The key metallurgical design parameters applied for process design in the 2024 PEA are as follows: Mineralized material competency/hardness: Drop Weight Test Parameter Axb 53 (75th percentile), Bond Ball Mill Work Index 12.2 kWh/tonne (75th percentile), moderately competent and moderately soft, Grind size P80 for flotation feed: 200 microns, Metallurgical recoveries (life of mine): Copper 88.2 %, Gold 63%, Silver 53%, Copper concentrate: 26% Copper, 3.7 g/t Gold, 74 g/t Silver. Mine haul trucks will transport plant feed material to the crushing station where they will dump the material directly into a large gyratory crusher. From the crusher, plant feed material will be conveyed to a live stockpile ahead of the grinding circuit. Plant feed will be drawn from the stockpile and fed to a single 12.8 m diameter by 8.2 m EGL (Effective Grinding Length) SAG mill. SAG mill discharge will be
screened to remove oversize pebbles which will be crushed in pebble crushers and returned to the SAG mill feed. SAG mill screen undersize product will be fed to two parallel 8.5 m diameter by 11.4 m EGL ball mills operating in closed circuit with cyclones to produce floatation feed at 80% minus 200 microns. The floatation circuit will comprise of rougher and cleaner flotation stages, with rougher concentrate regrinding prior to cleaner flotation. Cleaner concentrate will be dewatered using a thickener and pressure filters, then conveyed to the concentrate storage building to await transportation to the port for loadout and shipping to offshore smelters. The Cañariaco process flowsheet has included Comingled Dry Stack tailing technology for waste rock and tailings placement. This technology is considered as "Best Practice" and is seeing more application within the global mining industry. The technology offers three key benefits: increases process water reclaim and recycling; eliminates the requirement for wet tailings containment dams and eliminates related seismic risk,
reduces the size of tailing containment system footprint. Dry stack tailings treatment utilizes pressure filters to dewater process tailings to low moisture content with recovered water recycled to the process. The dry tailings filter cake produced are transported by belt conveyor to the tailings management facility where they can be placed or "stacked" with waste rock as a stable pile within the tailings facility. Combining the dry tailings sands with waste rock within the same pile enhances the overall stability of the pile and eliminates the need for two separate facilities.