AW1 General Chat, page-2534

Hi @Giovanni33 - that matter was well discussed about 10 months ago when drill results first came through on the surface copper and the ore sorting machines were discussed.



The argument put forward was to scoop up the surface ore, loosely compacted, truck it to the ore sorter/s shed, bag the concentrate and wait for the next ship through the North West Passage to deliver to a processor. For all that and accommodation $25 mil was sufficient.

IMO that could happen and generate cash flow so that AW1 was self funding, but it won't.

What will happen, is that a full range of Scoping Studies will be undertaken through to BFS to get a number of possible variants to production.

The results will include a range of economic indicators including Net present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Pay Back Period, from which a path forward will be established.

It may be that to invest (say) $100 mil the Company will get a better return for stakeholders, including shareholders, local population, Company staff and banks etc.

Last drilling year (2023) ended with a maiden resource for the surface ore - 17 m tonnes is a heap of stuff. Early this drilling year IMO we will see infill holes drilled which will increase that MRE substantially and will pave the way to the SS and BFS mentioned. Those studies could proceed during our summer months with a Decision to Mine available for the 2025 season.

In passing I mention another important issue. It has been said that mining can happen 12 months of the year (perhaps give or take a few due to severe weather) and ore stored for pickup in the summer, or when the ocean ice permits. I doubt that would be possible for the $25 mil capex option, so the expenditure of further capex to facilitate that may be optimal.

It really is a case of hold tight, and GL.