Prieska Copper-Zinc Project in process of finding financiers

Negotiations with potential project financiers for the Company’s flagship Prieska Copper-Zinc Project are progressing well, with term sheets expected in the coming months.

Project execution preparatory work streams for the Prieska Project are advanced including:

• Preparation and negotiation of key supply contracts (including EPCM candidate contractors, bulk power supply and mine operating contractors);
• Ongoing preparation of project management systems (including compilation of the Project Charter and defining the Owner’s team requirements); and
• Formulating plans to commence mine dewatering, a critical path item, ahead of full-scale project construction approval.

Due diligence investigations were progressed to support Orion’s proposed acquisition of controlling ownership of the Okiep Copper Project (OCP), an extensive historical copper mining complex located 570km north of Cape Town.

This transaction will complement the development-ready Prieska CopperZinc Project and marks a major step towards Orion realising its ambition of becoming a major new long-term supplier of ‘green’ metals to fuel the global energy transformation.

Positive Scoping Study for the OCP completed, confirming the potential for early cash-flow and ‘proofof-concept’ copper production, with results from the study confirming:

• Okiep-style deposits have the potential to be mined at low cost by both open pit and underground mining methods;
• Potential exists to rapidly advance the project to production, with critical permitting processes already underway;
• A ‘proof-of-concept’-scale operation requiring low upfront capital investment can provide commercially attractive returns and early cash flows; and
• Potential exists for significant operational synergies with the fully-permitted Prieska Copper-Zinc Project, also located in the Northern Cape Province, which now awaits funding before mine construction commences.

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with South Africa’s Council for Geoscience (CGS) to collaborate on exploration initiatives to advance the geological understanding of South Africa’s Northern Cape.

First collaboration under Orion/CGS agreement is a 1,827km² regional SkyTEMTM Survey targeting copper sulphide mineralisation hosted in mafic intrusive bodies, with a high-priority focus on the OCP area.

This survey commenced in June 2021. Orion secured the grant of the Boksputs North Prospecting Right, with drilling now underway to test a highly-conductive EM anomaly that straddles the boundary between Orion’s Masiqhame Prospecting Right and the newly-granted Boksputs North Prospecting Right.

IGO progresses exploration in the Fraser Range, WA with the completion of a high temperature Squid moving loop EM survey to assist with prioritising targets for diamond drilling in the September Quarter. Four targets are scheduled to be drilled.