Flanagan Bore

The Company’s lead project since listing is the Flanagan Bore Project, part of the Carawine JV. The Company successfully increased the Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for Flangan Bore by 64% in November 2022 to 171 Mt @ 10.3% Mn containing 18Mt of manganese comprising:

• FB3 Deposit: 116 Mt @ 10.2% Mn (45% Measured and 55% Indicated)
• LR1 Deposit: 56 Mt @ 10.4% Mn (90% Measured and 10% Indicated)

The updated MRE was completed after a follow up drilling program was completed aimed at investigating extensions to mineralisation as well as infill drilling to increase the confidence of the Mineral Resource.

Manganese enriched shale has now been delineated from surface at the FB3 deposit extending over an area of 1200m x 1000m. The assays received from the May/June 2022 RC drill program completed at FB3 have confirmed the folded nature of the shales and manganese mineralisation that is plunging shallowly to the southwest.

Deeper drilling completed as part this infill phase have yielded much thicker intervals of mineralisation than previously encountered, which expanded the FB3 Mineral Resource Estimate and global mineral resources at Flanagan Bore as described below.

Significant results are listed below.

• 47m @ 13.6% Mn from 0m (FBRC231), including
  • 23m @ 15.9% Mn from surface
• 39m @ 13% Mn from 2m (FBRC232), including
  • 12m @ 15.8% Mn from surface
• 51m @ 12.3% Mn from 0m (FBRC239), including
  • 18m @ 16.6% Mn from surface
• 36m @ 13.2% Mn from 0m (FBRC238), including
  • 11m @ 16.5% Mn from surface
• 64m @ 10% Mn from 5m (FBRC255)
• 53m @ 10% Mn from 0m (FBRC247)
• 47m @ 11.2% Mn from 1m (FBRC242)
• 6m @ 24.1% Mn from 0m (FBR228)

Flanagan Bore mineralisation and Mineral Resource

The previous Mineral Resource (refer to ASX announcement 13 April 2022) at Flanagan Bore comprised 104Mt @ 10.5% Mn (Indicated) has been significantly expanded and upgraded to 171 Mt @ 10.3% Mn (58% Measured and 42% Indicated) containing 18 Mt of manganese (refer to ASX announcement 24 November 2022). This represents a substantial increase of 67 Mt of total tonnage and 7Mt of contained manganese from the previous Mineral Resource. This firms up the project’s significance on a global scale which is further enhanced by its location in a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction.

The Mineral Resources at LR1 and FB3 are outcropping, and form pronounced topographic features. The Mineral Resources defined at LR1 and FB3 have been estimated based on 516m of historic reverse circulation (RC) drilling from 2012, 4,312m (RC) drill program completed in December 2021 and 7436m (RC) drill program completed in June 2022.

The Mineral Resource Estimate is based on drill holes on traverses completed on 100m spaced lines and 100m drill hole centres. The drill data shows manganese grades are strongly continuous downhole and across strike, which has significantly improved the confidence in the estimate and supports the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource classification. High-grade manganese mineralisation is encountered from surface at FB3 and LR1 with zones of continuous mineralisation typically between 20 to 40m thick.

Global Mineral Resource Estimate for FB3 and LR1 Deposits at Flanagan Bore November 2022

A shallow, high-grade subset of mineralisation has been delineated across the LR1 and FB3 Mineral Resources and presented in Table 2. At an elevated cut-off grade of 11% Mn the Mineral Resource estimate totals 40 Mt @ 13% Mn with 25 Mt @ 13.2% Mn now classified as Measured.

As the Company progresses the development and feasibility studies, having access to high grade manganese Mineral Resources from surface has the potential to add significant value.

High-grade Zone Mineral Resource Estimate from the FB3 and LR1 deposits at Flanagan Bore November 2022

Type section 278,430 mE mid-point (looking north-east) showing FB3 Mineral Resource model cells and drill holes coloured by Mn grade (%) (2x vertical exaggeration)

Metallurgical Testwork Delivers >30% Mn Grade

In June 2022, the Company announced highly promising results from initial metallurgical testwork, achieving concentrate grades of more than 30% Mn. A total of three composite samples (PQ3) were tested from across the LR1 and FB3 deposits where a higher-grade subset of the Mineral Resource Estimate comprising 33Mt @ 12.8% Mn (Indicated) has been defined (ASX release 13 April 2022). Preliminary discussions with commodity marketing specialists indicate that manganese concentrates with similar key characteristics to the potential ore processed at Flanagan Bore would be suitable for silico or ferro manganese alloying as feedstocks into the steel manufacturing industry.

Further engagement with a number of commodity traders and other interested parties will continue as the Company refines it flowsheet to deliver a saleable manganese product.

Flanagan Bore Scoping Study

In August 2022, the Company released positive results from a Scoping Study at Flanagan Bore, based on the increased Mineral Resources and metallurgical testwork. The Scoping Study was based on a plant throughput of 1.8Mtpa, producing 500ktpa manganese concentrate per annum over an initial 20 year mine life.

Key Metrics

Production Target (total)	19.8Mt @ 12.9% Mn
Initial Mine Life	20 Years
Annual concentrate production	500kt
Project Capital Expenditure	A$44 million
Payback Period	<2 Years
Total LOM Revenue	A$2,282 million
Total LOM EBITDA	A$420 million
AISC (CIF, A$/t Mn conc)	192
NPV8 (before tax, real)	A$134 million
IRR (before tax)	67%

Additional Targets Defined at Flanagan Bore

The manganese mineralisation at Flanagan Bore related to the LR1 and FB3 deposits is associated with regional northeast trending open synclinal fold. Additional manganese-enriched shale units have been identified along the limbs and have not been systematically drill tested. The fold appears to be semi-continuous along 10 km of strike from LR1 to around the nose at FB3 and associated fold limbs to FB5 and FB6.

These targets are summarised below:

• L1 and TF1 Prospects: located along strike to the east of the LR1 deposit and extending to FB3 the L1 and TF prospects have historically drill tested with 4 drill holes and more recently 4 holes the Company completed from the December 2021 drill program. The results have been encouraging and similar to those already drilled into LR1 and FB3 but there remains 2000m of strike that requires more systematic drill testing.
• FB1/FB2 Prospects: as reported to the ASX on the 10 June 2021 and 23 March 2022 the RC drill results received from FB1 showed a range of widths and manganese grades consistent with those encountered at LR1 and FB3. The mineralisation is related to a folded manganese shales with the thicker more prominent bands of manganese-enriched shale forming topographic rises. The structural complexity at FB1 maybe responsible for enhancing the manganese grade and the target requires further evaluation.
• FB5/FB6 Prospects: as reported on the 23 March 2022 a single line of RC drilling was completed at FB5 targeting outcropping and sub-cropping manganese-enriched shale. The drill holes confirmed the northwest dipping manganese enriched shale with a cross strike width of at least 400m intersected. The drilling completed at FB5 has only tested a small section of the 5km long zone of mapped manganese mineralisation that extends to the southwest towards the FB6 prospect. On this basis the target area has high potential to form a substantial zone of manganese enrichment.

The Company is looking forward to drill testing these targets in the next phase of exploration to improve the tonnage potential understanding Flanagan Bore.