Highlights of the Feasibility Study

Total gold recovered of over 1.10 million ounces over an approximately 11-year open pit life of mine (“LOM”) with average gold production of 100,000 ounces per annum and an average diluted grade of 2.26 grams per tonne (“g/t”) gold;
Pre-tax Net Present Value at a 5% discount rate (“NPV 5%”) of $484 million and a pre-tax Internal Rate of Return (“IRR”) of 31.2%, with a projected pre-tax payback of 2.7 years;
After-tax NPV 5% of $328 million and an after-tax IRR of 25.5%, projected after-tax payback of 2.9 years;
Maiden Open Pit Probable Mineral Reserves of 1,150,200 ounces of gold (15.8 million tonnes (“Mt”) at 2.26 g/t gold);
Open pit Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources of 1,422,000 ounces (15.7 Mt at 2.82 g/t gold) and Underground Measured and Indicated Mineral resources of 1,159,000 ounces (5.9 Mt at 6.09 g/t gold);
Open pit Inferred Mineral Resources of 66,000 (0.98 Mt at 2.11 g/t gold) and Underground Inferred Mineral Resources of 418,000 ounces (2.2 Mt at 5.89 g/t gold);
Initial capital cost (“Capex”) of $271 million and LOM sustaining capital of $63.1 million;
LOM Operating Cash Costs of $966 (US$773) per ounce¹ and All-In Sustaining Costs (“AISC”) of $1,062 (US$849) per ounce¹;
Projected creation of approximately 345 direct full-time jobs during construction and 215 direct full-time jobs during operations, while generating in excess of $226 million in federal and provincial tax payments;
Mill capacity of 4,000 tonnes per day (“tpd”) based on a combined gravity and leaching circuit, yielding an average gold recovery of 95.8%; and
At a gold price of $2,200 (~US$1,760), Goldboro could generate cumulative after-tax net cash flows of approximately $684 million, an after-tax NPV 5% of over $442 million and an after-tax IRR of 31.7%.

With Strong Opportunity for Further Value Creation

Ongoing infill drilling has the potential to reduce the strip ratio and positively impact NPV and IRR by upgrading Inferred Mineral Resources coincident with the current open pit designs based on Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources only;
Potential for Mineral Resource expansion, particularly towards the west with further exploration of a 1.5-kilometre-long area along strike of the existing Goldboro Deposit (“Deposit”) towards the past producing gold mine at Dolliver Mountain;
The Goldboro Deposit has been drill tested to only 500 metres and remains open at depth. A future study will consider upgrading and expanding potentially mineable underground Mineral Resources as part of the longer-term mine development plan.

The Goldboro Gold Project Feasibility Study

The Feasibility Study, with a report date of January 11, 2022, was completed by Nordmin Engineering Ltd. (“Nordmin”) as Lead Mining and Geological Consultant. Ausenco Engineering Canada Inc. (“Ausenco”) acted as Metallurgical and Processing Consultant, Knight Piésold Ltd. (“Knight Piésold”) as Tailings Consultant, GHD Ltd. (“GHD”) as Site Water Management and Environmental Consultant, Lorax Environmental Services Limited (“Lorax”) as Geochemistry Consultant, and McCallum Environmental Ltd. (“McCallum”) as Consultation and Permitting Consultant.

Table 1: Summary of Key Estimated Results and Assumptions in the Feasibility Study

Production Data	Values	Units
Life of Mine	10.9	Years
Processing Rate	4,000 / 1.46	tpd / Mtpa
Recovered Gold	1.10	Moz
Average Gold Recovery	95.8	%
Pre-production Tonnes Mined	4.1	Mt
Total Material Mined (including pre-production)	142.6	Mt
Total Ore Tonnes Mined	15.8	Mt
Overall Strip Ratio	8.0	waste: ore
Total Tonnes Milled	15.8	Mt
Average Annual Gold Production	100	koz
Average Mill Feed Grade	2.26	g/t gold

Capital Costs	Values	Units
Initial Capital, Direct Cost Estimate	193.9	C$M
Initial Capital, Indirect Costs and Contingency	77.1	C$M
Total Initial Capital Costs	271.0	C$M
LOM Sustaining Capital Costs, including Indirect Costs and Contingency	63.1	C$M
Total Reclamation and Other Costs	50.3	C$M
Total LOM Capital Costs	384.5	C$M

Operating Costs	Values	Units
Open Pit Mining	4.99	C$/t mined
Processing	13.45	C$/t milled
Refining and Transport	4.23	C$/oz
Water Management and Treatment	1.16	C$/t milled
Site Support Costs	8.70	C$/t milled
Total Operating Cost	67.05	C$/t milled
Average Operating Cash Cost per Ounce ¹	966 (US$773)	C$/oz
Average All-In Sustaining Cost per Ounce ¹	1,062 (US$849)	C$/oz

Financial Analysis	Values	Units
Gold Price Assumption	$1,600	US$/oz
Exchange Rate	1:1.25	US$:C$
Gold Price Assumption	$2,000	C$/oz
Pre-Tax Unlevered Free Cash Flow	755	C$M
Pre-Tax NPV 5%	484	C$M
Pre-Tax IRR	31.2	%
Pre-Tax Payback	2.7	years
After-Tax Unlevered Free Cash Flow	529	C$M
After-Tax NPV 5%	328	C$M
After-Tax IRR	25.5	%
After-Tax Payback	2.9	years
LOM Direct Income and Provincial Mining Taxes	226	C$M

Notes:

Refer to "Non-IFRS Financial Measures" below.

Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources Estimate

Mineral Reserve Estimate

The Mineral Reserve Estimate presented in Table 2 was prepared by Independent Qualified Person Joanne Robinson, P.Eng., of Nordmin.

Table 2: Mineral Reserve Statement for the Goldboro Gold Project – Effective Date of December 15, 2021

Category	Area	Cut-off Grade (g/t gold)	Tonnes (t)	Diluted Grade (g/t gold)	Contained Gold Metal (Troy ounces)
Probable Mineral Reserve	East Pit	0.45 g/t	5,468,300	2.54	446,000
Probable Mineral Reserve	West Pit	0.45 g/t	10,330,600	2.12	704,200
	Total	0.45 g/t	15,798,900	2.26	1,150,200

Mineral Reserve Estimate Notes

Mineral Reserves were prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 and the CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (2014) and the CIM Estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Best Practice Guidelines (2019). This estimate of Mineral Reserves may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, or other relevant issues.
The Effective Date of the Mineral Reserves Estimate is December 15, 2021.
The Mineral Reserve Estimate is based metallurgical recovery algorithms which result in an overall average recovery of 95.8%.
Metal prices are set at US$ 1,600/oz gold with an exchange rate assumption of 1US$:1.25C$ resulting in C$2,000/oz
The Mineral Reserve was derived from a pit limit analysis and detailed pit design. A cut-off grade of 0.45 g/t gold was based on parameters described in Table 3.
The Mineral Reserve Estimate incorporates mining dilution and mining loss assumptions through regularization of block size to 2mx2mx4m. An additional 5% mining loss assumption was incorporated. The overall impact is approximately 26% additional tonnes and approximately 8% reduction in contained gold.

Mining Methods

Conventional open pit mining methods will be used to extract a portion of the Deposit. This method was selected considering the deposit’s size, shape, orientation, and proximity to the surface. Drilling, blasting, loading, and hauling will be used to mine the open pit material within the designed pit to meet the mine production schedule.

Open pit mining will include conventional drilling and blasting with a combination of a backhoe type excavator, hydraulic excavator, and front-end loader type excavator loading broken rock into haul trucks, which will haul the material from the bench to the crusher, run of mine (ROM) stockpile or waste stockpiling areas depending on the material type. Ancillary equipment includes dozers, graders, and various maintenance, support, service and utility vehicles. This Technical Report considers a mining contractor operator scenario.

The FS is based on a conventional truck-shovel open pit mining operation within two pits. The open pit production period is approximately 10.9 years with 1 year of pre-production (prior to process plant start-up). It is envisaged that the PMF will be loaded directly into the processing plant crusher hopper but there will be a need for a ROM stockpile to allow for stoppages, for stockpiling in the pre-production period, and possibly some blending. The operation scenario for the FS involves:

Open pit mining at an average mining rate of 12.8 Mt per year.
Gold process facility with a 1.46 Mtpa (4,000 t/d) capacity.
Approximate 6 month ramp up period in Year 1 (YR1) for process facility.
1 year pre-production mining period to coincide with the tailings management facility (TMF) Initial Stage development.

Infrastructure

The main Project infrastructure components include the mine and process plant supporting infrastructure, site accommodation facilities, TMF, external and internal access roads, power supply and distribution, freshwater supply and distribution, and the water treatment plant.

The Property is situated on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia, Canada, with the central point of the Property being approximately located at 45° 12’ 2.6” N latitude and 61° 39’ 2.0” W longitude.

The Property will have access to the substantial infrastructure, services, and skilled labour in the area. There will be reduced infrastructure cost requirements due to its location near Route 316 compared to a remote mine site location. The Property is approximately 175 km northeast of the city of Halifax, 60 km southeast of the town of Antigonish, and 1.6 km north of the village of Goldboro, on the eastern shore of Isaac’s Harbour, in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, Canada. A secondary gravel road (Goldbrook Road), accessed from Route 316, crosses the Property, and passes near the historic Boston Richardson shaft and exploration decline. Smaller logging roads and trails provide good access to most areas of the Property. The elevation is nominally 70 m above sea level. The regional labour force includes experienced equipment operators, mine workers and material and equipment suppliers.

The majority of the earthworks will be realized in the preparation of the mine infrastructure, process plant and TMF infrastructures. Haulage roads on site will be built to withstand frequent heavy traffic between the proposed open pit, ROM stockpile and TMF. They will be wide enough to accommodate two trucks passing between the pits and ROM stockpile at 16.5 m with a grade no greater than 10%. The road to and from the tailing’s management facility will be 11 m wide for one-way traffic by haul trucks.

In total, approximately 5,300 m² of ancillary buildings (not including the employee accommodations and process plant buildings) have been provided.

These ancillary infrastructure buildings will be pre-engineered steel structures founded on conventional spread footing foundations. Space has been provided for future buildings provided by the mining contractor or in the case of expansion during operations.

Power for the site is anticipated to be provided from a nearby Nova Scotia Power 25 kV distribution line installed along Route 316. A 1.6 km tap line would be installed along a new right of way to the mine site main substation. Nova Scotia Power would upgrade their existing distribution system as necessary to be able to provide the additional power required. Peak power demand for the site is estimated to be 10 MW, with the average demand estimated to be 7.5 MW. A network of 13.8 kV overhead distribution lines would be installed at site to provide power sourced from the main substation for the mine and surface infrastructure

Water supply infrastructure includes one intake structure, two booster stations, one transmission watermain from Gold Brook Lake to the mill freshwater tank and to the potable water treatment unit; and distribution piping to supply potable water throughout the Project site (mill, emergency response transport (ERT) facility, plant office, general office, mine dry, core storage, truck shop and employee accommodation). A transmission watermain from Gold Brook Lake to the processing plant buildings is to provide a raw water source to support mill process operations and site wide potable water, hence the watermain flowrate was estimated based on the potable and process water demands (22 m³/h).

Gold Brook Lake was considered as the source water, the treatment requirements were established based on the Canadian Drinking Water Guideline, and potable water treatment was sized assuming an equal flowrate for both potable water and wastewater (16 m³/h).

Two separate wastewater treatment units were developed to service employee accommodation (with 350 people) and other buildings/facilities including mill, ERT facility, plant office, general office, mine dry, core storage, truck shop (with 84 people). Sewage flow rates as well as treatment requirements were adopted from the Atlantic Canada Wastewater Guidelines Manual for Collection, Treatment and Disposal, 2006.

The mine water management plan (MWMP) and associated design measures have been developed based on the proposed feasibility level mine site arrangement with inputs from the Company and the Consultants. The MWMP will be implemented during the construction phase and will be adjusted as necessary throughout the mine operations and closure phase.

Site contact water will be managed to meet the following regulatory discharge requirements prior to discharge to the natural environment:

Metal and Diamond Mining Environmental Regulations (MDMER) Objectives
Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) Guidelines for the Protection of Aquatic Life
Tier 1 Nova Scotia Environment Quality Standards (EQS) for Surface Water
Site specific criteria (based on background)

Based on predictive water quality modelling, it is understood that the water quality at some locations may be acceptable for discharge to the environment with total suspended solids (TSS) removal as the only form of treatment (where MDMER objectives are met). Where this is not the case, contingency measures (shutoff valves and pumps etc.) will be put in place to redirect water towards the nearest water treatment system (WTS) in case of exceedances. The primary objectives of the MWMP are as follows:

Provide mechanism to dewater and treat ponded water within the Project Area to allow for development and excavation of mine infrastructure (e.g., pit, waste piles, haul road etc.).
Capture, treat and provide controlled discharge for all site contact water during construction and operations.
Divert all off site clean water away from the mine site infrastructure to reduce the total volume of water entering the settling ponds for treatment.

Permitting and Compliance

To date, the Company has arranged access to the Property for the purpose of exploration through agreements with both private and Crown entities. Much of the Property, including all the BR, EG historical workings, is underlain by Crown Land. Similarly, access to private lands, and securing agreements with landowners has been generally manageable. At the effective date of this Technical Report, the Company held access agreements that specifically apply to surface core drilling. The Company has the necessary Crown Land permits for additional drilling and trenching or expects to receive them through normal exploration permitting process.

The Project will require the acquisition of some privately owned property. The Company has engaged a third-party to complete the relevant property assessments, negotiate property acquisitions, and manage and document the process. Should some individuals refuse to sell through this process, the Company would then pursue the expropriation process to acquire the property which could cause delays, however, would unlikely cause any delays in the overall permitting process.

The Company continues to successfully manage the Industrial Approval (IA) related to the underground Bulk Sample collected in 2018.

The presence of past mining operation infrastructure, including several historical tailings sites associated with the past operation of the historical Boston Richardson Mine within the Gold Brook Lake-Seal Harbour Lake watershed, are recognized as important environmental site factors. Provincial regulators indemnified Orex in 1995 from any environmental liabilities resulting from historical mining activities, assuming that old tailings storage areas are not impacted during exploration or mining activities. A historic tailings management plan will be developed in consultation with Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change (NSECC) to manage the areas that will be directly disturbed by the Project.

The Company plans to submit an Environmental Assessment Registration Document (EARD) to Nova Scotia Environment (NSE) for a Class 1 Environmental Assessment in Q2 2022. As such, baseline studies and related modelling efforts are ongoing. Critical provincial authorizations are required to proceed with mine development, operation, and reclamation, including an IA. Applications to federal authorities are also required, including a Fisheries Act Authorization through Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) for alteration and destruction of fish habitat and a Schedule 2 addition for tailings placement. Applications for these approvals or permits have not been made at the effective date of this Technical Report, but will be submitted at various points throughout 2022/23.