Ascendant Resources Discovers Native Copper Amid On-Going Drilling Campaign at Lagoa Salgada

• Exciting geological phenomena contributes to thesis of significant copper potential beyond existing 2.5MT M&I and 6MT Inferred copper resources in the South Zone
  

TORONTO, Nov. 23, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --  Ascendant Resources Inc. (TSX: ASND) ("Ascendant" or the "Company”) is pleased to provide an update on its on-going drill program on the South Zone at its Lagoa Salgada Project on the Iberian Pyrite belt in Portugal. The Company remains focused on expanding the known mineralization of the copper-rich South Zone. The Company has already published a robust PEA based upon an existing 10MT M&I resource in the North Zone (See PR January 14, 2020).

The discovery of native copper in the drill core of hole LS_ST_23 in addition to the expected massive sulfide and copper stockwork mineralization has been highly encouraging. Native copper findings are extremely rare and are also a good indicator of the potential for copper mineralization. This positive indication also comes on the heels of other supportive developments from hole LS_ST_21 where the drilling encountered mineralization earlier than planned and intersected a gossan intersection indicative of nearby massive sulphide mineralization.

Chris Buncic, President & CEO of Ascendant stated, “We are excited to continue our exploration activities in the South Zone where the occurrence of native copper in the drill core is highly prospective. Native copper is not a common occurrence, largely isolated to the copper belts in Chile, Namibia, the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, and Pinto Valley in Arizona. The fact that we have found this unusual occurrence at Lagoa Salgada is certainly consistent with our expectations of finding more copper-rich stockwork mineralization in the South Zone.”

The exploration program in the South Zone is intended to expand and upgrade the copper-rich resources in the Central and South Zones. This program builds upon the highly economic Preliminary Economic Assessment released on January 14, 2020 for the North Zone, in which the Company demonstrated the potential for a stand-alone high-grade polymetallic mining operation with an NPV₈ of US$106 million and an after-tax IRR of 31%. Commodity prices have improved considerably since this analysis was performed. An expansion of the South Resource should be accretive to the overall size of the Lagoa Salgada resource estimate, warranting further analysis of the scale and scope of potential future mining operations.