Generation Mining Updates on Metallurgical Test Programs and Initiates a Pilot Plant - Seite 2

The Phase 2 metallurgical and the pilot plant will involve three bulk sample composites with varying Palladium (Pd) and Copper (Cu) content from freshly excavated material in the Main Zone, W-Horizon, and a composite previous collected in 2012. The range in grade and material types will allow the Company to optimize process design criteria and Pd-Cu recovery, while advancing predictive Geo-Met modeling to estimate Life of Mine plan metal recoveries from the deposit.

The progress that has been realized on Phase 1 and Phase 2 testing to date:

1. Optimized initial grind size and applied flotation reagents to maximize platinum group metals (PGM) and Cu recovery to rougher concentrate;
2. Optimized rougher concentrate regrind size and cleaner circuit performance to maximize PGM-Cu capture to final concentrate;
3. Confirmed the applicability of magnetic separation for pyrrhotite mineralization associated with the Marathon Palladium project to provide NSR optionality for separate PGM-Cu and iron sulfide-PGM-Cu concentrates;
4. Confirmed the applicability of a cycloned coarse/fine fraction of rougher tailings that would be subject to additional regrinding to provide incremental PGM recovery for the project;
5. Validated the performance of Woodgrove Direct Flotation Reactor (DFR) technology which would provide similar or improved PGM-Cu recovery at higher concentration ratios (lower mass pull);
6. Implementation of DFR technology will decrease the footprint associated with the flotation portion of the processing plant; a smaller footprint will reduce the capital cost associated with the construction and is expected to decrease the plant operating costs and carbon footprint through reduced energy consumption;
7. Confirmed that the alternate flowsheet (Figure 1) for plant design has improved performance and operability over previously defined process concepts from the 2020 PEA (Technical Report 6 July 2020).

“We believe that the processing plant flowsheet is an improvement over the past design and the metallurgical testing programs have shown improved recoveries. The achieved successes and the validation of the flowsheet will be carried forward in Feasibility Study designs and into the subsequent detailed engineering phase. We see the achieved recoveries and overall design to be very positive for the overall Project”, stated Drew Anwyll, Chief Operating Officer, Generation Mining.