Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. announced that the company plans to soon commence an expansive 2021 exploration program on its 100%-owned Western Foreland exploration licences, which include approximately 2,550 square kilometres in close proximity to the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Ivanhoe's DRC exploration group is targeting high-grade Kamoa-Kakula-style copper mineralization through a regional exploration and drilling program on the Western Foreland exploration ground, which shares the same geological setting as Kamoa- Kakula. Ivanhoe Mines' 100%-owned exploration licences cover the ground that Ivanhoe's geological team considers to be the most prospective in the Western Foreland region. The initial 2021 exploration program includes 40,000 metres of combined aircore and diamond drilling, airborne and ground-based geophysics, soil sampling and road construction. Field work will commence at the start of the 2021 dry season, which typically begins in April. The initial 2021 budget is USD 16 million, which may be expanded based on program results. Much of this year's exploration will focus on more than 1,700 square kilometres of new, 100%-owned permits that were acquired in 2019 and received environmental certification in 2020. Ivanhoe's geologists applying same exploration models on the Western Foreland licences that successfully led to the discoveries of Kakula, Kakula West, Makoko Sud and Kamoa North Bonanza Zone. Ivanhoe's Western Foreland Exploration Project consists of 17 licences to the north, south and west of the Kamoa mining licences. The 17 licences cover a combined area of approximately 2,550 square kilometres. The primary exploration target in the Western Foreland area is Kamoa-Kakula-style sedimentary copper mineralization that occurs at the base of the lower Nguba "Grand Conglomerate", particularly where the lower Nguba sits in direct contact with the underlying Upper Roan sandstones. Exploration models that successfully led to the discoveries of Kakula, Kakula West, and the Kamoa North Bonanza Zone on the Kamoa-Kakula joint-venture mining licence, are being applied to Ivanhoe's Western Foreland extensive land package by the same team of exploration geologists responsible for the previous discoveries. The ideal structural setting for Kamoa-style mineralization usually is close to the western Nguba Basin edge. Deposits occur at the base of the Nguba Group, a widely developed package of rocks that mark the transition from a thick underlying sequence of sediments deposited under oxidizing conditions (good for transporting copper), to deposition under reducing conditions (good for precipitating copper). Ivanhoe's 100%-owned exploration permits cover approximately 175 kilometres of prospective strike in this target setting. In addition to drilling in early 2020 at the Kiala Discovery that adjoins the northern boundary of the Kamoa-Kakula mining licence, and drilling in the second half of 2020 at the Makoko Sud Discovery ­ approximately 20 kilometres west of the Kakula Discovery ­ Ivanhoe's exploration work in 2020 included stream-sediment sampling, soil geochemical sampling, as well as outcrop and stream mapping on the new tenements acquired in 2019. In total, 411 stream-sediment samples and 958 soil samples were collected and processed for analysis. The sampling and mapping work has enhanced Ivanhoe's geological understanding of the exploration permits and moves the team closer to generating targets for future exploration and drilling. Ivanhoe's geologists first identified the prospectivity of the Kamoa-Kakula area in the mid-2000s by stream-sediment and soil-geochemical sampling. A high-resolution magnetic and radiometric survey commenced in the fourth quarter of 2020 and is ongoing. To date, more than 80% of Ivanhoe's Western Foreland exploration licences have been covered by the survey. In the second quarter of 2021, Ivanhoe plans an Xcalibur airborne gravity survey. The goal of the surveys is to better understand the stratigraphic and structural architecture of the new exploration areas, something that is key to generating early-stage targets for ground surveys. Mr. Friedland and Mr. Sun also announced that assay results from drilling completed in early 2020 confirm the extension of the Kamoa North high-grade copper structure for at least 800 metres in the Kiala Discovery area, part of Ivanhoe's 100%-owned Western Foreland licences that adjoin the northern boundary of the Kamoa-Kakula mining licence. The high-grade copper zone at the Kiala Discovery was originally discovered on the Kamoa-Kakula mining licence, and delineated through a series of step-out fences of holes drilled on 100-metre spacings in a northerly direction onto Ivanhoe's 100%-owned exploration licences. The structure controlling the zone of high-grade copper remains open to the north, and Ivanhoe now has secured 35 kilometres of highly-prospective, 100%-owned exploration ground along trend and to the north of the Kiala Discovery. Selected drill holes at the Kiala Discovery include: DKIA_DD007 intersected 7.21 metres (true width) of 7.98% copper, at a 1% and 2% copper cut-off, from 345.44 metres down hole. DKIA_DD011 intersected 3.82 metres (true width) of 5.35% copper, at a 1% and 2% copper cut-off, from 348.00 metres down hole. DKIA_DD014 intersected 5.30 metres (true width) of 12.42% copper, at a 1% and 2% copper cut-off, from 366.70 metres down hole. DKIA_DD016 intersected 3.59 metres (true width) of 9.71% copper, at a 1% and 2% copper cut-off, from 351.40 metres down hole. Copper mineralization at Kiala predominantly ocurs at positions where the Kamoa Pyritic Siltstone gradually narrows ("onlaps") across the underlying Roan conglomerate and sandstone unit. The high-grade copper zone is between 50 metres and 150 metres wide, and trends in a north-south direction, co-incident with a series of north-south trending growth faults. The Kiala area is considered prospective, as two key ingredients to high-grade mineralization occur in this area. First, the faulting is postulated to have provided increased fluid flow of copper-rich brines in this area. Second, the onlap of the basal Nguba Diamictite units has brought the highly-reduced silstone into contact with the Roan aquifer. This favourable combination also has been responsible for Bonanza-style grades in the Kamoa North area of the Kamoa-Kakula Project. High copper grades have been intersected on four of the five 200-metre-spaced sections completed to date. Copper mineralization at the Kiala Discovery predominantly is chalcopyrite and bornite, with localized minor chalcocite. An upward zonation from bornite to chalcopyrite also is present.