Red 5 Limited provided an operational update at the King of the Hills (KOTH) Gold Mine, located in the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia. KOTH produced a record 13,534 ounces in January 2023, with a progressive increase in average head grade to 1.3g/t Au and an average recovery for the month of 92.2%. This compares with an average head grade of 1.14g/t and a recovery of 90.1% for the December 2022 Quarter.

Following minor issues in the processing circuit and crusher which constrained production early in January, the process plant finished the month strongly, with mill throughput averaging at the equivalent of 4.8Mtpa for the final two weeks of the month. The team is now focused on progressively increasing mill throughput and consistency. Open pit mining has now commenced on the 5225mRL bench level, which contains three large ore zones totalling an estimated 345,000 ore tonnes grading 1.2g/t. This area is located directly on the granodiorite and ultramafic contact and has returned positive grade control results relative to the Ore Reserve model, increasing both the expected tonnes and grade.

These ore zones will provide the bulk of the baseload feed for the process plant for the next five weeks. As the open pit deepens, mining will continue to access these large contiguous, higher-grade ore zones over the year ahead. The underground mines at Darlot and KOTH both continue to deliver high-grade ore.

The Darlot underground mine is now predominantly mining in fresh areas with more predictable, higher grades. The 16-month accelerated mine development at Darlot is complete, and the mining development contractor demobilised from site at the end of January 2023. The construction of Tailings Storage Facility 5 (TSF5) at KOTH is proceeding on schedule, with planned commissioning in early April 2023, providing an initial 7.9M tonnes of new tailings capacity.

TSF5 has been a significant capital activity for the project and will be finished on time and within budget. The bulk of the earthworks for TSF5 are now complete and the contractor is progressively demobilising from site. With production on track at KOTH, Red 5 reconfirms its gold production guidance for the six months from 1 January 2023 to 30 June 2023 of 90,000 - 105,000 ounces at an AISC of AUD 1,750 - AUD 1,950 per ounce.