Group Technical Report GR159-10, MLN 2, 3, 951, 952, 953, 956, 957, 958, 959, 960, 961 and ML 31219 and ML 31220 for the period 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018

Abstract

In 2017/18, GEMCO conducted an infill RC drilling in order to improve the confidence of the resource and grade control models in areas where increased ore body variability has impacted on the short term mine plan. Resource definition drilling continued in order to improve confidence in the resource and to add additional unclassified material to the Mineral Resource. RC drilling commenced in July 2017 and continued until late December. Drilling again resumed in May 2018 after the completion of the wet season in priority areas. A total of 1,436 RC drillholes for 41,387.5m were drilled for the year. A total of 17,976 samples were collected. Of the analyses received to date, 6,727 have returned grades >35% Mn product grade. A trial of ground penetrating radar (GPR) was conducted at GEMCO by Groundradar. The primary objective of the trial was to determine if radar technology could be used to map manganese bodies to an appreciable depth to complement existing and planned drilling campaigns. The initial trial survey was conducted on August 4-5, 2017. The primary instrument used was a proprietary UltraGPR system with an effective bandwidth of 5 - 60 MHz, centred at 30 MHz. Approximately 20 km of radar profiles were acquired over two days, spanning six lines. The trial showed that GPS technology has the ability to penetrate at lease 25m and discern the presence of manganese horizons. In addition, the radar is able to distinguish between manganese and quartz bedrock, based on the texture of the radar reflections. A second trial, in April 2018, was inconclusive as the GPR could not achieve effective ground penetration due to the high water table caused by the wet season. Further testing is being considered in an effort to show repeatability of the initial results. Two aerial surveys were conducted over the mining leases during the period, the first was flown on the 10-13 October 2017 and covered the eastern (MLN 951-953, MLN 956-961) and the western (ML 31219-31220) leases. The second survey, which covered the eastern leases, was flown in May 2018. The survey was conducted by AAM Group to an accuracy of +/- 1.0m, and included a LIDAR survey.