Black Canyon Limited announced the submission of a Mining Lease application, and in parallel mark the commencement of the mine approval process while providing an update on Feasibility Study related activities. Flanagan Bore is part of the Company's Carawine JV and is subject to a farm-in and joint venture agreement with Carawine Resources Ltd. Having earned a 51% interest, Black Canyon is now earning up to 75% in the Carawine Project tenements by sole-funding an additional $2.5 million of exploration expenditure. The Flanagan Bore Project is located approximately 400 km southeast of Port Hedland in the east Pilbara region of Western Australia Black Canyon and JV partner Carawine Resources have submitted an application for a Mining Lease (MLA46/546) over the Flanagan Bore manganese deposits that include FB3 and LR1 and also extending over the recent discoveries at L1 and TF1.

The application comprises 1,756 Ha to ensure sufficient area is under tenure to locate the open pits, stockpiles, tails storage facility and build site infrastructure includingroads, accommodation village, process plant, laydowns, offices and solar array. Miscellaneous licenses will be lodged at the appropriate time to cover the mine access road, construction borrow pits and planned production water bore locations and supporting power and pipelines. A total of 4 composites have been selected from 1.4t of PQ diamond core (whole core) from 10 drillholes drilled in December 2021 in preparation for more detailed metallurgical testwork.

This program will advance the findings from the initial sighter level testwork undertaken for the Scoping Study that examined both ore sorting and density separation techniques. It was concluded in the Scoping Study that density-based techniques offered a more robust and reliable processing route for the beneficiation of manganese enriched shales. The drill core has been examined and composited into an LR1 upper, LR1 lower, FB3 and FB3 lower grade domains to examine variability in mineralisation style and grade across the various orebodies.

The program of work planned includes comminution, scrubbing/screening, benchtop dense media assessments using heavy liquid separation and mineralogy. An area of focus is understanding the intensity of scrubbing and washing which from past testwork was able to significantly and cheaply upgrade manganese content with the removal of clay/shale and some of the iron oxides. The high grade nature of the outcropping Flanagan Bore deposits supports a higher feed-grade which can be significantly upgraded with simple scrubbing and washing.

This is a cost effective means of removing barren mass allowing density separation techniques to provide the final beneficiated grade increase. A total of nine exploration holes were drilled approximately 4 to 5 km from the proposed ore processing facility located to the west of the FB3 deposit. The area was targeted based on a review of the region to discover aquifers of sufficient size and recharge with adequate quality suitable for processing requirements.

The holes were drilled into structurally dislocated carbonates units with five holes showing positive water supply indications. As anticipated a number of field water quality tests showed the water has low salinity and acceptable pH range. A number of the bore holes were converted to long term monitoring bores for the gathering of baseline data and will also enable future sampling for sub-terranean fauna for environmental impact studies.

Based on the encouraging results to date further hydrological drilling will be undertaken to delineate the aquifer potential of the carbonate units that will enable modelling to understand recharge and long term sustainability of supply. In preparation for the baseline and approval information required by the environmental regulators Black Canyon has engaged Preston Consulting to provide advice on project approval pathway and management of key consultants. The Company has also now directly engaged a number of primary consultants who specialise in the design and implementation of studies across the disciplines of flora/vegetation, fauna (subterranean and terranean) hydrology and social surroundings.

To date desktop and field based environmental studies have been initiated with more detailed field surveys planned after the wet season.