1997 Avalon Oil Pan litter

[AnotherOldJeepGuy]

My son pulled his oil pan to put in a new gasket, and maybe a new pan cause the drain plug location  is a little messed up / bent, and he sent me the pic below.  He said he doesn't really see where the chips in the pan came from.  The car is running well just has an oil leak.  Any thoughts on where these might have come from?  I'm going to ask him to double check they are really metal with a magnet, cause just from the pic it looks like it could possibly be pieces of the old gasket to me, but all I have to go by is the pic.  Any thoughts?