Lion One Appoints Ian Chang as Chief Development Officer for Advancement of the Tuvatu Gold Project in Fiji, Grants Options

NORTH VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 12, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lion One Metals Ltd. (TSX-V:LIO) (ASX:LLO) (OTCQX:LOMLF) (the “Company”) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Ian I Chang, M.A.Sc, P.Eng., as Chief Development Officer. Mr. Chang has over 30 years of experience in executive roles, project and engineering management ranging from smaller high-grade underground gold mines to large-scale projects, and will lead the advance of Lion One’s fully permitted high-grade underground Tuvatu Gold Project located near Nadi on the island of Viti Levu in the Republic of Fiji.

From 2011 until 2016 Mr. Chang was Vice-President, Project Development for Pretium Resources Inc., where he managed the feasibility study and subsequent development of Brucejack, Pretium’s $1 billion, 2,700 tonne per day (tpd), high grade underground gold project. Mr. Chang’s corporate responsibility encompassed all capital project development at Pretium including engineering, procurement, and construction of all roads, powerlines, site infrastructure, work camps, processing facilities, and related permitting.

Mr. Chang was previously Project Director and Head of Project Management for Fluor Canada Limited, with responsibility for the management of EPCM for mining and metal projects, including the EPCM contract for Vale's $3 billion Long Harbour nickel-copper-cobalt refinery in Newfoundland. Over the course of his career he has held management, engineering and commissioning roles on a number of projects that have progressed through feasibility to successful operation. His roles have included: project manager for the engineering and procurement portion of the US$650 million mine expansion of Minera El Abra in Chile; pre-feasibility study manager for a 2,000 tpd mine at Meadowbank in Nunavut; project manager for the design of the 3,300 tpd Musselwhite gold mill; project engineer on the engineering, construction and commissioning of the copper and zinc autoclave system of Hudson Bay's Flin Flon operations; mechanical engineer involved in the design for the column flotation cells at the Campbell Red Lake mine and for the design of the 450 tpd gold-silver concentrator at the Mineral Hill mine in Montana. Mr. Chang holds Bachelor and Master of Applied Science degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of British Columbia and is a registered professional engineer.

Lion One CEO Walter Berukoff commented “On behalf of the Lion One Metals team, we would like to welcome Mr. Ian Chang to the company’s senior management and Fiji operations team. Ian’s EPCM and project development skillset will be invaluable to Lion One, and will be a cornerstone of our technical team as we transition through development at Tuvatu.”

The Company also announces it has granted incentive stock options to various directors officers, and employees of the Company, for the purchase of 1,200,000 common shares of the Company. The Options each have an exercise price of $1.00, are exercisable for a period five years, and vest over a three year period from the date of grant. The grant of Options is subject to acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Lion One
Lion One Metals Ltd. is focused on the development of its fully permitted high grade underground Tuvatu Gold Project located near Nadi on the island of Viti Levu in the Republic of Fiji. For more information on Lion One including diagrams, maps, photos, and technical reports please visit the Company’s website at www.liononemetals.com or the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

On behalf of Lion One Metals Ltd.
“Walter H. Berukoff”
Chief Executive Officer

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release may contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward looking information. Generally, forward-looking information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "proposed", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. This forward-looking information reflects Lion One Metals Ltd.’s current beliefs and is based on information currently available to Lion One Metals Ltd. and on assumptions Lion One Metals Ltd. believes are reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to, the actual results of exploration projects being equivalent to or better than estimated results in technical reports, assessment reports, and other geological reports or prior exploration results. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Lion One Metals Ltd. or its subsidiaries to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: the early stage development of Lion One Metals Ltd., general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of current research and development or operational activities; competition; uncertainty as to patent applications and intellectual property rights; product liability and lack of insurance; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; changes in legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting mining, timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; not realizing on the potential benefits of technology; conclusions of economic evaluations; and lack of qualified, skilled labor or loss of key individuals. Although Lion One Metals Ltd. has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Lion One Metals Ltd. does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

For further information please contact  
Stephen Mann, Managing Director (Perth, Australia) Tel: 604-973-3007 
Hamish Greig, Vice President (North Vancouver, BC) Tel: 604-973-3008 
Joe Gray, Investor Relations (North Vancouver, BC) Tel: 604-973-3004 
Toll Free IR Line (North America) Tel: 1-855-805-1250 
Email: info@liononemetals.com