Pan American Energy Announces Research Collaboration with the University of Regina, including Investigation of Geomicrobiology for Identifying Drill Targets at the Big Mack Lithium Project

Pan American Energy to partner with Dr. Cameron and the Institute of Microbial Systems and Society at the University of Regina for upcoming Spring 2024 Exploration Program

CALGARY, Alberta, May 06, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pan American Energy Corp. (CSE: PNRG | OTCQB: PAANF | FRA: SS60) (“Pan American” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce it is collaborating with the University of Regina (“U of R”) with respect to its research project entitled “Geomicrobiology for detecting rare metal deposits”. As part of the collaboration, the Company is planning a comprehensive field prospecting and sampling program utilizing eight students specializing in geosciences from the U of R at the Big Mack Lithium Project (“Big Mack” or the “Project”), including the planned collection of soil microbiology, soil chemistry, rock chemistry, ground water chemistry, soil mineralogy, environmental DNA, and vegetation biochemistry using the base layer of magnetics collected by the Company in 2023. Laboratory analyses will be conducted by Dr. Cameron and his team in the Institute for Microbial Systems and Society at the U of R as well as by the Saskatchewan Research Council, with the intent of using geomicrobiology to help generate drilling targets at Big Mack. The research project is currently under review by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (“NSERC”) for a grant under the Alliance Grants – Mitacs Accelerate project to support sampling, DNA sequencing, and analyses.

Geomicrobial survey is an emerging technology that seeks to detect subsurface deposits by identifying and enumerating microbial species in soil samples. Geomicrobiology is intended to complement existing geochemical and geophysical exploration by observing how microbial communities in shallow soil are shaped by the geological formation below. Microbial community profiling can then be used as additional information in drill target selection. At Big Mack, samples will be taken at areas of known mineralization to observe the specific microbial species and the structure of microbial communities. Sampling will begin at the Big Mack Pegmatite and work outwards to other areas of the Property, making use of the drilling data generated by the Company in its 2023/2024 drilling program at Big Mack to correlate samples with areas of detected mineralization (Fig. 1). The intent of the program is to detect relationships between the microbial communities at the Project and the features of the surrounding geology which can be integrated into exploration models and inform drill target selection.