Royropata

In 2022, the brownfield exploration team made a significant discovery close to Pallancata, within the Royropata zone. Although it is outside the permitted area and will require approximately three years to receive the necessary government approvals, the size of the resource is already over 700,000 gold equivalent ounces with significant exploration upside. We are confident that this new zone will be the future of mining in the area in the medium to-long-term, despite the recent necessity to place Pallancata on temporary care and maintenance.

The area is Located in the Ayacuho region in southern Peru and we believe that the Modified Environmental Impact Statement process should be less complex than the Inmaculada permit. The existing Peruvian government has been promoting the mining industry in Peru and has targeted the streamlining of the permitting process across the industry. In addition, the Royropata zone has a much-reduced scope than the one covering Inmaculada and Hochschild has implemented a number of initiatives to aid the process still further. These include: the appointment of an overall steering committee to manage the process; the selection of a single company for the engineering and environmental work; and continued independent peer group review to ensure quality control. The existing discovery of 700,000 ounces is expected to continue to grow with the Company targeting a doubling of resources of similar quality.