Santana Minerals Limited announced further significant results from the 100% owned Bendigo-Ophir Project. Resource extension drilling since September 2021 has resulted in a large increase in the overall global RSSZ MRE to 1.9Moz @ 1.8g/t Au (top-cut, 0.5g/t lower cut-off). Drilling is continuing to expand the resource potential beyond this new 1.9Moz MRE platform and these new results at RAS add considerable momentum to potential RAS resource growth.

RSSZ Deposits - Extension Drilling: Four RSSZ deposits, CIT, RAS, SHR and Shreks-East (SRE) extend 4 kilometres NW-SE along strike and contain the current 1.9Moz inferred gold resource. All deposits remain open at depth and presently three DD rigs are testing extensions with a total of 15,327 metres completed since January 2022. Drillhole MDD061 and MDD064 aggregate intercepts of 33.1 metres @ 4.11 g/t Au and 20.0 metres @ 4.97 g/t Au respectively are located 80 metres apart at RAS ridge on the eastern margin of the RAS shoot (EW section N5017120).

Highest-grade mineralisation occurs in the uppermost 20 metres within the hanging wall zone (HWS) of the RSSZ associated with flood silica and laminated arsenopyrite fill veinlets. Within the broad mineralised zones, individual 1-metre bonanza grades (>10g/t Au) are present in both drillholes: MDD061, 79.3g/t Au from 179m and 10.9g/t Au from 228m. MDD064, 21.6g/t Au from 186m, 23.1g/t Au from 189m and 15.1g/t Au from 190m.

These new RAS Ridge gold intercepts are adjacent to recent high-grade results: 60 metres south of 49.9m @ 6.4 g/t Au in MDD051 which included seven individual 1-metre bonanza grades. 140 metres south of 43.3m @ 11.2 g/t Au in MDD054 "jewellery box" drillhole that previously delivered two exceptional results of 1,400g/t and 127g/t Au with nine individual 1-metre bonanza grades. This quarter of drillhole intercepts post-date the recent RAS MRE upgrade and form a higher-grade eastern flank to a zone defined by the 80 m.mg/t (MU) isopach that remains open to the east.

This eastern area is flanked to the north by MDD008 (2.0m @ 1.1g/t Au from 246m) and to the south by MDD028 (aggregate 32.8m @ 1.1g/t Au from 147.7m), two holes with narrow low-grade domains on the eastern edge of the July RAS MRE upgrade. The RAS Ridge >80 MU isopach trends NNW across the axis of the shoot and combined with clustering of higher-grade holes down plunge, suggests potential for an en-echelon series of northerly trending high-grade zones separated by lower grade areas down the axis of the RAS shoot. Northerly trending higher-grade zones (>40 MU) separated by low-grade areas are evident in published information about the Macraes Frasers Shoot, extending from Frasers Pit (FROP) through to Frasers underground zones (FRUG1 and FRUG2) with similar dimensions to RAS shoot.

RAS mineralisation currently defined over 1,500 metres down plunge is 300 - 400 metres wide and open to the north and south-east. The most continuous and higher grades in the RAS shoot occur in the upper 20-90 metre thick HWS section of the RSSZ, directly below the low-angle regional Thomson Gorge Fault (TGF). The TGF separates unmineralised hanging wall TZ3 schist, and the mineralised RSSZ (within TZ4 schist).

Both MDD061 and MDD064 drillholes have returned significantly greater widths and grade of mineralisation than the July 2022 MRE modelled domains within the optimised pit shell (E-W cross-section N5017120). The gold mineralisation remains open to the east on both this drill section and N5017180 (60 metres to the north), (E-W cross-section). These elevated grades and thicknesses, together with MDD054 "jewellery box" intercept (E-W cross section N5017240) now extend 180 metres NNE-SSW in the RAS Ridge area and suggest potential upside in future resource estimates within and to the east of the July 2022 MRE envelope.

Latest Drill Assay Results from CIT and SHR Deposits: Assays have been received for drillholes MDD052 (CIT) and MDD062R (SHR). At CIT, MDD052 intercept of 3m @ 1.05g/t Au (aggregate) shows weakening mineralisation down-plunge to the east, whilst at SHR, MDD062R intercept of 5m @ 2.20g/t Au (partial, aggregate) confirms continuity of the RSSZ mineralisation to the north. Further results are pending from both CIT and SHR with drilling ongoing at SHR.

Key Conclusions & Forward Programme: New thick high-grade gold mineralisation in RAS south-eastern drillholes MDD061 and MDD064 form a quarter with previous MDD051 and exceptional MDD054 "jewellery box" drillholes. This quarter outline a previously undetected high-grade zone in the south-east sector of the RAS shoot and bolster the 2022 MRE domains and gold grades in this area with further eastern extensions possible. The RAS shoot which extends 1,500m down-plunge from outcrop also remains open to the north and structural similarities between RAS mineralisation and that reported for FROP /FRUG at Macraes have significant implications for guiding extension drilling down plunge at SHR and at other exploration targets.

Extension diamond drilling is continuing at the RAS deposit and once the limits of mineralisation are defined, a series of drillholes are planned at the southern shallower RAS Ridge area for optimisation of future in-fill drilling. Reconnaissance drillholes are also in progress to test the down plunge extensions of the SHR (the largest surface footprint of the 3 main deposits) and SRE deposits. Drilling is to be accelerated in late September with the addition of a reverse-circulation (RC) rig for further advances on recent drilling results that have added continuing weight to the RSSZ multi-million-ounce system potential.