Prefeasibility Study (2025) - Rupert Resources

IKKARI PFS: COMPELLING PROJECT ECONOMICS WITH LEVERAGE TO HIGHER GOLD PRICES

Probable Mineral Reserve of 52Mt at 2.1g/t Au for 3.5Moz Au
After-tax Net Present Value (5% discount) (“NPV”) of $1.7 billion with unlevered Internal Rate of Return (“IRR”) of 38% and payback after 2.2 years, assuming long term market consensus gold price of $2,150 per troy ounce (“oz”). NPV of $2.5 billion with IRR of 49% and 1.7 year payback at $2,650/oz.
Expected lowest quartile all-in sustaining cost (“AISC”) of $918/oz over LOM, and $717/oz during years 1 to 10 primarily due to a high open pit grade and low strip ratio.
Long life: 20-year life of mine (“LOM”) comprising an open-pit operation for the first 10 years with average annual production of 227koz per annum, transitioning to an underground operation (years 10 - 20).
Manageable initial capital requirement of $575 million including contingency with project maintaining the low capital intensity indicated by the 2022 Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”).
100% Contained within Rupert Property: All project infrastructure contained within Rupert’s 100% owned exploration licences. Access road, power line and discharge pipeline permitted though separate auxiliary permitting process and do not require siting on mining or exploration permits held by Rupert Resources.
First gold pour targeted in 2030 based on Environmental Impact Assessment (“EIA”) submission and Definitive Feasibility Study (“DFS”) initiation in H2 2025, a 24-month permitting timeline and a 2½ year construction period.

Resources

NI 43-101 Tech Report

PFS Investor Presentation

PFS press release

Overview

The Ikkari PFS envisages a staged mine design to minimise waste stripping and enable early production from high grade areas in the open pit. The open pit will produce ore for 10 years before transitioning to a long hole open stope (“LHOS”) underground mine from year 10 for the remainder of the 20-year LOM. Both the grade and the low strip ratio in the open pit are key drivers of a lowest quartile ASIC operation set out in the PFS. An expected lowest quartile all-in sustaining cost (“AISC”) of $759/oz is outlined over LOM, and $717/oz during the first ten years.

HIGHLIGHTS

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS


Life Of Mine	Years	20
Net Present Value (5% discount rate)	USD Million	1,700
Internal rate of return (unlevered)	%	38
Payback	Years	2.2
Capital expenditure (Initial)	USD million	570
Capital expenditure (Sustaining)	USD million	571
Gross revenue	USD million	7,200
Operating cost	USD million	2,400
Free cash (after tax)	USD million	2,800

PRODUCTION HIGHLIGHTS

		Years 1 to 10	LOM (20 years)
Milled tonnes	Million tonnes	35.0	52.0
Mill throughput	Million tonnes per annum	3.5	2.6
Strip ratio	Waste : Ore	3.6	3.6
Average processed grade	Grams per tonne (gold)	2.1	2.1
Average metallurgical recovery	%	95.8	95.8
Average annual gold production	000 troy ounces (k oz)	227	167
Recovered gold	Million troy ounces	2.3	3.3
Total Cash Cost	$ / troy ounce	603	747
Sustaining Capital	$ / troy ounce	115	171
All in Sustaining Cost (AISC)	$ / troy ounce	717	918

Ikkari PFS production profile

Cash cost per ounce is defined as production cost of sales per gold equivalent ounce, includes selling expenses.

All-in sustaining cost

As per the World Gold guidance (Gold All in Sustaining Costs | Gold AISC | World Gold Council) available at www.gold.org/gold-standards/non-gaap-metrics-guide, the objective of the AISC metric is to provide stakeholders (i.e. management, shareholders, governments, local communities, etc.) with transparent and comparable metrics that reflect as close as possible the full cost of producing and selling an ounce of gold, and which are fully and transparently reconcilable back to amounts reported under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”) as published by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) or the International Accounting Standards Board (“IASB” also referred to as “IFRS”). AISC is a non-GAAP metric.

Free cash flow is defined as net cash flow expected to be provided from operating activities less capital expenditures included in net cash flow from operating activities. The Company believes that this measure, which is used internally to evaluate the Company’s underlying cash generation performance and the ability to repay creditors and return cash to shareholders, provides investors with the ability to better evaluate the Company’s underlying performance. However, this measure is not necessarily indicative of operating earnings or net cash flow provided from operating activities, as determined under IFRS.

Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE)

The Ikkari Mineral Resource estimate reflected in the Ikkari Technical Report has been prepared in accordance with NI 43-101. The methodology used to determine the Mineral Resource estimate is consistent with the CIM Estimation of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserves Best Practices Guidelines (November 2019) (the “CIM Best Practice Guidelines”) and was classified following CIM Definition Standards. Mineral Resources are reported inclusive of Mineral Reserves. Numbers are affected by rounding. Ounces stated are troy ounces and g/t = grams per tonne. Cut-off grades under the base case scenario are informational only do not demonstrate reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction (RPEEE).

The Qualified Person for the Ikkari MRE is Mr. Brian Thomas, P.Geo. B.Sc, an independent Qualified Person within the meaning of NI 43-101 and an employee of WSP Canada Inc. based in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

The effective date of the 2023 Mineral Resource estimate for Ikkari is 24th October 2023. The Mineral Resource estimate at Ikkari is interpolated using Ordinary Kriging (OK) and is reported both within a Whittle optimized open pit shell and as a potential underground operation outside that. Underground Mineral Resources are constrained within the estimation domains to meet the RPEEE criteria for UG mining. The Mineral Resource estimate at Ikkari is reported using a cutoff grade of 0.4g/t Au for mineralisation potentially mineable by open pit methods and 0.9g/t Au for mineralisation potentially extractable by underground methods. The open pit and underground cut off-grades are calculated using a gold price at $1700 per ounce; 95% Au metallurgical recovery; open pit mining costs at $2.9/t; underground mining cost at $29/t; process costs at $11.3/t; G&A, Rehab and Closure $4.8/t and a royalty of 0.75%. The calculated cutoff grade is rounded up to 0.4g/t for reporting. The calculated underground cutoff grade is rounded up to 0.9g/t. The associated technical report was filed on SEDAR+ on 12 December 2023 and is restated in filing on SEDAR+ on 18 February 2025

Mineral Resources are reported inclusive of Mineral Reserves

Mineral Reserve Estimate (MRE)

The Mineral Reserve estimate reflected in the Ikkari Technical Report was estimated by converting the open pit and underground resource through the application of modifying factors. Indicated Resources have been converted to Mineral Reserves. Inferred Mineral Resources have been considered as waste with grades set to zero. The estimation of Mineral Reserves followed the CIM Best Practices Guidelines and is in accordance with CIM Definition Standards and NI 43-101.

The Ikkari open pit and underground Mineral Reserve estimate, with an effective date 25 November 2024, was prepared under the supervision of WSP Technical Director Mr. Timothy Daffern, who is the independent Qualified Person, within the meaning of NI 43-101, responsible for the Mineral Reserve estimate.

Tonnages are rounded to the nearest 100,000 and ounces are rounded to the nearest 1,000. Mineral Reserves are based on a gold price of US$1,700/oz. and metallurgical recovery is based on a fixed recovery of 95.0%. Open pit Reserves are stated using a 0.34 g/t cut-off. Open pit Mineral Reserves are converted from Mineral Resources through the process of pit optimisation, mine design, schedule and are supported by a positive cash flow analysis. Open pit Reserves include an allowance for 4% dilution and 4% mining losses applied in the production schedule. Underground Mineral Reserves are stated using a 1.04 g/t cut-off. Underground Reserves are generated through the generation of optimised stopes, design of long hole open stoping, schedule and are supported by a positive cash flow analysis. Underground Mineral Reserves account for planned dilution of 15%, unplanned dilution of 6%, secondary dilution of 3% and with mining losses of 4%. Mineral Reserves are defined at the point where ore is delivered to the plant and all figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimates. Totals may not sum due to rounding.