Monumental Minerals Corp. (Monumental or the Company) provided an update on drilling at the Jemi rare earth element (REE) project (the Project) in Coahuila, Mexico, about 40 km south of the Texas, USA border. One diamond drill rig from Globexplore Drilling SA commenced drilling on the Veladora North prospect area within Monumental's claims starting in early July to test areas with high concentrations of REE-mineralized dykes and sills at the surface (see Company's news release dated July 12, 2023).

To date, 1800 meters (m) have been drilled, with borehole depths ranging from 50 to 321 m. Twelve holes have been completed, and drilling of a final 13th hole is currently underway, with a target depth of 50 to 75 m. The first batch of 188 samples has been sent to ALS Laboratories (Zacatecas, MX) and results are expected in approximately 3 weeks. Numerous intrusive peralkaline dykes, sills, and veins, with identifiable eudialyte were intersected in the completed holes. Eudialyte is the mineral that is most commonly associated with REEs at Jemi.

These peralkaline dykes and sills tend to occur in structural zones that appear to be adjacent to larger bodies of syenitic intrusions and are associated with irregular skarn mineralization at the contacts with the host carbonate sedimentary rocks. These zones are as much as several tens of meters in width downhole. The syenite may be the feeders for the peralkaline features (parental rocks) and pegmatitic intrusive rocks.

Light rare earth element (LREE) bearing minerals such as monazite and xenotime have also been identified by visual inspection. The Jemi project is characterized by broad areas of peralkaline intrusion-related REE mineralized dykes and sills at the margins of the La Vasca igneous complex observed at that surface (see Company's news release dated April 4, 2023). These intrusive bodies contain high grades of heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) dysprosium (Dy) and terbium (Tb), light rare earth elements (LREEs) neodymium (Nd) and Praseodymium (Pr), all critical to permanent magnets for EVersus.

Additionally, samples contain high concentrations of niobium (Nb) and tantalum (Ta).