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Introduction

The Challenger Project is located ~730km NW of Adelaide, South Australia and ~130km NW of the Tarcoola Project. It comprises the Challenger Mine, the Challenger Mill, a mine village and associated infrastructure.

The Challenger Mine was discovered in 1995 by Dominion Mining and produced ~1.2Moz Au in operations from 2002 – 2018. The Challenger Mill is a ~650ktpa CIP processing plant for production of gold doré.

The Challenger Mine is maintained in a state of care and maintenance. Due to the depth of the mine and requirement for substantial investment to renew the geological understanding of the deposit at depth, it is not a priority focus for the Company.

However, the Challenger Mill presents an opportunity for processing regional mineralisation in the vicinity of the mill. It also provides an attractive option for trucking and processing of ore from the Company’s Tarcoola Project, which was previously undertaken during 2017 and 2018. The Challenger Mill is maintained in a state of care and maintenance.

Challenger Mill with Loading Ramp to Hopper and Ball Mill Circuit

Mineralisation

Gold mineralisation at the Challenger Mine occurs in deformed quartz veins within narrow plunging lodes hosted by gneiss. The mineralised structures are interpreted to have a high level of continuity with individual shoots being mined and interpreted through drilling data for over 2,200m of plunge extent from surface (1,193mRL). The deposit extends from surface to -147 m RL (~1.3km depth).

Challenger lodes include Challenger West (CW), Challenger South-Southwest (CSSW), Aminus, M1, M2, M3 and South East Zone (SEZ). The lodes are offset some 150m in plan by the 215 Shear at a depth of 900 – 1,000 metres, but continue to plunge at a similar orientation below the shear and all are open to depth. M1 and M2 have been mined on several levels below the 215 Shear. The deposit has been developed to ~1,130m depth (065 mRL).

The Challenger Mine currently hosts a JORC (2012) Mineral Resource Estimate of 65.6koz Au (0.53Mt @ 3.9 g/t Au) in remnants areas above the 215 Shear and in ‘Challenger Deeps’ below the 90mRL level.*

* See full JORC (2012) Mineral Resources Estimate here

Challenger Deposit Long Section Looking Southwest (Solid Colours = Resource Estimate Areas)