Mr. Guest’s appointment as Vice President, Exploration is subject to acceptance by the Canadian Securities Exchange. As part of his compensation, Mr. Guest has been granted an additional 300,000 stock options exercisable at $0.84 per share for five years vesting over a period of eighteen months.
2021 Alces Lake Activity
Approximately 7,200 metres of drilling has been planned to test the near-surface and down-plunge extents of new and existing rare-earth targets and total metreage could exceed 10,000 metres. More than 4,000 metres is dedicated to identifying the depth potential of the WRCB zones and help complete the understanding of this significant discovery.
The Company is fully-funded for the 2021 program and all required permits for the exploration activities are in-hand.
With the largest exploration and diamond drilling program in the Company’s history now underway, exploration results will be released as received and analyzed by the company. Analysis of the summer exploration and drilling program will follow and may lead to the preparation of an NI 43-101 (Technical Report with 3D Geophysical-geological Models & Preliminary Economic Assessment) report expected near the end of 2021. The Alces Lake project encompasses some of the highest-grade total and critical* REE and gallium mineralization in the world, hosted within a number of surface and near surface monazite occurrences that remain open at depth and along strike.
The Alces Lake project is located in northern Saskatchewan, the same provincial jurisdiction that is developing a “first-of-its-kind” rare earth processing facility in Canada (currently under construction by the Saskatchewan Research Council, it is scheduled to become operational in early 2023). The Alces Lake project area is 35,682.2 hectares (88,172.7 acres)in size and is 100% owned by Appia.
To ensure safe work conditions are met for the workforce, the Company has developed exploration guidelines that comply with the Saskatchewan Public Health Orders and the Public Health Order Respecting the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District in order to maintain social distancing and help prevent the transmission of COVID-19.
* Critical rare earth elements are defined here as those that are in short-supply and high-demand for use in permanent magnets and modern electronic applications such as electric vehicles and wind turbines (i.e: neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), dysprosium (Dy) and terbium (Tb)).
The technical content in this news release was reviewed and approved by Dr. Irvine R. Annesley, P.Geo, Advisor to Appia’s Board of Directors, and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
About Appia
Appia is a Canadian publicly-listed company in the uranium and rare earth element sectors. The Company is currently focusing on delineating high-grade critical rare earth elements, gallium and uranium on the Alces Lake property, as well as exploring for high-grade uranium in the prolific Athabasca Basin on its Loranger, North Wollaston, and Eastside properties. The Company holds the surface rights to exploration for 83,706 hectares (206,842 acres) in Saskatchewan. The Company also has a 100% interest in 12,545 hectares (31,000 acres), with rare earth element and uranium deposits over five mineralized zones in the Elliot Lake Camp, Ontario.
Appia has 107.6 million common shares outstanding, 128.4 million shares fully diluted.
For more information, visit Appia’s website at www.appiaenergy.ca
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This News Release contains forward-looking statements which are typically preceded by, followed by or including the words “believes”, “expects”, “anticipates”, “estimates”, “intends”, “plans” or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance as they involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements and shareholders are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such statements.
Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
For further information, please contact:
Tom Drivas, CEO and Director: (cell) 416-876-3957, (fax) 416-218-9772 or (email) appia@appiaenergy.ca
Frederick Kozak, President: (cellular) 403-606-3165 or (email) fkozak@appiaenergy.ca
Frank van de Water, Chief Financial Officer and Director, (tel) 416-546-2707, (fax) 416-218-9772 or (email) fvandewater@rogers.com
