Loncor Gold Inc. announced that it has received notification that the Standing Evaluation Committee has given a positive recommendation to allow Loncor to convert its Exploration Permit at Makapela into an Exploitation Permit (Mining Permit). This followed a detailed review and analysis of Loncor's Environmental and Social Impact Studies on Makapela. The recommendation has been forwarded to the DRC Mining Cadastral for further processing prior to Ministerial sign-off.

The Mining Permit application is for the potential development of the Company's 1.164 million ounce Makapela gold resource found within the Ngayu Greenstone Gold Belt in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the "DRC"). Makapela has an indicated mineral resource of 614,200 ounces of gold (2.20 million tonnes grading 8.66 g/t Au) and an inferred mineral resource of 549,600 ounces of gold (3.22 million tonnes grading 5.30 g/t Au) at a 2.75 g/t Au cut-off. The Makapela Project is owned 100% by Loncor and is located approximately 50 kilometres from its 3.66 million ounce Adumbi deposit which already has a Mining Permit.

The Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) of the Adumbi deposit, the results of which were announced by Loncor in December 2021, did not include the Makapela deposit. The Makapela mineralization is hosted by a sequence of steeply-dipping basaltic volcanics containing thin BIF (banded ironstone formation) units. A total of 83 core holes have been drilled at Makapela with several significant drill intersections including 7.19 metres grading 64 g/t Au, 4.28 metres at 32.6 g/t Au, 3.47 metres grading 24.9 g/t Au, 4.09 metres at 21.7 g/t Au and 4.35 metres grading 17.5 g/t Au.

There are two principal, subvertical mineralized units at Makapela: (a) Reef 1, a quartz vein emplaced into a shear zone which crosscuts the basalt sequence at an acute angle and has an average true width and grade of 2.15 metres @ 11.15 g/t Au, and has been drilled over a strike of 480 metres and to a maximum vertical depth of 480 metres; and (b) Reef 2, an assemblage of brecciated quartz within a sheared BIF unit over a strike of at least 3 kilometres. The best Reef 2 mineralization occurs over a strike of 480 metres, where it has an average true width and grade of 3.52 metres @ 8.44 g/t Au. Good potential exists for locating additional blind gold mineralization along well-defined structures over an aggregate strike of over 5 kilometres.