Cartier Files on SEDAR the NI 43

Highlights:

VAL-D'OR, Quebec, May 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cartier Resources Inc. (TSX-V: ECR) ("Cartier") announces that it has filed on SEDAR the NI 43-101 technical report of the Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Chimo Mine and West Nordeau Gold Deposits, Chimo Mine and East Cadillac Properties, Quebec, Canada", prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standard of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").

This NI 43-101 compliant report produced by InnovExplo Inc. for Cartier presents the results of the Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for the Chimo Mine Property and the West Nordeau Gold Deposits, located along the Larder Lake - Cadillac fault, 45 km east of Val-d'Or, Quebec, Canada. The report is available on SEDAR and on the Company's website .

"The positive results of the study demonstrate the economic viability* at the PEA-level for the project as well as several optimization opportunities related to the characteristics of the Project. Two drills are in operation on the property and the results continue to increase the size of the gold zones with a view to continuing to increase the project's resources," commented Philippe Cloutier, President and CEO. Adding, that: "strategic solutions are being studied to further push the development of the project."

*: Cautionary Statement - The reader is advised that the PEA summarized in this news release is intended to provide only an initial, high-level review of the project potential and design options. The PEA mine plan and economic model include numerous assumptions and the use of inferred mineral resources. Inferred mineral resources are considered to be too speculative to be used in an economic analysis except as allowed for by NI 43-101 for PEA studies. There is no guarantee that inferred mineral resources can be converted to indicated or measured mineral resources, and as such, there is no guarantee the project economics described herein will be achieved.

The study presents an underground mining operation with 280 employees that uses conventional longitudinal and transverse longhole stoping at a mining rate of 4,500 tpd. Mined mineralized material will be sorted using automated sensor-based sorting technology with an expected concentration ratio of 1.85 and a recovery rate of 91.9%.

The sorted mineralized material would then be processed in a concentrator using a gravity separator followed by a carbon-in-leach process with a capacity of 3,000 tpd for an estimated recovery rate of 93.1%. The current plan of operations assumes an average annual production of 116,900 oz for a mine life of 9.7 years.

Financial Analysis

The project requires CAD$341M of initial capital and CAD$160M of sustaining capital. Average cash costs of US$647/oz and all-in sustaining cost of US$755/oz are expected over the mine life. The financial analysis was performed using a 5% discount rate, a long-term gold price of US$1750/oz, and an exchange rate of CAD$1.00:US$0.77. On a post-tax basis, the project demonstrates an NPV 5% of CAD$388M, an IRR of 20.8% and a payback period of 2.9 years. On a pre-tax basis, the project demonstrates an NPV of CAD$672M, an IRR of 27.4% and a payback period of 2.5 years.

A summary of project economics is presented in Table 1.

Table 1: Summary of Project Economics

Sensitivity analysis was performed to see the impact on post-tax 5% NPV and post-tax IRR by variating the gold price, operating costs, and capital costs. The results of the sensitivity analysis are presented in Table 2, Table 3 and Table 4, the base case is highlighted in the tables.

Table 2: Gold Price Sensitivity

Table 3: Capital Cost Sensitivity

Table 4: Operating Cost Sensitivity

Mineral Resources The mineralization of the Chimo Mine Gold System consists of 29 gold zones that are part of 19 gold structures, themselves grouped into 3 gold corridors. The resources in effect as of August 22, 2022 for this gold system, combining the resources of the Chimo Mine property with those of the West Nordeau deposit, are presented below in Table 5. ( FIGURE 1 ):

Table 5: Mineral Resource Estimate

NI 43-101 Mineral Resources Estimate for Chimo Mine and West Nordeau Gold Deposits, Québec, Canada, Vincent Nadeau-Benoit, P.Geo., Alain Carrier, P.Geo., M.Sc. and Marc R. Beauvais, P.Eng., InnovExplo Inc., August 22 nd , 2022 .

Additional notes on the resource estimate

Mining The PEA presents an underground mining operation that uses conventional longitudinal and transverse longhole stoping at a mining rate of 4,500 tpd over a 9.7-year mine life. A total of 15.8 Mt of mineralized material at an average grade of 2.7 g/t in will be extracted from four different mining sectors ( FIGURE 2 ) :

The different sectors of the mine will be accessed via ramps and drifts to allow the efficient circulation of mobile mining equipment and to satisfy ventilation requirements. The historic three-compartment mineshaft of 914m depth will be rehabilitated to accommodate the installation of a vertical conveyor. Mined mineralized material from the upper portions of the mine will be sent down to the base of the vertical conveyor using material passes and mined material from the lower portions of the mine will be hauled using underground diesel trucks to the same level.

Mineralized material will then be crushed using a jaw crusher and transported to the surface via the vertical conveyor before being sorted using sensor-based sorting technology. Sorted waste will be returned from surface using a network of waste passes and mixed with cement to be used as backfill.

The mine will be owner-operated, and the mining fleet will be purchased via a lease financing agreement. Supporting underground infrastructure includes, one main pumping station, two ventilation and heating systems and one crushing station.

Processing

Mineralized material from the underground operation would be sorted using automated industrial sorting technology based on RGB and XRT sensors before being transported to the processing plant. The sorter is expected to operate with a concentration ratio of 1.85 a recovery rate of 91.9%. The flow sheet ( FIGURE 3 ) selected for the study, is based on historical metallurgical work which was used in the present study to estimate the recovery rate estimated at 93.1%. The plant is expected to process 2,400 tpd on average over the life of mine but has a processing capacity of 3,000 tpd.

The process plant is a standard carbon-in-leach (CIL) technology with a gravity concentration for gold recovery. The plant includes crushing, grinding, gravity concentration, classification, leach and CIL, and detoxification before deposition into a tailings storage facility. The diagram of the treatment process is illustrated in ( FIGURE 3 ).

Infrastructure and Tailings The infrastructure includes earthworks, power utilities, water and the buildings/structures supporting the exploitation of the resource. A vertical conveyor will be used for primary hoisting of the resource from underground. It dumps to a run-of-mine stockpile that feeds a crusher/sorter system that is estimated to reject 45% of the hoisted material. The rejects are sent underground through a fill raise and distributed underground for stope support. The upgraded material is stored in a dome where it becomes feed to the processing plant. A confinement area will be constructed to accommodate thickened tailings. FIGURE 4 presents the proposed site layout for the Chimo Mine project.

Capital and Operating Costs

The project requires CAD$341M of initial capital as broken down in Table 6 and CAD$160M of sustaining capital. Closure costs are estimated at CAD$3M with equipment salvage value estimated at CAD$5M. Operating costs are estimated at CAD$107 per tonne milled. Average cash costs of US$647/oz and all-in sustaining cost of US$755/oz are expected over the mine life. The financial model also includes CAD$25M in working capital requirements.

Table 6: Capital Cost Breakdown

Conclusions and Recommendations

The PEA has demonstrated the economic viability* at the PEA-level for the Chimo Mine Project.

The recommendations describe the work for continued development of the Project. This work includes exploration drilling, delineation, and definition of mineralized zones in order to increase the resources as well as their level of confidence. Recommendations also include industrial sorting tests of mineralized material, metallurgical tests, engineering optimization (trade-off) studies and environmental baseline characterization work.

Independence and responsibilities

The PEA was prepared by independent consulting firms with their respective responsibilities broken down in Table 7.

Table 7: Consulting Firms with Respective Responsibilities

Qualified Persons

Corporate

The geological information (scientific and technical in nature) of the Company in this news release was reviewed by Mr. Gaétan Lavallière, P.Geo., Ph.D, Cartier's Vice-President, and Mr. Ronan Déroff, P.Geo, M.Sc., Senior Geologist, Project Manager and Geomatician, both qualified persons as defined in NI 43-101. Mr. Lavallière approved the geological information (scientific and technical in nature) contained in this press release.

Mineral Resources Estimate

The qualified persons independent of the issuer, responsible for estimating the mineral resources of the Chimo Mine property and the Nordeau West deposit (effective as of August 22, 2022), within the meaning of NI 43-101, are Mr. Vincent Nadeau-Benoit, P.Geo., Alain Carrier P.Geo., M.Sc, and Marc R. Beauvais from the firm InnovExplo Inc. Mr. Nadeau-Benoit, Carrier and Beauvais declare that they have read this press release and that the scientific and technical information relating to the mineral resources estimate presented therein is correct.

Preliminary Economic Assessment

The qualified persons independent of the issuer, responsible for the Preliminary Economic Assessment (this Press Release), within the meaning of NI 43-101, are Mr. Marc R. Beauvais, P.Eng. of InnovExplo, Mr. Florent Baril of Bumigeme and Mr. Eric Sellars, P. Eng. de Responsible Mining Solutions. Mr. Beauvais, Baril and Sellars declare that they have read this press release and that the scientific and technical information relating to the resource estimate presented therein is correct.

About Cartier Cartier Resources Inc. was founded in 2006 and is an advanced gold project exploration company based in Val-d’Or. The company's projects are all located in Quebec, which has consistently ranked as one of the world's best mining jurisdictions. Cartier is advancing the development of its flagship Chimo Mine Project. The Company has a strong cash position exceeding $3.5 M and a significant corporate and institutional endorsement, including Agnico Eagle Mines, O3 Mining and Quebec investment funds.

For more information, please contact:

Philippe Cloutier, P.Geo. President and CEO, Cartier Resources Telephone: 819 856-0512 [email protected] www.ressourcescartier.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulatory services provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.