Firering Strategic Minerals Plc announced that it has commenced Part 2 of its auger drilling campaign at its Atex Lithium-Tantalum Project ("Atex"), in Côte d'Ivoire. This auger drilling campaign will target three new pegmatite zones that were identified during the soil sampling campaign. In addition, a Reverse Circulation ("RC") drilling campaign is in the final stages of planning for Fourth Quarter 2023 and will seek to build upon some of the significant assay results obtained from its previous 3,000m diamond drill campaign.

Commencement of Part 2 of Phase II auger drilling: Part 2 of the Phase II auger drilling campaign follows the successful completion of the first part of the Phase II auger drilling campaign in August 2023. Part 2 will start in Area 4, where several east-west orientated pegmatites were identified during the detailed mapping exercise, followed by Area 5, west of Tounvré, and Area 3, east of Spodumene Hill. A total of 840 holes have been planned for c. 5,000m of drilling.

As in Part 1, all auger holes will be geologically logged and End of Hole ("EOH") samples will be tested with the pXRF in Firering's lab in Tounvré. Commencement of initial 3,000m of RC drilling: Final RC hole locations for the initial 18 holes for c.3,000m of RC drilling. The RC campaign is due to start in due course and should be completed over the course of 4 weeks.

All RC holes will be logged and sampled at 1m intervals with all fresh pegmatite samples sent to Intertek Laboratories in Perth, Australia for assaying. The drilling is planned to intersect fresh pegmatite beneath the weathered pegmatite identified during Part 1 of the auger drilling campaign and to test the potential lithium mineralisation of the pegmatites. Assay results are expected during First Quarter 2024 and will be used to direct future drilling programmes.

The RC contract discussions are well advanced and will be announced shortly.