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Option Agreement for Tailings Project, Peru

In brief · summary, not quotable

Nativo's joint venture Boku signed option agreement to evaluate recovery of gold and silver from Toma La Mano tailings deposit in Peru.

  • Tailings deposit size approximately 1.8Mt
  • Gold grades in tailings 0.1 to 1.7 g/t
  • Silver grades in tailings 10 to 37 g/t
  • Processing rental fee US$3 per tonne
  • Initial royalty fee 6.5% on revenues
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Nativo Resources plc (LON:NTVO), which has interests in gold mines in Peru, is pleased to announce the signing of an option agreement (the "Agreement"), via the Company's 50%-owned Peruvian joint venture Boku Resources SAC ("Boku"), pursuant to which Boku will evaluate the opportunity to recover and sell gold and silver from the Toma La Mano tailings dump and redeposit the tailings in line with legislation.

Toma La Mano is in the Ancash region of central Peru, 42 km north of the city of Huaraz, and is 100% owned by a private Peruvian company, Corporación Minera Toma la Mano S.A. (the "Owners"). The Owners operate a polymetallic tolling plant on the site, extracting lead, zinc, copper, and silver from third party ore.

The tailings deposit, which is the subject of this Agreement, is the accumulation of tailings from a former polymetallic mine operated by the Owners and the output from the tolling plant. In Peru, the socio-environmental risks associated with historical mine tailings include water and soil contamination and air pollution leading to potential health issues for communities living near mining sites due to exposure to toxic elements, and disruption of local ecosystems. The re-mining of old tailings enables remediation of the sites, decreasing these long-term environmental and social impacts. Since the tailings have been previously processed, re-processing uses less energy, has lower greenhouse gas emissions, and creates the likelihood of little or no further land degradation.

Based on historical records, the Toma La Mano tailings deposit contains approximately 1.8Mt of polymetallic material. From processing records, the grades of the material put into tailings have been reported at between 0.1 and 1.7 g/t gold and between 10 and 37 g/t silver. Historical recoveries and therefore residual grades are not known precisely.

The Agreement allows Boku, for a period of up to three years, to analyse the deposit and undertake a resource estimate and feasibility study, which will include detailed metallurgical analysis to report on recovery rates and process optimisation. During the three-year period, Boku shall have the option to make a Final Investment Decision ("FID") and establish a processing plant to clean the tailings and recover and sell the precious metals in return for a rental fee of US$3 per tonne of tailings processed and an initial royalty fee of 6.5% on revenues, which will increase to 7% once Boku recovers 30% of its expenditure. Boku will not have any ownership interest in the asset.

Stephen Birrell, Chief Executive Officer of Nativo, commented:

"This Agreement is for the first of a series of seven similar tailings cleaning projects identified by Boku and Nativo in the region.

The opportunity is straightforward, as tailings dumps like Toma La Mano present an environmental liability for their owners and need to be dealt with. Boku's strategy is to process the tailings dumps with modern technology, via a centralised processing plant, extract the gold and silver for a royalty fee, remediate the land, and redeposit the tailings in line with modern legislation.

We view this as a low-cost, low-risk strategy, with quick and cheap resource definition and limited capex and opex. If perfected, the model is highly scalable with deposits known throughout Peru requiring a cleaning solution. With highly favourable gold prices, these projects represent a win-win for all stakeholders, and we look forward to working with the Owners to conduct the feasibility study. We are targeting FID by Q1 2026."

LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/company/nativoresources-plc

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Cleaned text: letterheads, contacts and legal notices removed. View the original announcement ↗ · Company filings. Not investment advice.

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