Integra Resources Corp. announced results for the maiden Preliminary Economic Assessment and updated resource estimate for each of the Wildcat Project and Mountain View Project located in western Nevada. The PEA demonstrates the potential for a low-cost, high-margin, heap leach gold-silver operation with a phased development and production strategy and robust economics. The average annual production of Wildcat & Mountain View and the DeLamar Project on a combined basis is expected to exceed 200kozs of gold
equivalent, demonstrating one of the largest heap leach production profiles among precious metal developers in the Great Basin. The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is no certainty that PEA results will be realized. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. The PEA outlines a profitable heap leach operation with a phased development approach that sees production beginning at Wildcat and expanding to Mountain View in year 8. A phased development approach allows the Company to utilize one fleet for mining and processing equipment resulting in significantly reduced total capital requirements. In total, the approximately 30,000 tonnes per day heap leach operation at Wildcat and 16,000 tpd heap leach operation at Mountain View is expected to process 99.5 million tonnes of mineralized material and produce 1,043koz AuEq over the 13-year LOM. The average annual LOM production at Wildcat & Mountain View is expected to be 80koz AuEq per year which, assuming base case metal prices of USD 1,700/oz Au and USD 21.50/oz Ag will generate total net free cash flow LOM of USD 485 million and average annual free cash flow of USD 46 million from year 1-13. Each of Wildcat & Mountain View will have its own heap leach pad and waste rock facility. The mining equipment and fleet will be moved between the two projects to provide efficient operations and value optimization. Wildcat & Mountain View will share an Adsorption/Desorption/Recovery plant located first at Wildcat and then moved to Mountain View in year 8, at which point the loaded carbon from production years 8 and 9 at Wildcat will be trucked to Mountain View for processing. Mining will be done using 90 tonne haul trucks and 200t and 250t shovels. Material will be crushed to 9 millimeters at Wildcat and 19mm at Mountain View using a three-stage crushing circuit. No agglomeration is expected to be required at either project. The total site costs including mining, processing and G&A for Wildcat & Mountain View are USD 8.19/t processed over the LOM. The LOM site level cash costs net-of-silver by-product for Wildcat & Mountain View are USD 862/oz Au and USD 882/oz AuEq on a co-product basis. The site level AISC, which includes heap leach expansion capital for Wildcat in year 2 and Mountain View in year 9, is USD 956/oz Au on a by- product basis and USD 973/oz AuEq on a co-product basis. The all-in cost for Wildcat & Mountain View is USD 1,162/oz Au on a by-product basis and USD 1,175/oz AuEq on a co-product basis and includes Wildcat & Mountain View initial capital expenditure, heap leach expansion capital, sustaining capital, reclamation and closure costs. As part of the PEA, Integra completed an updated resource estimate for Wildcat & Mountain View. This resource update incorporates drilling from the 2021-2022 drill programs and is based on a new geological interpretation for both the lithological and oxidation models. In addition to new drilling, which included twinning of historical drill holes, the relogging and re-assaying of the available historical data provided enough information to upgrade most of the resources into the Indicated category. Classification of the resources was interpreted manually considering various information such as geology, grade and recovery continuity as well as interpolation parameters and drilling spacing. The Company utilized a general guideline of 50m by 50m spacing for the Indicated resource and 100m by 100m for the Inferred resource. The resources were then constrained using Lerchs-Grossmann pit optimization to respect the definition of reasonable prospects for economic extraction. The updated resource estimate saw an increase in total in-pit AuEq ounces driven primarily by the drilling that took place in 2021-2022 which allowed for the re-interpretation of the oxidation profile at Wildcat and a better constraint of the high-grade breccia body at Mountain View, new geotechnical parameters and metallurgical recoveries, and a higher Au price assumption. As a result of this geological and modeling work, approximately 80% of the resources for Wildcat & Mountain View are now classified as Indicated. The Company utilized the resource estimate block model described above as a basis for the PEA study, however, additional `modifying factors' were considered for the PEA. These factors included Au prices and pit designs, among others. The modifying factors in the PEA led to a substantial difference between the mineral resource estimate and the PEA production plan. Based on the positive results of the PEA, Integra will continue to de-risk Wildcat & Mountain View through baseline and technical studies in the areas of hydrology, geotechnical and metallurgy. Once the EPO is received, the Company is expected to undertake an exploration drill program to grow the resource at the Wildcat & Mountain View which could increase the mine life and further enhance the robust economics outlined in the PEA. The PEA was prepared by Micon International Limited of Toronto, Canada and included contributions from Forte Dynamics, NewFields and Convergent Mining. The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is no certainty that PEA results will be realized. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.