FORTUNA MINING CORP.

Paid US$200 million to Barrick and IAMGOLD for Senegalese subsidiaries holding the 190 square kilometre Bambadji exploration project next to Diamba Sud, consolidating about 60 kilometres of strike on the Senegal-Mali shear zone. It is exploration ground with drill-defined targets, not a resource - historical holes include 2.12 grams of gold a tonne over 52.9 metres - and the price is a fifth of the whole Diamba Sud mine's construction capital.

business combination

Approved a 30% expansion of Séguéla, taking the plant from 1.75 to 2.3 million tonnes a year, lifting expected gold recovery to 94.5% and adding an underground mine at Sunbird - the deposit found in 2021 and drilled ever since. It costs US$109 million from operating cash flow against about US$800 million of liquidity, pays back in roughly 2.5 years, and is expected to hold Séguéla above 200,000 ounces a year for a decade.

production update

The feasibility study on Diamba Sud returned a US$1 billion present value at a 5% discount, a 60% return and a one-year payback at US$3,500 gold, rising to US$1.3 billion at US$4,000. Management expects it to be Fortuna's lowest-cost mine and, with the Séguéla expansion, to lift group production about 60% to more than 500,000 ounces in 2028. The Senegalese environmental decree is in hand; a final investment decision awaits the mining permit.

resource reserve update

The 44 holes for 7,518 metres behind February's resource increase returned 6.0 grams of gold a tonne over 24.1 metres, and made Southern Arc the largest single deposit at Diamba Sud at 6 million tonnes averaging 1.9 grams a tonne for 367,000 ounces. It is open at depth and both ways along strike, and most drilling across the project is still shallow.

drilling result

Diamba Sud's indicated resource rose 73% to 1.25 million ounces of gold in 26.0 million tonnes at 1.50 grams a tonne, adding 530,000 ounces, with 94% of all ounces now in the indicated category - the confidence a feasibility study needs. Management ties Diamba Sud and a Séguéla expansion to a target of more than 500,000 ounces of gold a year.

resource reserve update

Five rigs on Sunbird kept extending high grade at depth and widened a second shoot, with 15.4 grams of gold a tonne over 4.2 metres from 478 metres and 4.1 grams over 13.3 metres from 504 metres. Mineralisation remains open at depth.

drilling result

Met 2025 guidance with 317,001 gold-equivalent ounces, though output from the mines it still owns fell to 279,207 from 292,169, partly because a rising gold price changes the ratio used to convert Caylloma's base metals into gold-equivalent. Séguéla produced a record 152,426 ounces, 4% above the top of its range. Fourth-quarter output dropped to 65,130 ounces on crusher downtime at Lindero, fixed in December. The San Jose and Yaramoko sales both closed in the spring, leaving three mines.

production update

Southern Arc kept growing, with 6.8 grams of gold a tonne over 35.5 metres true width from infill drilling and broad intervals south-west of the optimised pit shell - 1.7 grams over 29.6 metres and 2.0 grams over 20.0 metres in the same hole. Diamba Sud was heading for a feasibility study and construction decision in the second quarter of 2026.

drilling result

The deepest holes yet at Sunbird confirmed a second underground shoot and pushed the central zone another 150 metres down-plunge, with 5.2 grams of gold a tonne over 6.3 metres from 787 metres and 6.0 grams over 11.9 metres from 669 metres, both still open. Over 1.5 kilometres of high-grade strike is now defined.

drilling result

The economic assessment for Diamba Sud outlined an open pit with a conventional carbon-in-leach plant: US$563 million present value at a 5% discount, a 72% return and a ten-month payback at US$2,750 gold, for US$283.2 million of construction capital, averaging 147,000 ounces a year over the first three years at all-in sustaining costs of US$904 an ounce. With US$537.3 million of liquidity and US$214.8 million of net cash at mid-2025, Fortuna can fund it from its own balance sheet.

resource reserve update

Filed the environmental and social impact assessment for Diamba Sud with Senegal's environment ministry, the formal start of permitting, with the economic study due in the fourth quarter and a feasibility study and construction decision targeted for the first half of 2026.

resource reserve update

Kingfisher's infill program finished with 4.5 grams of gold a tonne over 37.4 metres true width confirming broad mineralisation, and step-out holes extended it 300 metres below surface and 250 metres further along strike. Deep drilling at Sunbird returned 8.5 grams over 7.0 metres from 566 metres and found shallow mineralisation about 180 metres into the footwall.

drilling result

Drilling after the cut-off for Southern Arc's first resource returned 22.7 grams of gold a tonne over 21.6 metres true width from only 53 metres downhole and 6.3 grams over 18.2 metres from 31 metres. The deposit is open south, east and at depth, and had been drilled only to about 150 metres.

drilling result

Diamba Sud's indicated resource rose 53% in about seven months to 724,000 ounces of gold in 14.2 million tonnes at 1.59 grams a tonne, with inferred up 93% to 285,000 ounces, including first estimates of 194,000 ounces at Southern Arc and 31,000 at Moungoundi. An economic study was due in the fourth quarter of 2025.

resource reserve update

Southern Arc emerged as the best prospect yet at Diamba Sud in Senegal, with 8.6 grams of gold a tonne over 13.6 metres true width and 9.3 grams over 11.8 metres in lightly drilled ground, while infill at Area D returned 113.7 grams over 6.4 metres. Auger sampling was turning up further soil anomalies across the property.

drilling result

Closed the San Jose sale - but to JRC Ingeniería y Construcción, a private Peruvian company, not the Mexican buyer named in January, with the deal signing and closing on the same day. Fortuna received US$6.5 million plus about US$1.2 million for working capital and tax receivables, with up to US$8.3 million more if conditions are met, and kept a 1% net smelter royalty that only starts after the next 6.1 million ounces of silver and 44,000 ounces of gold are mined.

asset acquisition disposition

Agreed to sell Roxgold Sanu, which owns the Yaramoko mine, and three exploration subsidiaries to Soleil Resources International, a private Mauritius company already operating three mines in Burkina Faso, leaving Fortuna with no presence in the country. Management's stated reasons are about a year of reserves left, exploration already stopped and a harder business climate; the sale also avoids about US$20 million of future closure liabilities. Yaramoko was the producing asset that came with Roxgold in 2021.

asset acquisition disposition

Infill drilling along the kilometre of Kingfisher inside the pit shell returned 7.2 grams of gold a tonne over 31.5 metres true width, work meant to move Kingfisher into Séguéla's reserves during 2025. At Sunbird, the deepest hole to date cut 4.3 grams over 23.1 metres from 733 metres, and the deposit is still open at depth and down-plunge.

drilling result

Agreed to sell the San Jose silver-gold mine in Oaxaca, held through Compañia Minera Cuzcatlan, to Minas del Balsas, a private Mexican company, keeping only a royalty. San Jose was due to start progressive closure in early 2025 after thirteen years, in which Fortuna says it was for a time among the world's twelve largest primary silver producers. Selling it removes the closure obligation and leaves Fortuna without a mine in Mexico.

asset acquisition disposition

Kingfisher now carries a first inferred resource of 294,000 ounces at 2.3 grams a tonne, and this drilling extended it about 150 metres further along strike with 4.1 grams over 15.3 metres and 3.3 grams over 17 metres. At Sunbird, mineralisation was traced roughly 650 metres beyond the limit of the existing underground resource and is still open.

drilling result

Western Splay emerged as the next prospect at Diamba Sud, with 6.9 grams of gold a tonne over 33.3 metres true width and 8.9 grams over 27.7 metres - wide intersections at good grade in ground that had barely been drilled.

drilling result

Kingfisher now has a drill-defined strike of more than 2 kilometres and is still open at depth, with 14.2 grams of gold a tonne over 16.8 metres true width. Depth extension drilling at Sunbird, 8.8 grams over 6.3 metres at 301 metres, continued to support underground mining beneath the Séguéla pits.

drilling result

First strong results from Senegal: 31.3 grams of gold a tonne over 12.0 metres true width at the Karakara prospect at Diamba Sud, with early holes at satellite targets returning 8.9 grams over 27.7 metres at Western Splay and 2.9 grams over 15.3 metres at Kassasoko. This is the first release under the company's new name, Fortuna Mining Corp.

drilling result

Kingfisher delivered 23.7 grams of gold a tonne over 17.9 metres true width from 113 metres, with the Badior prospect returning a string of intersections between 15 and 38 grams over 3.5 to 11.9 metres and the Ancien deposit 27.4 and 12.3 grams at depth. Three separate prospects around one mine were all returning ore-grade widths.

drilling result

Eight months of drilling turned the Yessi discovery at San Jose into a defined system, with 1,327 grams a tonne silver-equivalent over 3.0 metres true width and 1,036 grams over 8.1 metres marking high-grade shoots, and 179 grams over 17.5 metres showing the vein can also be wide.

drilling result

Found a fourth new prospect at Séguéla, Kingfisher, after Barana, Badior and Kestrel in 2022 and 2023 - an unusual run of discoveries around a mine only a year into production. Drilling below the Koula pit returned 68.0 grams of gold a tonne over 2.1 metres inside a 22.5 gram intersection over 9.8 metres, opening the possibility of underground mining, and confirmatory drilling at Diamba Sud in Senegal was wrapping up.

drilling progress report

More high grade around Séguéla: 17.3 grams of gold a tonne over 6.3 metres true width at the newly found Badior prospect, and 27.1 grams over 7.7 metres at 239 metres depth in the Ancien deposit, which points to mineralisation below the pits. The update also covered first work on the newly acquired Diamba Sud ground in Senegal and San Jose in Mexico.

drilling result

Completed the Chesser Resources purchase, issuing 15,545,368 shares - about 5.1% of the company - so Chesser holders' equity carried into Fortuna rather than being cashed out, and Chesser was delisted from the ASX. Fortuna now holds the Diamba Sud gold project in Senegal.

business combination

Mine geologists at San Jose in Mexico drilled into a previously unknown blind structure, now called the Yessi vein, returning 1,299 grams a tonne silver-equivalent over 9.9 metres true width and 621 grams over 5.0 metres, about 200 metres east of the known Victoria zone. It is a real discovery inside an eighteen-year-old mine whose reserves had been shrinking. The release carries a typographical date of September 5, 2021 in its body; the filing is from 2023.

drilling result

Infill drilling at Sunbird finished and moved into reserve estimation and mine design intended to extend Séguéla's life. Attention shifted to new ground, with 90.9 grams of gold a tonne over 1.8 metres true width near surface at the Barana prospect, while at Yaramoko in Burkina Faso high grade was found at least 130 metres west of the Zone 55 resource - 32.8 grams over 3.1 metres - and confirmed by underground development.

drilling result

Poured first gold at Séguéla on 24 May 2023, on time and on budget and within two years of buying the project with Roxgold, making it Fortuna's fifth operating mine. Nominal production rates were targeted for the third quarter, with 60,000 to 75,000 ounces expected in 2023 at all-in sustaining costs of US$880 to US$1,080 an ounce.

production update

Agreed to buy ASX-listed Chesser Resources for 0.0248 Fortuna shares each, about A$0.142 a share and A$89.0 million (C$80.6 million), issuing up to 15,545,682 shares or roughly 5.1% of the company. It adds the Diamba Sud gold project in Senegal, at preliminary economic assessment stage, extending Fortuna's West African ground to a third country.

business combination

Infill drilling at Sunbird found high grade in ground the model had called low grade inside the planned pit - 10.6 grams of gold a tonne over 21.7 metres true width, 14.9 grams over 14 metres - and extension holes north of the pit shell returned 12.0 grams over 5.6 metres. The aim is to convert Sunbird into reserves and lengthen Séguéla's 1.1 million ounce, nine-year mine plan.

drilling result

Raised the committed size of its senior secured revolver by US$50 million to US$250 million with BNP Paribas, Scotiabank, Société Générale and others, maturity unchanged at November 2025, and lifted the November 2024 step-down from US$150 million to US$175 million. A further US$50 million accordion to US$300 million is uncommitted. Pricing moved off LIBOR to SOFR and got slightly dearer - 25 basis points on the margin and 9 to 12 on the commitment fee.

debt financing

Expansion drilling kept growing Sunbird beyond the March resource envelope, with 18.3 grams of gold a tonne over 11.9 metres true width, 28.2 grams over 3.5 metres and 12.6 grams over 7.7 metres, and visible gold in a hole 100 metres further down-plunge. The deposit is still open.

drilling result

A first resource for Sunbird put 3.4 million tonnes at 3.16 grams of gold a tonne for 350,000 inferred ounces - found after the decision to build Séguéla was already taken, and not yet counted in the mine plan. Fortuna said it would not materially change the project's existing resource or its construction plan, and the deposit remains open along strike and at depth.

drilling result

Sunbird kept delivering ahead of a first resource estimate - 20.2 grams of gold a tonne over 18.2 metres true width and 13.4 grams over 18.9 metres - with coarse visible gold in core and a high-grade core traced over more than 250 metres of strike, still open along strike and at depth. Séguéla was already under construction as a 3,750 tonne a day mine for first gold in mid-2023.

drilling result

Twelve rigs turning across the portfolio: 17.5 grams of gold a tonne over 6.3 metres true width at the Sunbird prospect at Séguéla, 0.6 grams of gold with 0.18% copper over 68 metres from surface next to the Arizaro project in Argentina, and, nearly 900 metres below surface at Caylloma, 93 grams of silver with 4.83% lead and 7.81% zinc over 20.48 metres true width in one of the deepest holes yet drilled there, still open at depth.

drilling result

Three months after buying Roxgold, the board approved building Séguéla, a 3,750 tonne a day open pit in Côte d'Ivoire with a nine-year reserve life and about 130,000 ounces of gold a year in the first six years, for a remaining US$162 million of initial capital funded from existing resources. First gold was targeted for mid-2023, making it Fortuna's fifth mine.

production update

First drill results from the West African ground two months after closing Roxgold, and they were strong: 17.2 grams of gold a tonne over 30 metres at Sunbird and 28.8 grams over 7 metres at Koula, both at Séguéla in Côte d'Ivoire, and 17.9 grams over 5.4 metres at Galgouli on the Boussoura project in Burkina Faso.

drilling result

The formal acquisition report: the Roxgold deal closed on 2 July 2021, its holders taking 0.283 Fortuna shares plus C$0.001 each, so their equity carried into Fortuna rather than being cashed out. Roxgold became a wholly-owned subsidiary and was amalgamated into a Fortuna company under the same name.

business combination

Agreed to buy Roxgold for 0.283 Fortuna shares plus C$0.001 per share, leaving Fortuna holders with 64.3% and Roxgold's with 35.7%. It takes Fortuna from Latin America into West Africa - the producing Yaramoko mine in Burkina Faso, the Séguéla project in Côte d'Ivoire and Boussoura exploration - and is put at about 450,000 gold-equivalent ounces a year at roughly US$950 an ounce all-in sustaining cost. Fortuna's stated reason for the deal includes funding Séguéla's construction.

business combination

Reserves and resources at all three mines fell at the end of 2020: combined proven and probable reserves at Caylloma and San Jose came to 5.3 million tonnes holding 28.8 million ounces of silver and 170,000 ounces of gold, both down 23% year on year, with inferred resources of 28.5 million ounces of silver. Management attributed it to mining depletion plus the suspension of the 2020 exploration programs under Covid restrictions, and promised a US$16 million brownfields budget and over 53,000 metres of drilling now that Lindero's capital spending was finished.

resource reserve update

Raised US$69 million by issuing 23,000,000 shares at US$3.00, including the full over-allotment, through a Scotiabank and BMO-led syndicate, to finish building Lindero and for working capital. The 2017 promise to build the mine without touching equity markets did not survive the pandemic, and the price was well below the US$5.00 conversion price on the debentures sold eight months earlier.

capital raising announcement

With Caylloma cut back and San Jose suspended under Peruvian and Mexican pandemic orders, Fortuna's lenders agreed in principle to loosen the covenants on its US$150 million facility: total net debt to earnings moves from 3:1 to 4.5:1 through the first quarter of 2021 before stepping back to 4:1, and a new senior secured test of 3:1 falling to 2:1. This is relief obtained before any breach - the ratio was 1.7:1 at the end of 2019 - not a tightening.

debt default or forbearance

Agreed a bought deal of US$40 million of senior subordinated unsecured convertible debentures at 4.65%, maturing October 2024 and convertible at US$5.00 a share, with a US$6 million over-allotment option. Having said in 2017 it would build Lindero without touching equity markets, Fortuna was now raising money in a form that converts into shares if it works.

capital raising announcement

The board approved construction of the Lindero heap-leach gold mine in Salta, Argentina, the asset Fortuna picked up when it bought Goldrock Mines in July 2016, with all major permits already in hand. Initial capital of US$239 million was to come from about US$190 million of cash, existing credit lines and operating cash flow, with the company explicitly ruling out an equity raise or hedging. It is an 18,750 tonne a day open pit over 15 years, with a base-case 18% return and 3.6-year payback - modest economics that depend on the gold price.

production update