16 May 2023

African Pioneer Plc

("African Pioneer " or "the Company")

JORC 2012 Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate for the Ongombo Copper Project, Namibia

African Pioneer Plc ("African Pioneer" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of an updated Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate for the Ongombo copper project ("Ongombo" or the "Project") in Namibia, completed by independent consultants Addison Mining Services. African Pioneer holds an 85% interest in the Project.

Highlights

·    Highly successful drill programme and new Mineral Resource Estimate results in an additional 100,000 tonnes in contained copper metal and an additional 84,000 oz of gold across all Resource categories.

·    Expenditure of approximately US$480,000 on direct drilling costs ahead of the most recent Mineral Resource update represents a unit resource development cost for the additional 100,000 tonnes of contained copper metal of approximately US$4.8 per tonne of contained metal

·    The Ongombo mineralization remains open at depth with scope for the addition of further tonnage and based on recent twinned drilling, potential for significantly enhanced gold grades in the East - Ost shoots

·    A 25-year Mining Licence has been granted subject to completion of an active Environmental and Social Impact Assessment.

The updated Mineral Resource Estimate has been completed by Addison Mining Services Ltd., an independent consultancy based in the United Kingdom and is reported in accordance with the JORC Code 2012 edition. Resources are of Indicated and Inferred categories and include:

·    Total Indicated Resources of 5.7 million tonnes gross at 1.1 % Cu Equivalent ("CuEq"), 0.94 % Cu, 0.23 g/t Au and 4.4 g/t Ag, for 53,000 t Cu, 42,000 oz Au and 800,000 oz Ag, including:

o  Open pit potential Resources of 0.93 million tonnes at 0.68% CuEq, 0.57 % Cu, 0.19 g/t Au and 2.6 g/t Ag, for 5,300 t Cu, 5,700 oz Au and 78,000 oz Ag, above a cut-off grade of 0.25% CuEq

o  Underground potential Resources of 4.7 million tonnes at 1.2% CuEq, 1.0% Cu, 0.24 g/t Au and 4.7 g/t Ag, for 48,000 t Cu, 36,000 oz Au and 72,000 oz Ag, above a cut-off grade of 0.5% CuEq

·    Inferred Underground potential Resources of approximately, 23 million tonnes at 1.1% CuEq, 0.95% Cu, 0.24 g/t Au and 5.8 g/t Ag, for 220,000 t Cu, 180,000 oz Au and 4.3 million oz Ag, above a cut-off grade of 0.5% CuEq

Notes:

1. The resource figures above are stated on a gross basis - please see full text below for the resources net attributable to African Pioneer's 85% interest.

2. Also set out below is a comparison to the previous mineral resource estimate.

Colin Bird Chairman & CEO said: "I am delighted with the results of our recent programme and the re-evaluation of the Mineral Resource by the external consultant which has achieved the significant milestone of increasing the contained metal content of copper and gold by 100Kt Cu and 84Koz Au.

The initial development of an open pit provides the means to establish a number of parallel drives excavated in mineralisation enabling us to operate a larger number of working faces which in turn implies more output and the need for greater processing capacity which is more efficient than the original proposal for the development of twin 7m x 7m declines to access underground resources which imposed a huge capital burden on the Project and a large proportion of the development was in waste and therefore unproductive.

Our recent drill programme included the twinning of holes drilled by Goldfields into the deeper East - Ost shoot. This drilling intersected significant gold values peaking at 1.3g/t Au over 1.15 m with a mean of 0.2 g/t Au. We intend to complete further twinning of holes and if we can replicate our most recent gold values we will be looking at a Resource with a significantly enhanced gold credit."

JORC 2012 Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate

Project Background

The Ongombo project is situated in Exclusive Prospecting License (EPL) 5772 in the Khomas region of the Windhoek District of Namibia, 45 km from Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. The project area has relatively well-developed infrastructure on the farms Ongombo Ost and Ongombo West. The property is easily accessed by a tar road from Windhoek to Gobabis  and then on a gravel road up to the project area. There is also a railway line from Gobabis to Walvis Bay, via Windhoek running parallel to the tarred road. The Ongombo Project is located 15km northeast from Otjihase Mine which consists of two underground mines (Otjihase and Matchless) and an 800ktpa copper concentrator.

The Ongombo project lies within the Matchless Member of the Kuiseb Formation, a conspicuous assemblage of lenses of foliated amphibolites, chlorite-amphibolite schist, talc schist and metagabbro. This belt, up to 5km wide in the Otjihase area, stretches 350km east-north-eastwards in the Southern Zone of the Damara Orogen from the Gorob - Hope area. The deposit is generally described as a Besshi-type massive sulphide. These are described as thin sheet-like bodies of massive to well-laminated pyrite, pyrrhotite, and chalcopyrite within thinly laminated clastic sediments and mafic tuffs. At the Ongombo project mineralisation occurs in one continuous zone approximately 7 km long and 0.5 - 1 km wide. The mineralisation zone dips consistently 15-20° northwest and plunges 5° northeast. Mineralisation is gradually thinning westward.

In 2021 the Shali Group sold 85% equity in the Licence to African Pioneer PLC, African Pioneer are now managers and funders of the License, Shali Group are County Managers for African Pioneer. In September 2021 a Scoping Study was completed by consultants Practara Pty Ltd and was based on a Mineral Resource Estimate undertaken by consultants Red Bush Geoservices. The Scoping study proposed mining entirely by underground mining and assumed a minimum mining height of 1.05 m with access via twin declines. Alternative mining scenarios have been considered in this Resource update.   

The pending renewal application for EPL 5772 which expired on 8 March 2023 is now reflected on the Namibian Mines and Energy Cadastre Map Portal and is for an additional two-year extension. A conditional Environmental Clearance Certificate for mining activities was granted on EPL 5772 and is valid until 16 April 2026. A 20 Year Mining Licence, ML 240, was granted on 10 August 2022 and covers a portion of EPL 5772 and approximately one third of the open pit resource. An extension to the Mining Licence was submitted on 6 September 2022 to encompass the wider Resource Area.  

Mineral Resource Estimate

The updated Mineral Resource Estimate has been completed by Addison Mining Services Ltd., an independent consultancy based in the United Kingdom and is reported in accordance with the JORC code 2012 edition. Resources are of Indicated and Inferred categories and include.

·    Total Indicated Resources of 5.7 million tonnes gross at 1.1 % Cu Equivalent ("CuEq"), 0.94 % Cu, 0.23 g/t Au and 4.4 g/t Ag, for 53,000 t Cu, 42,000 oz Au and 800,000 oz Ag, including;

o  Open pit potential Resources of 0.93 million tonnes at 0.68% CuEq, 0.57 % Cu, 0.19 g/t Au and 2.6 g/t Ag, for 5,300 t Cu, 5,700 oz Au and 78,000 oz Ag, above a cut-off grade of 0.25% CuEq

o  Underground potential Resources of 4.7 million tonnes at 1.2% CuEq, 1.0% Cu, 0.24 g/t Au and 4.7 g/t Ag, for 48,000 t Cu, 36,000 oz Au and 72,000 oz Ag, above a cut-off grade of 0.5% CuEq

·    Inferred Underground potential Resources of approximately, 23 million tonnes at 1.1% CuEq, 0.95% Cu, 0.24 g/t Au and 5.8 g/t Ag, for 220,000 t Cu, 180,000 oz Au and 4.3 million oz Ag, above a cut-off grade of 0.5% CuEq

Immediately to the north-west of the open pit in the "central shoot" there is an estimated underground Resource inventory of 2.1 million tonnes at 1.2% Cu which maybe readily accessed by developing access from the high wall of the open pit, representing potential for a timely and efficient transition from open pit to underground mining. The remainder of the Indicated underground resource may then be accessible following further development. Further studies are required to assess the economic viability of such an operation.

Ongombo project has been explored for over 30 years and 209 historical drill holes (pre-1991) have been used to inform the estimate. The Indicated resource is restricted only to the area where new drilling (2007 and later) has been completed. The area is 2.2 km by 0.5 km. The northwest of the Ongombo project is estimated based on historic drilling entirely (drillholes from 1991 and earlier) and is restricted to the Inferred category. The Inferred area is approximately 4 km by 0.5 km in surface expression. African Pioneer plans to explore this area following evaluation of the Indicated open pit and underground resources and, given favourable results, undertake further exploration drilling.

The Mineral Resource Estimate is based on wireframe restricted block modelling with grade estimation by ordinary kriging. Pit optimisation was used to identify material which may be amenable to open pit mining. These data are presented in Table 1 below above a cut-off grade of 0.25% CuEq, in addition to Resources that may be amenable to underground mining techniques above a cut-off grade of 0.5% CuEq. Cu, Au and Ag grades have been diluted to reflect minimum mining width of 1.6 m. For further information see JORC Table 1 below. Supporting images can be found by clicking on the following links.

Figure 1: Ongombo Plan View Drilling Overview

Figure 2: Ongombo MRE Block Model Example Cross-Section

Figure 3: Ongombo Plan View Resource Category

The estimate incorporates new drilling by African Pioneer completed between 22^nd April and 15 November 2022. African Pioneer drilled 54 shallow diamond holes, totalling of 2,288.80 m (ranging between 5.89 m and 200.93 m in depth). Drillhole size was PQ in overburden with HQ tails. All holes were drilled with inclination -75° and 142° azimuth. In addition, six drillholes completed in 2017 by Shali Group and 26 drillholes completed in 2008 and 2014 by Namibian Copper Organisation ("NCO") along with 209 drillholes completed by Tsumeb Corporation Ltd in 1988 - 1991 were used in the estimate.

Table 1: Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources for the Ongombo Project, Namibia. *Gross representing 100% estimated Resources.

Table 2: Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources for the Ongombo Project, Namibia. *Net representing 85% estimated Resources reflecting African Pioneer's interest in the project.

Notes relating to Mineral Resource Estimate:

1.     The independent Competent Person for the Mineral Resource Estimate, as defined by the JORC Code (2012 edition), is Mr. Richard Siddle, MSc, MAIG, of Addison Mining Services Ltd since November 2014. The effective date of the Mineral Resource Estimate is 25th of April 2023. Mr Siddle has completed a site visit between 30^th April and 1st May 2023.

2.     No mineral reserve estimates have been undertaken. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The quantity and grade of reported Inferred Resources in this Mineral Resource Estimate are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred Resources as Indicated or Measured, however it is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration and verification including infill drilling, further verification of legacy drillholes via twin drilling and metallurgical testing. Following further exploration it may be possible to convert some of the Inferred Mineral Resources to Indicated Mineral Resources.

3.     Copper Equivalent is based on assumed prices of US$9,000 per tonne Cu, US$1,800 per oz Au and US$20 per oz. Recovery and selling factors (see below) were incorporated into the calculation of Cu Eq values. It is the Company's and Competent Persons' opinion that all the elements included in the metal equivalents calculation (copper, gold and silver) have a reasonable potential to be recovered and sold.

4.     Cu Eq% is calculated as Cu% + (Au×0.522) + (Ag×0.006), with Au and Ag expressed in terms of g/t.

5.     Open pit mining assumes a Cu price of US$9,000 per tonne with 96% payability on metal in concentrate with selling cost US$480 per tonne, Au price of US$1,800 per oz with 90% payability and Ag price of $US20 per oz with 90% payability. Pit optimisation and cut-off grade selection was based on the assumption of 87% recovery of Cu, 75% recovery of Au and 75% recovery of Ag, by flotation at $11.6/t plus $5.7/t G&A. Mining costs were assumed as $2/t. Underground mining was based on the same assumptions with a mining costs of $20/t.

6.     Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource categories set out in the table above at cut-off grades >0.25% CuEq for open pit and 0.5% CuEq for underground mining comply with the resource definitions as described in the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves. The JORC Code, 2012 Edition. Prepared by: The Joint Ore Reserves Committee of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Australian Institute of Geoscientists and Minerals Council of Australia (JORC).

7.     Numbers are rounded to reflect the fact that an Estimate of Resources is being reported. Rounding of numbers may result in differences in calculated totals and averages. All tonnes are metric tonnes.

8.     Pit slopes were assumed as 40 degrees in overburden and fresh rock. No geotechnical studies have been completed to support this assumption and the requirement for shallower pit slopes may serve to materially reduce the open pit mineral resource.

9.     The Mineral Resource Estimate set out above was based on the wireframe interpretation of the mineralised unit. At the Ongombo project mineralisation occurs in one continuous zone approximately 7 km long and 0.5 - 1 km wide. The mineralisation zone dips consistently 15-20° northwest and plunges 5° northeast. Mineralisation is gradually thinning westward.

10.  The block size was 10 mE x 30 mN x 5 mZ with further sub-blocking by 5 divisions east and north and 10 divisions in the Z direction. The block model was rotated by 45° around Z axis.

11.  Grades were estimated using Ordinary Kriging of 1 m downhole composites. An incrementally larger search ellipsoid with dimensions 250 x 75 x 50 m was used and expanded by a factor of 1, 2 and 3 for Cu and Ag and 1 and 1.5 for Au. The maximum number of samples per search was restricted to 24. Discretisation was 2x6x2. The estimate was completed using Micromine 2023.3 software.

12.  In order to restrict the influence of high-grade outlier Au assays thresholds for estimation were applied and samples were clamped to 2 g/t Au based on the distance from the sample to the estimated block. Samples above 2 g/t used their original value inside a search of 50 x 15 x10 m and were capped at 2 g/t outside of those radii.

13.  Mineralisation in the open pit resource ranges from at surface to 30 m below the surface and extends approximately 1200 m down-plunge towards northeast and 100 m down-dip to the northwest. The underground resource extends from the pit rim 400 m down dip to the northwest and 4,500 m down plunge to the northeast. Mineralisation is 500 m below surface at its deepest point.

14.  The mineral resource is closed off by drilling and as it nears surface to the southwest and southeast. In the north east area of the deposit, mineralisation may continue down dip and plunge and it has been extrapolated by ~200m from the edge of drilling, were further mineralisation to be present here it would likely only be amenable to underground mining due to the depth of the mineralisation unit.

Comparison to Previous Mineral Resource Estimate.

The Previous Mineral Resource Estimate reported in accordance with JORC (2012) for the Ongombo project was conducted by Red Bush Geoservices with the effective date of 30th September 2021. The estimate comprised 10.4 million tonnes of Indicated Resources at 1.4% Cu, 0.35 g/t Au and 7 g/t Ag, and 1.65 million tonnes of Inferred at 1.65 % Cu, 0.35 g/t Au and 7.3 g/t Ag. This updated estimate represents an increase of approximately 100,000 tonnes of contained Cu and an additional 84,000 oz of Au over all Resource classifications. Key differences accounting for the variation in the estimates are described as follows.

·    Red Bush considered the minimum mining height as 1.05 m. AMS considers this mining height is not realistic in modern mining scenarios. AMS diluted the model to minimum 1.6 m mining height, therefore the tonnage reported by AMS is higher and the grades lower.

·    Red Bush reported the resource at cut-off grade of 1% Cu, which in AMS opinion excludes the material with a reasonable prospect of economic extraction in between 0.5% and 1% Cu. Moreover, Red Bush reports Au and Ag, however no Au and Ag credits were considered for cut-off calculation and reporting.

·    Reviewing of Red Bush estimate indicates that a number of samples with values 0 g/t were used where no Au assay was recorded for that sample. Due to this, AMS is of the opinion that Au is underreported in the Red Bush MRE. AMS prevented Au grades from over smearing into areas of no assay by use of smaller search radii, leaving some blocks in the model non-estimated for Au.

·    In AMS' opinion due to data spacing and reliance on historic drilling the proportion of Indicated resource in East/Ost Shoots is not warranted.

Technical Sign off

The technical information in this release has been reviewed by Mr R. J. Siddle, MSc, MAIG Principal Resource Geologist for Addison Mining Services Ltd. Mr. Siddle is an independent Competent Person within the meaning of the JORC (2012) code and a Qualified Person under the AIM Rules, having over 15 years' experience in the industry. Mr. Siddle has reviewed and verified the technical information that forms the basis of, and has been used in the preparation of, the Mineral Resource Estimate and this announcement, including analytical data, drilling logs, QC data, density measurements, and sampling. Mr. Siddle consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the matters based on the information, in the form and context in which it appears. Mr Siddle was assisted in the preparation of the estimate by Ms P. M. Mierzwa who worked under the direction of the Competent Person, Ms Mierzwa is thanked for her involvement and contribution to the study.  

Glossary

For further information, please contact: African Pioneers PLC

or visit  https://africanpioneerplc.com/

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("UK MAR").

JORC Code, 2012 Edition - Table 1 report template

Section 1 Sampling Techniques and Data

(Criteria in this section apply to all succeeding sections.)

Section 2 Reporting of Exploration Results

(Criteria listed in the preceding section also apply to this section.)

Section 3 Estimation and Reporting of Mineral Resources

(Criteria listed in section 1, and where relevant in section 2, also apply to this section.)