Southern Empire Resources Corp. announced that the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has published a "Notice of Intent" in the U.S. Federal Register and issued a press release related to environmental permitting of proposed surface exploration activities at Southern Empire's Oro Cruz Project located in Imperial County, California. These BLM actions officially notify the public of the BLM's intent to complete an environmental review that will "analyze potential impacts to the natural, cultural and recreation resources from the proposed exploration activities" and initiate federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) permitting processes.

In addition, as required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the Imperial County Planning Department (ICPD) has formally started analysis of the Oro Cruz Project through the preparation of an Initial Study (IS). The NEPA permitting process will include the BLM's preparation of an Environmental Assessment (EA) related to Southern Empire's exploration Plan of Operations (Plan) that was submitted to the BLM's El Centro Field Office on September 28, 2020, and determined, by the BLM, to be administratively and technically complete and consistent with U.S. federal regulations on November 16, 2021. The Plan proposes specific surface mineral exploration activities, only disturbing up to 8.3 hectares (20.5 acres) within an approximately 253-hectare (approximately 626 acres) portion of the Oro Cruz property located within the 184,500-acre Picacho Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) in Imperial County.

All exploration activities are to be conducted so as to avoid unnecessary and undue degradation to public lands and resources. As required by NEPA, the above-noted BLM actions have started an initial 30-day public scoping process that began on March 04, 2022. Publication by the BLM of its draft EA will be followed by an additional 30-day public review period during which the public's substantive comments will be solicited regarding the Plan.

Only after this subsequent review of the draft EA will the BLM make a final decision regarding authorization of the proposed activities in the Plan. For more information, please see the BLM's news release of March 4, 2022. During the CEQA process, the ICPD will also seek public input on multiple occasions prior to adoption of the CEQA determination and decision.

Proposed Surface Exploration Work Pursuant to the BLM-Approved Plan of Operations: Establishment of 65 drill pads to support surface exploration in seven drill target areas. Reverse Circulation (RC) and/or core drilling of up to 65 drill holes. Construction of approximately 2.94 kilometres (km; 1.83 miles) of new, permanent access roads; approximately 9.98 km (6.2 miles) of temporary drill site access roads; and approximately 4.21 km (2.62 miles) of improvements to existing roads.

Creation of a 1.05 hectare (2.6-acre) staging area at the Cross Mine underground portal for infrastructure related to future underground and surface exploration. Summary of the Oro Cruz Exploration Project Permitting Process: The Plan was deemed complete for proposed surface exploration located within the Picacho ACEC. Biological, cultural, and hydrological baseline studies have been completed in preparation for analysis in the environmental permitting processes.

The BLM has published a Notice of Intent in the Federal Register and distributed a related press release to initiate the NEPA-required public scoping process for the solicitation of public comments related to the preparation of the anticipated EA. The 30-day public scoping period began on March 04, 2022. A Reclamation Plan for compliance with the State of California's Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMARA) has been submitted to the ICPD.

The NEPA and CEQA processes will be engaged concurrently to allow for effective coordination and collaboration between Southern Empire, the BLM, and the ICPD. All permitting decisions are anticipated to be in place by the end of 2022. Southern Empire's environmental and permitting efforts are coordinated by Del Fortner Consulting of Tucson, Arizona.

team includes: Stantec Consulting Services Inc., an international firm that will liaise directly with both the BLM and the ICPD to prepare NEPA documentation for the BLM and coordinate the CEQA environmental review process. Sespe Consulting Inc., specialists on SMARA and CEQA baseline environmental analysis and permitting requirements, will assist in document preparation for the CEQA analysis. WestLand Resources Inc., specialists in environmental permitting and planning, have completed Oro Cruz Project baseline studies and will provide documentation and services necessary to comply with both the NEPA and CEQA permitting requirements.