The Taylor Deposit is a carbonate replacement style zinc-lead-silver massive sulphide deposit. It is hosted in Permian carbonates of the Pennsylvanian Naco Group of south-eastern Arizona. The Taylor Deposit comprises the upper Taylor sulphide (Taylor Mains) and lower Taylor deeps (Taylor Deeps) domains that have a general northerly dip of 30° and are separated by a low angle thrust fault.

The Taylor Deposit has an approximate strike length of 2,500m and a width of 1,900m. The stacked profile of the thrusted host stratigraphy extends 1,200m from near-surface and is open at depth and laterally.

The regional geology is set within Lower-Permian carbonates, underlain by Cambrian sediments and Proterozoic granodiorites. The carbonates are unconformably overlain by Triassic to late-Cretaceous volcanic rocks. The regional structure and stratigraphy are a result of late-Precambrian to early-Palaeozoic rifting, subsequent widespread sedimentary aerial and shallow marine deposition through the Palaeozoic Era, followed by Mesozoic volcanism and late batholitic intrusions of the Laramide Orogeny. Mineral deposits associated with the Laramide Orogeny tend to align along regional NW structural trends.

Cretaceous-age intermediate and felsic volcanic and intrusive rocks cover much of the Hermosa project area and host low-grade disseminated silver mineralisation, epithermal veins and silicified breccia zones that have been the source of historic silver and lea ........

The design for Taylor is a dual shaft mine which prioritises early access to higher grade mineralisation, supporting ZnEq average grades of approximately 12%9 in the first five years of the mine plan. The proposed mining method, longhole open stoping, maximises productivity and enables a single stage ramp-up to our preferred development scenario of up to 4.3Mtpa. In the PFS schedule, shaft development is expected to commence in FY24 with first production targeted in FY27 and nameplate production in FY30.

Ore is expected to be mined in an optimised sequence concurrently across four independent mining areas, crushed underground and hoisted to the surface for processing. The mine design contemplates two shaft stations, one for logistics and access, and the other for material handling. The primary haulage material handling level is expected to be located at a depth of approximately 800m.

The operation would be largely resourced with a local owner-operator workforce.

The mining dilution is applied based on rock dilution or fill dilution dependent on the location of the stope being mined. Dilution factors are applied on a stope by stope basis using incremental dilution widths applied to the stope geometry.

The mining recovery factor is 95% and is applied to all ore tonnes.

Primary access to the orebody will be through a main shaft and a ventilation shaft. Ore passes, haulage levels and ventilation raises will be established to ........

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