All the deposits are located within the Gedabek CA and are part of the Gedabek ore district.

The Gedabek ore district is extensive and includes numerous mineral occurrences and prospects (as well as operating mines).

The region lies within the Shamkir uplift of the Lok-Karabakh volcanic arc, in the Lesser Caucasus Mega-Anticlinorium.

This province has been deformed by several major magmatic and tectonic events, resulting in compartmentalised stratigraphic blocks.

The ore finds in the Gedabek CA lie within the central part of the world-class Tethyan metallogenic ore belt and are hosted predominantly in Bajocian-aged, hydrothermally altered volcanic units.

Gadir is interpreted as a low-sulphidation (“LS”) epithermal orebody, which is located approximately 400 metres northwest of the current Gedabek OP limits. Gedabek mineralisation is considered to be related to a high-sulphidation (HS) system. There is a significant fault structure separating these two areas. Although the deposit geology and likely genesis varies.

The Gadir mineral deposit is located at the contact between volcanic rocks and the quartz porphyry (rhyolite-rhyodacite subvolcanic formation) in a similar lithological position to the Gedabek mineralisation. There are disseminated breccias and mineralised hydrothermal structures (predominantly vein and stockwork systems) in the quartz porphyry.

The principal mining operation at the Gedabek contract area is conventional open-cast mining using truck and shovel from the Gedabek open pit (which comprises several contiguous smaller open pits). Ore is first drilled and blasted and then transported either to a processing facility or to a stockpile for storage. The mining activities of blast-hole drilling, and haulage of ore and waste rock, are carried out by contractors. Blasting and other mining activities are carried out by the Company. Ore is also mined from the Gadir and Gedabek underground mines.

Mining of Gedabek by underground methods has commenced in H1 2021 with the ongoing development of the underground tunnelling. Gedabek is mined by both open pit (“OP”) and now from underground (“UG”). Although the deposit geology and likely genesis varies, the close proximity of the two areas has allowed for tunnelling from Gadir to Gedabek and the development of a second mine portal to the south of the Gedabek OP mine area. This provided for two means of entry/exit and assisted with ventilation and power reticulation. Both Gadir and Gedabek are now linked by tunnels and the same underground equipment fleet operates in both areas. For resource and reserve statements, Gedabek and Gadir are considered discrete entities.

Processing operations
Ore is processed at Gedabek to produce either gold doré (an alloy of gold and silver with small amounts of impurities, mainly copper) or a copper and precious metal concentrate. Gold doré is produced by cyanide leaching. Initial processing is to leach (i.e. dissolve) the precious metal (and some copper) in a cyanide solution. This is done by various methods:

1 Heap leaching of crushed ore. Crushed ore is heaped into permeable “pads” onto which is sprayed a solution of cyanide. The solution dissolves the metals as it percolates through the ore by gravity and it is then collected by the impervious base under the pad.

2 Heap leaching of run of mine (“ROM”) ore. The process is similar to heap leaching for crushed ore, except the ore is not crushed, instead it is heaped into pads as received from the mine (ROM) without further treatment or crushing. This process is used for very low grade ores.

3 Agitation leaching. Ore is crushed ........