Clear-cut year of exploration for Rockhaven

Toward the goal of advancing Klaza to the prefeasibility stage, Rockhaven Resources Ltd. completed 12,042 meters of drilling in 2022, focused primarily on upgrading as much inferred resource to the indicated category.

"We anticipate the completion of the fully-funded pre-feasibility study by mid-2023," said Rockhaven Resources President and CEO Matthew Turner. "Thanks to the hard work of our crews and contractors, we were able to stay within budget and accommodate an extra 2,000 meters of drilling which should add to the overall project economics. Additionally, we carried out a 10-day work program on some of our most compelling regional targets and eagerly await assays."

A 2020 preliminary economic assessment for Klaza outlines plans for a mine that would produce roughly 750,000 ounces of gold and 13.8 million oz of silver over a 12-year mine life.

This scoping level study is based on 4.46 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 4.8 grams per metric ton (686,000 oz) gold and 98 g/t (14.1 million oz) silver; plus 5.71 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 2.8 g/t (507,000 oz) gold and 76 g/t (13.9 million oz) silver outlined at the Klaza project so far.

Since this resource was calculated in 2018, Rockhaven has completed significant drilling at Klaza, including a 14,256-meter drill program completed during 2021 that included 11 holes to test resource expansion targets, 30 to evaluate targets outside of the immediate resource area, and 31 focused on upgrading inferred resource.

In preparation for this year's prefeasibility study, Rockhaven's 2022 program included:

• Resource expansion drilling in the eastern portion of Central BRX Zone, which lies immediately adjacent to but outside of the existing mineral resource and the mine plan envisioned in a 2020 PEA.

• Target evaluation drilling to test the potential of the Western BRX Extension Zone, where one hole drilled in 2021 cut 0.54 meters averaging 1,160 g/t gold.

• Geotechnical drilling for open pit designs in the prefeasibility and sonic drilling to map overburden layers at the proposed tailings and mill site areas.

• The collection of more than 1,000 kilograms of core samples for prefeasibility level metallurgical testing, including pre-concentration, flotation, and concentrate optimization.

"The 2022 program was designed to upgrade as many of the remaining inferred mineral resources to the indicated category as possible for their inclusion in the upcoming pre-feasibility study," said Turner. "Additionally, all of the required information from site-based work was collected, which included geotechnical, ground stability, environmental and metallurgical data.