Ascendant Resources

Overview

Ascendant Resources is a Toronto-based mining company focused on the exploration and development of the highly prospective Lagoa Salgada VMS project located on the prolific Iberian Pyrite Belt in Portugal. The Lagoa Salgada project is a high-grade polymetallic project, demonstrating a typical mineralization endowment of zinc, copper, lead, tin, silver, and gold. Extensive exploration upside potential lies both near deposit and at prospective step-out targets across the large 7,209-hectare property concession.

Located just 80km from Lisbon and surrounded by exceptional infrastructure, Lagoa Salgada offers a low-cost entry to a significant exploration and development opportunity, already showing its mineable scale and cashflow generation potential.

Ascendant currently holds a 80% interest in the Lagoa Salgada project through its position in Redcorp - Empreendimentos Mineiros, Lda, ("Redcorp").

The Venda Nova deposit at Lagoa Salgada contains over 10.33 million tonnes of measured and indicated resources @ 9.06 percent ZnEq and 2.50 million tonnes of inferred resources @ 5.93 percent ZnEq in the North Zone; and 4.42 million tonnes of indicated resources @ 1.50 percent CuEq and 10.83 million tonnes of inferred resources @ 1.35 percent CuEq in the South Zone. The deposit demonstrates typical mineralization characteristics of Iberian Pyrite Belt VMS deposits containing zinc, copper, lead, tin, silver and gold. Extensive exploration upside potential lies both near deposit and at prospective step-out targets across the large 7,209-hectare property concession.

The project has a completed preliminary economic assessment( PEA) indicating post-tax net present value (NPV) of US$247 million and an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 55 percent. The PEA also indicates a 14-year mine life with an average production of 130 million pounds of zinc equivalent per year. Located just 80km from Lisbon, Lagoa Salgada is easily accessible by road and surrounded by exceptional Infrastructure. The company will look to expand upon this in its feasibility study Q2/2023.

In line with its commitment to a strong ESG rating and to decrease operating cost, Ascendant has plans to build a solar farm to power the Lagoa Salgada project operations.

An expert management team with experience throughout the natural resources industry guides the company toward realizing the potential of the Lagoa Salgada project. Expertise includes in-country experience and a track record of leading projects from exploration to production.

Company Highlights

• Ascendant Resources is an exploration and development polymetallic mining company pursuing its district-scale Lagoa Salgada project in Portugal
• Feasibility Study outlined a NPV 8% post-tax of US$147M and an IRR of 39%
• Significant EBITDA generation of $US75.5M during the initial 5 years of operation
• Low Capex and low operating costs make this a potential tier one asset
• A management team with the right experience throughout the mining industry leads the company toward fully developing its district-scale asset.

Key Project

Lagoa Salgada Project

The district-scale asset covers 7,209 hectares within the north-western section of the prolific Iberian Pyrite Belt. The Lagoa project is approximately 80 kilometers southeast of Lisbon and already has access to power, ports, labor and water to facilitate future production.

Project Highlights:

• Prolific Initial Resource Estimates: The Venda Nova VMS deposit, one of many geophysical targets within the project, contains a compelling initial resource estimate with results including:
  • North Zone: Measured, indicated, and inferred 12.8 Mt at 8.5 percent zinc equivalent.
  • South Zone: Indicated and inferred 14.9 Mt at 1.28 percent copper equivalent.
• Advanced Development Plan in Progress: The company has completed infill drilling at the Venda Nova deposit and expects the Feasibility study Q2/2023. Additionally, the team is conducting metallurgical test work to confirm expectations and determine the ideal extraction process.
• Underexplored District-scale Asset: Much of the Lagoa Salgada project remains unexplored or underexplored using modern technologies and techniques. A 5,000-meter exploration campaign is currently underway to identify several prospective geophysical targets based on high density, conductivity and changeability.

Management Team

Mark Brennan - Executive Chairman and Founder

Mark Brennan is Cerrado Gold’s CEO and Chairman and executive chairman of Voyager Metals, with more than 30 years of financial and operating experience in the Americas and Europe. Brennan most recently served as president and CEO of Sierra Metals Inc., a major zinc-lead-silver-copper mining company with operations in Peru and Mexico. Prior to that, he was the president and CEO of Largo Resources Ltd., and a founder of several resource companies, including Desert Sun Mining, Brasoil Corp., Morumbi Oil and Gas, and Admiral Bay Resources.

Cliff Hale-Sanders - Executive Vice-president and Co-founder

Cliff Hale-Sanders is one of the founding partners in the formation of Ascendant Resources Inc. Prior to this, Hale-Sanders’ had a career that spanned over 20 years in the capital markets industry working as a leading base metals and bulk commodities research analyst with RBC Capital Markets, TD Securities, CIBC World Markets and Cormark Securities in Canada. During this period, Hale-Sanders visited and reviewed numerous mining operations and corporate entities around the world. Hale-Sanders holds a B.Sc. in geology and chemistry, an MBA from McMaster University and is a CFA charterholder.

Joao Barros - President

Joao Barros has 17 years of mining experience including green fields and near mine exploration, environmental impact studies for open pit and underground mine operations as well as mine development and operations. Barros was responsible for licensing the underground gold mine operation from exploration to development, for Minaport-Minas de Portugal, Lda, and the planning and execution of the exploration and licensing for Blackheath Resources (TXS: BHR), Borralha EML tungsten project. Barros is the president of Redcorp – Empreendimentos Mineiros, Lda., and has been with that company since 2008, responsible for managing, coordinating and executing the exploration works in the Lagoa Salgada VMS Project. Barros is also a member of the Portuguese Engineers Association.

Jason Brooks - Chief Financial Officer

Jason Brooks is a chartered professional accountant with over 18 years of experience in finance and accounting at international mining companies. Prior to joining Ascendant, he was vice-president, finance of Caldas Gold until it was acquired by Aris Gold. Prior to his time at Caldas, Brooks served in progressively senior roles at several international mining companies including Golden Star Resources, New Gold and Barrick Gold.

Clinton Swemmer - Chief Technical Officer

Clinton Swemmer is a senior project delivery professional whose career spans over 20 years working on various development stage projects. Prior to joining Ascendant, Swemmer was vice-president of project delivery for Treasury Metals, a mining company where he managed the study and trade-offs to maximize NPV and meet the technical requirements of the environmental and permit process. In addition, he was the vice-president of project delivery, North America for Ausenco, an EPC/M company focused on the metals and mining industry, where he managed the teams responsible for the EPC Awards of the Magino Gold Mine, Las Chispas Mine and Blackwater Gold Mine.While at Ausenco, Swemmer was also accountable for reviewing all pre-feasibility studies (PFS) and feasibility studies (FS) execution strategies and layouts, such as Marathon Gold Mine and Springpole Gold Project.

Sergio Gelcich - Vice-president, Exploration

Dr. Sergio Gelcich is an exploration geologist with over 20 years experience in geological sciences with emphasis in the mining and exploration industries through Canada, United States, the Caribbean and Latin America. He most recently served as director exploration for Hudbay Minerals, where he led the corporate geology/exploration team, contributing with green to brown field exploration and also with the geological understanding of Hudbay’s operations. Prior, he was the regional (Americas) exploration manager for GlobeStar Mining. Gelcich’s field experience includes almost every country in the Americas, encompassing precious and base metals, and a broad range of geological environments. He has an Honors Bachelor of Science in geology and a Master of Science in geology from the Universidad de Chile, and a PhD in geology from the University of Toronto.

Carl Calandra - Vice-president, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary

Carl Calandra is a legal executive with more than 15 years of advisory, transactional and public company experience. Prior to joining Ascendant, Calandra was vice-president and general counsel of Dundee Corporation, a Canadian investment company focused on mining, and was an associate at a top-tier Canadian national law firm. Calandra holds a Bachelor of Laws from Western University and a Master of Business Administration from Ivey Business School. Calandra has been a member of the Law Society of Ontario since 2006. .

David Ball - Vice-president, Business Development

David Ball was most recently chief financial officer of Santiago Metals Limitada, a private Chile-based copper producer and Denham Capital, a portfolio company of US Private Equity group. Prior to his current role he held several positions at Macquarie Capital, an Australian investment bank. During his career in the metals and mining sector, Ball has been actively involved in M&A, corporate advisory and fund raising of both equity and debt Ball brings mining focused operational and capital markets experience from Australia, South East Asia and North South America Ball holds a Bachelor of Commerce with Distinction (Curtin University) and a Masters of Finance (INSEAD).

Mike McAllister - Vice-president, Investor Relations

Mike McAllister has over 19 years of experience working with public mining companies, the last 12 as a mining specialized investor relations professional. He most recently was with Superior Gold and prior to that Sierra Metals where he helped the company complete the dual US listing progress and helped see the company progress from a small to a mid-tier diversified producer. McAllister also worked at Avion Gold Corp., which was acquired by Endeavour Mining. Before working in investor relations roles, he worked at BMO Capital Markets in the Metals & Mining Group. Mike holds the certified professional investor relations (CPIR) designation completed at Ivey Business School at Western University.