Oksut Mine Construction Of Mercury Abatement System Completed

TORONTO - Centerra Gold Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer, Paul Tomory, said, “Since starting as President and Chief Executive Officer and having spent time with our corporate and sites teams, and having visited the Mount Milligan Mine, I am excited for the future of the Company. I look forward to visiting the Öksüt Mine and our US assets and engaging with many of our shareholders and other stakeholders, with a focus on delivering sustainable value and growth at Centerra.

In the first quarter of 2023, the Company continued to demonstrate that safety remains Centerra’s top priority, with a number of our sites achieving milestones without a lost time or reportable injury. In Turkiye, I’m pleased to announce that we have completed the mercury abatement retrofit to the Öksüt Mine’s ADR plant and that the system has been tested under the supervision of the Turkish ministry. The regulatory review of Öksüt Mine’s amended EIA remains on track; all review steps have been completed and it has been submitted for final ministry approval. Subject to receipt of the final approvals of the EIA and ADR plant, the Company will be well positioned to begin processing the approximately 100,000 recoverable ounces of gold-in-carbon inventory on hand. We will then be able to shift our focus to the additional approximately 200,000 recoverable ounces of gold in the Öksüt Mine’s gold in ore stockpiles and on the heap leach pad. Centerra’s other operating mine in British Colombia, there were lower levels of copper and gold production at the Mount Milligan Mine in the first quarter due to a combination of the grade profile delivered to the mill from mine sequencing that also impacted lower metal recoveries, a planned mill maintenance shutdown and challenges with material handling during winter months. As a result, the Company now expects gold production to be near the low end of guidance whilst copper production is currently tracking towards the mid-point of guidance. Mine sequencing remains on track to access the higher-grade copper and gold ore in the second half of the year resulting in back-end weighted production.”

In March 2022, Centerra announced it had temporarily suspended gold doré bar production at the Öksüt Mine due to mercury detected in the gold room at the ADR plant. From the date of suspension of gold room operations through to the end of 2022, the Company built up gold-in-carbon inventory of approximately 100,000 recoverable ounces and 200,000 recoverable ounces of gold in ore stockpiles and on the heap leach pad. For the gold-in-carbon inventory, substantially all the production costs have already been incurred. Once operations resume, the ADR plant is expected to have sufficient production capacity to process up to approximately 35,000 ounces of gold per month.

The Company has completed construction of a mercury abatement system to allow processing of mercury-bearing ores. In February and March 2023, the ADR facility underwent inspection and testing by the Turkish Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change (the “Ministry of Environment”) and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. The Company continues to work with relevant authorities to obtain the required approvals to restart gold room operations at the ADR plant.

Following inspection by and several discussions with the Ministry of Environment in 2022, the Company determined that an updated EIA should be prepared and submitted to clarify various production and other capacity limits for the Öksüt Mine and to align the EIA production levels with current operating plans. The updated EIA was submitted in January 2023. The Company completed its technical review meeting with local authorities at the end of March and posted its EIA for public comment in late April, with no significant comments received. With all review steps now completed, the EIA has been submitted for final ministry approval. The Company continues to work with Turkish officials and other stakeholders on the approval of its EIA and other permits that may be required to allow for a timely full restart of all operations.

The Öksüt Mine suspended leaching of ore on the heap leach pad and ceased using activated carbon on site as of late August 2022 though mining, crushing and stacking activities continued in line with existing EIA limits for the remainder of 2022. After building substantial inventories of gold-in-carbon, ore stacked on the heap leach pad and ore stockpiles, crushing and stacking activities were paused during the first quarter of 2023 until the new EIA is received. The Öksüt Mine is currently focusing mining activities on the Phase 5 pit wall pushback to expand the Keltepe pit.

In January 2023, the Öksüt Mine received notice of approval of its operating license extension application for a period of ten years, as well as approval of an enlarged grazing land permit to allow for the expansion of the Keltepe and Güneytepe pits, as planned.

Centerra is involved in several permitting processes with Turkish regulatory authorities and notes that a general election in Türkiye on May 14, 2023 could result in administrative delays to such processes. The Company will continue to diligently pursue approvals of an amended EIA and all required permits for the Öksüt Mine.