North Copper: The detailed survey report on copper ore resources of its subsidiary has been approved, and new resource reserves have been discovered through deep exploration at Tongkuangyu Mine

North Copper announced in the evening of June 25 that the "Detailed Survey Report on Deep-Seated Replacement Resources of Tongkuangyu Copper Mine in Yuanqu County, Shanxi Province," compiled by Shanxi Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration Institute Co., Ltd. and commissioned by Shanxi Beifang Copper Industry Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, had recently passed expert review by the Technical Service Center of the Shanxi Mining Association.

When announcing the approval of the report by experts, North Copper mentioned that, commissioned by Shanxi Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration Institute Co., Ltd., relevant experts from the Technical Service Center of the Shanxi Mining Association reviewed the submitted report and formed the following review opinions: 1. This detailed survey report on deep-seated replacement resources of Tongkuangyu Copper Mine was compiled based on 1:2000 hydrogeological, engineering geological, and environmental geological surveys, geological drilling, hydrological boreholes, hydrological logging, and rock-ore testing. It has basically ascertained the occurrence location, scale, attitude, and technical conditions for mining the orebody below the 80m elevation, with high credibility of the exploration results and quality meeting relevant specification requirements. 2. The hydrogeological, engineering geological, and environmental geological conditions of the mining area have been thoroughly ascertained. 3. The delineation of the orebody is basically reasonable, the calculation method for resource reserves is correct, and the selection of estimation parameters is basically reasonable. 4. The main text, attached figures, and attached tables of the report are complete, meeting the compilation requirements. The expert group agreed to approve the report.

Regarding the review results of resource reserves, North Copper's announcement showed:

As of December 31, 2024, within the elevation range of 80m to -325m in the Tongkuangyu mining area, a total of 103.718 million mt of copper ore resources of industrial orebody (No. 5) had been ascertained, with a grade of 0.84% and a metal content of 869,557 mt. Among them, the indicated ore reserves were 49.424 million mt, and the inferred ore reserves were 54.294 million mt, with indicated resources accounting for 47.65%. The associated gold metal content was 8,930 kg, with an average grade of 0.09 g/t; the associated molybdenum metal content was 3,727 t, with an average grade of 0.011%. In addition, seven low-grade ore bodies were delineated, with a low-grade copper ore resource of 34.625 million mt, an average grade of 0.25%, and a metal content of 88,215 t.See the table below for details:

North Copper also announced the impact on the company and provided risk warnings:As of the end of 2024, within the scope of the existing mining rights of Shanxi Beitong Tongkuangyu Mine, there were 212.708 million mt of ore reserves and 1.2987 million mt of copper metal reserves, with a current underground mining scale of 9 million mt/year. The newly added resource reserves in this detailed survey report mark the completion of the first-stage work of deep-seated exploration and reserve increase within the existing mining rights of Tongkuangyu Mine, which is conducive to increasing copper resource reserves, enhancing the value of mine resources, extending the service life of the mine, and strengthening the company's sustainable development capabilities. It is expected not to have a significant impact on the company's current operating performance. In the future, the company will conduct deep exploration work based on the mining progress of the Tongkuangyu Copper Mine, form a final exploration report, and pass the review and filing of resource reserves by the natural resources department to meet the application conditions for "exploration-to-mining" conversion. Due to the limitations of the exploration extent, it is impossible to accurately predict the detailed exploration resource reserves this time. There is a risk that the detailed exploration resource reserves may differ from the resource reserves reviewed and filed in the later stage, as well as the actual recoverable reserves. Investors are advised to make decisions cautiously and pay attention to investment risks.

North Copper's previously disclosed Q1 2025 report shows that in the first quarter of this year, the company achieved a total operating revenue of 6.838 billion yuan, up 23.56% YoY; net profit attributable to shareholders of the publicly listed firm was 371 million yuan, up 57.29% YoY; net profit excluding non-recurring gains and losses was 365 million yuan, up 63.06% YoY; the net cash flow generated from operating activities was 397 million yuan, down 8.57% YoY. During the reporting period, North Copper's basic earnings per share were 0.195 yuan, and the weighted average return on net assets was 5.77%.

North Copper's previously released 2024 annual report shows that in 2024, the company achieved an operating revenue of 24.107 billion yuan, up 156.60% YoY; net profit attributable to shareholders of the publicly listed firm was 613 million yuan, down 1.37% YoY.

In its 2024 annual report, North Copper introduced its main businesses, which include the mining, beneficiation, smelting, and rolling processing of copper metals. The company owns one mine, the Tongkuangyu Mine, with an annual ore processing capacity of 9 million mt, and two smelters with an annual copper concentrates processing capacity of 1.3 million mt. The company's business covers the main industry chain of copper and is a non-ferrous metal enterprise with profound industry experience. The company's main products are copper cathode, gold ingots, silver ingots, copper alloy strips, and rolled copper foil, with by-products including sulphuric acid, sponge gold, and sponge palladium. Among them, the copper cathode capacity is 320,000 mt/year, sulphuric acid capacity is 1.22 million mt/year, copper alloy strip capacity is 25,000 mt/year, and rolled copper foil capacity is 5,000 mt/year.

North Copper introduced the production volumes of its main products in 2024: copper in copper concentrates was 43,600 mt, copper cathode was 313,200 mt, sulphuric acid was 1.0308 million mt, gold ingots were 6.3 mt, and silver ingots were 57.96 mt.

Regarding the production and operation plan for 2025, North Copper introduced the production targets for its main products in its 2024 annual report: The ore processing volume of the mine is 9 million mt, copper in copper concentrates is 42,000 mt, copper cathode is 300,000 mt, sulphuric acid is 880,000 mt, gold ingots are 6 mt, and silver ingots are 60 mt.