Nevada Copper provides update on Pumpkin Hollow restart

Nevada Copper provides an update on restart activities at its Pumpkin Hollow underground mine located in Yerington, Nevada. Restart Progress: Underground development completed in Q2 2023 increased 65% to 1,424 feet as compared with Q1 2023. Small Mine Development, Nevada Copper’s development mining contractor, continues to ramp-up following their mobilization in June, with a 25% increase in average daily development footage in July compared with June development. In Q2 2023, restart preparations for the mill and process plant advanced as planned and the mill is on track to restart in September 2023. The surface stockpile has increased to approximately 73,000 tons of crushed ore, in preparation for sustained process operations on planned mill restart in September 2023. Mining of the first stope began in early August and is expected to be completed before the end of August to provide an open stope for paste backfill placement to allow for commissioning of the paste plant. Dumas Contracting USA completed all vertical and lateral development for the underground ore handling project and, as a result, the project has been turned over to RAM Enterprise, Inc. for the installation and commissioning of all mechanical and electrical components including the conveyors and crusher systems. Dumas also advanced the Geho de-watering system installation and expects to have the new Geho pumps running by the end of the third quarter of 2023. To date, the Company has rehabilitated ore passes #1 and #2 and expects to complete ore pass #3 in August 2023. The Nevada Copper workforce has increased year to date by 30% to 177 employees, not including the development and projects contractor workforce; the largest workforce in the Company’s history. Nevada Copper reiterates its outlook for 2023 with the principal objective of achieving nameplate milling throughput of 5,000 tons per day by the end of the year and all critical underground infrastructure complete and sufficient advance development to support sustained operations. With the vent shaft project complete, underground lateral development continues to ramp-up as SMD increases staffing levels to meet development expectations. Lateral development over the second half of 2023 is planned to be 16,000 ft of combined primary and stope development. Commissioning of the underground crush and convey system is now scheduled for late October 2023 reflecting delays in underground excavation. To support the start of stope mining by the Company in September, existing ore passes and the surface crusher are being utilized until commissioning of the underground crusher is complete. Mill restart is scheduled in September 2023 at an expected rate of approximately 3,500 tons per day. The mill and paste plant will be re-commissioned on low-grade stockpiled ore. Mill capacity and grade are expected to increase through the balance of 2023, however, milled grades will remain lower than average stope grades, as lower grade development ore constitutes a higher percentage of mill feed through these early commissioning months. The Company plans to truck its first concentrates in late September with first revenues expected in the fourth quarter.