Steppe Gold Brochure i51 Spring 23

EXECUTIVE INSIGHT

Exploring

Mongolia’s Golden Potential

Steppe Gold, the Canada-based company engaged in precious metals and minerals exploration, is progressing its highly promising gold and silver projects in Mongolia. We spoke to Aneel Waraich, Executive Vice President and Director on the Board, about the business’ fast development and its ambitious expansion plans for the future.

Exploring

Mongolia’s Golden Potential

Steppe Gold, the Canada-based company engaged in precious metals and minerals exploration, is progressing its highly promising gold and silver projects in Mongolia. We spoke to Aneel Waraich, Executive Vice President and Director on the Board, about the business’ fast development and its ambitious expansion plans for the future.

Steppe Gold is Mongolia’s premier precious metals company, projected to produce over 100k ounces of gold in 2022 and 2023 from its 100% owned flagship asset, the ATO Gold Mine, at industry-leading costs in the $700 per ounce range.

Now Is the Time

Share your story with a community of North American metals & mining investors

6ix provides a cloudbased investor relations management (IRM) platform that enables organizations to engage in modern investor marketing. Get started today at 6ix.com/demo

Over the past 12 months, more than 200 public metals and mining companies have used 6ix to reach more than 30 million investors in Canada and the United States. 6ix provides a cloud-based marketing software platform that enables organizations to engage in modern investor marketing. Large-scale trends, such as increasingly self-directed investors and broad and instant availability of information online, are changing the role and responsibilities of the investor relations (IR) department in most organizations around the world In today's data-centric, multi-channel business environment, IR professionals are being pushed fundamentally to change how they engage and interact with investors

"It's been a great experience working with 6ix. I had just started working in the resource sector, in the capital markets sector, over the last year. And so my introduction of partnering with 6ix to make sure that Steppe Gold story goes out has been a fantastic one – very positive. We have been able to explore really innovative, creative solutions to get the story out, so it's not the same old webinar with the same old investor presentation but ensuring we ' re collaborating with our peers across the sector. So I've enjoyed the experience immensely The use of 6ix's technology is the strength of this partnership, and once again, we have been able to see that through delivering new viewer experiences and reaching out to new potential investors by not delivering the same old investor presentation over and over again."

6ix's technology solution is designed to enable the effective execution, management and analytical measurement of digital IR activities, helping organizations acquire new investors more efficiently, build stronger relationships with existing investors and facilitate modern investor communications. Through our Investor Experience (IX) Platform, we deliver an easy-to-use, integrated suite of advanced applications, which today include AI-powered Ads, Social, Email and Analytics To enable our customers to obtain maximum value from our IX platform, we created an ecosystem of third-party applications and a network of resources to foster thought leadership marketing, sharing and collaborating among our users

We designed the 6ix Investor Experience (IX) Platform to be valuable for any organization with an IR function; however, our near-term go-to market strategy is to specialize in the metals and mining sector.

6ix's clients are in the exploration-development and production stages, across a broad range of commodities, including gold-silver, copper, zinc, lithium and uranium.

In 2021, Steppe released robust feasibility study results that added another 10.5 years of mine life at double the current production profile, launched its Phase 2 infrastructure plans, secured a landmark US $65 million financing package and was awarded Mongolia Bloomberg’s 2021 Development of the Year.

A remarkable success for a young company

established only six years ago. The company’s Executive Vice President Aneel Waraich describes the fast pace of the progress: “From the very beginning, the idea was to focus on Mongolia, a highly prospective, relatively under-explored region. In 2017, we acquired our first asset, and by 2018, we were able to successfully raise $25 million and list on the mainboard

of the Toronto Stock Exchange, as the only mining IPO that year.”

“We started production in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020 and have been generating cashflow, with no operational hiccups, no issues on the technical side since. The short and fast development demonstrates that we are able to overcome obstacles, handle challenges, and still move

the business forward.”

He remarks that Steppe wants to focus on the precious metal side of the country where there is no dominant player. “With 100,000 ounces in two years we will be the largest, primary precious metal producer in-country. And we want to bring that to 300,000 plus ounces in the next three to five years as we continue to de-risk our

IKHER BAR LLC

own pipeline of assets and maybe consolidate further. That’s quite impressive.”

Proudly Mongolian Mr Waraich asserts that from its inception in 2016, the company was very clear about its intention to build a company that is perceived as local, with its core team having a sound track record in the country, going back to 2009.

“Today, our CEO is Mongolian, half our Board is Mongolian and, most importantly, 99% of our team are from our local communities. That has always been key for us from the very beginning. We are well embedded in the local cul -

ture and working to the benefit of our local population.”

Steppe’s impact may be quite substantial, as the mining sector is very important for Mongolia’s economy –it is the biggest employer in the country, the largest driver of GDP, taxes, and royalty revenues. Mining has a role to play in driving the country forward, improving the way of life for its population and creating more jobs and educational opportunities. “Generations can be impacted by what we’re doing today. That’s why it is important to do it properly: with the locals and for the locals,” says Mr Waraich.

LIMING is a leading Chinese company operating in the mining and aggregate industry since 1987. Its product range includes crushers, vibrating screens, mobile crushers, mills and mineral processing machinery. According to the statistics of China Customs, the export volume of the group has ranked first in China mining machinery industry for 10 consecutive years. LIMING has 6 production bases with a total of 1,600,000 square meter workshops and 1,700 employees.

Established in 2009 to provide engineering and equipment for mining projects in Mongolia.

In 2017, we started cooperation with Steppe Gold Company’s ATO mining project by supplying a mobile crushing plant, and currently we are completing the installation of a crushing plant with a capacity of 1000 tons of ore per hour.

We are the representative of China Liming Heavy Machinery Company in Mongolia. And providing you following information.

Showroom

Shanghai production base

Headquarter

“Today we have an operating mine employing over 300 Mongolians, and a plan to double that number over the next few years as we expand. We will also create additional jobs in the other assets. And it’s not just about jobs.”

“We are impacting the local communities through both indirect and direct benefits, by creating scholarship programmes and through a variety of social initiatives, by supporting local athletes for example. Seeing the changes we create and their benefits is one of the most rewarding aspects of our activity here,” he says, adding that has so far Steppe has provided over 1000 scholarships to local talent, allowing more people to attend university.

“We are also trying to create many additional jobs to support its operations. We are procuring consumables and food locally. This reduces our carbon footprint as we are not transporting things from aboard, or even from other regions of Mongolia.”

Steppe Gold is strongly committed to mitigating and rehabilitating environmental impacts as much as possible, by supporting biodiversity offsets, sustainable development,

and looking at renewable energies as part of its Phase 2 planning. “Basically, our corporate vision is to leave the property and local community, better than when we started this journey,” Mr Waraich affirms.

Unlocking potential

He is confident that Steppe Gold’s potential is huge. “We have explored and are operating on only about 10% of the property. So there’s room down the road to use our own cash flow to

continue to grow. There could be other satellite deposits on this property, with perhaps a three to five million ounce deposit, maybe even more.”

In the meantime, the company is finalising discussions on project financing and EPC arrangements for the Phase 2 expansion which is already underway. A new crushing unit has been installed to be made operational in April 2023, set to allow the company to drive higher crushing rates in the remaining oxide phase.

Progress has also been made at Steppe’s other assets in Mongolia: in addition to its flagship ATO project, the company has an approximately 20,000 metre drill programme planned at Mungu, northeast of the ATO resource, UK in the south of the Country and further follow up at ATO deposits. Steppe has commenced exploration at the Uudam Khundii property, comprised of one exploration licence covering around 14,500 hectares in the south-west of the country.

The high-potential Uudam Khundii gold project was acquired in 2017, in partnership with the Province of Bayankhongor, and in October, the company announced that with strong local partners and stakeholders, and with a foundational social programme and new prospective licence areas, it is poised to consolidate its leading position in this district and plans to accelerate its exploration and development work.

“We are committed to a strong two-way partnership with all stakeholders in this region and will make sure, just as we did at the ATO Gold Mine, to embark on a programme of local procurement, employment opportunities and investment in education. Again, we want to ensure that local communities are the direct beneficiaries of the economic development arising from the exploration, development and operation of mining in the region.”

With a strong social licence, recognition from leading institutional investors and the robust foundation laid in 2021 resulting in paid-for inventory and healthy cash flow, 2022 has been an exciting and highly-productive year for Steppe Gold.

“In 2023, we will continue to unlock our potential across all of our licences in Mongolia, while seeking out new opportunities,” concluded Mr Waraich.