Metallic Minerals Corp. announced final results from its 2022 exploration program at the La Plata copper-silver-gold-platinum group element ("Cu-Ag-Au-PGE") project in southwestern Colorado. Two holes totaling 1,730 meters ("m") were drilled to test lateral extensions of the existing 985-million-pound copper equivalent NI 43-101 mineral resource1.

Hole LAP22-04, drilled to the north of the resource area, intercepted the longest and highest-grade interval ever encountered at La Plata at 816 m of 0.41% Recovered Copper Equivalent ("CuEq"). This is one of the top intersections for any North American copper project in the past several years. Significant high-grade gold-platinum-palladium ("Au+PGE") mineralization associated with copper and silver represents the discovery of a new style of mineralization in the resource area that has not been previously recognized or explored for.

The porphyry style mineralization in LAP22-04 strengthens through the hole, transitioning from chalcopyrite dominated at surface to bornite-rich at depth. The hole ended in mineralization with the final 5.2 m of copper plus precious metals rich mineralization grading 5.39% CuEq (2.44% Cu, 18.7 grams per tonne ("g/t") Ag and 5.0 g/t Au+PGE but did not reach full target depth due to mechanical issues. The last sample in the hole, representing the deepest material, graded 5.42% Cu, with 47.0 g/t Ag and 11.0 g/t Au+PGE for a total of 11.54% CuEq.

Mineralization remains completely open to expansion of the current resource area and outward from drill hole LAP22-04. Both drill holes intercepted continuous porphyry style mineralization starting from surface and ending in mineralization at 914 and 816 meters depth, respectively. Hole LAP22-03 shows that the shallow porphyry style mineralization is weakening to the south and west of the resource but still open at depth.

Drilling Highlights: Drill hole LAP22-04 intersected 816 m of 0.41% CuEq (0.30% Cu, 2.47 g/t Ag, 0.186 g/t Au+PGE) from surface, with multiple higher-grade intercepts. The interval starting at 304.8 m returned 511.2 m at 0.51% CuEq (0.36% Cu, 2.83 g/t Ag, 0.275 g/t Au+PGE). Higher-grade zones include 0.90% CuEq over 55.8 m (0.70% Cu, 5.44 g/t Ag, 0.369 g/t Au+PGE and 1.5% CuEq over 29.57 m (0.69% Cu, 5.64 g/t Ag, 1.268 g/t Au+PGE).

The drill hole bottomed in 5.39% CuEq over 5.2 m (2.44% Cu, 18.7 g/t Ag, 5.0 g/t Au+PGE). The precious metals component of LAP22-04 (silver, gold, platinum and palladium) adds 50% in value above the copper only values. The inclusion of Au+PGE values that were not previously analyzed for in historical drilling represents a significant future upside value opportunity for the project.

The 2022 drilling will be incorporated into an updated NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate for the La Plata project, which is expected to expand significantly based on these results.