RPX Gold Hits High Grade at Wawa, Adding Development Optionality

0:00 Alright, hello everyone and thanks for joining us live today. We have Michael Michel, President and CEO of RPX Gold to discuss their latest news regarding the extension of high-grade mineralization within the PEA open pit and why this is some significant news. So I do have some questions prepared for Michael, but we would love to hear yours, So please do submit any questions you may have using the chat feature, which can be found at the bottom of your screen. And as always, this event is being recorded and will be available shortly after we conclude. With that, Michael, welcome. Let's just start with the basics here. What's the key takeaway from your results? And how do they build on the high-grade intercepts you've already reported in the South Pit area?

0:37 Yeah, thanks very much Kyle. Really appreciate being here again today and looking forward to the Thanksgiving weekend coming up. But We had some great results, some nice high grades. They really complement previous results. Why they're so different for us is unlike the last number of releases that we've had throughout September, which has really been stepping out from the pits, trying to expand the resource base in advance of the PFS study that we want to do. These results and the drilling that was really done is inside the pit. We've had some higher grade areas. We really wanted to make sure that they were well-defined,

1:23 especially with the resource assets, we want to make sure the Gold is there. We've done a really good job of drilling it, extending the zones, proving the continuity of these higher-grade zones. Overall, they're coming back higher than the PEA average grade, so I think that's really positive in itself, but it just gives us more confidence that we go there, that that material is there and that the continuity is there and that we can rely on it. Because when we get to mining this, if we're going to be phasing these pits to try to optimize any feed to a toll mill or even our own mill in any case, It gives us the ability to potentially, with stockpile strategy, move up the higher grade material faster in the development scenario, which then produces cashflow earlier, which is always beneficial. So it just gives us that opportunity to be able to outline the higher grade and lower grade parts of the deposit that we can optimize later.

2:23 And for people that haven't had a chance to review the release yet, the standout was 25.5 gpm Gold over 4.25m, including 135 gpm over 0.71m. What does an intercept like that tell you about the high-grade zone? We love these results. When the mining started in the 1890s, they were really in for these high-rate intersections. They continue to occur throughout the deposit, throughout

2:58 the ore body. So we're happy to intersect them. It's not the really splashy grades that interested us as much as the other 3 or 4 holes that you see in the press release that came along with it. For example, 4g over 10m, 6g over 5m, 4g over 10m. Those are the most important results and that's really what we're mining out, these more moderate grades over wider intersections. That's really what this mine is about and our plan to mine it from hanging wall to foot wall deposit. That's what's been really positive, is outlining consistently this grade of material. Although it's always fun to get high-grade splashes, you know what, it can always be a sweetener, but we want to make sure that we're not relying on that because they are hard to estimate some of those high grades within the deposit.

3:51 Well, I wanna stick on that a bit. You mentioned high grade zones exist throughout the Walla Walla project. So how confident are you in their continuity and where do you see the best potential for more? Yeah, so really 2 things, I guess. Firstly, the confidence comes from when we have an intersection like that, we drill around and wait and wait. The reason is we're drilling out the deposit now so we can have our independent consultant

4:21 complete the resource estimate and bring the resources up to an indicated level. In order to do that, you can't have a high-grade sitting out by itself somewhere and rely on that one assay because it could over-influence the amount of Gold in the 3D model, which leads into the resource estimate. We'll make sure we drill 4 or 5 holes around it to make sure that it's there. In this case, we did confirm that it's there and that extra data gives us the confidence in being able to estimate the resource accurately and how much Gold is there. When we start mining here, we're going to get that Gold out. The second thing is, we have a really good geologic model now. We've defined within the pit area and we're using this as a basis to conduct our exploration across the property. But we have these intersecting structures that have been reactivated a number of times.

5:11 They intersect the main structure of the deposit, that hosts the deposit. Where they intersect, we get a blowout of mineralization often related to an increase in quartz vein concentration, which we saw in this particular hole. We expect to see that in those areas and that gives us more confidence that it should be there and we can rely more on those results. If we had an isolated area in between 2 cross-pane structures, we had a really great hit, we would really be weary of that result. We would drill around it of course, but we wouldn't expect it there. We wouldn't give it the same sort of credence as if it occurred in the area where we had predicted from our updated geologic model.

5:58 Based on these results, how would stockpiling these hybrid zones help you optimize feed grade during open pit development?

6:07 I think it really helps in different ways. If you're trying to pay back a CapEx on an operation and you wanted to get as much cash flow up early as you could to pay back that debt, it certainly would help to have a stockpile strategy in high grades and low grades that you can use stockpile the low grade stockpile maybe for a while, use some high grades to increase your cash flow in that time frame and then go back to your lower grade stockpile later to fill the mill. I think it gives you that opportunity. I also think it shows too, As things go up and down, particularly as a mine, and mines going for a number of years, you will see Gold price going up and down or other economic factors, costs, maybe recoveries within the deposit. You want to have the ability to

7:03 somewhat flatten out, I would say maybe the cashflow that you're getting. So it gives you an opportunity in a time of lower grades to maybe concentrate more on the higher grade material and higher recovery material so that you can keep your operation consistently over the years. These are the things that the deposit offers. It's a lot of that optionality. Great. Michael, for people that don't know, you're roughly two thirds of a 20,000m program done and completion is expected by the end of this month. What are the priorities for the remaining drilling? As you mentioned, in October we're going to finish up the pre-feasibility study. We'll have about 3,000-4,000m left to go for exploration drilling. That's the really exciting stuff. We do have a brand new geologic model that we came up with in 2024.

8:00 We tested it with a few holes in 2025. We hit some really good cross-cutting structures at the north end of the property in 2025, some great values up to 80g over narrow widths, but it's where those veins again cross-cut and intersect the main shear zone. That's where we want to do the drilling. On the South part of the property, we have the faulted extension of the deposit going to the South, which has really never been tested before in the past. We drilled a couple of holes, had some really excellent hits and we had similar alterations to the main zone, some visible Gold, so we believe it's the faulted extension. Now that we have that faulted extension of that shear zone where that extension

8:41 intersects the Darwin Grace mine structure and a few others down in the South part, Those are going to be excellent targets to drill on. We also did a VTAM survey to check with the geophysics to see if it corresponds to areas where we see these big structures, and it does. We've been able to really identify a couple of key areas we want to test. 3,000 to 4,000m isn't a lot. We've honestly been spending our time drilling around the pit area and the underground to get that ready for the PA and the PFS. Now that we have done a good job with the cost, we have a little extra money at this stage and we want to drill some proof of concept holes to say, hey, look, we've had some good hits here. We see the alteration of the models continuing to work from the mine, but also working on the regional level.

9:30 That's going to be important for us to see. And that really is the opportunity to change the company a lot. So I think it's really a longer term catalyst that we could add potentially a large block of resources to the resource base here over time with successful drilling. I have a couple more questions, but I'll put a pin in mine for now because there are a few in the chat and I think the ones I have make more sense near the end of this conversation. Let's get into some of the questions submitted live here. Is the Q4 goal an LOI, MOU, or a binding contract? Have any of the mills started or finished their own testing on your samples? How many tons per day are you discussing?

10:15 How about the toll milling? Yeah, certainly. Now that we have the metallurgical results, we collected with this drilling 74 samples, we do have the bulk of those results back now, which we are in discussions with a number of mills in the area. Certainly our intention is to nail down an MOU or a contract prior to the end of the year. And the reason we want to be able to do that is we need those parameters to go into the basis for the PFS study. It's hard to do optimization cash flows without those parameters because they directly impact the results of that. So, We're working on that.

11:02 The great thing about those 74 samples is we do have a number of those samples that have 15kg of sample material that's left for bench scale testing. That's available for testing as well. We know this is an important goal and we were working hard to get it nailed down, but at the same time, we wanna be careful, it's going to the right place and it's the right recovery, it's the right term. So, we realized how important it is at this stage for our current plan. So, you know, we're certainly putting all our efforts into that as well as the other things that we need for the PFS study. You know, we need to get our permitting, which I think is really important. We need to establish that and our baseline studies go into that. So it's really been data collection up to this point. Now it's using that data to understand the next phases. So tool milling, First Nations agreements, I think that's important. Permitting is continuing with the baseline data. So yeah, everything's moving ahead and all of this information is gonna be required, you know, near the end of the year or early in the new year so that we can start the PFS to finish it, you know, in the middle part of next year, which is our plan.

12:15 Great. We have some treasury-based questions here. How much unrestricted cash is left after October? Does the PFS budget come from flow through or unrestricted cash? And is a planned raise before the PFS?

12:29 Or are you counting on warrant exercises? And I can repeat them as you answer them if you need help. Yeah, sure. So the first one. Unrestricted cash is left. Yeah, so we just put out our finding that shows last night. So you can look at there and at the end of July 31st, which is the end of year, we had $13 million. So we're probably burning a couple of million less than that. So as I said, we're probably over 10. And, you know, with the work that we have planned for this year, which is to baseline studies, First Nations negotiations, complete the drilling, do the pre feasibility study, pay the corporate, that All of that and complete the PFAS in the middle of next year was all included with the money that we currently have.

13:24 So we are funded to do that work for sure. And as well as it covers sort of increased levels of marketing activity. Because as you know, we brought on Target IR to help us with our marketing, to help to get awareness out there. And I think that's certainly working. And we've done some other things to help the corporation perform better in the market. We've been pretty heads down on the technical side over the last while. So we are putting more effort into that, but that's all covered under the monies that we have. So we're comfortable now with the plan and the funds that we have available to do that work. Great. And then PFS budget from flow-through or unrestricted cash? It's not covered by flow-through. Unfortunately, the data collection is, like the drilling and other things, but the rest of it is not. That's one of the changes I think they're looking at. But It seems like the pre-feasibility studies these days, particularly in a scenario where you're not designing a mill or a tailings area, which can be very expensive, at the pre-feasibility stage, we won't have that, so that will reduce it. I see other companies doing it for, you know, somewhere in the order of 1 million to 1.5 million for the cost of that. But that's, you know, we have that covered in our current funds.

14:45 So for the final part, no financing or anticipated financing for the PFS or before the PFS rather?

14:54 No, that's correct. Now, if somehow we get a great catalyst and the share price takes off more accurately and we see an opportunity to be, you know, to, to, to top up a little bit of funds as we go forward, that we might take that. But that's something that we evaluate just as, as we go into the new year and see how the market is and the company's doing and anything comes up. But yeah, we always have to be open to that opportunity, but right now it's not in our plans. Great. Augustine's getting back to drilling and resource questions. Based on what you're seeing from the drilling, will the average grades indicated for open pit 1.65 and inferred open pit 1.24 increase, stay the same or decrease given the possible conversion of inferred to indicated resources?

15:47 The... Oh, that's, can you say that again? Because I wasn't sure in those grades, they seemed a little off. Just... Yeah, so Based on what you're seeing from the drilling, will the average grades indicated for open pit and inferred open pit increase stay the same or decrease given the possible conversion of inferred to indicated resources? It's a great question. Certainly from what we've seen in the drilling, I think the grades that we've got from the recent drilling are better than what we've seen in the PEA. I think the last group of holes that we just press released are a good example of that. One of the things that is really great about this deposit is this optionality.

16:35 Because there is a range of grades, what is in the resource is maybe somewhat different than what you actually get to start when you're mining or is going to be outlined in the BFS because it really depends on the Gold price and which tool mill we use and how far away that tool mill is. That has some impact on the cut-off grade. As you change that cut-off grade, that changes the average grade. Based on some of the work that we've been doing, looking at the drilling and internally updating some of the resource estimate, we can change the grade from something from the resource grade, which is about 1.5g per tonne up to something to over 4g per tonne with a smaller tonnage, just based on raising that cut-off grade. That's the beauty of this deposit. That was the beauty of this drilling that's done is you do have that higher grade material that you can access and like I said, stockpile some lower grade and get to that higher grade.

17:32 So it's kind of a question that, you know, in a study, you try the nail down, but when you get to operation stage, you know, a good operator will be able to monitor, you know, the profitability and what you want to send for grade and what the current Gold price is and what not, and adjust that cut-off grade a little bit. That's the use of a stockpile strategy and that's what I think this project really has compared to a lot of other mines that I've worked at where they've been underground, high-grade, splashy veins. I mean, you're taking it no matter what. There's not a lot of options there for you because you don't have access to other tons exposed where you can get a pit in this area that has a long strike length and opens to various grades where that stockpile strategy is really a great benefit. That's why we wanted to highlight that in this press release that that high grade gives you these opportunities to do that.

18:27 Great. We'll do a little rapid fire here, Michael, because I do want to make sure you make it to your next meeting. There's still 4 or 5 questions left, so we'll do it in a little rapid fire session here. How many drill holes have been drilled in the north pit and south pit gap? What is the average grade looking like? Since we've done the drilling in that middle area, we're probably somewhere in around 50 holes or something. Not all of them have been released. We'll have more releases coming out. Certainly the average grade is well within the PEA range of 2.5g per tonne. I think we're comfortable with that range. A lot of that was drilled in between the area of the 2 pits.

19:15 I'd like to see a resource expansion there. Of course, when you've got resources in an area that's never been drilled before, you have the potential to extend those small open pits into one large pit. That's really significant. If you have 1 larger pit as opposed to a small pit, it really helps your logistics a lot in the mining. It allows you to put your foot wall development in as opposed to getting to the high wall. And also, one of the other things is that it just gives you a lot more room to work and it sets you up if you decide. And this is what, again, the beauty of this deposit. Let's say you're mining with the PEA and you're doing 160,000 or 170,000 ounces.

20:04 Then 2 or 3 years you're going like, oh, let's see, I've drilled all around this, I see there's more depth here, I've got an option, can I put it in underground, can I put it in my own mill, or can I expand to another pit? There's going to be a case for all of that. It depends on the conditions at the time. What I like is if you have that small pit and it's 1 pit, it has a couple of small ones, that one pit is a lot easier to expand into another sort of moderate-sized pit. We like the pit because the margin is higher than the underground so the longer we can extend the mine life in the open pits is certainly better for us and gives us more time to pad our bank account. Down the road, if we want to put in an underground mine and pay that capex and we want to build our own mill, which let's face it, milling is expensive, so if we get an opportunity to have our own mill, we certainly would do that.

20:59 We want to be able to generate cashflow that can go towards paying for that mill and the bigger prize of finding more on this property, which is really what we're trying to get to. That's the goal. This is a great way to start and has some great value that we can add here. But really the big one is this is an area that's have 50-year-old mines with down to a kilometer and a half. We're down 300 meters only and it needs a lot more exploration. We've got some great targets and that's really what we want to do is find out what's there because that bigger mine is the real value driver, we believe, for this project and this was just a way to help us to get there. But ultimately, we want to get to the big mine.

21:44 That's what we're looking for here.

21:46 Definitely. Augustine, I already addressed 2 of your questions. I'm just gonna give other people opportunities to have theirs addressed. Jesse's wondering, any civil recovery or regulatory outcome involving the ex-CEO, any residual liability?

22:02 Yes, certainly the liability for the company is minimal right now. The RCMP did an investigation. They have charged the previous CEO, I think he's had a couple of days in court already. So, and I think that's all public, so you can probably reference that online somewhere. As far as liability, We consider it at this stage fairly minimal, but there are things that you can measure and things you can't. It has been over the past, certainly closer to when that happened, the impact was pretty hard on our shareholders and we had a lot of people leave the story and whatnot, and a lot of people doubting us. But I think since we've been able to clean that up, do the drilling, do the resources we brought in, about 50% of the shareholding now is with institutions so they certainly believe.

23:02 We are winning back a lot of people. We have some great new shareholders that have come into the story and, and just based on the number of times that people would bring up, it's, it's very seldom now. So I know that we're kind of past that hurdle. And you know, that's a, it was sort of an unfortunate thing that happened, but we're a different company and, you know, we're going a different path than what was done in the past. And let's talk about that path as we wrap up here. Michael, thanks for always being open and transparent and addressing everyone's questions. I missed a few, but I will share them with your team and you guys can connect afterwards. But for closing remarks here, how does this news that we based this event around add to the development optionality at Wawa and what catalyst should investors watch for next?

23:53 I certainly, as I said, I really like those small starter pits because of that optionality with grade and whatnot and the low CAPEX and low risk, especially for a small group company like we are. It sets us up for the future for the bigger prize for sure. Certainly, as we continue to drill here, we're going to have more results coming out, more metallurgy coming out. Some of the environmental sampling is going to be coming out. We'll have some announced. We're looking to strengthen the team. We're small, We're exploration, we need some strength, particularly on the engineering side. We've already been beefed up a few people on the First Nations, community relations and environment side.

24:41 We're really happy with those new people that we brought on. I would say the big catalyst remain for this year. I mean, permitting is an ongoing baseline, studies are ongoing, but the big ones, First Nations agreements, which we're working on, and I believe we've made some good progress on. And, you know, we're certainly looking for something this quarter or early into the next year for some announcements there. And then on the toll milling, I see that as one of the biggest things and the biggest catalysts, and also one of the biggest things that we have to get done. So, you know, we're certainly focusing on that right now and now that we have the metallurgical results in and samples for you know bench scale tests and things like that that's going to go a long way to help our case so we're certainly pushing that knowing the importance of this to the current plan for the company. So yeah, that would be a big announcement for sure.

25:41 Great. Echo, thank you. Congratulations on the hits and Until the next update, appreciate your time, though. All right, thanks, Phil. Have a great weekend. You too, bye everyone.