Copper Recoveries Advance ISR Assessment

11 December 2023

Thor Energy PLC

("Thor" or the "Company")

Copper Recoveries Advance In-Situ Recovery Assessment

Alford East Copper-REE Project, South Australia

The directors of Thor Energy Plc ("Thor" or the "Company") (AIM, ASX: THR, OTCQB: THORF) are pleased to announce positive metallurgical copper recovery results, advancing Thor's In-Situ recovery ("ISR") assessment of the Alford East Copper-REE Project, South Australia.

Highlights:

§ Copper recoveries of up to 72.2% using a benign environmentally friendly glycine lixiviant - GlyLeach™. This is an excellent result for ISR-style copper recovery.

§ Four mini-column leach tests ("MCLT's") were conducted to give an accurate determination of the leaching performance and the recovery of copper from drill core samples from 21AEDD005, Alford East (Figure 1) with actual copper recovered shown in Photo 1.

§ Alford East's saline groundwater was used in column testing to replicate potential ISR conditions and provide a more accurate leaching performance. The groundwater had no significant impact on recoveries.

Photo 1:  Week 3 - Pregnant Liquor Solution ("PLS") containers and copper-loaded Ion Exchange Resin

Nicole Galloway Warland, Managing Director of Thor Energy, commented:

 "The successful completion of the hydrometallurgical mini-column tests; returning favourable copper recoveries of up to 72.2% are above the standard range of 60-70% for an ISR operation. These results are highly encouraging, as Thor advances the ISR assessment of the Alford East Copper-REE-Gold Project. 

"As part of Thor's commitment to sustainable exploration activities, we are pleased to be using Glyleach ^TM as a lixiviant during the ISR process. Compared to the conventional sulphuric acid that is often used, Glyleach ^TM is an economical and environmentally friendly alternative, helping Thor to develop a low-cost, low-environmental footprint ISR copper operation.

"Thor continues to work with Fleet Space Technologies to merge the Ambient Noise Tomography ("ANT") 3D model with Thor's 3D geological model. The resultant 3D model highlights low-velocity drill targets, which potentially represent higher grade copper-REE-Gold targets, associated with deep structurally controlled troughs. As part of a future drilling program, Thor will be including additional water bores for pump testing, and push/pull test work as it continues to advance ISR assessment at Alford East towards in-ground lixiviant trials (Site Environmental Lixiviant Trials). These are currently underway at EnviroCopper's Kapunda Project, in which Thor holds 30% equity. We look forward to updating the market with further developments."

Photo 2: Mini Columns setup

Figure 1: Alford East Location Map showing the lateral extent of the Alford Copper Belt (left), and the Alford East Mineral Resource Domains showing the area for initial ANT Surveys (right)

Next Steps:

1.  Modelling of ANT results incorporating Thor's 3D model and using artificial intelligence to extrapolate controlling structures along the Alford Copper Belt - in progress

2.    Target generation from the final 3D Model

3.    Drill preparations and drilling

4.    REE samples to be submitted to ANSTO for recovery potential from kaolin clays

5.   Pump testing and preparations for push/pull connectivity testing, followed by Site Environmental Lixiviant Trial

Mini Column Leach Testing (MCLT's)

Thor engaged Draslovka to undertake a program of work to evaluate Draslovka's GlyLeach^TM process, focusing on copper extraction from a 7.3m intersection selected from drillhole 21AED005 (Figure 1). This sample was selected as representative of copper oxide mineralisation within Mineral Resource Estimate Domain Area 5 (MRE 5) from Thor's 2021 drill program (ASX/AIM: 26 April 2023):.

GlyLeach^TM is an environmentally benign, hydrometallurgical process that can leach copper, nickel, cobalt and zinc from oxide, mixed oxide and supergene ores, and even primary sulphide ores. In the right conditions, it can also leach gold.

Glycine is the simplest amino acid and is available in bulk quantities. Its unique properties can offer substantial advantages over conventional lixiviants:

§ Environment/safety: Glycine is non-toxic to humans as well as wildlife

§ Selectivity: Glycine will solubilise copper, nickel, cobalt, and zinc, while iron, manganese, silicates, and carbonates remain in the solid phase

§ Alkalinity: Leach conditions are at high pH, allowing simple and inexpensive materials for construction

§ Mild conditions: Leaching is typically at ambient temperature, with no heating cost or pressure vessels

§ Low consumption: Glycine is non-volatile (unlike cyanide, ammonia, and hydrochloric acid) and stable under process conditions

§ Recycle: Glycine is not chemically consumed in the overall process. It is easily recovered and recycled, and process losses can be minimised by good design

The metallurgical test work included a copper sequential analysis, diagnostic Leach Tests (DLTs) (ASX/AIM: 22 February 2022) and Mini Column Leach Tests (MCLT's) on the sample provided (Table 1). This testwork determines which copper species can be leached by different solutions. For instance, sulphuric acid (used in copper leaching projects) will easily leach most of the green and blue copper species; however, it will take time to leach native copper, chalcocite, and covellite. Copper sulphide species will eventually be taken into solution by sulphuric acid, but the time frame is considered too long for ISR-type operations.

Based on the copper sequential analysis by Australian Laboratory Services (Table 2), Drasloka anticipated the GlyLeach^TM process is likely to leach all the cyanide soluble copper, a portion (20-80%) of the acid soluble copper and minor amount (<10%) of silicate locked copper, depending on the mineralogy where 22% to 67% would be expected to be leach from the supplied sample (Table 2).

Figure 2: Draslovka Testwork Flow-wheel

Table 1: Head Grade - Gold (fire assay) and Copper (4 acid digest)- 21AED005 20-27.3m

Table 2: Copper Sequential Analysis

Mini Column Leach Tests were undertaken by Drasloka, designed to give a preliminary indication of extractions for typical heap or ISR conditions at Alford East. Small acrylic columns (ID: 45mm) were used to allow visual observation of the sample charge as the leach solution percolates. Each column is around 1m high and held 1.3kg per column of agglomerated sample percolated at 10 L/m²/hr in close circuit, where the PLS was sampled and then put through resin before returning to feed tank.

Four MCLT's were carried out with conditions given below:

§ Test 1: Agglomerated with 10.0 kg/t of Normal Portland Cement ("NPC") and leached with GlyLeachTM using 36.78 g/L of glycine in total, column was started with Gly:Cu molar ratio of 2:1

§ Test 2: Agglomerated with 10.0 kg/t of NPC and leached with GlyLeachTM using 55.15 g/L of glycine in total, column was started with Gly:Cu molar ratio of 3:1

§ Test 3: Agglomerated with 10.0 kg/t of NPC and leached with GlyLeachTM using 55.15 g/L of glycine in total, column was started with Gly:Cu molar ratio of 3:1, column was also heated to 40°C using heating strips

§ Test 4: Agglomerated with 10.0 kg/t of NPC and leached with GlyLeachTM using 55.15 g/L of glycine in total, column was started with Gly:Cu molar ratio of 3:1 and converted to GlyCatTM after two weeks by adding 1.92 g/L of cyanide

Overall, the highest copper extraction was observed in column 2 at 72.2% copper recovery (Figure 3). Column 1 achieved 69.3%, column 3 achieved 71.7% and column 4 achieved 66.8% based on the residue analysis.

Referring to Figure 3, the best gold recovery was achieved in column 4 at 25.0%, column 1 achieved 21.5%, column 2 achieved 20.5%, and column 3 achieved 22.7% gold extraction based on residue analysis. Given the extraction had plateaued after 42 days, an additional 15% more glycine was added into the feed solution of each test to see if this would increase copper recovery, but the results indicated no further change. Column 3, which was heated, showed no benefit over column 2 as it performed under ambient temperature. It was found that adding cyanide (Test 4) improved the gold extraction by approximately 5%.

The test work demonstrates GlyLeach^TM ability to recover copper with excellent recoveries, up to 72.2%.  The temperature had negligible impact and whilst the addition of cyanide improved the gold extraction, it was considered a marginal improvement. Under these leach conditions, it was determined that a copper extraction of 72.2% is achievable. It is recommended that a larger sample is tested to validate what extraction can be achieved at a coarser crush or in-situ recovery environment. With further optimisation, recoveries ranging from 70 - 75% might be attainable.

Figure 3: THOM-02 Metal Extraction - Mini Columns Summary (A-1-Residual (R) /Assayed Head(AH))

GlyLeach^TM ability to recover copper with good recoveries, up to 72.2%, supersedes the accepted range of 60-70% for ISR operations (Figure 4). Based on CAPEX and OPEX costs, recovering metal in an ISR operation in comparison to conventional mining (open cut or underground operation) enables lower metal recoveries whilst maintaining equal or similar profit margins.

Figure 4: Comparison of ISR and Conventional Mining after Chris du Plessis, AMIRA presentation 2014

Alford East Project Background

The Alford East Copper-Ree Project is located on EL6529, where Thor is earning up to 80% interest from unlisted Australian explorer Spencer Metals Pty Ltd, covering portions of EL6255 and EL6529 (Figure 2) (ASX/AIM: 20 November 2020).

The Alford East Project covers the northern extension of the Alford Copper Belt, located on the Yorke Peninsula, SA. The Alford Copper Belt is a semi-coherent zone of copper-gold oxide mineralisation, within a structurally controlled, north-south corridor consisting of deeply kaolinised and oxidised troughs within metamorphic units on the edge of the Tickera Granite (Figure 2), Gawler Craton, SA.

Thor completed an inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) by utilising historic drill hole information. Table C - (ASX/AIM: 27 January 2021):

▪              125.6Mt @ 0.14% Cu containing 177,000t of contained copper

▪              71, 500oz of contained gold

https://thorenergyplc.com/investor-updates/maiden-copper-gold-mineral-resource-estimate-alford-east-copper-gold-isr-project/

Table C: Alford East Mineral Resource Estimate as of 22 January 2021- Figure 2 ((ASX/AIM: 27 January 2021)

Note: MRE reported on oxide material only, at a cut-off grade of 0.05% copper which is consistent with the assumed In-Situ Recovery technique.

REE results were reported from the 2021 diamond drilling program, with significant drill intercepts (>500ppm TREO^[1]) including (ASX/AIM: 26 April 2023):

o 21AED005:           36.7m @ 1568ppm (0.16%) TREO & 1.2% Cu from 6.3m,

including     11.8m @ 2095 ppm (0.21%) TREO and 1.2% Cu from 10m, and

11m @ 2088ppm (0.21%) TREO and 0.8% Cu from 47m,

including    2m @ 5042ppm (0.5%) TREO from 47m

o 21AED002:           11.6m @ 1699ppm (0.17%) TREO and 0.26% Cu from 30.4m

        including    6.1m @ 2262ppm (0.22%) TREO from 34.0m

o 21AED001:           16.8m @ 1721ppm (0.17%) TREO and 0.5% Cu from 91.4m

The Board of Thor Energy Plc has approved this announcement and authorised its release.

For further information, please contact:

Competent Person's Report

The information in this report that relates to exploration results is based on information compiled by Nicole Galloway Warland, who holds a BSc Applied geology (HONS) and who is a Member of The Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Ms Galloway Warland is an employee of Thor Energy PLC. She has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which she 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'. Nicole Galloway Warland consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on her information in the form and context in which it appears.

Updates on the Company's activities are regularly posted on Thor's website https://thorenergyplc.com which includes a facility to register to receive these updates by email, and on the Company's X page @thorenergyplc

About Thor Energy Plc

The Company is focused on uranium and energy metals that are crucial in the shift to a 'green' energy economy. Thor has a number of highly prospective projects that give shareholders exposure to uranium, nickel, copper, lithium and gold. Our projects are located in Australia and the USA.

Thor holds 100% interest in three uranium and vanadium projects (Wedding Bell, Radium Mountain and Vanadium King) in the Uravan Belt Colorado and Utah, USA with historical high-grade uranium and vanadium drilling and production results.

At Alford East in South Australia, Thor holds 80% interest in oxide copper deposits considered amenable to extraction via In Situ Recovery techniques (ISR). In January 2021, Thor announced an Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate¹. Thor also holds a 30% interest in Australian copper development company EnviroCopper Limited, which in turn holds rights to earn up to a 75% interest in the mineral rights and claims over the resource on the portion of the historic Kapunda copper mine and the Alford West copper project, both situated in South Australia, and both considered amenable to recovery by way of ISR.²³

Thor owns 100% of the Ragged Range Project, comprising 92 km² of exploration licences with highly encouraging early-stage gold and nickel results in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Thor holds 100% of the advanced Molyhil tungsten project, including measured, indicated and inferred resources⁴, in the Northern Territory of Australia, which was awarded Major Project Status by the Northern Territory government in July 2020. Thor executed a A$8m Farm-in and Funding Agreement with Investigator Resources Limited (ASX: IVR) to accelerate exploration at the Molyhil Project on 24 November 2022.⁶

Adjacent to Molyhil, at Bonya, Thor holds a 40% interest in deposits of tungsten, copper, and vanadium, including Inferred resource estimates for the Bonya copper deposit, and the White Violet and Samarkand tungsten deposits. ⁵ Thor's interest in the Bonya tenement EL29701 is planned to be divested as part of the Farm-in and Funding agreement with Investigator Resources Limited.⁶

Notes

¹ https://thorenergyplc.com/investor-updates/maiden-copper-gold-mineral-resource-estimate-alford-east-copper-gold-isr-project/

² www.thorenergyplc.com/sites/thormining/media/pdf/asx-announcements/20172018/20180222-clarification-kapunda-copper-resource-estimate.pdf

³ www.thorenergyplc.com/sites/thormining/media/aim-report/20190815-initial-copper-resource-estimate---moonta-project---rns---london-stock-exchange.pdf

⁴ https://thorenergyplc.com/investor-updates/molyhil-project-mineral-resource-estimate-updated/

⁵ www.thorenergyplc.com/sites/thormining/media/pdf/asx-announcements/20200129-mineral-resource-estimates---bonya-tungsten--copper.pdf

⁶ https://thorenergyplc.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/20221124-8M-Farm-in-Funding-Agreement.pdf

1    JORC Code, 2012 Edition - Table 1 report template

Section 1: Sampling Techniques and Data

Section 2: Reporting of Exploration Results