The Minera Don Nicholas property (“MDN”) is 100% owned by Cerrado Gold Inc and is located in the mineral rich Deseado Massif in the province of Santa Cruz, totalling 333,340 ha’s of concessions.

MDN is producing operating mining from two separate open pit areas, La Paloma and Martinetas. Which in turn feed a central 1,000 tpd carbon in leach (“CIL”) gold recovery plant.

Throughout the concessions and 333,400 ha hectares the MDN operation consists of over 10 separate deposits discovered to date and a proliferation of priority targets yet to undergo significant exploration.

The Deseado Massif hosts numerous Middle to Late Jurassic age geothermal and epithermal features represented by siliceous and calcareous chemical precipitates from hot springs, hydrothermal breccias, quartz veins, and widespread hydrothermal silicification.

Gold and silver mineralisation is typically hosted in low sulphidation, epithermal deposits where mineralisation occurs within sub-vertically oriented quartz-breccia veins.

MDN is situated within the world renowned Deseado Massif where the underlying geology of the region is dominated by rhyolitic and andesitic volcanic and tuffaceous volcaniclastic lithologies of Middle to Upper Jurassic age (130 to 170 ma).

The Deseado Massif region is host to several multi-million ounce epithermal gold and silver deposits including Cerro Vanguardia (Anglo Gold Ashanti), Cerro Negro (Newmont GoldCorp), Cerro Morro (Yamana) with most discoveries major discoveries as recent as 1990’s onwards. 

At La Paloma, the Sulfuro-Esperanza-Rocio vein system comprises narrow, accurate, steeply dipping quartz-breccia veins. The Sulfuro vein is the main deposit and is represented by a single, well developed quartz vein typically 2 to 8 metres (m) in thickness and has a primarily northwest-south southeast orientation with a steep southwest dip. Associated sulphide minerals include pyrite and minor galena and sphalerite.

The La Paloma veins remain open-ended at depth. At Martinetas, multiple mineralised structures occur as “vein swarms” with the development of minor intervening stockwork veins and veinlets. A number of resource areas have been delineated at Martinetas. The principal resource is obtained from the Coyote and Cerro Oro deposits which comprise a series of narrow, sub-parallel, anastomosing quartz veins varying in width from tens of centimetres (cm) to several metres, and typically averaging 1 m in thickness.

Effective Date April 1, 2024

Notes to Mineral Resources

Mineral Resource estimates were prepared by the May 10, 2014 edition of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (or CIM) Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (“2014 CIM Definition Standards”) and disclosed in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Minerals Project (“NI 43-101”).

The Qualified Persons for the estimation of Mineral Resources are Calandrias Sur, Calandrias Norte, Zorro, Paloma Trend and Stockpiles - Orlando Rojas, P.Geo, Member AIG, a GeoEstima SpA employee and Armadillo, Baritina, Baritina NE, Cerro Oro, Coyote, Choique, Mara and Trofeu - Sergio Gelcich, P.Geo, MAusIMM (CP) Geo, Vice President, Exploration, a Cerrado Gold employee.

Mineral Resources have an effective date as of: (a) April 1st, 2024, for Calandrias Sur, Calandrias Norte, Zorro, Paloma Trend, Armadillo, Baritina, Baritina NE, Cerro Oro, Coyote, Choique, and Trofeu; (b) August 31st, 2020, for Mara satellite.

Mineral Resources estimated using an average long-term metal price of US$2,100.0/oz of Au and US$25.0/oz of Ag. For Mara satellite, an average long-term metal price of US$1,550.0/oz of Au is considered, assuming a mining cost of US$2.65/t, plant cost of US$32.0/t, and selling costs of US$127.0/t.

Recoveries depend on the type of host mineralization and the extraction method being utilized for the minerals. For the carbon-in-leach (CIL) process, Au recovery is based on historical metallurgical recovery, which is 90% for Au and 61% for silver. For the Heap Leach process (HL), Au recovery is based on metallurgical test works and depends on the zone. Au recovery is 70% in the Oxide zone, 60% in the Transitional zone, and 40% in the Primary zone. The silver recovery is 30% in all zones.

Mineral Resources in open pit are reported within pit shell constrain and above a cut-off grade: Calandrias Sur has a variable cut-off - 0.27 g/t Au for the Oxided zone, 0.31 g/t Au for the Transition zone and 0.46 g/t Au for Primary zone; Calandrias Norte - 1.46 g/t Au; Zorro, Armadillo, Baritina, Baritina NE, Cerro Oro, Coyote, Choique, Mara and Trofeu - 0.3 g/t Au. In Paloma Trend, Mineral Resources are reported within a cut-off grade of 1.95 g/t for underground mining shapes. A minimum mining width of 1.5m was used for resource shapes.

The estimated costs are: Calandrias Sur - plant cost of US$11.08/t; Calandrias Norte – plant cost of US$78.33/t; Zorro – plant cost varying from US$ 13.35 for HL process and US$ 68.20 for CIL process; Depleted Satellite – plant cost of US$40.0/t. The selling costs of US$242.90/t and mining costs of US$3.50/t was assumed for all open pit costs of US$3.50/t was assumed for all open pit were assumed for all open-pit mining. For underground shapes, the mining costs are US$40.0/t, plant costs are US$65.0/t and selling costs are US$242.9/t. The exchange rate considered is ARG 917.25 / 1 USD.

Density was assigned and interpolated based on specific gravity values by domain.

Numbers may not be added due to rounding.

The mining team consists of approximately 140 employees. Mining is conducted via a company owned and operated mine fleet of drill, truck, excavators and other ancillary mining equipment. The operations commenced in 2019 as an open pit CIL operation with mineralized material produced from deposits in the Paloma and Martinetas regions which are mostly depleted of ready to mine resources. In 2023, MDN added a heap leach operation to process the mineralized material from Calandrias Sur open pit. The PEA is focused on the development and mining of the high grade Calandrias Norte open pit to be processed through the existing 1,000 tpd CIL plant until late 2024 and the ongoing operations and expansion of the Calandrias Sur heap leach operations until at least 2028. In addition, the PEA has envisaged the development of an initial small scale underground mining operation upon which future underground exploration is expected to extend the mine life; and the processing of low-grade mined material in the Martinetas area from several stockpiles.

The process plant is operated and maintained by our own team consisting of 106 employees.

Material mined is processed via a traditional crushing and grinding circuit followed by a carbon in leach circuit for gold recovery. The rated capacity of the plant is 1,000 tpd, however, higher rates of up to 1,200 tpd have been realized. Gold recovery is expected to average over 90%.

Power for the plant and other services is provided by five 1MVA gas fired generators of which 2 are on standby. A diesel back-up generator is also available to supply critical needs

Minera Don Nicolás, along with other institutions, collaborates to improve social conditions in the local community and the province of Santa Cruz. Approximately 73% of the MDN employees are from Santa Cruz.

Community relations at Minera Don Nicolás includes activities with an impact on culture, education, sports, tourism, employment and health, as part of the commitment to the economic and social welfare for the people of Jaramillo and Fitz Roy, the two nearest communities.