Churchill Resources Announces Exercise of Option and Acquisition of 100% Interest in Florence Lake Mineral Properties in Eastern-Central Labrador

TORONTO, July 11, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Churchill Resources Inc. (“Churchill” or the “Company”) (TSXV: CRI) is pleased to announce that it has exercised an existing option (the “Option”) to acquire a 100% interest in certain mineral properties with prospective nickel, copper and cobalt targets located approximately 150-180km north of the town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay in east-central Labrador (the "Properties"). On July 22, 2021, the Company entered into an option agreement (the “Option Agreement") with Altius Resources Inc. (“Altius”) to acquire a 100% interest in the Properties, subject to a new 1.6% gross sales royalty on the Properties in favour of Altius.

The Florence Lake project consists of four map-staked licenses totalling 416 claims (104 km²) in east-central Labrador. Three of the licenses constitute the Altius Florence Lake property, to which Churchill added a license in 2022 to create a contiguous land package. Churchill is very pleased to now own 100% of the project, as an important conclusion to the recent technical reporting work has been the recognition of numerous Al₂O₃-undepleted ultramafic volcanic areas (i.e. more primitive lavas, associated with nickel mineralization) at Florence Lake. These occur as stacked targets located throughout the upper Eastern Volcanic areas of the greenstone belt, and importantly also within the more basal Western Volcanics. Kambalda-style nickel sulphide deposits are generally at the base of ultramafic volcanic sequences. Churchill is currently preparing to commence camp installation, soil sampling, prospecting and geological mapping in the next few weeks.

Paul Sobie, CEO of Churchill stated “We are very pleased to execute this option at Florence Lake and to have Altius as our largest shareholder. We’re looking forward to this field season and to continuing the partnership with Altius both here, and at the magmatic nickel project at Taylor Brook.”

Since entering into the Option Agreement, the Company has issued an aggregate of 6,415,635 common shares in the capital of the Company (“Common Shares”) to Altius under the terms of the Option (of which 5,041,689 Common Shares were issued today) and incurred the required cumulative exploration expenditures in connection with the Properties. Churchill has carried out a great deal of exploration on the project since entering into the Option Agreement, and recently published a National Instrument 43- 101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects technical report on the project that is highly encouraging for nickel discoveries throughout the volcanic stratigraphy, rather than just the Baikie Showing horizon concentrated on previously.

Immediately prior to the exercise of the Option and the issuance of 5,041,689 Common Shares, Altius held 12,797,126 Common Shares representing approximately 15.1% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares. Upon exercise of the Option, Altius owns 17,838,815 Common Shares, representing approximately 19.9% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares on a non-diluted basis. Altius acquired the Common Shares as part of the payment under the Option Agreement for the acquisition of 100% interest in the Properties. Altius may from time to time acquire additional Common Shares or other securities of Churchill or dispose of some or all of the Common Shares or other securities of Churchill that it owns at such time, depending on market and other conditions. Further information concerning the exercise of the Option is contained in the Early Warning Report filed by Altius on SEDAR. A copy of the Early Warning Report may also be obtained by contacting Chad Wells, Vice President, Business Development, Altius Minerals Corporation, Tel. 1-877-576-2206.

About Churchill Resources Inc.

Churchill Resources Inc. is a Canadian exploration company focused on high grade, magmatic nickel sulphides in Canada, principally at its prospective Taylor Brook and Florence Lake properties in Newfoundland & Labrador. The Churchill management team, board and its advisors have decades of combined management experience in mineral exploration and in the establishment of successful publicly listed mining companies, both in Canada and around the world. Churchill’s Taylor Brook and Florence Lake projects have the potential to benefit from the province’s large and diversified minerals industry, which includes world class nickel mines and processing facilities, and a well-developed mineral exploration sector with locally based drilling and geological expertise. The province was recently ranked 4th in the world for investment attractiveness by the Fraser Institute in its 2022 annual survey of mining and exploration companies.

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Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", “proposed”, "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, the Company’s objectives, goals and exploration activities conducted and proposed to be conducted at the Company’s properties; future growth potential of the Company, including whether any proposed exploration programs at any of the Company’s properties will be successful; exploration results; and future exploration plans and costs and financing availability.

These forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time such statements were made. Actual future results may differ materially as forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to materially differ from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors, among other things, include: the expected benefits to the Company relating to the exploration conducted and proposed to be conducted at the Company’s properties; failure to identify any mineral resources or significant mineralization; the preliminary nature of metallurgical test results; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, including to fund any exploration programs on the Company’s properties; fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions; fluctuations in securities markets; fluctuations in spot and forward prices of gold, silver, base metals or certain other commodities; fluctuations in currency markets (such as the Canadian dollar to United States dollar exchange rate); change in national and local government, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments; risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining (including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations pressures, cave-ins and flooding); inability to obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining and mineral exploration; employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities and indigenous populations; availability of increasing costs associated with mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development (including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses, permits and approvals from government authorities); the unlikelihood that properties that are explored are ultimately developed into producing mines; geological factors; actual results of current and future exploration; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated; soil sampling results being preliminary in nature and are not conclusive evidence of the likelihood of a mineral deposit; title to properties; and those factors described in the most recently filed management’s discussion and analysis of the Company. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information, or the material factors or assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information, will prove to be accurate. The Company does not undertake to release publicly any revisions for updating any voluntary forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable securities law.

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