Cobalt Blue Holdings Limited announced 3,500­4,000 tonnes of ore will be mined from Pyrite Hill to support 20 weeks of continuous operation of the Demonstration Plant. Two underground development drives will provide access laterally to the cobalt-pyrite mineral resource and allow representative samples to be obtained. This is important to ensure that unbiased engineering data is generated from the Demonstration Plant for the BHCP Feasibility Study.

Site establishment works have been completed and excavation of the box cut is well advanced with installation of the decline portal to commence shortly. The decline will extend approximately 80 meters, and intersect with the ore body approximately 40 meters below surface. The Demonstration Plant is comprised of two activities.

Firstly, mined ore will be crushed, milled and treated to produce a cobalt-pyrite concentrate at the mine site. Secondly, the concentrate will then be trucked to the processing plant in Broken Hill for extraction and recovery of cobalt as mixed hydroxide precipitate and/or cobalt sulphate. Milling and concentrator equipment is being commissioned in Broken Hill, ahead of relocating these to the mine site.

First ore processing (concentration) is on target for late April. Upgrades and modification to the 2021 Pilot Plant are well advanced. The throughput of the leach plant has been upgraded from 40 kg/hr to 125 kg/hr.

Key major equipment items are arriving at site ­ larger leach vessels, oxygen and nitrogen plants, and kiln and sulphur recovery equipment. These will be installed across March­ April, with the plant ready to then process concentrate from the mine site in early May. Trials and commissioning of individual processing circuits are ongoing.

Recent work has focused on optimization of the solvent extraction separation of cobalt, as part of the refining of refining MHP into high purity cobalt sulphate.