Vancouver, BC, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Tellurium Corp. (CSE: FTEL, OTC FSTTF) (the “Company” or “First Tellurium”), has provided a review of its 2022 exploration program at the Company’s Deer Horn polymetallic project in west-central British Columbia. Work for the season included rock sampling, channel sampling and prospecting focused primarily on the property’s copper porphyry potential. Assays from the sampling programs are pending.

Image galleries from the first round of work can be viewed here, and from the channel sampling here.

Adding a Structural Geologist to Planned 2023 Program
Based on the findings from the 2022 sampling, Dr. Lee Groat, who directed the program, plans to add a structural geologist to the 2023 team to help understand the faulting, folding and other mechanisms at Deer Horn to help determine the property’s geologic structure and the location of mineralization.

“This is all part of the teasing out of the history of the deposit,” said Dr. Groat. “There’s so much we don’t know, because so much truly interesting ground has never been studied in depth. My belief is that this information will open up more targets while answering some of the key questions we have.”

Planned Financing
The 2023 program will be funded by a planned private placement of up to $1.4 million. Mr. Docherty plans to personally provide a significant amount of the total financing.

“Since we first acquired the Deer Horn Property, I have solidly backed up my belief in the quality of this project,” said First Tellurium President and CEO Tyrone Docherty. “Not only am I the company’s largest shareholder, the discoveries made this summer and fall, combined with the enthusiasm shown by Dr. Groat and even the driller who investigated the project with our team, have given me even more conviction that this is bigger and better than we imagined.”

Property-Wide Soil Sampling by UBC Team in 2023
Part of the planned 2023 program includes a property-wide soil sampling program led by Dr. Groat and a team of University of British Columbia grad students. Due to receding glaciers, a significant amount of ground is now open that has never been explored.

Confirmation of Copper Porphyry Mineralization
Key results from the 2022 program, which began in August and concluded in October, included confirmation of copper porphyry mineralization, discovery of new targets, identification of drill hole locations for a planned 2023 drill campaign and possible extensions to the known tellurium-gold-silver resource and strike length.

“The sampling team, led by Dr. Lee Groat, came back thrilled with what they found at Deer Horn,” said First Tellurium President and CEO Tyrone Docherty. “Not only have we confirmed the presence of copper porphyry mineralization, we have an abundance of good information and exciting targets to launch our 2023 season.”

The campaign focused on sampling the Pond, North Pond and H-Spot copper porphyry targets first identified in the 2018 Preliminary Economic Assessment. The showings are located about one kilometer west-northwest of the known Te-Ag-Au resource. Full extent of showings remains unknown and open.

Outcropping Quartz Veins and Possible Extension of Te-Au-Ag Vein System
Secondarily, sampling on a number of outcropping quartz veins in the area around the porphyry targets identified a possible 1.1-kilometer (.7 miles) extension of the existing 2.4-kilometer (1.5 miles) gold-silver-tellurium vein system. This vein system may now extend a total of 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles). Drilling in 2023 is expected to test this target at depth.

As Dr. Groat noted in First Tellurium’s October 19 news release: “The bigger puzzle we want to solve is the age relationship between the gold-silver-tellurium veins and the porphyry mineralization. This would go a long way to understanding the magnitude of our discoveries so far. I’m really looking forward to putting some of the pieces of this very interesting puzzle together.”

Industry-Wide Shift to Copper and Battery Metals
Due to the rapidly-growing need for metals used in batteries and electrical transmission, First Tellurium’s copper investigation at Deer Horn echoes an industry-wide trend towards copper and other critical metals. Teck Resources recently announced it was selling its stake the Fort Hills oilsands operation to focus more of its capital on copper. Teck is building the QB2 Mine in Chile, which is expected to produce around 300,000 tonnes of copper in its first five years.

FTEL Strategic Partner Developing New Battery with Tellurium
The increasing importance of battery metals, including copper and tellurium, represent a key element of First Tellurium’s growth strategy. The Company’s Strategic Partner Fenix Advanced Materials of Trail BC is working with UBC Okanagan’s Advanced Materials for Energy Storage Lab to create a lithium-battery that is smaller and more powerful than what’s currently available. This collaboration is part of a $2-million initiative between Fenix, Mitacs and UBC Okanagan. Mitacs is a nonprofit national research organization that, in partnerships with Canadian academia, private industry and government, operates research and training programs in fields related to industrial and social innovation.

FTEL’s New Website, Presentation and Video
We’re excited to announce the launch of our new website, where you’ll find information about our company and properties. In addition, we have also released a new animated pitch deck, which you can find here. This presentation provides an overview of our business and future opportunities. Finally, we have also released a new explainer video, which you can find here. This video dives into the details of our properties and how they can benefit First Tellurium Investors.

About First Tellurium Corp.
First Tellurium’s unique business model is to generate revenue and value through mineral discovery, project development, project generation and cooperative access to untapped mineral regions in Indigenous territory with sustainable exploration.

Our polymetallic (tellurium, gold, silver copper, tungsten) Deer Horn Project in British Columbia and Klondike tellurium-gold property in Colorado anchor a diversified search for metals, working in alliance with Indigenous peoples, NGOs, governments and leading metals buyers. This is the future of mineral exploration: generating revenue by exploring responsibly and leveraging diverse partnerships.

First Tellurium proudly adheres to and supports the principles and rights set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and in particular the fundamental proposition of free, prior and informed consent.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulations services accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-looking information
All statements included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions made by the Company based on its experience, perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate in the circumstances. In addition, these statements involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will prove inaccurate, certain of which are beyond the Company’s control. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend to revise or update these forward-looking statements after the date hereof or revise them to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated event.