Tag: NQMI

NQ Minerals Plc (AQSE: NQMI, OTCQB: NQMLF, OTCQB:NQMIY), the base and precious metals producer from its Hellyer Gold Mine in Tasmania Australia, has announced that it has raised £274,805 (gross) at 7 pence per share from a UK based Institutional investor and a group of private investors for general working capital purposes and the Company will issue 3,925,789 new ordinary shares under this equity issue.

Admission and Settlement

Application has been made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on the Aquis Exchange and admission is expected to occur on or around 21 September 2020. Upon Admission, the Company will have 381,120,917 ordinary shares of 0.1p each on issue, each carrying the right to one vote. There are no shares held in treasury.

The total voting rights in the Company will therefore be 381,120,917 and shareholders may use this figure as the denominator by which they are required to notify their interest in, or change to their interest in, the Company under the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules. The placing is conditional upon the terms of a placing agreement and the shares being admitted to trading on the Aquis Exchange.

About NQ Minerals

NQ Minerals PLC is listed on the London’s Aquis Stock Exchange (AQSE) under the ticker NQMI and has it’s 1:100 ADR traded on the US OTC QB under the ticker NQMIY, and its ordinary shares are dual traded on the US OTC QB under the ticker NQMLF. 

NQ Minerals operations are in Australia. NQ commenced base metal and precious metal production in 2018 at its 100% owned flagship Hellyer Gold Mine in Tasmania. Hellyer has a published JORC compliant Mineral Resource estimated at 9.25 Mt which is host to Gold at 2.57 g/t Au for 764,300 oz Au, Silver at 92 g/t Ag for 27,360,300 oz Ag, Lead at 2.99% Pb for 276,600 tonnes and Zinc at 2.57% Zn for 217,400 tonnes. In addition to these resources, the Hellyer assets include a large mill facility and full supporting infrastructure, including a direct rail line to port. The Company is also planning to reopen the historic high-grade Beaconsfield Gold Mine in Tasmania, which has a JORC (2012) compliant Mineral Resource Estimate of 1.454 Mt at 10.3 g/t Au for 483,000 ounces of gold.

NQ Minerals plc (AQSE:NQMI, OTCQB:NQMLF, US ADR OTCQB:NQMIY) has announced that it plans to break a 10-year hiatus in exploration work at its highly prospective Hellyer Project, located in the Mt Read Volcanic Belt; a geological terrain in NW Tasmanian renowned for large scale and high-grade polymetallic (copper-lead-zinc-silver-gold) deposits.

The Hellyer deposit was a large scale, rich high-grade lead-zinc mine. Past production under Aberfoyle (1986 – 2000) totalled 16.5 million tonnes at 13.9% zinc, 7.2% lead, 0.4% copper, 167 g/t silver and 2.5 g/t gold and under Bass Metals (2010-2012) totalled 0.5 million tonnes at 7.8% zinc, 4.2% lead, 0.3% copper, 101 g/t silver and 1.7 g/t gold from the Fossey Mine. There has been no exploration work undertaken on the Hellyer Mine Lease since underground mining operations ceased in mid-2012.

NQ is currently producing lead and zinc concentrates (with significant gold and silver credits) by reclaiming the Hellyer Mine tailings generated from the former mining operations and processing through the Hellyer concentrator plant at the rate of over 1.2 million tonnes per annum.

Since acquiring the exclusive rights to the underground resources at Hellyer from Bass Metals Ltd on 7 January 2020, NQ has commenced interrogating a high-quality data set acquired from Bass. It is clear that work essentially ceased ‘mid-stream’ in early 2012 and left several significant ‘open’ targets’ at a time when Bass was at the cusp of gaining a greater understanding of the key ore-deposit indicators. This follows their discovery of the Fossey deposit only 150 metres south of the large-scale Hellyer deposit, but in the footwall zone, below the classic ‘Hellyer ore position’, where the majority of exploration was targeted for the previous 30 years.

Ten years later, with the benefit of significantly more advanced exploration tools, specifically more powerful geophysical techniques, NQ has commenced a systematic review of these targets, focused initially on ‘prioirty-1’ areas, namely in close proximity to the known deposits and existing mine infrastructure.

NQ Minerals Executive Chairman, Mr David Lenigas, said;

“There is now significant potential to define new and extensive high-grade mineralisation at Hellyer, one of the world’s great polymetallic high-grade mines. We are operating in one of the mostly highly mineralised geological terrains in the world and we have a golden opportunity to continue Bass’s work from 2012 to build-up the existing significant underground resource inventory and extend the Hellyer mine life to underpin this operation for a very long time. The tailings reprocessing Phase 1, now running at over 1.2 million tonnes per year, has another 8 years to run with its current lead/zinc strategy and will generate significant cash flow for the Company, but it’s a finite resource. Stage 2 of the current operations will focus on recovering the significant gold and silver inventory in the tailings, but metallurgical test work continues with respect to this next phase of tailings reprocessing. To move Hellyer back into underground mining is a logical and natural progression, especially considering we have the Hellyer plant fully operational.”

Mineralisation on the Hellyer Mine Lease comprises massive base metal sulphide lenses within the core of a broadly folded volcanic-sedimentary sequence which plunges to the north-northeast. As the mineralisation generally does not outcrop, geophysics has played a vital part in mineral discoveries in the Hellyer region and down-hole electromagnetics (DHEM) is a core technique. NQ has now completed a first pass review of historical DHEM data for 8 surveyed drill holes in the priority-1 area. Remodelling work of the DHEM undertaken by Southern Geoscience, with input from former Hellyer geologists, has highlighted the significant enhancement in modelling software, and has identified four high priority targets/zones (Target 1 to 3B), which warrant follow-up exploration work, as presented in Figure 1, and represent significant potential for further base metals discoveries.

Note: Figure 1: Modelled DHEM Target Locations and Schematic Geology – Hellyer Mine Lease can be viewed in the appended PDF accessible from the link at the bottom of this announcement and in the news release version available on the Company’s website, nqminerals.com.

Geophysical Modelling Outcomes

The four high priority target zones to be followed up were identified in areas of known mineralisation and or significant alteration near the prospective ‘ore-forming’ stratigraphic horizon adjacent to the Hellyer underground mine envelope.

The modelled targets comprise ‘plates’ representing modelled conductive bodies, potentially massive base metal sulphide lenses. Due to constraints imposed by the data from historical surveys, the modelled plates are not well ‘constrained’ in terms of 3-D spatial co-ordinates, which is essential for efficient follow up drill testing. A number of potential model scenarios are presented, and spatial/geometry variance is currently high without further modern, high powered DHEM surveying efforts and re-modelling.

The following notes provide a summary overview of the high priority targets modelled:

·    Target 1 – is associated with an extensive zone of alteration which hosts the McKay Prospect discovered in July 2011 – 7 metres at 22.3% Zn, 9.9% Pb, 0.7% Cu, 181 g/t Ag and 3.4 g/t Au. This intercept was in HLD 1030, which is the drill hole utilised for the DHEM which generated the modelled target-plates illustrated in Figure 2, as well as an ‘in-hole’ conductor representing the mineralisation intersected. Follow-up drilling at the time around this intercept failed to significantly extend this very high-grade massive base metal sulphide lens but did extend the zone of prospective alteration. The modelled plates, within the extensive alteration zone, highlight the potential for a significant mineralised body associated with this McKay zone mineralisation (refer Figure 2).

·    Target 2 is a high priority target located immediately southwest of the Hellyer deposit.  The modelled plates based on DHEM survey of HLD975, occur within prospective stratigraphy with anomalous geochemistry and strong alteration – in close proximity to both the Fossey and Hellyer mine development (Refer Figure 3).

·    Targets 3A and 3B both occur within the historical Switchback Prospect where a large-scale alteration system and several mineralised intercepts were recorded. This area has also yielded highly encouraging trace element and isotope data indicating the presence of volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) mineralisation. Due to structural complexities, the original source for high-grade VMS clasts intersected previously such as in HED012 (4.85 metres at 1.6% Zn, 1.2% Pb, 18 g/t Ag and 0.9 g/t Au) has never been found; if preserved this represents an exciting base metal sulphide target.

·    Targets 4 is a lower priority target zone occurring in the interpreted hanging wall to the main Hellyer ‘ore-position’ at depth to the north of the Hellyer deposit.

·    Target 5 is also a lower priority target to the north of Hellyer – requiring additional interpretive work prior to any further assessment of this deep target zone.

Note: Figure 2: Schematic Long section – Looking West with Modelled Target 1 Plates Illustrated can be viewed in the appended PDF accessible from the link at the bottom of this announcement and in the news release version available on the Company’s website, nqminerals.com.

Note: Figure 3: Schematic Long section – Looking East with Modelled Target 2 Plates Illustrated can be viewed in the appended PDF accessible from the link at the bottom of this announcement and in the news release version available on the Company’s website, nqminerals.com.

Next Steps

NQ is planning a major program to assess these preliminary modelled targets which is planned to include:

·    Assessing the condition of each of the DHEM surveyed drill holes and possibly neighbouring holes to be able to re-enter and case with PVC to the required depth.  The PVC casing is necessary to protect the DHEM probe which is lowered into the drill hole and costs c.$100,000 to replace if the hole collapses and it cannot be recovered.

·    As required, clear the drill hole utilising a small drill rig and case with PVC pipe.

·    Resurvey and clear lines at surface to enable wire loop arrays (several kilometres in length) to be laid out on the ground as part of the new DHEM survey – for each target zone.

·    Mobilise geophysical contractor to Hellyer to undertake the DHEM surveys.

There have been significant enhancements to DHEM equipment since the last DHEM surveys were run at Hellyer approximately 10 years ago. This creates a new and very exciting opportunity for NQ to leverage off major technical advances to better resolve spatially any potential targets and execute better targeted follow-up drilling if warranted. This includes:

·    Utilising much higher electrical power/current inputs to penetrate far deeper into the ground to detect any conductive bodies at greater distances from exploration drill holes;

·    Optimised Electro-Magnetic (“EM”) loop arrays to get better 3-D resolution of any conductive units identified – through varied coupling scenarios;

·    Access to significantly enhanced modelling software to also resolve the position and dimensions of any modelled plates; and

·    Working in the context of an updated geological target model which extends deeper below the traditional ‘ore-horizon’ such as hosts the new Fossey and McKay discoveries.

NQ plans to undertake this work program on site in the Australian Spring, possibly commencing October-November 2020, depending on rig and crew availability.

These technological advantages coupled with the important geological advances achieved by Bass, pre 2012, makes for a compelling exploration opportunity. There are further targets to follow-up, but those targets discussed were selected due to their proximity to existing mining and processing infrastructure leading to rapid development should they be proved up. Insights gained from these first four targets will be applied to other currently lower priority targets.

Figures 1, 2 and 3 in this announcement may be accessed on the appended PDF available at:

Here

NQ Minerals Plc is listed on London’s Aquis Stock Exchange (AQSE) under the ticker NQMI and has it’s 1:100 ADR traded on the US OTC QB under ticker NQMIY and its ordinary shares are dual traded on the US OTC QB under the ticker NQMLF.

NQ Minerals plc (AQSE:NQMI, OTCQB:NQMLF, OTCQB:NQMIY) has announced that the average grade to date of 3.2 grams per tonne of gold has been returned from extensive surface stockpiles located on the Company’s 100% owned Beaconsfield Gold Mine in Tasmania, Australia.

Whilst work is underway for the refurbishment of Beaconsfield’s 350,000 tonne per year capacity gold processing plant, the NQ geology team has embarked on an exploration programme of the multiple surface stockpile sites located within the wider Beaconsfield mining lease, to identify initial ore feed for the plant for when the plant becomes operational around the end of this year.

A new and exciting development for NQ has been the discovery that excellent gold grades exist in approximately 80,000 tonnes of surveyed stockpiles in the area called the historic Wetlands area, that are due east of the Beaconsfield townsite.

To date, 105 samples taken from these stockpiles have returned an average gold grade of 3.2 grams per tonnes of gold. Sampling will continue over the entire stockpile sites, to determine the full extent of the contained gold in this area. There is potential to expand this area of interest considerably over the coming months and full tonnage and grade results will be published when this exploration work is completed.

Initial metallurgical gold recovery test work also indicates standard Carbon-in-Leach recoveries of between 83% – 90% can be achieved with relatively short residence times of less than 12 hours. The Beaconsfield processing plant is equipped to treat the material with its CIL circuit. The material does not require crushing or grinding due to its very fine composition.

About the Beaconsfield Gold Mine

The Beaconsfield Gold Mine has historic recorded production of c.1.8 million ounces of gold averaging c.15 grams per tonne (c.1⁄2 ounce per tonne). NQ acquired Beaconsfield in June 2020 and the Company plans to re-open the mine operations as soon as practicably possible.

On May 7, 2020, NQ also announced a new JORC (2012) compliant Mineral Resource Estimate of the lower section of the Beaconsfield Gold Mine of 1.454 million tonnes grading 10.3 grams per tonne (g/t) for 483,000 ounces of gold. Significant additional gold potential is still to be assessed in the upper section of the old Beaconsfield Mine (Tasman Reef) workings and its parallel unexplored reefs, plus the orebody remains open at depth.

NQ Mineral’s Chairman, David Lenigas, said; “The revelation that significant gold exists in these stockpiles is a tremendous boost for the Company’s Beaconsfield Gold Mine re-opening plans. Our engineers are now working on budgets and timelines to bring the Plant’s CIL circuit back on-line as soon as possible to treat this material. These high-grade surface stockpiles are only a short trucking distance from the plant and will provide valuable low-cost high revenue plant feed much sooner than we originally envisaged. The removal of these stockpiles from the Wetlands area will also be the start of a process of rectifying a long standing environmental issue in the town by cleaning up old mine waste placed in this area over the last 120 odd years and returning the area back to its natural pre-mining state.”

Competent Person’s Statement (NQ Minerals Plc)

The information in this report that relates to the Beaconsfield Gold Mine is based on information compiled by Roger Jackson, an Executive Director of the Company, who is a 25+ year Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (MAusIMM) and a Member of Australian Institute of Company Directors. Mr. Jackson has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposits under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the “Australasian Code for Reporting of  Exploration results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves”. Mr. Jackson consents to the inclusion of the data contained in relevant resource reports used for this announcement as well as the matters, form and context in which the relevant data appears.

NQ Minerals Plc (AQSE:NQMI) has announcesd that, following on from the announcement dated 16 July 2020, NQ has today signed a commitment letter issued by ING Bank N.V. for a US$55m loan facility in respect of refinancing existing project debt for the Hellyer Gold Mine in Tasmania, Australia.

This commitment letter is based on the terms previously announced, but increases ING’s credit committee approved amount from US$41m to US$55m.

The increased size of this facility means that the expected interest savings for Hellyer will increase from around US$2.5m per annum, as previously announced, to about US$3.4m per annum.

The agreed commitment letter includes a hedging strategy in respect to base metal revenues that allows Hellyer to take advantage of improving market conditions and reduce the market risk of future operations.

NQ Mineral’s Chairman, David Lenigas, said ; “The increased commitment in the debt refinancing with ING from US$41 million to US$55 million is excellent news for the Company and the future of our flagship Hellyer mining operation. The prime purpose of this facility is to retire the 2020 maturity debt book, which totals just over US$30 million. Now that the ultimate size of the ING facility has been determined by both the bank and NQ, negotiations with each of the 2020 maturity debt providers can hopefully be concluded in the coming weeks to the satisfaction of all parties and we can move to close this important deal. Further updates on closing this refinancing with ING and existing current debt providers will be announced as material events occur.”

NQ Minerals plc (AQSE:NQMI, OTCQB:NQMLF, OTCQB:NQMIY) has announced that it achieved record production levels in July 2020 of metals concentrates from the Company’s flagship Hellyer Gold Mine in Tasmania, Australia.

July 2020 was the first full month of Hellyer plant operations at the new production rate of over 1.2 million tonnes per annum (“Mtpa”). The plant achieved:

·    Record Hellyer monthly plant throughput of 106,365 tonnes (1.25 Mtpa annualised).

·    Record monthly lead concentrate production of 4,075 tonnes concentrate, up from average monthly in Q2, 2020 of 2,921 tonnes of concentrates.

·    Zinc concentrate production of 1,509 tonnes.

·    Saleable gold in concentrates of 461 ounces gross (before processing and streaming deductions).

·    Saleable silver in concentrates of 89,854 ounces gross (before processing and streaming deductions).

David Lenigas, NQ’s Chairman, said: “The recent plant upgrades at Hellyer – an annualised throughput increase to over 1.2 million tonnes per annum at the end of July – have seen a welcome and dramatic improvement in Hellyer’s operational performance and output. Our lead concentrate production now accounts for around 85% of monthly revenue, up from around 75% last year due to the recent rises in gold and silver prices.”

Competent Person’s Statement (NQ Minerals Plc)

The information in this report that relates to the Hellyer Gold Mine is based on information compiled by Roger Jackson, an Executive Director of the Company, who is a +25 year Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (MAusIMM) and a Member of Australian Institute of Company Directors. Mr. Jackson has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposits under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the “Australasian Code for Reporting of  Exploration results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves”. Mr. Jackson consents to the inclusion of the data contained in relevant resource reports used for this announcement as well as the matters, form and context in which the relevant data appears.

NQ Minerals plc (AQSE:NQMI) has provided final results for the year 31 December 2019. 

Non-Executive Chairman’s Statement

2019 has been an excellent year operationally for NQ Minerals Plc.  The Company’s first full year of operations at our flagship Hellyer Gold Mine operations in Tasmania, Australia, has been transformational for NQ. During the year, we saw regular improvements on a month-over-month basis in lead and zinc concentrate production and mine site operating profits, and we are targeting even better performances this year from this long-life asset.

We are also now venturing in to a new and exciting era of gold production with our recent deal to acquire the iconic and very rich Beaconsfield Gold Mine in Tasmania. We should be able to leverage well off our operational and management skills in Tasmania to create something quite special at Beaconsfield for shareholders in the years to come.

2020 should be a good year for NQ.

The COVID -19 pandemic has brought upon us unprecedented times. With some good fortune and thanks to the enormous efforts of our staff and Management, we have continued full operational status in Tasmania during this COVID-19 crisis.

The Tasmanian Government took bold steps early on in this pandemic to isolate the State from the Australian mainland and this has served well in limiting and containing the spread of the virus. Indeed, Hellyer has improved plant throughput through these difficult times as part of the 2020 programme to lift annual production rates to 1.2 million tonnes per year, which I am pleased to say was achieved in the last days of June 2020. The safety and security of our staff, contractors, stakeholders and communities is our number one priority at NQ.

The COVID-19 crisis should provide a few silver linings for NQ, or should I say gold linings. The first being the potential for significant lead and zinc price increases during 2020, as many base metal mines around the world are either cutting back on their production or in some cases suspending operations altogether and secondly, the global economic uncertainty has also seen a recent solid rally in the gold price.

The Bank of America recently forecast that the gold price could reach US$3,000 an ounce over the coming 18 months. NQ now has excellent exposure to a gold rally through our gold and silver credits in Hellyer’s concentrate production and through future gold production from the Beaconsfield Gold Mine.

Corporate

NQ has been active on several corporate initiatives which include enhancing the profile and visibility of the Company in the global capital markets space, diversifying our portfolio of assets, and moves to restructuring our debt that was put in place to start

The Company’s shares are now traded in the USA through the OTC Markets. We now have an American Depository Receipt traded in the United States under the ticker NQMIY and the ordinary shares trade under the ticker NQMLF. NQ believes that having an ADR traded in the United States will provide additional trading liquidity in the world’s largest capital market. To further expand our global market presence, the Company has also engaged specialists DGWA in Germany to seek a listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (“Börse Frankfurt).

In late February 2020, we signed a binding staged acquisition agreement totalling £1.05 million to purchase a 100% interest in the historic high-grade Beaconsfield Gold Mine in Tasmania and after extensive due diligence, NQ took formal ownership of the mine in late June 2020. Beaconsfield is historically one of the richest gold mines in Tasmania, with past production totalling nearly 2 million ounces of gold from 1887 to 2012 at an average grade of nearly 15 grams per tonne gold, and we plan to bring Beaconsfield back to gold production as soon as practicably possible.

In July 2020, we announced that ING Bank N.V. (“ING”), a leading global resources bank, committed to provide the Company with a USD 41 million banking refinancing facility to assist with the restructuring of the corporate debt put in place during 2017 and 2018.  The facility also includes an accordion option to increase the amount up to USD 55 million, subject to further conditions, including credit committee approval for the further amount. 

The facility will allow the Company to repay Hellyer’s early project debt, reducing the Company’s interest expense by approximately USD 2.5 million per annum. 

During 2019, the Company also made a strategic investment in a private Tasmanian mining Company, Tasmania Energy Metals Pty Ltd (“TEM”), which owns the Barnes Hill Nickel and Cobalt project, which is adjacent to the Beaconsfield Gold Mine. TEM is targeting the development of a new low cost and long-life nickel/cobalt/gold/silver operation. This project has synergies with Hellyer, as the envisaged processing path has the potential to increase Hellyer’s gold and silver related revenues. The Company is jointly advancing this project and advanced technical studies continue.

Production

Hellyer Gold Mine – Tasmania, Australia

During 2019, we announced several record-breaking month-over-month production performances at Hellyer. In January 2020, we announced record production for the month of December and for the fourth quarter of 2019 at Hellyer. Production statistics for 2019 quarter- over- quarter were as follows:

Reconciled Production	2019 Q4	2019 Q3	2019 Q2	2019 Q1	2019 Full
Lead Concentrate (tonnes)	8,160	6,656	5,452	4,712	24,980
Zinc Concentrate (tonnes)	4,904	3,310	4,416	3,015	15,646
Pyrite Concentrate (tonnes)	20,881	10,109	28,375	18,488	77,853

We have seen strong improvements in metal recoveries in both our lead and zinc concentrate circuits during the 2019 financial year, with average lead recoveries in December 2019 exceeding 50% for the first time. Continuous plant improvements and expansion plans saw plant throughput increase steadily throughout the year and the mine managed to achieve production rates exceeding 1.2 million tonnes per year in June 2020.

Production to date has focused primarily on getting the best out of the lead and zinc concentrate streams, with optimisation work continuing to show gradual improvements. At the moment, less than 10% of Hellyer’s gold and silver inventory within the tailings dam is recovered in the current process flow sheet, with the balance being returned back into the tailings dam for reprocessing at a later date.

With Hellyer’s published JORC compliant Mineral Resource Estimated at 9.25 Mt (which is host to gold at 2.57 g/t for 764,300 oz, silver at 92 g/t Ag for 27,360,300 oz, Lead at 2.99% for 276,600 tonnes and Zinc at 2.57% for 217,400 tonnes), gold is the main Insitu value metal. A number of opportunities to economically recover gold and silver are being evaluated. Related studies are assessing process options, estimating capital and operating costs and establishing project execution approaches.

To compliment the Hellyer surface operations, NQ fortuitously managed to secure the rights to the exciting underground resources at Hellyer in the early part of 2020, and in so doing significantly increased the lease area around Hellyer four- fold.

The acquisition of the underground mineral rights included 1.175 million tonnes of underground JORC Resources grading 8.6% zinc, 4.9% lead, 1.66 grams per tonne gold and 96 grams per tonne silver. These resources offer significant potential for increasing Hellyer’s overall resources and add to the 10-year mine life of our current tailing’s operations. We have identified several advanced exploration targets and will commence an exploration program to expand the known underground resources later in 2020.

Development

Beaconsfield Gold Mine – Tasmania, Australia 

In February 2020, NQ announced the acquisition of the Beaconsfield Gold Mine in Tasmania for £1.05m. The acquisition includes the Beaconsfield Mining Lease, infrastructure, permitted tailings dam and a 350,000 tonne per year gold processing plant. Historic gold production at the Beaconsfield Gold Mine was in two main phases before ceasing operations in 2012 due to low commodity prices:

• 1877-1914 – 1.04M tonnes for 855,000 ounces of gold (avg grade 25.6 g/t gold)

• 1999-2012 – 2.72M tonnes for 920,000 ounces of gold (avg grade 10.5 g/t gold)

In May 2020, we announced a new Mineral Resource Estimate for the lower section of the Beaconsfield Mine, resulting in an increase in contained gold resources underground to 1.454 million tonnes grading 10.3 grams per tonne gold for 483,000 ounces of gold.

Beaconsfield Mine
Mineral Resource Statement – 30th April 2020

Ordinary Kriging Grade Estimates

Subdivided by Resource Category Above a Lower Cut-off Grade of 3g/t Au. 

Resource Category	Tonneskt	Gold GradeAu g/t	Contained MetalsAu koz
Measured	485	11.4	177
Indicated	492	11.2	177
Inferred	477	8.4	129
Total	1,454	10.3	483

Importantly, this new Beaconsfield resource is only for the lower section of the mine from the 415 metre level down to the 1,500 vertical metres depth, and the ore body remains open at depth. The deepest hole returning 2.5m at 32.4 g/t gold. No resources have yet been calculated for the rich upper section of the mine, which was mined from 1877-1914.

NQ plans to re-open Beaconsfield by developing a new modern mine commencing with the development of a 3.6km decline access from surface to reconnect into the existing mine workings at the 430 metre level. The Company believes Beaconsfield offers a genuine opportunity to develop a high-quality gold asset in short order.

Tasmania Energy Metals (“TEM”) Nickel and Cobalt Project – Tasmania, Australia

During 2019, the Company made a strategic investment in a private Tasmanian mining company Tasmania Energy Metals Pty Ltd (“TEM”). TEM and NQ have been developing plans for an integrated mining and processing facility located in Tasmania only 200 km by road from Hellyer. The it is envisaged that the facility would utilise the main by-product from the treatment of the pyrite/precious metals concentrate produced from Hellyer, generating sulphuric acid for the further production of nickel and cobalt salts for the sale in the electric vehicle battery market. In April 2020, an updated Mineral Resource Estimate was issued by Snowden Mining Industry Consultants Pty Ltd for the Barnes Hill Nickel Project. The new expanded resource has increased substantially to 25Mt @ 0.6% nickel and 0.05% cobalt using a 0.25% nickel cut-off grade. Recent metallurgical test work on the Barnes Hill laterites now supports an updated flowsheet that will serve as a new base case in the current Pre-Feasibility Study which is underway.

Exploration

Ukalunda Gold Project – Queensland, Australia

The 64.4km2 Ukalunda tenements, located 300 km South from Townsville have excellent potential to host a gold deposit of size. There are multiple shows of mineralisation of similar characteristics to major deposits in the regions, such as the historic Wirralie Gold Mine, with its previously produced 1.1 million ounces of gold. The area is highly prospective for gold, silver and base metals. Queensland Environmental Authority, it has now been granted a mining lease for NQ’s wholly owned Sunbeam Silver Mine. The granting of the mining lease allows for a more active exploration effort at the historic Sunbeam Mine and further assessment of the multiple surface which have been assessed to contain gold, silver, lead, zinc and antimony. The Company is currently working with its geological consultants to ascertain the true grade and tonnage available in the Sunbeam stockpiles with the view of monetising their value.

Square Post Gold Project – Queensland, Australia

The 168km2 Square Post licenses lie close to the main Flinders Highway only 50km south of the city of Townsville. The area is considered highly prospective for gold and is considered underexplored. Exploration is expected to start in earnest in 2020.

Safety & Environmental

The Company is determined and committed to making a positive impact in our communities. The Company continues to operate at the highest standards as it relates to Environmental, Community, Sustainability and Human Resource policies and procedures. We are committed to maintaining high performance standards and constantly strive to promote a culture of excellence that encourages our employees to exceed regulatory requirements for health, safety, community development and the environment. We reported no lost time due to accidents in 2019, which is a testament to all our teams.

Finance

ING Bank N.V. has committed to provide NQ with a refinancing facility.  This will allow the Company to discharge most of the current debt maturing in 2020.  The facility better aligns the cash flow from Hellyer with the repayment obligations and term of the proposed facility.  The Company has also been successful in raising equity and debt from issuances in 2019 and 2020.

Hellyer Gold Mine has improved its operational performance during 2019 to show a reduced loss of £4,921,449 (2018: £7,267,083). Net debt for the period is £9,636,963 (2018: £3,441,246) and a loss per share of £0.46 (2018: £0.66).

A summary of the Group financing position includes:

•     A net debt position as at December 31, 2019 of £56,378,310

•     The Group does not pay a dividend.  

Outlook

The Company’s first year of operations at Hellyer has been transformational for NQ. During the year, we saw improvements on a month over month basis in production and mine site operating profits. 2020 has continued on with operational success, with Q1 2020 seeing production of lead concentrate totalling to 8,127 tonnes and zinc concentrate production of 4,609 tonnes. In addition, Hellyer produced 1,081 ounces of gold and 230,441 ounces of silver during Q1 2020. The second quarter in 2020 (Q2 2020) continued to see further improvements in production, with 8,762 tonnes lead concentrates and 4,241 tonnes of zinc concentrates. In addition, Q2 2020 saw a total of 1,223 ounces of gold and 229,947 ounces of silver produced as payable precious metal credits in the lead and zinc concentrate streams.

The Company is implementing programmes to further enhance plant throughput at Hellyer in 2020. We have now successfully achieved a new record rate of production at 150 tonnes per hour (>1.2 million tonnes per year) through the plant and we continue to review ways to increase this further should the mine be required to achieve higher throughputs.

Our new Beaconsfield Gold Mine acquisition provides the possibility for significant near-term cash flow from gold production. The new JORC resource of 1.454 million tonnes grading 10.3 grams per tonne gold for 483,000 ounces is significant resource and could provide a stable low-cost operation for many years to come.

The Executive and Board have performed exceptionally well during a challenging commissioning year at Hellyer and have taken advantage of consolidating accretive transactions during the latter part of 2019 and into 2020. We are experiencing unprecedented times, but my experience has seen that in times of adversity, quality people face the challenges well and rise to the occasion. Our teams have done well protecting themselves from COVID – 19 and the Company, whilst continuing to turn in solid operational performances.

I remain optimistic for the Company’s prospects going forward. We have assembled a world class team, and on behalf of the Company, I would like to personally thank our shareholders and debtholders for their continued support.

On behalf of the board

Mr. David Lenigas

Non-Executive Chairman

July 31, 2020

NQ Minerals plc (AQSE: NQMI) (OTCQB: NQMLF and US ADR OTCQB: NQMIY), the base and precious metals producer from its Hellyer Gold Mine in Tasmania Australia, advises that it has raised £447,500 (gross) at 7 per share from a UK based investor and a group of private investors for general working capital purposes and the Company will issue 6,392,857 new ordinary shares under this equity issue.

Admission and Settlement

Application has been made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on Aquis Stock Exchange and admission is expected to occur on or around 4 August 2020. Upon Admission, the Company will have 367,261,002 ordinary shares of 0.1p each on issue, each carrying the right to one vote. There are no shares held in treasury.

The total voting rights in the Company will therefore be 367,261,002 and shareholders may use this figure as the denominator by which they are required to notify their interest in, or change to their interest in, the Company under the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules. The placing is conditional upon the terms of a placing agreement and the shares being admitted to trading on Aquis Stock Exchange.

David Lenigas, NQ Mineral’s Chairman, comments, “NQ as a Company has less than 200 registered shareholders on its share register and it is important to expand the shareholder base as we move forward, hence why the Company has undertaken a number of sub £1 million placings in the past months, to not only provide key working capital for our Beaconsfield Gold Mine re-opening plans, but also to add shareholders to our shareholders base.”

NQ Minerals plc (AQSE:NQMI, OTCQB:NQMLF, US ADR OTCQB:NQMIY) has announced that the Tasmanian Government has now formally transferred the Mining Lease ML 1767 P/M, that covers the Beaconsfield Gold Mine, to NQ’s 100% subsidiary Pieman Resources Pty Ltd.  

About the Beaconsfield Gold Mine

The Beaconsfield Gold Mine has historic recorded production of c.1.8 million ounces of gold averaging c.15 grams per tonne (c.½ ounce per tonne). The Company plans to re-open the mine as soon as practicably possible.

On May 7, 2020, NQ also announced a new JORC (2012) compliant Mineral Resource Estimate of the lower section of the Beaconsfield Gold Mine of 1.454 million tonnes grading 10.3 grams per tonne (g/t) for 483,000 ounces of gold. Significant additional gold potential is still to be assessed in the upper section of the old Beaconsfield Mine workings, plus the orebody remains open at depth.

David Lenigas, NQ Minerals’s Chairman, said: “I’m pleased to announce that the Beaconsfield Mining Lease have now been formally transferred by the Tasmanian Government to NQ Minerals, and work has already commenced on site with respect to the gold treatment plant refurbishment and the deployment of geologists to site to commence a detailed sampling programme of surface stocks potentially available for start-up plant feed.”

NQ Minerals plc (AQSE:NQMI) has announced that it has appointed DGWA, the German Institute for Asset and Equity Allocation and Valuation, a mining and resource focused European investment banking boutique, as its Investor and Corporate Relations advisor in Europe.

With offices in Frankfurt, Berlin and Vienna as well as representatives in Australia and Canada, DGWA will focus on the growing interest in mining and exploration within the European financial community due to Europe’s considerable investment commitments in the clean energy, electric vehicle and energy storage systems industry. 

DGWA will collaborate with NQ Minerals to help gain investor awareness and drive investment opportunities from the European financial markets and will provide investor relations services to help NQ position itself in the German-speaking financial markets.

NQ Mineral’s Chairman David Lenigas said, “We are delighted to be partnering with DGWA to attract European and especially German-speaking investors and bring the NQ Minerals opportunity to the European capital markets. Due to the increasing imperative for sustainability throughout the value chain from EU governments, the industry as well as consumers, NQ is well positioned to capitalise on these developments in the EV and Energy Storage Systems (ESS) space. NQ’s conflict-free metals production from Australia will resonate well in German investors.

“Moreover, the commercial production and expansion plans of our Hellyer base and precious metals mine, as well the Company’s plans to bring its Beaconsfield Gold Mine back into production provides an excellent opportunity, particularly for precious metals investors in Germany.  Germany’s gold demand per person is one of the highest worldwide according to the World Gold Council.”

NQ Minerals Plc (AQSE:NQMI), has announced that ING Bank N.V., a leading global resources bank, has committed to provide NQ with a USD 41 million banking refinancing facility to assist with the restructuring of the corporate debt that was put in place during 2017 & 2018 to start the mining operations at the Company’s flagship Hellyer Gold Mine in Tasmania, Australia.

The ING facility will have a legal maturity of 6 years at an interest rate of 6.5% plus US LIBOR (1 month). The facility drawdown is now only subject to completion of final documentation and the normal commercial terms previously agreed with ING, and documentation is well advanced in this respect. It also includes an accordion option to increase the amount up to USD 55 million, subject to further conditions, including credit committee approval for the further amount.

This facility will allow NQ to repay Hellyer’s early project debt, reducing the mine’s interest expense by around USD 2.5 million per year.

The facility was introduced and supported by Traxys Sarl, a leading global physical trader and merchant in metals and natural resources, and who currently have an exclusive offtake agreement to buy all of Hellyer’s production through to 2024. The new facility also extends Traxys’ Hellyer offtake agreement from 2024 through to the end of life-of-mine. This extended Traxys offtake provides NQ with valuable trade financing for deliveries made at the local port of Burnie in northern Tasmania, from where Hellyer’s lead/zinc/gold/silver production is sent to world markets.

ING Bank’s Adrian Moroz, Director within Metals, Mining and Fertilisers, said; “The bank is pleased to partner with NQ Minerals, Traxys and the Hellyer Mine in order to provide this refinancing facility. This transaction is noteworthy in that this was achieved throughout Covid, which is a testament to the dedication of all parties involved, as well as the underlying strength of the project.”

Traxys’ William De Landtsheer, Structured Trade Finance Manager, said; “We have been involved with NQ Minerals to support the restart of the Hellyer’s production in 2018. We are very pleased with the professionalism of Hellyer’s team which has delivered the project on budget as expected. It was only natural for Traxys to further assist NQ Minerals with this important debt refinancing initiative, by introducing our banking relationships. The ING facility is a critical milestone in achieving this important target. The extension of the offtake at Hellyer to full life-of-mine will provide NQ Minerals with certainty of payment for their mine production, guarantees early working capital and secures the success of operations for many years to come. Traxys looks forward to working with the NQ Minerals team on its diverse portfolio of mineral resource projects as they bring them in to production.”

NQ Mineral’s Chairman, David Lenigas, said; “This refinancing facility with ING represents the culmination of nearly a year’s extensive due diligence with both the bank and Traxys, and reflects the success of the final commissioning phase of Hellyer at its targeted throughput rate of 1.2 million tonnes per year and the establishment of a stable operating environment. I offer my sincere thanks to ING and Traxys for their efforts in navigating this process, especially through a particularly difficult period of uncertainty with this Covid-19 pandemic. NQ looks forward to the start of a productive working relationship with ING. The extension of the offtake agreement with Traxys from 2024 to life-of-mine is also very significant news for the Company, as it secures fortnightly product payments for Hellyer’s production for its entire 10 year mine life. NQ looks forward to the continuation of a very supportive and productive working relationship with Traxys. On drawdown, the Company’s balance sheet will be significantly strengthened, and work will commence to seek a listing on a Tier-1 stock exchange to complement its current London Aquis Exchange listing and OTC Markets trading platforms.”

NQ Minerals plc (AQSE:NQMI, OTCQB:NQMLF, OTCQB:NQMIY) announced it achieved excellent production levels of metals concentrates for the Second Quarter ending June 30 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic,  from the Company’s flagship Hellyer Gold Mine in Tasmania, Australia.

Hellyer’s lead concentrate production for Q2 totalled 8,762 tonnes and zinc concentrate production totalled 4,241 tonnes. In addition, NQ advises that a total of 1,223 ounces of gold and 229,947 ounces of silver were produced as payable precious metal credits in the lead and zinc concentrate streams for the Quarter. Refer to Table 1 for detailed analysis. During H1 2020, the Company generated an unaudited Revenue from Mining Operations of A$30m and an operating Gross Profit of A$12m.   

Major plant upgrades and process optimisation plans were implemented at Hellyer in the last week of June 2020, which successfully increased plant throughput by 44% to a rate of over 1.3 million tonnes per annum (1.2Mtpa at 92% plant availability), compared to 2019’s full year plant production numbers.

Table 1: Hellyer Operations – Production Performance for Q2 and Q1 2020.

Production Statistics:	Q2 2020	Q1 2020
Processed tonnes (t)	252,188	225,764
· Lead grade (%)	2.83	2.80
· Zinc Grade (%)	2.19	2.18
· Gold Grade (g/t)	2.36	2.38
· Silver Grade (g/t)	84	86
Lead Concentrates Produced (t)	8,762	8,127
· Lead Recovery (%)	46.64	48.02
· Lead (%)	37.94	37.41
· Gold grade (g/t)	4.34	4.14
· Gold produced (oz)1	1223	1,081
· Silver grade (g/t)	709	786
· Silver produced (oz) 1	199,845	205,396
Zinc Concentrates Produced (t)	4,241	4,609
· Zinc Recovery (%)	34.89	42.54
· Zinc Grade (%)	45.47	45.51
· Silver grade (g/t)	221	169
· Silver produced (oz)2	30,102	24,045

Note¹: Gold and silver credits are payable in lead concentrates.

Note²: Silver credits are payable in zinc concentrates.

David Lenigas, NQ Minerals Chairman, said: 

NQ’s Hellyer operations have performed extremely well last Quarter, especially considering the current global COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 represents an unprecedented challenge for people, governments and businesses worldwide. The Tasmanian Government responded quickly to the virus and was the first State in Australia to limit any travel to its island State and has implemented strict controls within the state. Confirmed COVID-19 infections in the State are very low. The end of June production rate increase at the processing plant to 150 tonnes per hour was a big step forward at Hellyer and has been very successfully implemented. It will have a very significant and immediate impact on future revenues.

Hellyer’s COVID-19 Response Plan:

The Tasmanian Government has implemented a strict lockdown across the State to control the spread of COVID-19 and the Company is working strictly to the protocols put in place by the Government. We will review and adjust our business continuity measures as the situation evolves and we will continue to be guided by the latest advice from medical and government authorities.

The mining industry in Tasmania has been classed as an essential service, and as such mining and processing operations at Hellyer continue.

At the present time there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the Hellyer operations. In response to the health risks associated with COVID-19, Hellyer has implemented a series of health and safety protocols on a company-wide basis.

NQ Minerals plc (AQSE:NQMI, OTCQB:NQMLF, OTCQB:NQMIY) has announced that it has raised £917,485 at 6.5 pence per share for general working capital purposes and to accelerate the re-opening of the Beaconsfield Gold Mine in Tasmania, Australia. 

The Company acquired the Beaconsfield Gold Mine as announced on June 29, 2020.  The Company will issue 14,115,154 new ordinary shares under this equity issue.

Admission and Settlement

Application has been made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on the Aquis Exchange and admission is expected to occur on or around 11 July 2020. Upon Admission, the Company will have 360,868,145 ordinary shares of 0.1p each on issue, each carrying the right to one vote. There are no shares held in treasury.

The total voting rights in the Company will therefore be 360,868,145 and shareholders may use this figure as the denominator by which they are required to notify their interest in, or change to their interest in, the Company under the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules. The placing is conditional upon the terms of a placing agreement and the shares being admitted to trading on the Aquis Exchange.

About NQ Minerals

NQ Minerals is an Australian-based mining company which commenced base metal and precious metal production in 2018 at its 100% owned flagship Hellyer Gold Mine in Tasmania. Hellyer has a published JORC compliant Mineral Resource estimated at 9.25 Mt which is host to Gold at 2.57 g/t Au for 764,300 oz Au, Silver at 92 g/t Ag for 27,360,300 oz Ag, Lead at 2.99% Pb for 276,600 tonnes and Zinc at 2.57% Zn for 217,400 tonnes. In addition to these resources, the Hellyer assets include a large mill facility and full supporting infrastructure, including a direct rail line to port. The Company is also planning to re-open the historic high-grade Beaconsfield Gold Mine in Tasmania, which has a JORC (2012) compliant Mineral Resource Estimate of 1.454 Mt at 10.3 g/t Au for 483,000 ounces of gold. 

NQ Minerals plc (AQSE:NQMI, OTCQB:NQMLF, OTCQB:NQMIY) has announced that plant production at its flagship Hellyer Gold Mine in Tasmania, Australia, has now been successfully increased by 44% to over 1.3 million tonnes per annum (1.2Mtpa at 92% plant availability), compared to 2019’s full year plant production numbers.

The new production rate of 150 tonnes per hour (1.314Mtpa) is now being achieved after a June plant upgrade and circuit optimisation exercise. This new rate compares to 2019 Hellyer Full Year plant throughput totalling 835,877 tonnes (average 103 tph at 92% plant availability).

Process optimisation works are now underway to ensure that the plant achieves maximum recoveries and concentrate specifications at these new higher production rates.

Engineering assessments will continue to plan for further production rate increases later in the year, should higher production rates be required.

David Lenigas, Chairman of NQ Minerals Plc, said, “This Hellyer plant upgrade exercise has been successfully brought in some 6 months ahead of expectation. The increase in saleable mine product will have a very positive affect on the Company’s top and bottom line revenues going forward, and will assist NQ greatly with its ability to service ongoing debt obligations and strongly position the mine for increased profitability as commodity prices improve with the world emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

About the Hellyer Gold Mine

Hellyer is NQ Mineral’s flagship mining operation.

The world class Hellyer underground mine, on the West Coast of Tasmania, in Australia, began production in 1989 under the ownership of Aberfoyle Limited. The Hellyer deposit had a published pre-mining Mineral Resource of 16.9Mt grading 13.8% zinc, 7.2% lead, 0.4% copper, 167g/t silver and 2.5g/t gold. The deposit was mined between 1986 and 2000 as a large-scale underground mine, with production peaking at around 1.5Mtpa with ore treated at the onsite Hellyer flotation concentrator plant. Lead and Zinc concentrates were taken to nearby Burnie Port for global shipment. Operations ceased by Aberfoyle/Western Metals at the Hellyer Mine in 2000, when economically available ore at the site became exhausted.

Hellyer has a published JORC compliant Mineral Resource estimated at 9.25Mt which is host to Gold at 2.57 g/t Au for 764,300 oz gold, Silver at 92 g/t Ag for 27,360,300 oz silver, Lead at 2.99% Pb for 276,600 tonnes of lead and Zinc at 2.57% Zn for 217,400 tonnes of zinc.

NQ Minerals purchased the Hellyer operations in 2017, and as Phase 1 of its Hellyer operational plan, NQ re-opened Hellyer in late 2018 with a tailing retreatment operation designed to last for at least 10 years. Production will initially focus on lead and zinc recovery from the reserves with significant gold and silver credits payable. Phase 2 of Hellyer’s re-opening plan is to re-open the rich underground mine, which has 1.175 million tonnes of underground JORC Resources grading 8.6% Zinc, 4.9% Lead, 96 g/t Silver and 1.66 g/t gold.

NQ Minerals Plc (AQSE:NQMI) has announced that the Company has now signed all necessary agreements and made the necessary payments to purchase and take immediate possession of the high-grade and historic Beaconsfield Gold Mine in Tasmania, Australia.

The Beaconsfield Gold Mine has historic recorded production of c.1.8 million ounces of gold averaging c.15 grams per tonne (c.½ ounce per tonne) and was closed in 2012 due to the low gold price at that time. The gold price has since increased by over 100% and the Company plans to re-open the mine as soon as practicably possible.

NQ plans to recommission the gold processing plant, which is currently under care and maintenance, and re-open the mine by developing a new modern mine decline access into the Beaconsfield Mine from surface to reconnect into the existing mine workings at the lower section of the orebody, which comprises all of the current stated gold resources. This new decline will be capable of running large modern mining equipment and men/materials/rock from surface to anywhere in the mine underground workings and will allow for the most efficient low-cost operations possible.

NQ is currently increasing production at its flagship Hellyer Gold Mine in Tasmania, Australia. On May 7, 2020, NQ also announced a new JORC (2012) compliant Mineral Resource Estimate of the lower section of the Beaconsfield Gold Mine of 1.454 million tonnes grading 10.3 grams per tonne (g/t) for 483,000 ounces of gold. Significant additional gold potential is still to be assessed in the upper section of the old Beaconsfield Mine workings, plus the orebody remains open at depth.

The Beaconsfield Gold Mine gathered the attention of the world in 2006, when a minor earthquake triggered an underground rock fall trapping three miners.

David Lenigas, NQ Minerals Chairman, said: “Beaconsfield is an exceptional high-grade gold asset and will provide a solid platform to bring the Company’s second mine in Australia into production. The Company is now focused on bringing the Beaconsfield gold processing plant back into operational status as soon as practicable. The mine has a long and rich history in Northern Tasmania, and we understand the importance of this heritage. We are looking forward to bringing jobs and economic activity back to Beaconsfield.”

NQ Minerals Plc (AQSE:NQMI), has announced that it has received official notification from the Australian Government’s Foreign Investment Review Board to acquire the Beaconsfield Gold Mine in Tasmania.

Key Points

· The Australian Government’s Foreign Investment Review Board (“FIRB”) has approved NQ’s acquisition of the Beaconsfield Gold Mine in Tasmania, Australia.

· NQ recently announced a new JORC (2012) compliant Mineral Resource Estimate of the lower section of the Beaconsfield Gold Mine of 1.454 million tonnes grading 10.3 grams per tonne (g/t) for 483,000 ounces of gold with an additional 67,000 ounces of gold potential in Tailings Dam #1.

· Significant additional gold potential is still to be assessed in the upper section of the old Beaconsfield Mine workings, plus the orebody remains open at depth.

David Lenigas, NQ’s Chairman, stated:

“Gaining FIRB approval yesterday, is a significant milestone for the Company’s plans of re-opening the Beaconsfield Gold Mine.”

About the Beaconsfield Gold Mine:

The Beaconsfield Gold Mine is located 40 km north-west of Launceston in the town of Beaconsfield in Tasmania, Australia. The Tasmania Mine area is covered by Mining Lease 1767P/M.

NQ plans to recommission the 350,000 tonne per annum capacity gold processing plant, which is currently under care and maintenance, and re-open the mine by developing a new modern mine decline access into the Beaconsfield Mine from surface to reconnect into the existing mine workings at the 430 metre level. This new decline will be capable of running large modern mining equipment and men/materials/rock from surface to anywhere in the mine underground workings and will allow for the most efficient low-cost operations possible.

Mining at Beaconsfield is centred on the Tasmania Reef. Prospectors discovered the Tasmania Reef in 1877. Mining between 1877 and 1914 yielded 854,600 ounces of gold at an average grade of 24.3 g/t. During this time, mining occurred between surface and 455 metres. Eventually, dewatering difficulties and the start of WW1 caused the mine’s closure. Modern exploration commenced in 1970 and in the early 1990’s a joint venture was established between Allstate Explorations and Beaconsfield Gold NL and a feasibility study was commissioned. Following this study, production re-commenced in 1998 after 84 years of inactivity with around 1.8 million ounces of gold being recovered from Beaconsfield.

NQ is acquiring the Beaconsfield Gold Mine as previously announced on 21 February 2020.

NQ recently announced a new JORC (2012) compliant Mineral Resource Estimate of the lower section of the Beaconsfield Gold Mine of 1.454 million tonnes grading 10.3 grams per tonne (g/t) for 483,000 ounces of gold with an additional 67,000 ounces of gold potential in Tailings Dam #1. Significant additional gold potential is still to be assessed in the upper section of the old Beaconsfield Mine workings, plus the orebody remains open at depth.

Competent Person’s Statement (NQ Minerals Plc)

The information in this report that relates to the Beaconsfield Gold Mine is based on information compiled by Roger Jackson, an Executive Director of the Company, who is a 25+ year Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (MAusIMM) and a Member of Australian Institute of Company Directors. Mr. Jackson has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposits under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the “Australasian Code for Reporting of  Exploration results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves”. Mr. Jackson consents to the inclusion of the data contained in relevant resource reports used for this announcement as well as the matters, form and context in which the relevant data appears.