Aurania samples up to 2,015 ppm Ni at Balangero

Executive Summary

• Aurania Resources Ltd. released assay results from 28 samples at its Balangero Ni-Co project in Italy, confirming nickel grades averaging 1,763 ppm, alongside cobalt and copper concentrations consistent with historical data.
• The project leverages existing dry-stacked tailings and surface development rock piles containing sulfur-free awaruite, offering a significantly lower-cost and faster-to-develop pathway compared to greenfield competitors due to existing infrastructure and power.
• A Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) is underway, with regulatory and legal pathways identified to accelerate sampling and potential Prefeasibility Study (PFS) completion by late 2026, aligning with EU Critical Raw Materials Act objectives.

Key Details

• Assay Results: 28 samples assayed at Laboratoire GeoRessources yielded 1,560–2,015 ppm nickel (average 1,763 ppm), 81.5–108 ppm cobalt, and 16.2–146 ppm copper.
• Resource Composition: The potential resource consists of dry-stacked tailings (crushed to <4 cm) and excavated development rock piles, both containing the rare, sulfur-free nickel-iron alloy awaruite.
• Infrastructure & Cost Advantages: Site benefits from existing electric power, a railhead <1 km away, paved highway access, and nearby skilled labor. Eliminates need for subsurface drilling, blasting, tunnelling, and haulage.
• PEA & PFS Timeline: SRK International Consultants is conducting the PEA to estimate capital expenditures. The company is evaluating a Prefeasibility Study (PFS) for completion before the end of 2026.
• Regulatory & Legal Pathway: A legal opinion confirms sonic and bulk sampling can proceed under existing MOU partner RSA permits, bypassing lengthy environmental impact assessments. Project may be fast-tracked under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (Ni, Co, and Cu are designated Strategic Raw Materials).
• Asbestos Confirmation: Independent verification by Dr. Chiara Boschi (IGG-CNR, Pisa) confirmed all 28 samples are asbestos-free but contain awaruite.
• Metallurgical Testing: Comminution tests at STEVAL (Nancy, France) indicate the material is amenable to easy extraction of awaruite and magnetite with no technical red flags.
• Future Drilling: A sonic drilling program to confirm grades and thicknesses in the main tailings pile is planned for April 2026.
• Competitive Positioning: Aurania's project matches the nickel grades of greenfield peers like FPX Nickel Corp. (~$183M market cap) and First Atlantic Nickel Corp. ($27M market cap), but avoids greenfield development costs and infrastructure deficits.

Notable Quotes

• Dr. Keith Barron, President & CEO: "There is a lot of historic data from Balangero, and this confirmed what was already suspected. In 1942, the Italian Government created SANI... At Balangero, the magnetic sand-sized fraction of the waste from asbestos beneficiation was actually recovered and used to make hardened steel for some months in 1943 for the war effort. This information has remained buried in the archive of the city of Turin. For a variety of reasons, nickel supply has once again become critically important in Europe, and we believe Balangero offers the most readily and easily accessible source of the metal today."