Forty Pillars Proposes to Acquire Wishbone Project From Origen Resources

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Forty Pillars Mining Corp. (the “Company” or “Forty Pillars”) (CSE: PLLR) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with Origen Resources Inc. (“Origen”) (CSE: ORGN FSE: 4VXA), to acquire a 100% interest in its Wishbone property (“Wishbone” or “Property”) located in the heart of the Golden Triangle, B.C.

“We are very pleased to be adding this quality gold asset to our portfolio, which is the next important step in executing our business model. The Wishbone project presents a unique opportunity for Forty Pillar shareholders to benefit from the rising gold activity in the Golden Triangle B.C. area,” states Company CEO Nader Vatanchi.

Wishbone Property

The 3,971 ha Wishbone property is located 40 km west of Highway 37 and the Bob Quinn airstrip. The Property consists of 10 claims and is contiguous to the eastern boundary of Teck/Newmont’s Galore Creek copper-gold mineral development project which is one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper-gold-silver deposits1. Wishbone contains a series of gold and silver quartz-carbonate vein and breccia occurrences over the nearly 12 km length of the claims. Glacier retreat in recent years has exposed between 50 and 500 metres of unexplored area. Recent exploration in these areas has resulted in the discovery of a new gold and silver prospect area called the “Rat” which returned numerous high-grade gold and silver values from grab and float samples. (Origen news release dated November 9, 2020)

Gold values ranged from 0.001 to 175.7 g/t in the 79 rock samples collected at the Rat prospect in 2020. The following table includes highlights that show how important the coarse gold fraction is particularly for veins hosted in the more brittle rocks.

Table 1: Rat Prospect Highlighted Samples – Total Metallic Screened Gold Grades

*Grab samples are by nature selective and should not be relied upon. They are collected during prospecting and reconnaissance work to characterize geological material and determine if metals of interest are present prior to more comprehensive sampling and investigation. They may not be representative of metal grades on the Property. Float samples are similar to grab samples but were not collected from bedrock and do not have a known source. The bedrock source of a float sample may not be on the Property. Prospecting and other geological, geochemical and geophysical methods are used to trace float samples back to their source. Float samples may not be representative of metal grades at their bedrock source.

A Media Snippet accompanying this announcement is available by clicking on the image or link below:

The project currently has 9 priority target areas highlighted on the location map below:

Figure 1: Wishbone Prospect Location Map

The property has recently had a high-resolution magnetometer and Skytem EM survey conducted with the results of this survey pending.

These results will greatly aide in drill targeting once received. The prospective targets range from 1,150 meters to 1,750 meters in elevation with the lower targets amenable to an early and extended field season.

John Harrop, P Geo., a Qualified Person as that term is defined in NI 43-101 has prepared, supervised the preparation or approved the scientific and technical disclosure in the news release.

Acquisition Terms

To purchase a 100-per-cent interest in the 3,971 ha Wishbone project, Forty Pillars will pay a total of $3,000,000, consisting of $1,000,000 cash and $2,000,000 promissory note with a three year term bearing interest at 5% per annum, payable monthly. Forty Pillars will also grant a 1-per-cent net smelter return (NSR) to Origen. Half of the NSR (0.5 per cent) can be purchased prior to commercial production for $1,000,000. Forty Pillars will also be obligated to make the remaining share issuances and cash payments under the original property agreement, being 200,000 common shares and $50,000 cash by May 29, 2022 and 200,000 common shares and $50,000 cash by May 29, 2023.

The transaction is subject to the Company’s filing requirements with CSE.

The transaction may be considered to be a non-arms-length transaction, as Gary Schellenberg, an officer and director of Origen, is also a director of Forty Pillars, whom has abstained from board voting in relation to this transaction.

Private Placement

Forty Pillars has arranged a private placement financing of up to fifteen million units at $0.10 cents per unit for gross proceeds of up to $1,500,000.

Each unit consists of one common share in the capital of the Company and one share purchase warrant of the Company. Each warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one additional share at a price of 12 cents for a 36-month period after the closing date.

The Company may pay a finder's fee in cash in connection with the offering.

Proceeds raised from the offering will be used to finance the purchase of the Wishbone Project and general working capital purposes. In addition to the usual securities law hold period of 4 months, all securities issued under the offering, including securities issuable on the exercise thereof, will become free trading in 4 equal amounts at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months and 24 months accordingly.

Certain directors of the Company are expected to participate in the private placement, and Origen Resources Inc., a 10%+ shareholder of the Company. This makes the private placement a related party transaction and subject to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Securityholders in Special Transactions. Because the Company’s shares trade only on the Canadian Securities Exchange, the issuance of securities is exempt from the formal valuation requirements of Section 5.4 of MI 61-101 pursuant to Subsection 5.5(1)(b) of MI 61-101 and exempt from the minority shareholder approval requirements under Subsection 5.7(1)(b) of MI 61-101 as the participation amount from each insider will be under the threshold of $2.5M.

The offering is subject to the Company’s filing requirements with CSE.

Changes to the Board of Directors

Blake Morgan has been appointed to the board of directors effective October 5, 2021. Blake has 15 years’ experience in the mining industry including 10 years dedicated to the mining and natural resource sector in Australia with Rio Tinto, BMA Metals (subsidiary of BHP) and Santos Ltd. Gaining first-hand knowledge, culture, and an understanding of mining operations he then made the move from Australia to Canada and has been instrumental in consolidating significant exploration land packages and financing their development for private resource exploration companies in British Columbia.

Alex Klenman is stepping down from the board of directors effective October 5, 2021. The Company thanks Mr. Klenman for his contributions to the board and wishes him further success in all his endeavours.

About Origen

Origen is an exploration company engaged in generating, acquiring and advancing base, precious metal, and lithium properties. The Company currently holds a property portfolio of four 100% owned precious and base metal projects in southern British Columbia, a 100% interest in the 26,771 ha LGM project and an option to acquire a 100% interest in the 3,971 ha Wishbone property in the mineral rich Golden Triangle of British Columbia, a 100% interest in the Middle Ridge gold project and a 100% interest in 15 lithium prospects in Newfoundland.

About Forty Pillars

Forty Pillars, based in Vancouver, B.C., is a mineral exploration company focused on exploring the Silver Dollar project located in the Greenwood mining division, British Columbia.

On behalf of Forty Pillars,

Nader Vatanchi

President

For further information, please contact Nader Vatanchi, President at 778-881-4631.

nadervatanchi@hotmail.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

Certain of the statements made and information contained herein may constitute “forward-looking information.” In particular references to the private placement and future work programs or expectations on the quality or results of such work programs are subject to risks associated with operations on the property, exploration activity generally, equipment limitations and availability, as well as other risks that we may not be currently aware of. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.