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ASX ANNOUNCEMENT

ASX code: GED

21 March 2022

OUTSTANDING VANADIUM EXTRACTION OF UP TO 95% IN ABENAB LEACH TESTS

Representative bulk-concentrate being generated for further leach testing prior to upgraded Phase 2 studies for high-value vanadium and base metal production

  • Outstanding vanadium extraction of up to 95% achieved in Phase 1 hydrometallurgical leach tests on gravity concentrate from the Abenab Vanadium (V2O5 or V) - Zinc (Zn) - Lead (Pb) Project in Namibia - one of the highest grade vanadate projects in the world.
  • Direct ion-exchange (IX) testwork on the leach solution produced high vanadium recoveries into IX resin, that can be processed to produce high-value end products such as vanadium electrolyte for vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) used in renewable energy storage.
  • Further gravity concentration testwork commenced on a new bulk sample representative of the high-grade resource at Abenab. This work will generate a high-grade gravity concentrate targeting 15X upgrade to 15%V, 30%Pb, 12%Zn, for Phase 2 hydrometallurgical leach testing.
  • A proposal has been received for Phase 2 hydrometallurgical leach testing on the high-grade gravity concentrate which is designed to optimise vanadium leach as well as direct IX recovery of vanadium and zinc, with lead recovery by gravity concentration of the residue.
  • This Phase 2 testwork will develop a two-stage flowsheet comprising gravity concentration on site followed by off-sitedown-stream hydrometallurgical processing to recover high- value vanadium products as well as lead, zinc and potentially copper.
  • The gravity then hydrometallurgical processing flow-sheet developed for Abenab will also be applied to gravity concentrate from the Nosib high-gradevanadium-copper-lead- mineralisation, located along strike from Abenab, where the Company is currently drilling.
  • The key next steps following this staged testing program will be to develop an integrated mining and processing plan for Abenab and Nosib at scoping study level, that may then be upgraded to a feasibility study and near-term development and production plan.

Golden Deeps Limited ("Golden Deeps" or "Company") is pleased to report outstanding vanadium extraction rates of up to 95% vanadium recovery in Phase 1 hydrometallurgical testwork on gravity concentrate from the Abenab high-gradeVanadium-Lead-Zinc Project1 in the Otavi Mountain Land (OML) of Namibia (see location, Figure 2).

This Phase 1 hydrometallurgical test work on the Abenab concentrate sample was carried out by metallurgical consultants and processing engineers, Core Resources ("Core") in Brisbane.

The Phase 1 testwork produced a preliminary processing flowsheet to process vanadium-lead-zinc gravity concentrate from the Abenab deposit and produce down-streamhigh-value products such as vanadium electrolyte for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFBs), as well as lead, zinc and potentially copper by-products.

Golden Deeps Limited

1st Floor, 8 Parliament Place, West Perth, WA 6005

PO Box 1618, West Perth, WA 6872

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Results of the Abenab Phase 1 Hydrometallurgical Testwork:

Previous gravity concentration testwork on high-grade underground resource material by Avonlea Minerals Ltd (ASX: AVZ) in 2012, produced high concentrate grades of up to 21% V2O5, 14% Zn and 53% Pb2.

Subsequent gravity concentration test work for Golden Deeps, by Mintek - South Africa, used low-grade surface stockpiles and tailings material from historical Abenab production, grading 0.30% V2O5, 1.29% Pb and 1.14% Zn (much lower grade than the Abenab resource) to generate a concentrate with an overall grade of up to 8.9 % V2O5, 30.5% Pb, 8.95% Zn, representing a 30 times upgrade of Vanadium3.

A representative sample of this gravity concentrate grading ~6% V2O5, 20% Pb, 6.5% Zn and weighing approximately five kilograms (5 kg) was provided to Core to carry out the Phase 1 downstream hydrometallurgical leaching testwork. This work included a series of sulphuric acid leach tests at different conditions, including varied pH, acid addition rates and temperature.

The first test (Test 1) was controlled to PH 1 at 45°C, with a relatively high acid addition rate and produced vanadium recovery into solution of 95.4% V. Similar recovery of zinc was achieved and the lead almost entirely precipitated into the residue, for later recovery.

Further testwork was carried out to determine the best method for separating vanadium (V) from zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) to produce saleable down-stream products. Direct ion exchange (IX) recovery of vanadium from the leach solution was shown to be the most attractive processing option as vanadium can be stripped and processed to multiple high-value end products, including vanadium electrolyte precursors for VRFBs used in the renewable energy industry.

The results of the direct IX testwork indicated vanadium can be selectively recovered from iron and zinc with very-high recovery of vanadium from solution. The effluent from the process can then be processed to generate a saleable zinc product. This demonstrates direct IX is a suitable downstream processing method for precipitating vanadium after leach extraction from the Abenab concentrate. Lead was recovered from the leach residue by gravity separation, recovering up to 96% Pb into a 45% Pb gravity concentrate, with Pb present as PbSO4, a saleable product to secondary lead smelters.

New, Gravity Concentrate Sample being generated from Abenab resource material:

The concentrate sample used for the Phase 1 hydrometallurgical testwork was generated from low grade surface stockpiles with tailings contamination. This material is inferior to the underground, high-grade resources that would form the basis of any future development. Lower rates of acid consumption are expected from leach tests on higher grade "clean" concentrate from the underground resource.

For this reason, the Company has utilised existing drillcore from the Abenab diamond drilling program carried out in 2019 to generate a new bulk sample of underground resource material for further gravity concentration to produce a new batch of, representative, concentrate for Phase 2 leach testwork.

Drillcore from two diamond drillholes that intersected the Abendab high-grade resource were selected to produce the representative bulk sample. Intersections from these previous drillholes included:

  • ABD015 - 64.18 @ 0.90% V2O5, 2.01% Pb, 0.65% Zn from 207m4 and
  • ABRCD011 - 23m @ 1.34% V2O5, 3.33% Pb, 1.25% Zn from 167m5 (see cross section Figure 1).

Samples from these diamond drillholes have been aggregated to generate a 160kg bulk sample that grades approximately 1.0% V2O5, 2.2% Pb and 0.77% Zn.

This bulk sample approximately represents the grade of the current Abenab Inferred Mineral Resources of:

  • 2.80Mt @ 0.66% V2O5, 2.35% Pb, 0.94% Zn at a 0.2% V2O5 cut-off1 or
  • 1.12Mt @ 1.28% V2O5, 3.05% Pb, 1.25% Zn at a 0.5% V2O5 cut-off1.

Golden Deeps Limited

1st Floor, 8 Parliament Place, West Perth, WA 6005

PO Box 1618, West Perth, WA 6872

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Figure 1: Cross section through Abenab breccia showing high-grade mineralisation and potential at depth

The representative bulk sample was delivered to Nagrom Laboratories in Perth, Western Australia.

A three-stage program to generate a representative gravity concentrate bulk sample is now being carried out and consists of:

  1. Grinding sighter tests using various grind sizes, followed by water-based gravity separation.
  2. Gravity separation optimisation using spirals with water table cleaning, and,
  3. final concentrate production of 3 to 5kg of high-grade concentrate.

The target grade for the gravity concentrate will be up to 15% V2O5, 30% Pb, 12% Zn (~15X upgrade).

Golden Deeps Limited

1st Floor, 8 Parliament Place, West Perth, WA 6005

PO Box 1618, West Perth, WA 6872

Page | 3

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Further Phase 2 Hydrometallurgical Testing proposed for Abenab and the Nosib Prospect:

A new proposal has been received from Core (metallurgical testing group) for a Phase 2 hydrometallurgical testwork program on the new, representative, concentrate sample generated by Nagrom. The Phase 2 testwork is designed to further develop the flowsheet for processing vanadium lead and zinc concentrate to high-value vanadium products, as well as recovering zinc, lead and potentially copper.

The Core proposal includes further acid leaching tests to optimise vanadium recovery and acid consumption, followed by tests on vanadium recovery via direct ion exchange, zinc recovery from effluent and, separately, lead recovery via gravity concentration of the leach residue.

The outcomes of both the gravity concentrate testwork, and the leaching and downstream products testwork, will provide processing cost inputs (capital and operating). This work will then be integrated with upgraded mining cost estimates to produce a scoping study for staged mining, gravity concentration and downstream processing of the high-grade Abenab high-gradeV-Zn-Pb resource.

"This Phase 2 testwork presents an opportunity to develop a down-stream processing flowsheet to allow mining development and initial gravity concentrate processing on site, followed by down-stream processing to high-value vanadium products and also recovery of zinc, lead and potentially copper," said Golden Deeps CEO, Jon Dugdale.

The generation of a viable, two stage, processing flow-sheet for the Abenab resource, with recovery and costing information, will then be applied to testwork on the Nosib high-gradecopper-vanadium-lead mineralisation (Figure 2) where the company is currently completing a diamond drilling program.

Nosib Prospect is located 20km to the southwest of Abenab (see Figure 2 below) and has similar vanadium (descloisite) mineralogy to Abenab. In addition to vanadium, the Nosib mineralisation contains high-grade copper and lead in the shallow, supergene zone.

It is expected the mineralisation from the Nosib deposit, similarly to the mineralisation at Abenab, will be amenable to upgrade by simple gravity concentration.

Diamond drilling of the Nosib deposit has generated sufficient core, with results to come, to generate a metallurgical sample of Nosib high-gradeV-Cu-Pb mineralisation for a gravity concentration testwork program which will follow the Abenab work.

Leach testing using the Abenab flowsheet, with an added copper recovery stage, will then be applied to the Nosib concentrate. In addition to vanadium, lead and zinc - copper is expected to leach into solution with precipitation and separation of copper (and zinc) to follow vanadium recovery via direct ion-exchange.

Successful application of the Abenab flow-sheet to the Nosib mineralisation will then be up-scaled to apply to a trial mining bulk sample of near surface high-gradevanadium-copper-lead mineralisation that is currently being excavated. Approximately three tonnes (3t) of high-gradeV-Cu-Pb mineralised material from Nosib will be produced for gravity concentration prior to down-stream hydrometallurgical testing to feasibility study level.

Summary:

The Company is working towards developing an integrated processing flowsheet for both the Abenab high- grade V-Pb-Zn resource and the Nosib high-gradeV-Cu-Pb mineralisation.

The processing concept is for ore from both deposits to be gravity concentrated on site, then high-grade concentrate to be transported off site for downstream hydrometallurgical processing to produce high- value vanadium products as well as lead, zinc and copper by-products.

"Our goal is to establish a production hub and supply high grade, in demand, critical minerals such as vanadium, copper, lead and zinc to renewable energy battery producers globally", concluded Mr Dugdale.

Golden Deeps Limited

1st Floor, 8 Parliament Place, West Perth, WA 6005

PO Box 1618, West Perth, WA 6872

Page | 4

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About the Abenab High-GradeVanadium-Lead-Zinc Project:

The Abenab high-gradevanadium-lead-zinc project is located on the Company's two Exclusive Prospecting Licences (EPLs) - EPL5496 and EPL3543 ("the Tenements"), that include the Abenab Mine as well as the Khusib Springs and Nosib Block Prospects (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Location plan of the Abenab and Nosib Projects, EPL3543 and EPL5496, Otavi Copper-Belt, Namibia

The Tenements cover a 35km strike-length mineralised corridor in the Otavi Mountain Land ("OML" or "Otavi Copper Belt") of northeast Namibia (see Figure 3 below). The region is a globally significant base metal province with major historical production from several mines including the Tsumeb (30Mt @ 4.3% Cu, 10% Pb, 3.5% Zn6) and Kombat (32Mt @ 2.21% Cu, 1.33% Pb, 4.4 g/t Ag7 ) deposits.

The region is well served by sealed roads, rail to port, high voltage power, telephone lines and water, and is close to major towns and other mining processing facilities.

The Abenab mineralisation is hosted by carbonates of the Otavi Group. The deposit consists of a pipelike karst structure filled with a breccia of collapsed country rocks associated with compacted red muds and cemented by coarse calcite and decloizite-vanadinite concretions. The Abenab Breccia Pipe lies on a steeply dipping sheared contact between a massive dolomite and a platy limestone.

The vanadium mineralisation at Abenab is in the form of the oxide minerals descloizite and vanadinite. The vanadium mineralisation takes several forms including breccia clast infill, fine grain fracture fill, open space crystal growth and clay-filled cavities.

The Abenab Mine operated as an open pit and underground mine from 1921 to 1947 by the South West Africa Company. Historical mine production from Abenab included 176kt @ 16% V2O5, 13% Zn, 54% Pb.

Golden Deeps Limited

1st Floor, 8 Parliament Place, West Perth, WA 6005

PO Box 1618, West Perth, WA 6872

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Golden Deeps Ltd. published this content on 20 March 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 20 March 2022 22:47:07 UTC.