Details of the current underground Mineral Resource Estimates (“MRE’s”) for the South Zone, FMN and Franz deposits, as determined by P&E Mining Consultants Inc. (“P&E”) were reported as part of the 2025 PEA. The MRE’s were estimated on the basis of a database including, among other information, 355 surface drill holes, totalling 121,971m. A total of 145 drill holes (50,714m) were intersected by the mineral resource wireframes used in the 2025 PEA.
P&E validated the Mineral Resource database in GEMS™ by checking for inconsistencies in analytical units, duplicate entries, interval, length or distance values less than or equal to zero, blank or zero-value assay results, out-of-sequence intervals, intervals or distances greater than the reported drill hole length, inappropriate collar locations, survey and missing interval and coordinate fields. Some minor errors were identified and corrected in the database.
Block models were constructed using GEOVIA GEMS™ V6.8.4 modelling software and consist of separate model attributes for estimated Au, Ag and AuEq grade, rock type (mineralization domains), volume percent, bulk density, and classification. The Mineral Resource was classified as Indicated and Inferred based on the geological interpretation, variogram performance and drill hole spacing. The QPs also consider mineralization at the South, Franz and FMN Zones to be potentially amenable to underground mining methods. The revised MRE used for the 2025 PEA were reported with an effective date of February 28, 2025 and is tabulated in Table 1.
Table 1 - Shovelnose Underground Mineral Resource Estimate @ 1.3 g/t AuEq Cut-off (1-7)
| Classification |
Zone |
Tonnes
(k) |
Au
(g/t) |
Contained Au
(k oz) |
Ag
(g/t) |
Contained Ag
(k oz) |
AuEq
(g/t) |
Contained AuEq
(k oz) |
| Indicated |
South |
3,107 |
6.18 |
616.8 |
33.1 |
3,302.8 |
6.56 |
655.2 |
| Franz |
89 |
7.44 |
21.2 |
30.9 |
88.0 |
7.80 |
22.2 |
| FMN |
241 |
5.07 |
39.2 |
22.5 |
173.7 |
5.33 |
41.2 |
| Total |
3,437 |
6.13 |
677.2 |
32.3 |
3,564.5 |
6.50 |
718.6 |
| Inferred |
South |
1,386 |
3.79 |
168.6 |
16.5 |
736.8 |
3.98 |
177.2 |
| Franz |
63 |
3.48 |
7.1 |
51.9 |
105.4 |
4.09 |
8.3 |
| FMN |
843 |
3.49 |
94.6 |
37.5 |
1,017.3 |
3.93 |
106.5 |
| Total |
2,292 |
3.67 |
270.3 |
25.2 |
1,859.5 |
3.96 |
292.0 |
In completing the 2025 PEA, a financial model was developed to estimate the Life of Mine (“LOM”) plan and considered only underground mining of Mineral Resources at the South, Franz and FMN Zones. Other known gold-silver mineralization at the Shovelnose property, currently being evaluated by Westhaven, were not included.
The LOM plan covers a 13.1-year period (2 years pre-production and 11.1 years of production). Currency is in Q1 2025 Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated. Inflation has not been considered in the financial analysis.
The Updated PEA outlines a production mine life of 11.1 years with average annual production of 56,000 ounces gold and 312,000 ounces silver at average respective cash costs and all-in sustaining costs ("AISC") per ounce gold equivalent of $1,161(US$836). The PEA considers the payable recovery of 637,000 oz gold and 3,562,000 oz silver from an underground operation, at average respective mine production grades of 5.26 g/t and 32 g/t.