Operational Update

Arc Minerals (LSE: ARCM), an exploration company forging partnerships to discover and develop Tier 1 copper deposits, is pleased to provide an update on activities at its Joint Venture project in Zambia and at its Virgo Project within the highly prospective Central Structural Corridor of the Kalahari Copper Belt ('KCB') in the Republic of Botswana.

Highlights

Zambia:

• Following the end of the rainy season, the Arc Minerals Joint Venture partner has commenced work at site
• Work programme to include core diamond drilling, initially at two identified targets

Botswana:

• Ground IP Survey over copper targets in PL 135/2017 anticipated to be completed by next week
• First phase of 2,000m Reverse Circulation Drill Programme to commence this quarter
• Prospecting License Renewals submitted

Nick von Schirnding, Executive Chairman of Arc Minerals, commented:

"We are thrilled to be commencing drilling activities imminently in both Zambia and Botswana, following a lengthy rainy season in North West Zambia.

Extensive studies have been carried out on the stratigraphic hole which was completed by our joint venture partner in December 2023, providing valuable insights and geological data of the deeper part of the Kabompo basin.

We are also very excited to move onto the next stage by ramping up activities on our licences in Botswana with drilling to commence this quarter."

Zambian Exploration Field Season

Arc is progressing its Zambia Copper Project through its 67% subsidiary, Unico Minerals Limited, as part of a joint venture. The joint venture partner has an earn in arrangement by which they are required to undertake a significant amount of project expenditures (see announcement dated 10 November 2023). The joint venture partner has also assumed operatorship of the project. Over the course of the rainy season a thorough geological technical review of the project was initiated by the joint venture partner to evaluate its status and identify potential opportunities. The directors are advised that through expansive consultations, rigorous data analysis and information obtained from the recent stratigraphic hole, the review team appointed by the joint venture partner has generated valuable insights that has culminated in a work program for 2024 which will entail:

• LiDAR Survey to assist in determining the surface outcrop positions with precision;
• Detailed geological mapping, spectral and pXRF analysis of samples collected providing a deeper understanding of the geological context of the area in relation to the stratigraphic horizons of interest;
• Core Diamond drilling in areas that are deemed prospective to host copper and nickel mineralisation; and.
• Further ground-based geophysics to understand the underlying basin and sub-basin geometry

The joint venture partner exploration team has already been to site in recent weeks and mobilisation for the 2024 exploration season commences imminently. The Directors look forward to providing more detailed updates as work progresses.

Botswana Geophysical Survey

The Company has contracted 3D Earth Exploration ('3DEE') to conduct a Gradient Array Induced Polarisation ("IP") survey over one of the prospective parts of its wholly owned PL 135/2017 license in Botswana. This ground IP will help resolve the 3D orientation of structures and lithologies while also helping to discriminate between types of conductive structures and providing targets for drilling.

Following a c.30 line-kilometre bush and shrub clearance started in March 2024, the ground IP survey commenced on 22 April 2024 and has been extended to cover additional areas that 3DEE has recommended based on the field results observed to date. The extended programme will approximate to c.35 line-kilometres over the selected part of the license area and is expected to complete within the next few weeks. Further updates will be provided on the results of this survey when they are available.

Botswana Drill Programme

The results from the IP survey referred to above, will inform a first phase c.2,000m reverse circulation ('RC') drill programme to target the generated anomalies within the PL135/2017 license.

Drilling contractors have been invited to tender for the eight- to ten-hole drill programme, which is expected to commence this financial quarter and take approximately one month to complete.

Botswana License Renewal Applications

The Company's Botswana subsidiary has this week lodged renewal applications for both the PL135/2017 and PL162/2017 licenses that are due to expire later this year. This is an administrative process and the Directors see no reason why the licences will not be automatically renewed in accordance with their terms. The renewals will extend the period by which the Company can continue exploring the Virgo Project licenses for a further two years (and so would expire in 2026).

Additional information on the Virgo project is set out in the Appendix at the end of this announcement.

Qualified Persons

Appendix

Botswana: Background on the Virgo Licenses

PL 135/2017 License

The Company's PL135/2017 prospecting license is surrounded on three sides by the prospecting licences of Khoemacau Copper Mining Limited ("Khoemacau"), who have recently been acquired by MMG for c.US$1.9 billion.

This PL135/2017 license is located towards the south-eastern margin of the KCB occupying a similar geological setting to that recently drilled by Khoemacau at their recent Mawana Fold Discovery and the Zone 9 exploration target, where economic grades of copper mineralisation has already been intersected by drilling. These discoveries are located at the north-western and south-eastern margins of the Company's prospecting license, respectively.

Khoemacau's Mawana fold discovery has defined a possible economic zone of copper mineralisation that appears to trend towards and into the Company's PL 135/2017 license (Figure 1.). The Company's recent scout drill holes intersected anomalous grades of copper mineralisation close to this apparent trend and confirmed an east-west trending DKF-NPF contact position approximately 5km long running through the license.

Fig 1. Image showing Khoemacau license holding, targets and drilling results in relation to PL 135/2017.

In November 2021, Arc Minerals Limited acquired a 75% interest in Alvis-Crest (Proprietary) Limited, the holder of two prospecting licences (PL 135/2017 & PL 162/2017) in Botswana's Kalahari Copper Belt ("KCB"), colloquially called the Virgo Project/Licences. These licenses, cover an area of over 210km2, with PL 135/2017 approximately 10km south-east of the large underground Khoemacau Copper mine recently commissioned by Cupric Canyon Capital LP.

A map of the licences is available here:

The Virgo Licenses cover an area of over 210km2 and lie within (PL 165/2017) and adjacent (PL 135/2017) to the highly prospective Central Structural Corridor and within 10km and 50km of the Zone 5 and Banana Zone copper projects respectively, known as the two largest copper projects on the KCB.

Glossary of Technical Terms