First Class Metals appoints Dave Webster to its Board of Directors as Non-Executive Chairman

– CANADA, Hemlo – First Class Metals PLC (LON: FCM / FWB: WN9), the Ontario-focused gold and critical metals explorer, announced the appointment of Dave Webster to its Board of Directors as Non-Executive Chairman with immediate effect.

James Knowles is stepping down from his role as Chairman to become Managing Director, and Marc Sale stepped down from the Board but remains CEO.

About David Webster

David Webster is Chairman of The 79th GRP Limited, overseeing its direction and growth. He has over 27 years of experience in the property sector as both a developer and a landlord and has previously built significant personal and corporate portfolios, consisting of developments over £500 million of both residential and commercial property. He has spearheaded the 79th GRP’s expansion into natural resources markets.

Dave Webster, Non-Executive Chairman said “I am honoured to take on the role of Director and Non-Executive Chairman of First Class Metals. I would like to thank Marc for his continued leadership as CEO and for his valuable contributions as a director, which have helped position the Company for success. I look forward to working closely with James, Marc, and the wider team to build on this strong foundation. With my experience and the team’s extensive knowledge, I am confident that we can drive the Company forward and deliver real value to our shareholders.”

About First Class Metals PLC

First Class Metals was listed on the LSE in July 2022 and is focused on metals exploration in Ontario, Canada, which has a robust and thriving junior mineral exploration sector. In particular, the Hemlo ‘camp’ near Marathon, Ontario, is a proven world-class address for gold exploration, featuring the Hemlo gold deposit operated by Barrick Gold (>23M oz gold produced), with the past producing Geco and Winston Lake base metal deposits also situated in the region.

FCM currently holds 100% ownership of seven claim blocks covering over 180km² along a 150km strike of the Hemlo-Schreiber-Dayohessarah greenstone belt, exploring for gold, base metals, and rare earth element mineralization. In addition, FCM is carrying out a joint venture with Palladium One on the West Pickle Lake Property in the region, a drill-proven ultra-high-grade Ni-Cu project.

The flagship property North Hemlo had a high-definition, low-level magnetic Heli-borne survey flown in April 2022. This was followed by ground prospecting, which ultimately defined the ‘Dead Otter Trend’, which is a discontinuous 4.5km gold anomalous trend with a 19.6g/t Au peak grab sample. This sampling was the highest known assay ever recorded on the North Limb of Hemlo.

In October 2022, FCM completed the option to purchase the historical high-grade past-producing Sunbeam gold mine near Atikokan, Ontario, ~15 km southeast of Agnico Eagle’s Hammond Reef gold deposit (3.3 Moz of open pit probable gold reserves).

FCM acquired the Zigzag Project near Armstrong, Ontario, in March 2023. The property features Li-Ta-bearing pegmatites in the same belt as Green Technology Metals’ Seymour Lake Project, which contains a Mineral Resource estimate of 9.9 Mt @ 1.04% Li2O. Zigzag was drilled before Christmas 2023, and the results have now been released.

The significant potential of the properties for precious, base and battery metals relates to ‘nearology’, since all properties lie in the same districts as known deposits (Hemlo, Hammond Reef, Seymour Lake), and either contain known showings, geochemical or geophysical anomalies, or favourable structures along strike from known showings (e.g. the Esa project, with an inferred Hemlo-style shear along strike from known gold occurrences).

For more information: https://www.firstclassmetalsplc.com/