Amarc Gearing Up To Execute Extensive Drilling at Joy Copper-Gold District, British Columbia

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 2, 2024 / Amarc Resources Ltd. ("Amarc" or the "Company") (TSXV:AHR)(OTCQB:AXREF) is pleased to announce that its team is in the final planning stages with Freeport-McMoRan Mineral Properties Canada Inc. ("Freeport"), to commence an extensive 2024 drilling program at its 100% owned JOY Copper-Gold ("Cu-Au") District (or "JOY" or the "District") in north-central British Columbia ("BC"). The program is planned to start in June and will be fully funded by Freeport, which is earning-in at JOY, with Amarc continuing as operator of the project.

"All drilling and exploration survey activities, together with trail and bridge repair initiatives completed at the JOY District over the past two years are culminating in an aggressive and focused drilling program in 2024," said President and CEO Dr. Diane Nicolson. "Our goal is discovery, by wide-spaced drilling, of one or more porphyry Cu-Au deposits within some seven drill-ready sulphide mineralized systems that extend over areas measuring 3 to 7 km²."

Results from Amarc's 2023 geological, geochemical, and geophysical surveys (see Amarc release October 26, 2023) have greatly assisted in defining the drill targets. This work highlights, for example, the Northwest Gossan Deposit Target discussed below, the PINE Porphyry Trend (including the PINE Deposit, the Canyon Discovery and the Twins Deposit Target) and several other drill-ready targets for drilling during the 2024 field season (Figure 1 and Amarc release March 2, 2023). Also, there are seven additional Cu-Au targets located across the District that are to be brought up to a drill-ready status.

Figure 1: JOY DISTRICT - IP Surveys Have Outlined Trends of Clustered Large-Scale Minerals Systems at Pine, Canyon, Twins & Other Developing Targets

Northwest Gossan ("NWG") Copper-Gold Porphyry Target

This exciting new target has never been drill tested; it is characterized by several intriguing layers of scientific evidence that indicate proximity to a porphyry Cu-Au system (Figure 2):

• It is located in a highly favourable geological environment similar to that which hosts the former Kemess South mine, the permitted and development-stage Kemess North underground deposit, and the advanced-stage Kemess East underground deposit - all currently held by Centerra Gold Inc. and located in the Kemess Mining District immediately adjacent to the south of the JOY District.
• The target is characterized by a substantial 3.7 km² Induced Polarization ("IP") anomaly (>14 mV/V) outlining a sulphide system.
• Porphyry-related Cu, Au, Mo and Ag anomalies outlined in soils and rock samples are largely coincident with the area of IP chargeability high and extend beyond.
• Initial drill testing of NWG will focus primarily on a 1,500 m long and 500 m wide internal zone of higher (>20 mV/V) IP chargeability.
• New soil and rock chip sampling returned multiple anomalous elements which are indicative of an epithermal mineralization environment (Bi±Te±Se±As) overlapping with potential near surface porphyry Cu-Au-Mo-Ag mineralization.
• This concept of overlapping, or telescoped, systems is supported by a suite of alteration minerals established by short wavelength infrared ("SWIR") reflectance spectra from surface samples that are characteristic of both the high level epithermal (minerals pyrophyllite and dickite) and lower-level porphyry (minerals sericite with related pyrite) mineralizing environments.
• Discrete magnetic highs are distributed within the IP chargeability anomaly and are interpreted to represent syn-mineral porphyry intrusions.
• Notably, porphyry dikes like those associated with Cu-Au mineralization elsewhere in the JOY District - including at the PINE Deposit, the Mex Deposit Target and the Canyon Discovery - are also distributed within the NWG target area.

The Amarc team and Freeport are carefully refining the locations for 2024 drilling at the high potential NWG target and some six other mineral systems in the JOY District to commence in late June.