Development Assets

Environmental and Permitting Considerations

• The US Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) issued a Record of Decision (“ROD”) for the Gold Rock project in September 2018, completing the federal National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) permitting process for a mine and related infrastructure at the site. The ROD covers the proposed expansion of the existing historical open pit and construction of two waste rock disposal areas, a heap leaching facility with an adsorption/desorption refining plant, a carbon-in-leach plant and tailings storage facility, roads, ancillary support facilities, and additional exploration areas.

• State level permitting will be required prior to the initiation of construction at Gold Rock. This process is typically initiated once the project design is at a more advanced stage. The process requires submitting applications for all major state level permits, such as the reclamation, water pollution control and air permits, as well as less extensive submittals for more minor permits such as blasting, septic system, and building permits. State permitting generally takes from six to nine months to complete, however a 12-month state permitting window has been incorporated in the overall project schedule. State permitting would take place simultaneously with construction level design work and other development activities.

• The PEA provides an updated mineral resource estimate and a base case assessment of developing the Project as a satellite open pit operation that will share significant infrastructure and management with the adjacent Pan Mine. The PEA also identifies a considerable number of opportunities to enhance the project economics as Gold Rock advances to the Feasibility stage by drilling to increase the mineral resource, further metallurgical testing aimed at improving recoveries, and geotechnical drilling aimed at reducing the stripping ratio.

• The Gold Rock Project consists of a large 20,300-hectare contiguous land package on the Battle Mountain-Eureka Trend, anchored by the former Easy Junior Mine, which reportedly produced approximately 2.6 million tonnes at a grade of 0.89 grams per tonne for 74,945 gold ounces in the early 1990s.

• The mineralisation at Gold Rock is hosted by the folded and faulted Joanna Limestone Formation, where the historical resource covers only about 3 km of a >13 km long belt. This belt contains the same folded and faulted Joanna Formation, displaying strong Carlin-style alteration (silica flooding, jasperoids) and coincident gold and pathfinder element anomalies throughout its strike length. This area is considered highly prospective for additional discoveries. At least nine distinct targets defined by Carlin-type structure, geochemistry and alteration have been located by surface sampling and mapping, with drilling on three of the targets currently underway.

• The ROD covers the proposed expansion of the existing open pit and construction of two waste rock disposal areas, a heap leaching facility with an adsorption/desorption refining plant, roads, ancillary support facilities, and additional exploration areas. The ROD also allows for inclusion of a carbon-in-leach plant and tailings storage facility if required for a future phase of the project.