Hawsons Iron : Mineral Resource Upgrade

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Hawsons delivers Mineral Resource upgrade

Key points

• Total recovered magnetic fraction (DTR) Mineral Resource estimate increased by 21% from 400 Million tonnes (Mt) to 484 Mt
• Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource of DTR increased 87% from 132 to 247 Mt, comprised of 54 Mt in Measured category and 193 Mt in Indicated category
• Sufficient combined Measured and Indicated Resource to meet targeted 20 Million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) concentrate production
• Further Mineral Resource upgrade planned for the September 2022 quarter
• Conversion to Reserves scheduled for post Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS)

				Mineral Resources Estimate		Mineral Resources Estimate
					19 October, 2021			25 July, 2022
	Category		Mt	DTR	Concentrate		Mt	DTR		Concentrate
					%		Mt			%		Mt
	Measured		-	-	-		390	13.7	54
	Indicated		960	13.7	132		1,600	12.0	193
	Inferred		2100	12.9	268		1,960	12.2	239
	Total			3060	13.1	400		3,950	12.2	484
Category	Fe %		SiO2 %		Al2O3 %		P %	S %		TiO2 %	LOI %
Measured	69.6		2.8		0.22		0.004	0.001		0.042	-3.0
Inferred	69.0		3.3		0.27		0.007	0.003		0.051	-2.8
Indicated	68.6		3.8		0.31		0.008	0.002		0.052	-2.9
Total	68.9		3.5		0.29		0.007	0.002		0.051	-2.8

Hawsons Iron Ltd (Hawsons or the Company) is pleased to announce a 21 per cent increase in the Hawsons Iron Project's Mineral Resource estimate to 484 million tonnes (Mt), including a maiden 54 Mt in the Measured category and 193 Mt in the Indicated category required to support future reserve estimation and debt financing. The increase in Mineral Resources is due to the infill drilling campaign completed in 2021-22.

Managing Director Bryan Granzien said "the combined Measured and Indicated Resource of 247 Mt sets up the BFS for the Ore Reserve estimation to satisfy project lenders that there is sufficient high- grade material to confidently meet targeted minimum concentrate production of 20 Mtpa".

"This upgrade is significant because having these Mineral Resources in the higher confidence Measured and Indicated categories is necessary for the BFS and finalising our project financing package," Mr Granzien said.

"We're absolutely delighted with the outcome which now sets the scene for getting on with the next stage of the BFS, including completion of our detailed mine design and engineering."

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The key outcomes of the upgrade in the Mineral Resources are illustrated below:

• 21% increase in total Mineral Resources estimate from 400 Mt to 484 Mt
• Maiden Measured Resources of 54 Mt
• 46.2% increase in Indicated Resources from 132 Mt to 193 Mt
• 87% increase in Measured and Indicated Resources from 132 Mt to 247 Mt

Mr Granzien said "no further resource drilling was required to support the BFS and that any such additional work would be undertaken at Hawsons' discretion".

"This upgraded Mineral Resource estimate will now be used for discussions with potential project financiers and as the basis for all our ongoing technical work," he said.

"However, we also expect to announce a further Mineral Resource upgrade by the end of the September quarter to report on the results from the outstanding drilling samples which are being analysed by Bureau Veritas and added to the drillhole database," Mr Granzien said.

"Moreover, the process plant's expected performance and ability is projected to achieve a 70% Fe product," he said.

In addition to the Mineral Resource released today, the Exploration Target for the Hawsons Iron Project has been increased with a range of 5 to 18 billion tonnes at a DTR grade range of 7.5% to

34% and a concentrate Fe grade range of 65.3% to 70.6%. The approximated quantity and grade of this Exploration Target is conceptual in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource.

The updated Mineral Resources have been completed by independent geological experts - H&S Consultants ("H&SC"). The H&SC report is attached to this announcement and the Mineral Resources have been reported in accordance with the 2012 JORC Code and Guidelines.

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Released by authority of the Board Hawsons Iron Limited

26 July 2022

For further information:

Media contact:

Kerry Bailey, Corporate Communications Lead

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Investor Relations contact:

Mr Greg Khan, CFO and Company Secretary

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About Hawsons Iron Ltd

Hawsons Iron Ltd (ASX: HIO) is an iron ore developer and producer listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. The company is focused on developing its flagship Hawsons Iron Project near Broken Hill into a premium provider of high‐quality iron ore products for the global steel industry.

The Hawsons Iron Project is situated 60km southwest of Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia in the emerging Braemar Iron Province. Prefeasibility Study (PFS) results for the Project, which was completed in 2017, showed that it is capable of producing the world's highest‐grade iron product (70% Fe), making it the world's leading undeveloped high‐quality iron ore concentrate and pellet feed project. Leading research firm Wood Mackenzie in Q2 FY 2019 rated the project one of the world's best high‐grade iron ore development projects, excluding replacement or expansion projects owned by the established miners.

Resource Statements

The data in this report that relates to Exploration Results and Exploration Targets for the Hawsons Magnetite Project is based on information evaluated by Mr Wes Nichols who is a Member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and who has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the "JORC Code"). Mr Nichols is a full- time employee of Hawsons Iron Ltd and he consents to the inclusion in the report of the Exploration Results in the form and context in which they appear.

The data in this report that relates to Mineral Resource estimates for the Hawsons Magnetite Project is based on information evaluated by Mr Simon Tear who is a Member of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (MAusIMM) and who has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the "JORC Code"). Mr Tear is a director of H & S Consultants Pty Ltd and he consents to the inclusion in the report of the Mineral Resource in the form and context in which they appear.

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25th July 2022

Wes Nichols Hawsons Iron Ltd (by email)

Updated Resource Estimates for the Hawsons Magnetite Project, Western NSW

H&S Consultants Pty Ltd ("H&SC") has completed updated Mineral Resource estimates for Hawsons Iron Ltd.'s ("HIO") Hawsons Magnetite Project in western New South Wales, where the target commodity is iron ore as magnetite. The new resource estimates are based on data from the original Carpentaria Exploration ("CAP") 2009/2010/2016 drilling and the recent HIO 2021/22 drilling in conjunction with improved geological understanding. The recent drilling comprised 67 reverse circulation (RC), diamond core and RC holes with diamond tails for 24,261m, as infill drilling over the Core & Fold deposits, in particular as detailed infill for the Core West structural zone. The estimates have been reported using the 2012 JORC Code and Guidelines and the author has the requisite experience to act as a Competent Person under the code. H&SC has completed three previous resource estimates for the deposit in 2011, 2014 and 2017, plus an update to the 2017 Mineral Resource in 2021. Additional details of the resource estimates are supplied in Appendix 1.

The Hawsons Project is situated within folded, upper greenschist facies Neoproterozoic rocks of the Adelaide Fold Belt. The Braemar Facies magnetite ironstone is the host stratigraphy and comprises a series of relatively narrow, strike extensive magnetite-bearing siltstones with a moderate dip to the southwest (circa 45°). Large areas of the Hawsons prospective stratigraphy are concealed by transported ferricrete and other younger cover. The base of oxidation due to weathering of the prospective horizons is estimated to average 80m in depth. The airborne magnetic data clearly identifies the magnetite siltstones as a series of parallel, narrow, high amplitude magnetic anomalies. Mineralisation consists of fine grained disseminated magnetite with no obvious structural remobilisation or overprint. Sediment porosity as a function of sediment source and depositional environment is considered a major control to mineralisation and hence to grade continuity.

H&SC maintained a drillhole 'resource' database for the earlier 2009/2010/2016 drilling and has signed off on the Exploration Results for that work. HIO has supplied a drillhole database for the recent 2021/2022 drilling for the deposit, which H&SC has accepted in good faith as an accurate, reliable and complete representation of the available data. H&SC performed limited validation of the data and noted that only 33 of the 67 holes from the 2021/2022 drilling had complete assay datasets. Laboratory analyses are continuing and downhole geophysical measuring is still in progress. The unavailable data was a result of a combination of drilling delays due to bad weather, Covid-related health and safety issues, and bottlenecks at the laboratory. Other items noted by H&SC were unavailable downhole gyro surveys due to hole collapses, occasional inconsistent downhole geophysical calibrations for magnetic susceptibility and possibly density and a limited QAQC dataset. Whilst there is unavailability of data, its impact is partially limited by some of the

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Hawsons Magnetite Project, Resource Update

July 2022

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data being peripheral to the main zones of mineralisation and thus having a limited effect on the Mineral Resources and some of the data can be estimated using a combination of regression equations and levelling of the data. With diligent data processing, it is possible to significantly reduce the impact of the unavailable data on the resource estimates. The H&SC drillhole database for Hawsons is satisfactory for resource estimation purposes; however responsibility for quality control for the recent HIO drilling resides solely with HIO. Data was supplied in MGA2020 coordinates which H&SC converted to an E-W orthogonal local grid.

The resource estimates for the Core & Fold areas were produced from a total of 140 holes for 45,542m with a predominance of surface RC relative to HQ/NQ diamond holes. Samples were field composited RC splits or sawn half/quarter core with a range of sample lengths from 4 to 8m (5m being the most common) for a total of 5,142 samples. Sample preparation involved crushing and pulverising samples to a nominal 80% passing 25 microns for a 38 micron grind. Assaying comprised measuring recovered magnetic fraction by the Davis Tube recovery method ("DTR") with multi-element XRF analysis of the magnetic concentrate plus XRF analysis of the head grades. New to the current drilling program was a more expansive program of sample collection from both the cover zone and the oxide/transition zones.

HIO have informed H&SC that the RC sample recovery was good with no bias and that there is no relationship between DTR grade and sample recovery.

For the subsequent grade interpolation, the entire drillhole database was composited to 5m intervals, with all residuals retained, for the DTR assays, the downhole geophysical data and the handheld magnetic susceptibility data. The composite files were split into 3 structural domains namely Core West, Core East & Fold based on interpreted, off-settingsub-vertical faults derived from the ground magnetic data. Each record for each domain was flagged by company i.e. CAP or HIO, and by oxidation level using the relevant surfaces i.e. cover, complete oxidation, partial oxide and fresh rock. The datasets were combined for each structural zone in order to identify gaps in the data, primarily for DTR and concentrate analyses. These gaps were the result of unavailable data i.e. sample analysis that is still in progress (HIO), original non-sampling, mainly by CAP, of the oxide/transition zone, and insufficient material for analysis due to low recovered magnetic fraction in the samples (CAP/HIO). There were also gaps in the downhole geophysical data due to hole collapse preventing the probe passage to the bottom of the hole (for both CAP and HIO) and some probe results are still being processed (HIO). Very minor gaps in the handheld magnetic susceptibility data were noted generally due to measurements not having been made for whatever reason (CAP/HIO).

Downhole magnetic susceptibility data from both slimline surveys and handheld instruments were used to supplement the unavailable DTR composite data via the use of regression equations for the different structural domains, different companies and different oxidation levels. A total of 8,918 5m composites were generated from the H&SC drillhole database and subsequent data processing, which were modelled for DTR, and the concentrate elements of Fe, Al2O3, P, S, SiO2, TiO2 and LOI, of which 4,315 composites were in fresh rock. Iron head grade was not modelled at this time due to significant amounts of unavailable data and no way of using regression equations to estimate the unavailable head grades. The unavailable head iron assays are currently being measured at the laboratory.

Grade interpolation of the composite data was completed with Ordinary Kriging using the H&SC in-house GS3M modelling software. Estimation within each structural domain (acting as hard boundaries) was unconstrained by any lithologic wireframes as the nature of the mineralisation

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