2026 MRMR for the McCreedy West Copper Mine

This report describes the crushing, sorting, sampling, and sales arrangements for ore from the McCreedy West Mine as part of the 2026 mineral reserve and mineral resource estimate.

Report context

This technical report, dated 2026, presents the mineral reserve and mineral resource estimate (MRMR) for the McCreedy West Copper Mine, located in Sudbury, Ontario. The processing methods described show the proposed design, historical operating data, and testwork that underpin the current operation.

Processing route

ROM Crushing and Sample Tower

Ore at McCreedy West Mine is hauled to surface and placed on an engineered lined containment pad. The containment pad is designed to accommodate temporary ore storage, crushing by portable primary and secondary crushers housed in crusher buildings, sampling and loadout facilities, and roadways. The pad mitigates noise and metal/dust escape into the community and environment.

Oversized pieces of ore are segregated and transferred to a rock breaking area, where an excavator equipped with an 8,500 foot-lb rock breaker reduces them into smaller pieces suitable for feeding to the primary jaw crusher. From the temporary ore stockpile, copper and nickel ore is transported via front-end loader to the feed hopper of a primary jaw crusher and crushed to minus 6 inches in size. The crushed ore is then deposited by conveyor on a pile outside of the crusher building. A front-end loader transfers the primary-crushed ore to the feed hopper of the enclosed secondary cone crusher circuit, which crushes the ore to minus 1.5 inches in size.

This processed ore then leaves the building on an enclosed conveyor belt and passes through a sample tower. The crushed ore that passes through the sample tower is stockpiled on the ore pad in lots of approximately 2,000 to 4,000 tons, which are then loaded into trucks, weighed on the surface scale, and transported offsite for further processing at a third-party mill.

Magna Mining Operations provides site supervision and operators for the sample tower and XRT ore sorting plants. Contractors provide feeding, crushing and discharge hardware, loaders and excavators for operation of the crushing and sorting systems, as well as operators for all of their equipment. The contractor supplies site supervision as well as overall control of traffic on the ore pads, in addition to daily activity reports (tonnes crushed, loaded into highway trucks, etc.). Magna Mining Operations provides daily, weekly and monthly instruction in terms of crushing and sorting activities.

Historically, from September 2012 to February 2014, the primary crushed nickel contact ore bypassed the secondary crusher and sample tower; instead, it was transferred by front-end loader to a hopper which fed a stacker that created stockpiles on the ore pad. This material was then loaded into trucks, weighed on the surface scale, and transported to a third-party mill for processing.

From September 2015 to 2017, due to a decline in metal prices, ore extraction from McCreedy West decreased significantly and was limited to bulk samples for batch milling campaigns at third-party mills in Sudbury. These campaigns utilized a portable jaw crusher and screening plant operated on the ore pad.

XRT Ore Sorter

Operation of an Electromagnetic (EM) ore sorting pilot plant and associated secondary crusher commenced in 2011. A Steinert XRT (X-Ray Transmission) sorter plant replaced the EM sorter in 2018 and can be operated at the present day when upgrading of ore head grades is required. Ore sorting is premised on providing a net benefit to the site financials, reducing transportation and milling costs, removing potentially problematic non-sulphide gangue, and improving downstream mill head grades and metal recoveries.

Ore sorter operation is intermittent and driven by run of mine head grades. When the ore sorter is operated, minus 1.5-inch crushing plant product is screened at ½ inch, with the minus ½ inch fines bypassing the ore sorter directly to the sample tower. The plus ½ inch material is fed to the ore sorting plant via front-end loader, where a sorter accept and a sorter reject are produced. The upgraded sorter accept fraction is then combined with the screened fines ahead of the sampling tower. Minus 1/8-inch wash deck fines from the ore sorter are pumped underground and collected in weirs on 300 level prior to hauling back to surface and being combined with the ore sorter accepts fraction.

Sized product (plus ½ inch material) is fed into the sorter at a rate of 40 tons per hour (tph), which is the current rate used to maximize productivity and optimize sorter performance based on run of mine feed grade and desired rejection rate of waste material.

The ore sorting plant is surrounded by an asphalt pad, with a concrete pad located in the southwest corner of the area. Primary crushed ore is screened on a 3-product screen deck. Undersize (minus ½ inch) fines product is sampled and stockpiled, while middling material (½ inch to 1 ½ inch) ore sorter feed is transferred by front-end loader to the ore sorter asphalt pad and stockpiled. This material is fed directly into a hopper outside the ore sorter building; minus 3/8-inch fines are screened on a wash deck prior to sorting to eliminate mineral dust biasing the sorter. Washed ore is analyzed in the ore sorter and separated onto two streams: accept (ore) and reject (waste).

Two conveyors exit the building into two stockpiles: one for waste (reject) and the other for ore (accept). The waste rock is then transferred back underground and used as roadbed or backfill material. Wash deck fines are dropped via boreholes to two weirs located at 300 level for decantation and after dewatering transported back to surface for combination with the sorter accepts and fines ahead of transport to a third-party mill for further processing.

Ore Sales

Historically, run of mine or upgraded (via XRT ore sorter) run of mine ore are shipped to Vale's Clarabelle Mill or Glencore's Strathcona Mill, both located in Sudbury, Ontario. The details of the mill flowsheets and equipment configuration are proprietary and are therefore not discussed in this report. Both mills are configured to produce copper concentrate and a separate nickel-copper bulk concentrate after rejection of pyrrhotite and non-sulphide gangue minerals.

The terms of the ore sale indicative terms are confidential; however, the process follows a standard ore sale arrangement. When material is mined, it will be accumulated into processing lots at site, which will be sampled via a sampling tower prior to transportation to the local mining company's mill. The grade of the lot will determine the recovery of metals in accordance with the relationships confirmed in the testing phase. Once the material has been treated, concentrate containing the agreed-to metal recoveries at the mill's targeted concentrate grade will be designated for smelting. For this stage of processing, there is a set treatment charge per tonne.

The concentrate expected to be produced will then be subject to separate smelter processing terms to determine the net smelter return (NSR). The smelter indicative terms are standard with payables based on a list of metal accountabilities. The metal accountabilities are calculated based on smelter recovery per metal, less a minimum deduction per metal. Smelting charges are based on a treatment charge per tonne and refining charges for each of the accounted metals.

Sample Tower Protocol

The main function of the sample tower is to produce representative subsamples of each production lot ahead of dispatch to the sample preparation and analytical laboratory for determination of pay metal and deleterious element content.

The following sample tower protocol is followed by Magna Mining to obtain analytical samples of the crushed and sorted products:

• Lot size is between 2,000 wmt and 4,000 wmt, as determined by Magna Mining in its sole discretion.

• Magna stockpiles product from each orebody in separate piles on surface until the target tonnage and feed grade blend is achieved and an on-spec ore lot is ready for shipment. This stockpile is transported to the crushing circuit and crushed as described above prior to being processed through the sampling tower.

• A contact nickel ore lot shall not include more than 7 continuous days of processing through the sampling tower in order to mitigate concerns arising from oxidation of sulphides. Copper footwall ores have been deemed non-oxidizing and are amenable to extended periods of surface stockpiling.

• The crushed product is fed to the sampling tower where primary and secondary linear samplers remove an approximately 1.5 wmt representative subsample which is rolls crushed to 100% passing 9.5 mm. A tertiary rotary sampler then takes duplicate subsamples each of approximately 340 kg which are then stored in 180-litre drums. Each drum is clearly labelled, one A and the other B. An embossed metal identification tag is fixed to the outside of each and a duplicate tag is placed inside each drum and then sealed.

• The A sample is dispatched to the third-party sample preparation facility and the B sample is sent to storage. Each lot of products is given a unique lot number (i.e., the same number for the analytical samples and the product delivered to Vale Canada).

• The remaining product is collected and loaded into trucks for prompt delivery to the mill.

• At the sample preparation facility, the entire A sample for each lot is dried for a 24-hour period at an oven with temperature not exceeding 105°F. The sample is weighed before and after the drying stage. The moisture content determined by the preparation facility using this procedure is set forth in an official moisture certificate for each lot and such moisture content is the official moisture content.

• The dried sample is then crushed and pulverized to 90% passing 106 µm. Four representative subsamples are taken via rotary sample splitter and placed into labelled, sealed, tamper-proof, one-litre plastic bottles ahead of assaying for pay and deleterious elements. One sample is submitted to SGS and the other to Vale Copper Cliff for assay, exchange and final settlement.

Magna's assay quality assurance (QA) program consists of three different types of quality control (QC) samples: (1) reference materials, (2) sample blanks, and (3) check assays. The analytical laboratory also runs its own set of QC samples, including reference materials, sample blanks, and laboratory duplicates. The QC samples and procedures help to monitor accuracy, precision, and contamination. Historically, check assays were selected at random at the end of each month from the analyzed samples from that month, at the rate of 2%. These selected samples were analyzed at ALS Global in Vancouver to help monitor laboratory performance. SGS Minerals analyzes duplicate samples at a rate of approximately 7% of all assayed samples.

Key reported parameters

Technical qualifications

The details of the mill flowsheets and equipment configuration for the third-party mills (Vale's Clarabelle Mill and Glencore's Strathcona Mill) are proprietary and are therefore not discussed in this report. The terms of the ore sale indicative terms are confidential.

—

Source: Technical Report – 2026 MRMR for the McCreedy West Copper Mine, Sudbury, Ontario, SGS Geological Services, Section 17 Recovery Methods, pages 139–145.