Business
Drilling Operations Upgrade at the Tuvatu Gold Mine
First of Five New Drills Rigs On-Site and Improved Drilling Rates Targeted North Vancouver, Brit...
About this update from Lion One Metals Limited
[{"type":"text","content":"Drilling Operations Upgrade at the Tuvatu Gold MineFirst of Five New Drills Rigs On-Site and Improved Drilling Rates TargetedNorth Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 16, 2026) - Lion One Metals Limited (TSXV: LIO) (OTCQX: LOMLF) (\"Lion One\" or the \"Company\") is pleased to provide an update on underground drilling operations at its 100%-owned Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project in Fiji (\"Tuvatu\"). The Company has commenced a significant upgrade to its drill fleet, with the performance of existing drills already improving. The existing fleet will be replaced with three new high-performance underground drill rigs and an additional surface rig.2-3xImprovement in DrillMetres per Shift     25 mTarget Metresper Rig Shift  4New Underground-CapableRigs Being Acquired Figure 1. New EDR450 (track-mounted surface drill rig) at the Tuvatu Gold Mine, Fiji, with the Navilawa Caldera in the background. March 14, 2026.To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2178/288687_e626197ad4951b50_001full.jpgDrilling Data: The Foundation of Underground MiningAt the heart of any successful underground mining operation is access to comprehensive, high-quality drilling data. Drill programmes provide the critical geological and grade control information that directly informs mine design, mining scheduling, mining method selection, and ultimately the level of confidence in gold metal throughput at the process plant. These elements are tightly interconnected - quality drill data drives better mine planning, which drives better gold recovery, which drives shareholder value.This is the Company's primary operational focus in these early days under new management: building the drilling capacity and geological knowledge base that will underpin every subsequent decision about how Tuvatu is mined, developed, and expanded.Existing Fleet: From Underperformance to TransformationThe Company's existing underground drill rigs had reached a stage well beyond their normal operational lifespan. Mechanical breakdowns and falling operational reliability are significantly constraining drilling output. From mid-2025, drill performance was well below industry standards and insufficient to support the Company's geological data requirements.To address this, Lion One has moved to repla...