Lion One Metals Ltd. (OTCQX:LOMLF)

Lion One Metals Limited is a Canadian development and exploration company focused on advancing it’s 100% owned, high grade, low cost, underground Tuvatu Gold Project in Fiji.

Tuvatu received the “green light” for development by the Government of Fiji in 2015 with approval of a mining lease, following a 21-year surface lease agreement in 2014 and the approval of the Tuvatu EIA and EMP’s by Fiji Department of Environment.

Lion One is led by an experienced management team with a track record of success in mineral exploration and mining ventures, and was formed upon the completion of a reverse takeover (“RTO”) between X-Tal Minerals Corp. and American Eagle Resources, Inc. on January 31, 2011.


Lion One’s shares are listed in Canada on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V:LIO), and internationally in Australia (ASX: LLO), USA (OTCQX: LOMLF), and Europe (FSX:LY1).



Lion One Metals Limited (TSX-V: LIO; OTCQX: LOMLF; ASX: LLO) is set to become the premier high grade gold producer in the South Pacific Island nation of Fiji at its 100% owned and fully permitted Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project. Lion One is focused on cost effective and environmentally responsible construction, development, and advancement of Tuvatu towards production, and exploration of its license areas covering the highly prospective and underexplored Navilawa mineralized volcanic complex.

-Project Overview:

Lion One Metals Limited is set to become the premier high-grade gold producer in the South Pacific island nation of Fiji at its 100% owned and fully permitted Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project. Lion One is focused on cost effective and environmentally responsible construction, development, and advancement of Tuvatu towards production, coupled with exploration of its district-scale license areas covering the adjoining 7km wide Navilawa caldera.

LOCATION & STATUS:

Tuvatu is located (lat.17º43’S, long.177º35’E) 24 km NE of the town of Nadi on the island of Viti Levu in the Republic of Fiji. The project lies between elevations of 100 and 600 m in the eroded crater of the Navilawa caldera, overlooking the Sabeto River valley and town of Nadi on the western coast of Viti Levu.

The area surrounding Tuvatu gold deposit and resource area is covered by a 3.85 km² Special Mining Lease (SML 62), with the broader project area covered by 13,619 hectares of Special Prospecting Licenses (SML’s 1283, 1296, 1465 & 1512), covering the balance of the Navilawa caldera. Permanent mine site facilities at Tuvatu are accessible by a service road connected to the Queen’s Highway a total distance of 15 km from the Company’s head office and assay laboratory, located 1.5 km from Nadi’s International Airport.

GEOLOGY & MINERALIZATION:

Fiji lies on the boundary of the Indo-Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, a zone marked by seafloor spreading and transform faulting. The Fijian islands are at the midpoint of the opposing Tonga Kermadec and New Hebrides convergence zones. It is separated from these actual convergence zones by two extensional back arc basins, the North Fiji Basin to the west and the Lau Basin to the east and a series of transform faults including the Fiji Fracture Zone and the Matthew Hunter Ridge. Approximately five million years ago (Miocene/Pliocene Period) the area was the site of a number of major volcanoes, formed along a northeast – southwest trend.

Navilawa is one of several gold systems associated with alkaline rocks along the NE trending Viti Levu lineament, Fiji’s own 250 km long gold corridor. A number of other gold deposits have been discovered along this trend including Vatukoula and Raki Raki. The Vatukoula or Emperor Mine has produced over 7 million ounces of gold since 1937.

Mineralization in the Navilawa caldera is driven by the emplacement of alkaline intrusive stocks (Navilawa monzonite), with subsequent stages driven by sector collapse and lateral spread into permeable units at the contacts of the monzonite intrusive.

Gold mineralization is dominantly hosted in the monzonite but also occurs in the adjacent volcanics. Mineralization is structurally controlled occurring as sets and networks of narrow veins and cracks, with individual veins ranging from 0.04 m to 9.0 m true width with a mean of 1.1 m. Lode mineralogy is varied, with most veins containing quartz, pyrite and base metal sulphides. A high proportion of the gold in the deposit occurs as either free gold or is contained in quartz or pyrite grains that can be extracted by simple floatation followed by cyanidation or direct leaching. Free gold is both fine and coarse grained although sample assay repeatability is very good suggesting most is fine grained.

The main mineralized zone at Tuvatu (Upper Ridges) comprises eleven principal lodes with a strike length over 600m and a vertical extent of more than 300m. Another major zone of mineralization (Murau) strikes east-west and consists of two major lodes with a mapped strike length in excess of 400 m. A total of 39 different lode structures have been identified in the Tuvatu resource area including 11 lodes in the Upper Ridges area, 3 lodes in the Murau area, 4 lodes in the West area, 2 lodes in the Tuvatu area and shallow dipping veins in the SKL area. Numerous additional lodes have been identified but require further testing to merit inclusion in resource estimates.

The Tuvatu mineral resource has been estimated for each vein individually using ordinary kriging of width and grade, the latter using accumulations, into a 3D block model. The Tuvatu resource is reported at a 3 g/t Au cutoff representing a resource amenable to underground production. The June 2014 Tuvatu resource estimate reported an indicated resource of 1,101,000 tonnes at 8.46 g/t Au for 299,500 ounces of gold and an inferred resource of 1,506,000 tonnes at 9.70 g/t Au for 468,000 ounces of gold.

LABORATORY:

The assay laboratory will service the Company’s exploration, resource definition, and development activities on its 100% owned and fully permitted Tuvatu gold project and surrounding exploration tenements, 16km away, in the nearby Navilawa volcanic complex in the upper Sabeto Valley.

Updated PEA for Tavuta Gold Project:

This Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) Update (Technical Report) is a summary compilation of
additional work completed on the Tuvatu Gold Project (the Project or the Property) since the 2015 PEA
(Freudigmann et al. 2015).
A PEA is preliminary in nature and includes Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative
geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as
Mineral Reserves. Furthermore, there is no certainty that the conclusions or results reported in the
Technical Report will be realized. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have
demonstrated economic viability.


The Project covers a total of approximately 200 km2 and is located in the upper Sabeto Valley on the main island
of Viti Levu in Fiji, 17 km by road from the international airport in Nadi. The Property is a high-grade, narrow vein,
alkaline-hosted gold deposit located in five tenements held by Lion One Limited, a company incorporated in Fiji.
Lion One Limited is a 100% owned subsidiary of Lion One Metals Limited (“Lion One”). Lion One was incorporated
on November 12, 1996, under the name X-Tal Minerals Corp. and under the laws of the Province of British
Columbia, Canada. On January 28, 2011, the Company executed a reverse takeover of X-Tal by American Eagle
Resources Inc. and changed its name to Lion One Metals Limited. Lion One is a reporting issuer in British Columbia
with its common shares listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “LIO” and a secondary listing of
Chess Depository Interests “CDIs” on the Australian Stock Exchange “ASX” under the symbol “LLO”.


In 2015, Lion One released the 2015 PEA (Freudigmann et al. 2015), which outlined resource estimates and
preliminary project economics.

In 2020, Lion One commissioned Tetra Tech Canada Inc. (“Tetra Tech”), Mining Associates Pty Ltd. (“MA”), Entech
Pty Ltd. (“Entech”), Wood plc (“Wood”), and GeoSpy Pty Ltd. (“GeoSpy”) to prepare this Technical Report
incorporating updated studies on the Project. Tetra Tech prepared this Technical Report based on work by the
following consultants:
 MA – Geology and Mineral Resource estimate and related information
 GeoSpy – Geology, exploration
 Entech – Mining and mining-related operations, underground geotechnical investigations, mining-related capital
and operating cost estimates
 Tetra Tech – Metallurgical test work review, process and process-related cost estimates, general and
administrative (G&A) and surface service operating cost estimates, site infrastructures (excluding site
geotechnical investigation and tailings storage facility [TSF]), and environment
 Wood – Site geotechnical investigation and TSF
This Technical Report is an independent technical report to update the 2015 PEA for the Project, including geology,
exploration, mineral resource estimates, mining design, process design, infrastructure, capital and operating costs,
and project economics.

The effective date of the Mineral Resource estimates is January 8 2018, and the effective date of this Technical
Report is September 25, 2020.

Project Location:

The Project is located on the west coast of the island of Viti Levu in the Republic Fiji, approximately 24 km northeast
of the town of Nadi and 17 km from the Nadi International Airport (Figure 1-1). The Project area consists of four
Special Prospecting Licenses (SPLs) held 100% by Lion One Limited (SPLs 1283, 1296, 1465, and 1512 ) and a
384 hectare Special Mining Lease (SML 62) hosting the Tuvatu Resource. The 200 km² project area is centered on
the Navilawa Caldera, a 7 km diameter geological occurrence hosting a mineral system associated with widespread
alkaline magmatism.

Geology:

Tuvatu is a high grade alkaline gold deposit forming a small part of the 7 km diameter Navilawa Caldera on a
corridor of high grade alkaline gold systems in Fiji. Navilawa is located 45 km from the high grade Vatukoula gold
mine, which is also hosted in an alkaline system of similar scale, and has produced over 7 million ounces of gold
over the last 85 years.


he Project lies within the Fiji Gold Trend, which is a northeast trending extensional fault zone across northern Viti
Levu and Vanua Levu (the two main Fijian islands). Virtually all significant gold occurrences in Fiji occur along the
Fiji Gold Trend in clusters surrounding igneous craters such as the Tavua Caldera hosting the Vatukoula Gold Mine
and the Navilawa Caldera hosting Tuvatu.
The main characteristics of these gold deposits/occurrences are:
 The gold is igneous hydrothermal (250°C) in origin, introduced by the potassic, shoshonitic tertiary intrusives,
which represent the feeders and latest phases of the volcanic rocks that dominate northern Fiji. Hydrous mineral
phases (biotite and hornblende, particularly) in the intrusives develop whenever the hydrothermal mineralization
systems have developed.
 Gold is generally vein-controlled and can be restricted to narrow bonanza-grade lodes within weakly altered
host rocks. Primary gold is fine-grained and can be in the following forms:
− Gold-silver tellurides
− Electrum
− Native gold
− Gold-bearing pyrite
 Common minerals associated with mineralization are:
− Quartz
− Carbonates
− Adularia - K-feldspars
− Pyrite
− Roscoelite (green vanadium-titanium micas)
− Smectite clays
 Magnetite in the adjacent host rock has been converted to pyrite by the bisulphide complex, which carries gold
in the alkaline-rich fluids, but alteration selvages are commonly very narrow (less than 0.5 m).
TECHNICAL REPORT AND PRELIMINARY ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT
UPDATE FOR THE TUVATU GOLD PROJECT, THE REPUBLIC OF FIJI
719-220146.00 | SEPTEMBER 2020 | ISSUED FOR USE
1-4
The Navilawa Caldera hosts a telescoped multi-phase mineralized system. In the eroded southeast end of the
Caldera at Tuvatu, there is a high grade vein system present. Deeper level alkaline copper-gold mineralization is
hosted by monzonitic intrusives in the center of the Caldera, while to the northeast at the Banana Creek Prospect,
a high level, low temperature, less than 260°C, gold-bearing vein system (quartz-adularia-calcite) has been mapped
over an area of 1,400 m x 400 m. The vein system is open to the northeast where it approaches the Caldera rim,
which is a structural setting analogous to the Emperor (Vatukoula) Gold Mine where the vein system occurs in
faulted volcanics within the Caldera margin.
The host lithologies of the project area are a sequence of volcaniclastic units intruded by a monzonite intrusive
complex. Gold mineralization is dominantly hosted in the monzonite units but also occurs in the adjacent volcanics.
Mineralization is structurally controlled and is considered to have a close association with the emplacement of the
monzonite intrusive body occurring as sets and networks of narrow veins and cracks, with individual veins as
modelled in this study ranging from 0.04 to 5.00 m true width with a mean of 1.10 m. Lode mineralogy is varied,
with most veins containing quartz, pyrite, and base metal sulphides. A high proportion of the gold in the deposit
occurs as either free gold or is contained in quartz or pyrite grains that can be extracted by simple flotation followed
by cyanidation or direct leaching. Free gold present is both fine and coarse grained, although sample assay
repeatability is very good suggesting most is fine grained. Mineralization is clean with respect to deleterious
elements such as arsenic, selenium, tellurium, and uranium.


The main mineralized zone (Upper Ridges) comprises eleven principal lodes with a strike length in excess of 500 m
and a vertical extent of more than 300 m


Another major zone of mineralization (Murau) strikes east–west and consists of two major lodes with a mapped
strike length in excess of 400 m. A total of 47 different lode structures were identified in the resource area including
11 lodes in the Upper Ridges area, 7 lodes in the Murau area, 7 lodes in the West area, 7 lodes associated with
Snake and Nasivi lodes, 4 lodes in the Tuvatu area, and 9 stockwork veins in the SKL area. A minimum of five
intercepts are needed for a vein to be defined with a number of other lodes having been identified but remain to be
further tested before inclusion in Mineral Resource estimates.

Property Description and Location:

Lion One Limited is the registered holder of the following tenements (Figure 1-3) in Fiji, issued by the Government
of Fiji’s Mineral Resources Department in accordance with the Fiji Mining Act (1965). The Project has been fully
permitted; however, MA has not undertaken any title search or due diligence to verify the Project permitting status.
The tenements are listed below:
 Special Mining Lease 62 (“SML 62”) effective until January 21, 2025
 Special Prospecting License 1283 (“SPL 1283”) effective until August 23, 2025
 Special Prospecting License 1296 (“SPL 1296”) effective until August 23, 2025
 Special Prospecting License 1465 (“SPL 1465”) effective until August 2, 2020*
 Special Prospecting License 1512 (“SPL 1512”) effective until May 2024

Mineral Resource:

On January 2, 2018, Lion One engaged MA to prepare an updated Mineral Resource model suitable for mine design
and scheduling of the resources for the Project.
Following the completion of the 2016/2017 diamond drilling program and field exploration, MA undertook this study
to update the resources with the results of that drilling program and other work completed by Lion One to that date.
In particular, drilling added significant additional information in the HT Corridor zone of mineralization (H and Tuvatu
Lodes) and the Western Veins (which are interpreted to be the western extension of the Murau Lodes). Stricter
parameters and tighter controls than those used for the 2015 estimate (which was put together for the 2015 PEA
study [Freudigmann et al. 2015]) were used in this Technical Report. As a consequence of these tight controls, the
Mineral Resource estimate related to some lodes was reduced in tonnes and/or grade.
The Mineral Resource has been estimated for each vein individually using Ordinary Kriging (OK) of width and grade,
the latter using accumulations, into a three-dimensional (3D) block model.
The Project Mineral Resource is reported at one cut off (3 g/t Au) representing a Mineral Resource amenable to
underground production. The total Indicated Resource is 1,007,000 t at 8.48 g/t Au for 274,600 oz of gold and an
Inferred Resource of 1,325,000 t at 9.0 g/t Au for 384,000 oz of gold

The effective date for the Mineral Resource estimate update is January 8, 2018.
The summary review of geology, Mineral Resource models and estimates, and the site visit were conducted by
Mr. Ian Taylor, B.Sc. (Hons), G.Cert. Geostats, M.AusIMM (CP) (Qualified Person [QP]) who visited the site from
February 25 to 28, 2014; July 31 to August 5, 2017; and September 28 to October 03, 2017. Mr. Taylor viewed the
geological setting, located some drill collars, and inspected drill core and sample storage.
Mr. Taylor has sufficient experience that is relevant to the Project’s style of mineralization and deposits under
consideration and to the activity that 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 (the
JORC Code) (Australia) and as a QP as defined in National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) (Canada). He is a
member and certified professional of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (Melbourne). Mr. Taylor
was employed by Mining Associates of Brisbane, Australia.

Mineral Processing and Metallurgical Testing:

Extensive test work was conducted between 1997 and 2019, including mineralogy studies, comminution tests, gold
recovery tests, and cyanide detoxification tests. In this Technical Report, test work, especially the test work
conducted after the 2015 PEA (Freudigmann et al. 2015), has been reviewed in detail and summarized.

Mineralogy Studies:

Previous mineralogical studies were conducted to identify major gold-bearing minerals, gangue minerals, and gold
occurrences. The results indicate that the gold mainly occurs as free gold; gold-silver telluride; and associated gold
with silicate, micas, pyrite, and other sulphides. The reported gold grain size is between 1 to 200 µm with significant
gold grains between 1 to 30 µm.
Three mineralogy investigations were recently performed. The first was a petrologic study on core samples to
generate geological information. The other two investigations, performed on head samples of gold recovery test
work, confirmed the previous observations regarding gold/gangue mineral species. Additionally, a gold deportment
study was completed on one of the blended samples, which shows a high presence of gold tellurides of 80% and
varied gold grain sizes between 0.7 to 61.3 µm.

Comminution Tests and Simulations:

Varied comminution testing programs were performed between 1997 and 2012 and mainly investigated the sample
grinding competencies to the traditional tumbling mills and autogenous/semi-autogenous mills. Unconfined
compressive strength (UCS), impact crushing work index (CWi), Bond rod mill work index (RWi), Bond ball mill work
index (BWi), and abrasion index (Ai) were measured on various samples. The results indicate that tested samples
possess medium to high impact strength, medium to high compressive/attrition strength, and low grindability. The
samples tested can be considered as medium to low abrasive. Preliminary simulations of semi-autogenous grinding
(SAG) and ball mill milling options were conducted and concluded that the two-stage ball mill milling appears more
power efficient.

Gold Recovery Tests:

Significant metallurgical test programs for gold recovery were completed via three major treatment routes by
multiple laboratories:
 Route 1: Whole ore cyanidation
 Route 2: Gravity + cyanidation
 Route 3: Gravity + flotation + cyanidation.
These treatment routes also included various pre-treatments prior to cyanide leaching.
The Route 1 tests were conducted during the early-stage testing campaign. It was reported that gold recoveries
varied from 56.5 to 98.3% on the samples grading between 1.17 to 136.9 g/t Au.
The Route 2 tests were performed during the early and recent testing campaigns, both of which confirmed the
amenability of samples to this route. The overall gold recoveries from previous tests were between 53.9 and 97.2%.
Preliminary optimization steps were conducted via the regrinding stage and longer leaching retention time process,
but this can only marginally improve the overall gold recovery. In recent tests, Yantai Xinhai Mining Research &
Design Co. Ltd. (Xinhai) studied a pre-oxidization treatment that appears to have a significant impact on increasing
gold leaching recovery. At a grind size of 80% passing 75 µm and a 24-hour leach retention time, Xinhai reported
that gold recovery increased to 87.2% from 76.9%. The highest gold recovery from Xinhai was 95.0% for the same
feed size but a longer leach retention time of 72 hours. Bureau Veritas Commodities Canada Ltd. (BV)’s tests were
based on a finer feed size and a longer leaching time than previous testing. At a primary size of 80% passing 20 µm
and a 96-hour leaching process, the gold recovery can be as high as 94.3%.
The Route 3 tests were the most complicated and were conducted during early and recent testing campaigns. The
overall gold recoveries ranged from 44.2 to 96.1% in previous tests and from 79.9 to 97.8% in recent tests. The
recent higher gold recoveries were obtained using flotation followed by flotation concentrate regrinding to 80%
passing approximately 20 µm and pre-oxidizing on the reground flotation concentrate and flotation tailings. The test
results appear to show a longer leach retention time would improve gold extraction for the flotation concentrates.
A further test program (BV1803310) by BV using the Route 3 flowsheet on a composite representing the initial year
mill feed, grading at 10.6 g/t Au. The test results show that with aeration pre-treatment with lime, or sodium
hydroxide and peroxide, or ultra-fine regrinding on flotation concentrate, the overall gold recovery can be improved
to greater than 90%.

Cyanide Detoxification Tests:

Cyanide detoxification tests were conducted using sulphur dioxide (SO2) / air technology by ALS Metallurgy and BV
on varied leaching residue samples. Both studies indicate that the targeted weak acid dissociable (WAD) cyanide
level of 1 mg/L can be achieved.

Mining:

The Project is a planned underground mine, which is currently accessed through an exploration portal and decline
that was initially mined in 1997. Currently, no mining is taking place, but access has been maintained for dewatering
and follow-up geological sampling purposes. Lion One is currently completing site excavations to establish
processing and mining facilities.
The Tuvatu deposit mineralization is primarily sub-vertical ranging from 70 to 80°, with less than 1% of stope tonnes
contained in flat lying mineralization ranging from 0 to 30°. The veins are a series of parallel lodes with varying
distance of separation of waste between lodes.
The proposed mining method is longhole stoping, with minor airleg stoping. Originally, the operation was envisioned
as a handheld mining project due to the narrow veins; however, Lion One’s production and financial targets have
led to adopting mechanized longhole stoping as the primary stoping method. Stoping of flatter dipping mineralized
areas (less than 1% of the stope tonnes), where longhole stoping is not viable, will be excavated via handheld
airlegs.
The Tuvatu deposit is a high-grade, narrow vein deposit in competent ground. This mineralization style excludes
many bulk mining techniques. Handheld airleg mining, mechanised longhole stoping, and mechanised cut-and-fill
methods were considered as three viable methods for comparison. The high backfill cost associated with underhand
cut-and-fill meant only overhand cut-and-fill was considered. The generally good geotechnical conditions allow for
relatively small in situ pillars, reducing the benefits of a higher extraction, but more expensive backfill method.
The three mining methods were assessed with a ranking system that took into account level spacing (lateral
development cost), mineralized material extraction ratio, dilution control, productivity, production cost, geotechnical
risk, and safety risk. The results of the quantitative analysis show longhole stoping to be the most suitable mining
method.

Recovery Methods:

The metallurgical test work as described in Section 13.0 was used as the basis for selecting the gold recovery
methods. The test work indicates that the Tuvatu mineralization is amenable to gravity concentration and flotation
followed by cyanidation processes. The process design criteria and process flowsheet have been developed for the
process facility.
Lion One contracted Jinpeng Mining to provide process plant design and all process-related equipment quotations.
The preliminary design work by Jinpeng Mining includes equipment sizing, flowsheet development, mass balance,
general plant layouts, and circuit layouts.

Process Design Criteria:

The average head grade of the plant feed is expected to be 8.6 g/t Au during the life-of-mine (LOM) of over
five years. The overall gold recovery is estimated to be approximately 87.5%. The crushing circuit will operate during the day shift, while the milling and leaching circuits will operate 24 h/d and 330 d/a with an availability of 90.4%. Carbon stripping and gold electrowinning circuits will operate 16 h/d.

Process Description:

The mill feed will be trucked from the underground mine and dumped onto mill feed surge stockpiles or directly into
a primary feed dump pocket. The primary crushing circuit consists of three stages of crushing circuits where the
mill feed will be crushed to a particle size of 80% passing 8 to10 mm. The crushed materials will be conveyed to a
ball mill feed surge bin and then a two-stage grinding circuit to further reduce the particle size to approximately 80%
passing 60 to 65 µm.

A gravity separation unit, installed in the primary grinding circuit, will treat approximately one third of the
hydrocyclone underflow to recover the coarse-free gold grains. The recovered gold will be further treated by a
tabling concentrator to upgrade the concentrate, which can be directly melted, while the tabling tailings is further
processed by a centrifugal gravity concentrator to maximize free gold recovery.
The hydrocyclone overflow will be floated in rougher and scavenger circuits producing a gold-bearing concentrate
and a tailings product. The flotation concentrate will be reground to 80% passing approximately 20 µm, thickened
to approximately 45% w/w solids and then pumped to an aeration pre-treatment prior to a dedicated cyanide
leaching process. The flotation tailings will be thickened to approximately 45% w/w solids and pumped to a separate
tailing leaching circuit. Both the leached concentrate and tailings will report to a common gold carbon adsorption
circuit.
The gold-loaded carbon will be sent to the on-site absorption-desorption-recovery (ADR) plant, which will use a
non-cyanide stripping and electrowinning process in a pressurized and closed circuit. The gold-rich sludge will be
washed from the steel cathodes and collected, then dried and smelted in an electrical furnace to produce gold doré.
The gold doré will be stored in a safety vault within a secure and supervised area. The stripped carbon will be acid
washed for reuse and periodically reactivated.

The leach residue from the carbon-in-pulp (CIP) circuit will be treated by cyanide destruction using the SO2/air
procedure prior to being pumped to the TSF.

Process Auxiliary Facilities:

Plant air services, water supply systems, and reagent handling/storage system have been included in the process
design. Low-pressure air will be provided by air blowers; high-pressure air will be provided from air compressors.
One fresh water and two process water systems are proposed. Reagent handling and storage will be housed in a
containment area.
A geochemical and metallurgical laboratory, which has been constructed at the Owner’s office site in Nadi for
supporting current exploration, will be used for assaying the routine samples for exploration, mining, processing,
and environmental departments. The metallurgical laboratory is equipped with metallurgical test equipment and will
perform metallurgical testing to optimize the process flowsheet and improve metallurgical performance.

Process Control and Instrumentation:

The plant control system will consist of a distributed control system (DCS) with personal computer (PC) based
operator interface stations (OIS) in the control room at the plant site. The plant control room will be staffed by trained personnel 24 h/d for monitoring the key process operations and key equipment within the plant.

Project Infrastructure:

The Property is located 17 km by road from Nadi International Airport, Fiji with port facilities at Ba and Lautoka. It
is accessed via Sabeto Road, which follows the Sabeto River Valley from its junction with Queen’s Road, the primary access from the airport. Part of the access roads and bridges will need to be upgraded to allow for the future heavy freight.

Site Geotechnical Investigations:

Wood reviewed the results of previous geotechnical investigations carried out by Entec Limited of Suva, Fiji (Entec);
Knight Piésold, GBGMAPS of Australia; and Qingdao Geotechnical Investigation and Surveying Research Institute
(Qingdao) of China between 2014 and 2018. The review by Wood is summarized below regarding geotechnical
conditions at the process plant and TSF sites.

Process Plant Site and Adjacent Structures:

The site of the process plant and crusher structures were selected and under active development at the time when
the geotechnical review work by Wood was completed. The site preparation involved cut-and-fill earthworks with
engineered perimeter slopes exceeding, at some locations, 10 m in height.
Excavation of test pits and borehole drilling were completed in the areas of the process plant, crusher, and screen
structures, and in areas where structural foundations are proposed. Bedrock surface was found at various levels
beneath the plant site, at relatively shallow depths in limited areas but sloping sharply toward the Sabeto River.
Based on the results of recent geotechnical investigations, it appears that the proposed plant and crusher areas
are underlain by deposits of weak (loose to soft) colluvial soils with varying thickness, eroded from higher elevations
and carried / rolled down on the steep slopes of the area. These materials have been intermingled with alluvial soils
deposited by the nearby creeks in the side valleys (Tuvatu and Murau Creeks, etc.), and at the toe of the main slope
(Sabeto River). At the proposed screening plant, no bedrock was encountered within the investigated depth of 20 m
below grade, while the thick overburden comprised very weak soils to significant depth, more than 10 m below
grade. It is considered that the soil matrix is generally weak and compressible within large areas of the process
plant complex. Similarly, the most recent geophysical tests found that weak soils are also encountered beneath the
proposed conveyor belts, the screening plant, and beneath a large portion of the process plant, particularly at the
thickener and storage tanks, which are located close to the Sabeto River.

In the relevant foundation recommendations, Entec has proposed a maximum allowable bearing capacity of
100 kPa in the 2014 geotechnical report and a wide range of bearing capacities in the 2017 report. Both reports
recommended that the foundation must be constructed below all loose/soft soils and uncontrolled fills. A large
quantity of weak soils was suggested to be removed and replaced by large and thick mass concrete, or alternatively,
pile foundations in critical areas should be considered. Qingdao investigated the intercepted soils and rock strata
based on their test pit and borehole results. They estimated a bearing capacity value between 150 and 260 kPa,
that is equivalent to “allowable” bearing capacity for “serviceability limit state” according to Qingdao, based on the
Chinese Building Code.
Based on the results of the geotechnical investigations, it is evident that the bearing capacity for foundation design
is highly variable across the site. Wood recommends that the results of the geophysical survey program, together
with the historical borehole results should be used to define the extent of soil improvement or soil removal areas,
and the size (thickness and horizontal extent) of any engineered fill for the structures and foundation members
individually.