CEO Letter to the Shareholders - Golden Independence Mining Corp.

 

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CEO Letter to the Shareholders

Dear Fellow Shareholders:

I hope you and your loved ones are staying healthy during the challenges of the global pandemic. Despite the challenges, the last nine months has been a time of significant achievements for Golden Independence. This can be attributed to the quality, experience, diligence and hard work of our team and our partners.

In late August 2020, Golden Independence entered into an option agreement to earn up to a 75% interest in the 640-acre Independence project in Nevada. The Independence project is located 24 miles southwest of the town of Battle Mountain and is entirely within the permitted Plan of Operations for the Phoenix mine operated by Nevada Gold Mines, a JV between Barrick and Newmont.

The Independence project experienced small-scale high-grade production in the 20th century as well as sporadic exploration from the mid-20th century to the early 21st century and has been in private hands until now. Previous exploration work on the project is significant, with at least 78,000 feet of known drilling having been undertaken prior to our Company’s involvement. Much of this work was undertaken within the last decade using the same standards and methodology we use today. A (non NI 43-101 compliant) Historical Resource for the project of over one million ounces of gold was tabled in 2010 based on around 28,000 feet of RC drilling in 84 holes undertaken by a previous operator.

Since acquiring the Independence project, our Company has completed 36 RC drill holes totaling 25,340 feet and 5 bore holes totaling 1,903 feet on the Independence project. Results from these holes are being combined with previous drill results, including 56 RC drill holes drilled by previous operators but not included in the Historical Resource, to generate a new, expanded NI 43-101 compliant resource for the project anticipated before the end of April 2021.

Our near-term goal at the Independence project is to deliver a global gold resource of between 1.3 to 1.5 million ounces. Within that global resource, we are targeting at least a half a million ounces of gold within the oxide portion of the deposit which would be able to support a heap leach mining operation with annual production of about fifty-thousand ounces of gold for eight years. This represents almost a doubling of the existing oxide resource and more importantly, something we feel is of significant scale as a cornerstone asset for a junior mining company.

Once the resource update is complete, the oxide portion of the project will be advanced to a Preliminary Economic Assessment or PEA, scheduled for delivery by year’s end 2021. The PEA will provide an economic analysis and initial value for the oxide portion of the Independence project as well as providing a preliminary cost estimate for construction. Should the PEA outline sufficient economics, our goal will be to continue to advance the oxide portion of the project to a production decision in the near future.

In parallel with the drilling, technical studies and other work leading to the new resource and PEA during 2021, we have also engaged EM Strategies and Dyer Engineering to advance the permitting, design and regulatory process for the Independence project. The Independence project sits entirely within the Plan of Operations of an active mine thus allowing permitting under an Environmental Assessment, as opposed to an Environmental Impact Statement, resulting in a significant reduction in our permitting timeline. Our most recent addition to the team, Duane Andersen, oversees the permitting process and makes sure we and our partners are meeting the aggressive development milestones we have set ourselves. An initial Site Layout for a proposed heap leach mine was submitted to the BLM in February for their review and commentary.

As mentioned earlier, the Independence project was a small scale past producer, with recorded production of around eleven thousand ounces of gold and seven hundred and fifty thousand ounces of silver. Historical oxide grades mined were much higher than the current oxide resource grade. We believe that vertical fracture structures linked to the deeper sulfides have resulted in the deposition of significantly higher-grade zones within the oxide zone much nearer to surface than the deeper sulfides and that these were the primary source of ores for past production. Supporting this model, in mid-March we released hole AGEI-32 which returned 9.1 g/t Au and 25.2 g/t Ag over 80 feet outside of the known oxide mineralized zone. While more work needs to be done, we are very excited about the potential associated with this high-grade interval encountered outside the known oxide mineralized zone at much less depth relative to the known sulfide mineralization.

In addition to the near-surface oxide component of the project, the Independence project also hosts a sulfide Historical Resource of just under eight hundred thousand ounces of gold grading 6.53 g/t Au. This deposit is much deeper than the oxide portion of the project and represents the future of Golden Independence beyond the planned initial oxide heap leach operation. Our focus in the short term remains the near surface oxide portion of the project but we are very cognizant of the significant potential value of the sulfide portion of the project and note that similar sulfide skarn deposits have already been successfully exploited in the Battle Mountain camp.

When our Company acquired an option on the Independence project, one of the terms required to earn our initial 51% interest in the project was the payment of US$4 million cash by the end of 2021 to the underlying owner of the property. In late January, this payment was amended to US$1.7 million cash and 4.9 million shares. This amendment demonstrates the support we enjoy from other stakeholders in the project and was only possible with the support of our shareholders who exercised their warrants in late 2020. I want to thank our shareholders and stakeholders for this show of confidence and support.

On behalf of the team at Golden Independence, I thank you for your continued support and look forward to an exciting year ahead.

——

Christos Doulis, CEO

Golden Independence Mining Corporation