FOX COMPLEX

About the Fox Complex

Located in Timmins

The Fox Complex is located in the well-established Timmins Gold Mining Camp in Northern Ontario, Canada. Its main properties, Black Fox, Stock and Lexam, are positioned along the Provincial Highway 101. 11 kilometers east of the town of Matheson is the Black Fox Property. The Stock property is located 22 kilometers west of Matheson and 45 kilometers east of the city of Timmins and of the Lexam properties. Given the proximity to communities in a region with primary industries mining and forestry, local supplies and services are easily available and can be delivered in a timely manner at the complex.

The Fox Complex comprises almost 7,000 hectares of land packages along 18 kilometers (11 miles) of the Destor-Porcupine Fault, known as the ‘Golden Highway’, which has a total strike length of approximately 200 kilometers (124 miles) and hosts many of the richest gold mines in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

Starting from the east, the Black Fox Property is an important component of the complex, including the Black Fox and Froome mines and the Tamarack and Grey Fox deposits. The Black Fox mine had an initial production from 1997 to 2001. Re-commissioned in 2009, it operated continuously, with open pit commercial production from May 2009 to September 2015 and underground mining commenced in October 2011 and continued to 2021. The open pit and underground operations at the Black Fox mine produced a total of 950 thousand ounces of gold to the end of 2021.

During 2021, as production wound down at the Black Fox mine, it ramped up at the Froome mine, located 900 meters west of the Black Fox open pit. Froome achieved commercial production in September 2021, three months ahead of schedule, producing 24.3 thousand gold equivalent ounces. In 2022, Froome's production increased to 36.7 thousand ounces, and by 2023, it reached 44.4 thousand ounces. Production is anticipated to be between 40 to 42 thousand ounces in 2024. The Froome mine is bridging the mine life towards our plans for future expansion at the Fox Complex, with ongoing exploration success at various deposits expected to further expand production and extend mine life in the coming years.

The Stock property is also located along the Destor-Porcupine Fault, between the Lexam property and the Black Fox property. Stock hosts the Black Fox-Stock mill and is the site of the former Stock Mine, which produced 137,000 ounces of gold from an underground operation between 1989 and 2005. Exploration initiated in 2018 at Stock and continued to date has defined deposits east and west of the Stock Mine, within a three kilometers mineralized trend along the Destor-Porcupine Fault.

Further to the west, the Fox Complex includes the Lexam properties, with the Buffalo Ankerite, Davidson-Tisdale, Fuller and Paymaster deposits, where the first three are fully owned and Paymaster is a joint venture with Newmont Corporation (61% McEwen Mining - 39% Newmont). As historic producers, the most prominent of the Lexam cluster are Buffalo Ankerite and Paymaster. Buffalo Ankerite produced 1.02 million ounces of gold at an average recovered grade of 6.5 grams per tonne from 1925 to 1953, and Paymaster produced 1.2 million ounces of gold at 7.2 grams per tonne from 1915 to 1966, bringing the combined production at the Fox Complex to 3.4 million ounces of gold.

McEwen Mining owns the Fox Complex through the acquisition of Lexam VG Gold in April 2017 and of the Stock and Black Fox properties in October 2017.

In January, 2022 McEwen Mining has announced an Expansion Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) to extend mine life and increase gold production at the Fox Complex. It translates our exploration success into a business case that increases mine life and production rates and lowers costs per ounce. The PEA is an encouraging first iteration and it provides a clearer picture of where future exploration should be focused to add value. Our commitment and investment in exploration has provided the foundation for this study, and ongoing exploration success is expected to continue to further enhance the expansion potential at Fox.

The land packages of the Fox Complex continue to exhibit significant exploration potential, both at depth and along trends. This potential allows us to build a sustainable future for our Ontario operations. Since 2018, we have initiated comprehensive, property-wide exploration programs, which encompass definition and delineation drilling, testing for extensions of existing resources, following up on significant drill results, and investigating new exploration targets. These efforts have consistently delivered strong results, with new targets being identified and an expansion of gold resources across the properties.

1915 - 2023
Fox Complex Production

3,419,070

Oz Au

MINING AND PROCESSING
AT THE FOX COMPLEX

The Froome underground mine started with initial ramp development in 2020, reaching initial stope production in early 2021 and commercial production in September 2021. Situated between 275 mL and 100 mL levels, its mining methods are longitudinal and transverse long hole mining with delayed backfill in a bottom-up sequence accessed from the footwall of the deposit. Mined material is trucked from each sublevel to surface, where it is hauled as run-of-mine 28 km by road trucks to the Fox-Stock mill site, and fed via a conveyor system to the mill’s crushing circuit.

The crushed product is transferred to a 1,500 tonne fine ore surge bin and then fed into a 2,000 tonnes per day grinding circuit, which includes two stages of closed circuit ball milling. Soluble gold is recovered by adsorption upon granular activated carbon in CIC, CIL, and CIP trains, with a process efficiency of up to 97%. Gold is removed from the carbon in a high temperature strip vessel in a closed circuit with electro-winning deposition. Gold plate is further refined by induction smelting and cast into molds.

GOLD RESOURCES

MEASURED

151,000 OZ AU

INDICATED

1,746,000 OZ AU

INFERRED

503,000 OZ AU

For details see the company's 2023 10-K Report.

FOX COMPLEX PEA

The Fox Complex Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) was announced in January 2022. This expansion project is centered on the sequential underground development and mining of the Froome, Stock West, Grey Fox, and Fuller mineral resources. The PEA plans include upgrading the mill located at the Stock property to increase its throughput capacity to 2,400 tonnes per day, allowing for the simultaneous processing of material from multiple deposits.

With a base case of $1,650 per ounce of gold, the projected life of mine for the Fox PEA exceeds 12 years, with an average annual gold production of 72,000 ounces. The average cash costs and all-in sustaining costs (AISC) per ounce are estimated to be under $800 and $1,225, respectively, with an After-Tax Net Present Value (NPV) of $175 million at a 5% discount rate.

The PEA provides a solid foundation for identifying optimal areas for exploration and delineation spending. The Company has been looking for opportunities to mitigate the 25% funding requirement of the capital expenditure for the life of mine by enhancing near-term production opportunities at the Froome, Stock and Grey Fox deposits.

Further exploration drilling has identified the host lithology (green carbonate unit) and similar mineralization to the Stock West deposit nearer to the surface, between the historical Stock mine infrastructure and the Destor-Porcupine Fault Zone, prompting the evaluation of this unit and its mineralization. The successful delineation of potential economic mineralization near the surface, close to the proposed decline at Stock and adjacent to the Fox Mill, is expected to improve the near-term project economics and payback.

The exploration investment at the Stock property has resulted in the increase of gold resources at Stock West and Stock Main, with confirmation of good grading structures plunging to depth. Additionally, Stock East is emerging as a potential new near-term source of revenue (press releases dated February 28, 2024 and June 20, 2024).

Exploration activities also continue at Grey Fox, where significant long-term growth potential is anticipated (press release dated May 27, 2024).

Highlights of
FOX PEA

Life of Mine (LoM) 12.3 years;

LoM Gold Production 885,400 oz Au;

Average Annual Gold Production - LoM 71,980 oz Au;

Average Cash Costs per oz over LoM $797;

Average AISC per oz over LoM $1,224;

Gold Price Sensitivity:
Downside Case ($1,500/oz Au): After-Tax Net Present Value at 5% discount (NPV5%) $108 million;
Base Case ($1,650/oz Au): After-Tax NPV5% $175 million;
Upside Case ($1,800/oz Au): After-Tax NPV5% $240 million.

FOX COMPLEX
EXPLORATION

Located within the Abitibi greenstone belt, the Fox Complex has various gold mineralization occuring within the ankerite alteration zone: (1) free gold associated with shallow dipping quartz veins and stockworks in green carbonate and ankerite-altered ultramafic rocks; (2) gold-bearing pyrite; (3) gold associated with fine-grained pyrite and (4) free gold in steeply dipping sigmoidal quartz veins.

Although there is a history of exploration and production, Fox remains relatively under-explored. Its land packages have all the criteria characteristic of great exploration projects, including prime location within a prolific mining region, high gold endowment, presence of high-grade mineralization, multiple prospective structural trends, as well as various styles of mineralization and host rock types.

Exploration is a principal focus at the complex. A successful $21 million property-wide exploration program in 2018 has been followed up by a $25.5 million exploration program in 2019, which continued to deliver strong results, with new targets identified and an expansion of gold resources across the properties.

The main focus of Fox exploration is to extend mineralization around known deposits and to test new targets close to our mine and mill for potential contributions to near-term gold production.

The 2018 exploration program included airborne electromagnetic and magnetic surveys; geophysical data processing and interpretation work for the development of new drill targets; data processing and application of machine learning; and development of interactive 3D models. Drilling that covered 120,000 meters exploration and 39,000 meters of definition and delineation has been organized to test for extensions of existing resources, follow up on significant drill results and investigate new exploration targets.

In 2019 about 39,000 meters of underground exploration were targeted at adding new ounces for short-term mining, including in the upper part of the Black Fox mine. We also continued surface drilling, with 149,000 meters aimed at the highly prospective mine trend of over three kilometers in strike length, which includes the Stock East resource, the Stock Mine depth extension, the new Stock West deposit, as well as multiple targets on the Black Fox property, which include the Froome and Grey Fox deposits.

All areas explored so far have returned encouraging drill assay results, reinforcing our view about the strong exploration potential of the Fox Complex.

Overview |

Stock West |

Stock Mine Deep & Gap Zone |

Stock East |

The Stock property covers a 8 kilometers (5 miles) section of the prolific Destor Porcupine Fault. A significant NE-SW trending fault (the Nighthawk Fault) intersects the Destor Porcupine Fault near the Stock Mine, making the area a prime structural setting for gold mineralization.

The property is metal stream-free, site of our current Black Fox-Stock Mill and of the former Stock Mine, which produced 137,000 gold ounces at an average grade of 5.5 g/t, from an intermittent underground operation between the early 1980s and 2004 , having reached to a relatively shallow depth of 330 m (1,080 ft).

In addition to these major structures, the property also exhibits other characteristics of strongly mineralized systems in the prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt: intense alteration, multi-style and multi-phase mineralization, and significant gold mineralization hosted in various rock types, including wide intersections of 10-30 meters grading 1-2 g/t Au, and also higher-grade intersections of over 10 g/t Au.

Gold mineralization at the Stock Property consists of disseminated sulfides (mostly pyrite) and quartz-carbonate stockwork and breccia, hosted in sericite-silica-albite and fuchsite altered mafic and ultramafic volcanic rocks, and in highly siliceous and albite-rich dykes.

Our drilling program started in February 2018 and followed-up on historical intersections and geophysical targets, with focus on the Stock East target.

Stock East is part of a 3 kilometers long trend that also hosts the former Stock Mine. Encouraging drill results from Stock East prompted us to extend drilling activities into 2019 over this mineralized trend, also including the Stock West, Stock Mine Deep and Gap Zone targets. For more details see links above for Stock West, Stock East, Stock Mine Deep and Gap Zone targets.

Results from our first drill holes at Stock West suggest the potential to define a significant new zone of mineralization, with economic importance enhanced by this target being located only 1 kilometer (2/3 mile) from our Black Fox-Stock mill and 300 meters (1,000 feet) West from existing underground workings of the historic Stock Mine.

Drilling completed 1.1 kilometers (0.7 miles) along strike West of the Stock Mine intersected encouraging alteration and mineralization, such as in hole S19-90, which returned 4.2 g/t gold over 3.5 m (core length). This intersection is near two historical drill intersections, which returned 23.0 g/t gold over 1.5 m and 14.5 g/t gold over 3 m, suggesting that a potentially new mineralized shoot may occur in this area.

Hole S19-98, which was drilled to intersect mineralization beneath S19-90, has shown visible gold in multiple quartz veinlets within the silicified zones of a highly altered ultramafic volcanic and returned 5.6 g/t gold over 30 m, including 9.1 g/t gold over 13 m.

Significant intersections at Stock West were also returned in drill holes S19-101 (6.7 g/t gold over 39 m) and S19-105 (5.6 g/t gold over 29.1 m, including 15 g/t gold over 5.1 m).

Drill holes S19-98 and S19-101 to S19-107 completed at Stock West intersected the favorable host rock, a coarse-grained magnesite-fuchsite-dolomite carbonated altered ultramafic unit. Assay values from the well-mineralized intersections are consistent across the intervals, with gold present in both the veinlets and within the ultramafic itself. In addition, a pyrite-rich felsic dyke has been intersected in three holes. This dyke occurs next to the ultramafic intrusive unit and carries visible gold throughout. In hole S19-105, the felsic dyke returned assay results of 13.2 g/t gold over 5.4 m. These styles of mineralization have been intersected from 1,280 to 1,670 feet (390 to 510 meters) below surface and horizontally for 575 feet (175 meters). They differ from most other mineralization on the Stock and Black Fox properties and remain open at depth and along strike.

Similar coarse-grained ultramafic host rocks appear at part of Stock Mine Deep and the potential for a connection with Stock West over a gap of more than 2,000 feet (600 meters) will be tested. Four surface drill rigs are actively drilling at Stock West.

For 2019 drill results on Stock West see links to tables that have been included in the press release from Sep 4, 2019 and Oct 28, 2019.

Stock East, a target that was unexplored for over 20 years, lies approximately 700 m East of our Stock Mill, at the intersection of the NW-SE Nighthawk Fault and the E-W Destor Porcupine Fault.

Positive 2018 drill results include narrow higher grade intersections, and also wider and lower grade intersections that indicate the potential for open pit mining. Drill intersections highlights from this program: 2.94 g/t gold over 18.03 m (hole S18-01), 5.24 g/t gold over 11.96 m (hole S18-10) and 5.76 g/t gold over 9.69 m (hole S18-47).

2018 drilling at Stock East outlined an initial resource estimate (effective Sep 5, 2018), followed by an infill program that upgraded the initial resource. The updated resource (effective Dec 31, 2018) is comprised of 60,000 ounces of gold in the Indicated category and 90,000 ounces of gold in the Inferred category under open pit and underground classifications:

Open Pit Gold Resource (using a mill cut-off grade of 0.25 g/t)
43,000 Indicated ounces at a grade of 1.00 g/t and
54,000 Inferred ounces at a grade of 1.01 g/t

Underground Gold Resource (using a cut-off grade of 2.40 g/t)
17,000 Indicated ounces at a grade of 3.50 g/t and
36,000 Inferred ounces at a grade of 3.26 g/t.

Stock East has a strike length of approximately 400 meters, it extends vertically from surface to a depth of approximately 450 meters and is open in all directions.

Drill intersections from 2018, such as 4.7 g/t gold over 2 m, including 14 g/t gold over 0.4 m; and 31.8 g/t gold over 0.4 m have been further correlated in 2019 with encounters of higher-grade mineralization, such as in hole SEZ19-15, which returned 10.9 g/t gold over 5 m. Further high-grade drill intersections were encountered at a vertical depth of approximately 290 meters: 34.7 g/t gold over 5.9 m, including 74.1 g/t gold over 2.7 m, and 83.5 g/t gold over 5.6 m, including 417 g/t gold over 1.1 m.

The 2018 resource estimate for Stock East included an open pit mining scenario. The new high-grade intersections encountered in 2019 suggest the presence of higher-grade shoots within the lower grade resource area. Together with past results, they strengthen our conviction that the Stock East deposit hosts higher-grade zones that could potentially be mined using existing nearby underground mine workings. An infill drill program is ongoing to better asses this higher-grade mineralization.

For drill results on Stock East see links to tables included in press releases from Apr 30, 2018, Jul 25, 2018, Sep 6, 2018, Sep 4, 2019 and Sep 30, 2019.
For the updated resource estimate on Stock East please see the press release from Feb 21, 2019.

The Stock Mine Deep (the depth extension of the Stock Mine) and the Gap Zone had very little previous drilling. Holes drilled in 2018 targeted:

underneath the historical mine workings testing for the extension of the Stock Mine mineralization at depths from approximately 320 to 700 m below surface; and
along a 400 m trend east of the Stock Mine, testing continuity in sparsely drilled areas located along the main structure (Gap Zone).

Gold mineralization has been intersected in a variety of lithological settings including altered feldspar porphyry intrusions, altered mafic volcanic rocks and fuschite-altered ultramafic rocks. The zones include wide intervals of:

Lower-grade gold mineralization - grades from 0.8 to 1.3 g/t gold over true widths of 18 to 30 m, such as:
0.9 g/t gold over 24.2 m (from 464 m to 497 m in hole S18-26 at Stock Mine Deep);
0.8 g/t gold over 25.8 m (from 125 m to 160 m in hole S18-70 at Gap Zone); and
Narrow intervals of higher-grade gold mineralization - grades of 5 to 22 g/t gold over widths of 1 to 4 m, such as:
22.2 g/t gold over 1.4 m (from 333 m to 335 m in hole S18-35 at Stock Mine Deep);
7 g/t gold over 3 m (from 727 m to 731 m in hole S18-31 at Stock Mine Deep);
6 g/t gold over 1.8 m (from 141 m to 143 m in hole S18-27 at Gap Zone).

The obtained drill results support the potential for extending the mineralization down plunge from the Stock Mine, and for shallow mineralization along the 2 km long trend between the hanging wall of the Stock Mine and the Stock East Zone.

Further exploration drilling by McEwen Mining in 2018 and 2019 below the workings of the Stock Mine is testing the potential for the mineralized system to extend deeper.

In 2018, hole S18-31 intersected multiple intervals of mineralization up to a depth of 750 m (2,460 ft) below surface under the mine workings. Hole S19-95, drilled in Q2 2019, intersected mineralization 250 m (820 ft) below the positive results of hole S18-31, and 950 m below surface. Multiple zones of alteration and mineralization were observed, including visible gold. The best interval received from this hole is 18 g/t gold over 9.1 m, including 120 g/t gold over 1.3 m, including 311 g/t gold over 0.5 m. These high-grade intersections and other mineralization intersected in holes S19-95 and S18-31 have reinforced our belief that the gold-hosting system remains open with high potential at depth.

Wedge hole S19-97W was drilled to follow-up on the positive assays from S19-95. Visually positive mineralized intervals were observed over 49 m, including local occurrences of visible gold, with assays returning 4.2 g/t gold over 7.5 m, including 25.9 g/t gold over 0.8 m, at a vertical depth of 1,020 m (3,345 ft). The gold mineralization is hosted in fuchsite-altered ultramafics, and could potentially represent the depth extension of the historical “N2 Zone” of the Stock Mine, which produced 80,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 6.2 g/t Au. Significant depth potential well beyond 1,000 m (3,280 ft) is a characteristic of similar geological deposits in Canada.

For 2018 drill results at Stock Mine Deep and Gap Zone see link to table included in the company's press releases from Sep 6, 2018. For 2019 drill results at Stock Mine Deep see link to table included in the company's press releases from Sep 4, 2019 and Sep 30, 2019.

Black Fox Mine |

Froome |

Tamarack |

Pike River |

Grey Fox |

Central Zone

In 2018, a significant portion of underground drilling was dedicated to confirming and expanding known mineralized trends located close to current Black Fox Mine workings, that could be quickly brought into production.

Definition drilling to the east of 560 Central Zone has extended the east sill nearly 30 m. Drilling highlights include:

27.76 g/t gold over 6.12 m; and
12.72 g/t gold over 4.90 m.

In 2019, the drilling campaign in the Central Zone was designed to increase confidence in the dimensions and continuity of gold mineralization, associated with the complex network of veining interpreted as the down-plunge extension of the High-Quartz vein, between the 640-700 m Level. Several encouraging intercepts were reported, including:

30.64 g/t gold over 2.99 m true width, an interval made up of 8 consecutive 1-metre core length samples.

Deep Central Zone

2018 infill drilling at the 780 to 820-meter levels of the Deep Central Zone, designed to aid in future development and production planning, has returned high grade intercepts, showing the impressive nature and continuity of this zone at depth. Deep Central Zone drilling highlights include:

44.41 g/t gold over 7.52 m; and
141.19 g/t gold over 2.43 m.

One underground drill rig has been testing the down-plunge extension of the Deep Central Zone. Drilling intersected multi-phase quartz-carbonated veining, which retuned intercepts of

161.89 g/t gold over 0.8 m, including 320.73 g/t gold over 0.4 m; and
35.08 g/t gold over 1.69 m, including 55.1 g/t gold over 1.01 m.

The latter represents the deepest high-grade intercept at the mine (1,050 m Level) and supports the belief that mineralization extends deeper down plunge.

In 2019, the first phase of the exploration tunnel on the 810 m Level of the mine was completed, providing a suitable drilling platform to target the deposit at depth, below existing development at the 820 m Level. In the first quarter of 2019 several encouraging drill intercepts have been returned, including the high-grade gold results over true widths:

51.50 g/t gold over 0.95 m;
6.61 g/t gold over 3.66 m;
23.40 g/t gold over 0.99 m.

Additional step-out drilling in the Deep Central Ore Zone is planned for the second quarter of 2019.

Western Flank

2019 drilling laterally along the mine’s Western Flank area was designed to assess the economic potential of several Quartz-Carbonate stockwork vein systems occurring adjacent to the western extents of historic mining blocks within the 335-355 m Level, and to follow-up on an isolated historical high-grade hit of 3,884 g/t gold over 0.4 m core length. Significant intercepts of high-grade gold mineralization include:

34.77 g/t gold over 2.65 m true width;
396.46 g/t gold over 1.81 m true width including 1,175.00 g/t gold over 0.6 m true width;
245.55 g/t gold over 1.27 m true width including 402.00 g/t gold over 0.77 m true width.

The drill assay results from Black Fox are encouraging and highlight the significant potential of our exploration to extend the life of the mine and increase its profitability. Our geologists are building an improved geologic model of the Black Fox deposit to allow us to grow our resources through near-mine exploration and enable more effective mine planning.

Black Fox Mine Mineral Resource and Reserve (Dec 31, 2018)

Resource Classification	Cut-off Grade (g/t)	Quantity (‘000 t)	Gold Grade (g/t)	Contained Gold (oz)
Black Fox Underground Indicated	3.00	1,901	7.72	472,000

Reserve Classification	Cut-off Grade (g/t)	Quantity (‘000 t)	Gold Grade (g/t)	Contained Gold (oz)
Black Fox Underground Probable	4.09	437	6.33	89,000

For 2018 Black Fox mine drill results see links to tables from press releases from Apr 30, Jul 25 and Sep 6, 2018.
For 2019 Black Fox mine drill results see press release from May 23, 2019
For Black Fox mine mineral resource and reserve estimate details see press release from Feb 21, 2019.

The Froome deposit was discovered in 2014 and is located 2,800 ft (850 m) to the West of the Black Fox open pit. As of August 31, 2018, using a cut-off grade of 3.2 g/t, Froome has an underground resource estimate of

181,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 5.09 g/t Indicated; and
2,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 4.62 g/t Inferred.

Drilling down-dip of the Froome Deposit encountered 4.04 g/t gold over 7 m, suggesting that the mineralization continues at depth. Future drilling will follow up on this result.

The drill program has also identified a mineralized structure in the footwall, approximately 150 m North of the Main Froome Deposit. Drill intersections include:

19.42 g/t gold over 2.5 m, including 52.7 g/t gold over 0.83 m (Footwall NW);
7.97 g/t gold over 5.99 m (Footwall N); and
7.91 g/t gold over 3.12 m, including 13.9 g/t gold over 1.56 m (Footwall SE).

Surface drilling at Froome during the third quarter of 2018 has been focused on two targets:

Evaluating the down-plunge extension of the Froome Deposit, and
Assessing the potential of the mineralized footwall, which returned 53.93 g/t gold over 8.29 m including 322.86 g/t gold over 1.34 m. The current interpretation suggests that this new occurrence extends the complex, braided ‘belt’ of elevated gold mineralization (running parallel to Froome) by approximately 350 m of strike length to the East.

The addition of these new drill intersections within the Froome Footwall could provide an economic enhancement to the proposed underground development, planned to commence later in September. Definition drilling to further evaluate the footwall target will continue.

For significant 2018 Froome drill results see links to tables included in the press release from July 25 and September 6.

The Tamarack zone is located southeast of the Black Fox open pit and contains significant gold and zinc-lead-silver massive sulfide mineralization. The zone starts near surface and appears to extend for 2,500 ft (760 m) vertically, with a coherent dip at the contact between volcanic and sedimentary rock units. As the Tamarack zone is open along strike and at depth, recent exploration focused on determining the distribution of gold and base metal zones and true size potential.

Drilling at Tamarack was designed to evaluate the potential for gold and zinc-lead-silver mineralization. Several significant intersections have confirmed and delineated an ‘upper lens’ of base metal and gold mineralization measuring approximately 100 to 200 m along strike and 450 m down dip from near surface. The upper lens has an average true width of 4.5 m. The ‘lower lens’ was drilled from a depth of 600 m, over a 100 m strike and 250 m down dip, and is open at depth. The width of the lower lens is highly variable. Logging has shown that the style of zinc-lead-gold-silver mineralization at Tamarack varies from massive to stringer to disseminated.

Tamarack drilling highlights include:

12.45% Zn, 7.78% Pb, 149.36 g/t Ag over 2.72 m in hole 17BF-621;
25.24% Zn, 4.53 % Pb, 69.58 g/t Ag over 1.91 m in hole 18BF-627;
9.92% Zn, 4.83% Pb, 58.96 g/t Ag over 5.95 m in hole 17BF-625;
21.30 g/t Ag, 23.37 g/t Au over 6.47 m in hole 18BF-646;
11.13% Zn, 7.28% Pb, 127.71 g/t Ag, 0.81 g/t Au over 4.21 m in hole 520-EX582-47.

The updated resource estimate released in 2018 for Tamarack is the result of 46 new surface and underground exploration, delineation and definition drill holes completed between October 2017 and April 2018, and of already existing base metal assays not considered in previous estimates. For the first time base metals have been incorporated into the resource estimate for the project. The cut-off grade of 3 g/t gold equivalent was used to reflect an underground mining scenario. Mining operations at the adjacent Black Fox Mine are currently 100% underground operations. The drilling completed in 2018 has increased confidence in the estimate, such that previously reported Inferred resource has been upgraded to the Indicated category.

Tamarack Base Metal & Gold Resource Estimate (March 31, 2018)

Indicated Resources
METAL	TONNES	GRADE	METAL CONTAINED
Gold	778,000	1.83 g/t Au	46,000 oz Au
Silver	778,000	26 g/t Ag	663,000 oz Ag
Lead	778,000	1.08% Pb	8,000 t Pb
Zinc	778,000	3.29% Zn	26,000 t Zn
TOTAL	778,000	5.08 g/t Au Eq	127,000 oz Au Eq

Exploration drilling will continue to test possible southerly strike extensions of the Upper Lens, where a few narrow intercepts of gold and of base metal mineralization lie outside of the current mineralized envelope. The Lower Lens remains open along strike to the south and down dip.

Metallurgical test work on drill core samples from Tamarack is currently conducted at an independent third-party laboratory, the results of which will help determine what processing route potential future production will employ. The gold-rich quartz breccia mineralization is currently expected to be processed at the Black Fox-Stock Mill.

For Tamarack drill results released in 2018 see link to table from press release published on April 30.

The Pike River target area, located between the Froome Deposit to the northwest and Gibson Deposit to the southwest, is underlain by the Gibson-Kelore Fault Zone. Its mineralized intercepts indicate the high potential for a new discovery within this underexplored segment of the Gibson-Kelore Fault Zone.

Significant 2018 Pike River drill intersections include hole 18PR-032, with 2.12 g/t gold over 2.0 m and 35.04 g/t gold over 3.3 m (core lengths).

For 2018 drill results at Pike River see link to table that was included in press releases from September 6.

The Grey Fox area is located in the southern part of the Black Fox Property. Early drilling in 2018 at this area included multiple narrow high-grade intersections, with results suggesting the potential for secondary structures hosting economic mineralization. Drill intersections from 2019 exploration at Grey Fox have increased the mineralization and identified additional targets in the area.

The Grey Fox area is located 5 kilometers (3 miles) south of the Black Fox Mine and consists of five mineralized zones over a 2.25 km² area (1.5 km by 1.5 km): 147, 147NE, Contact-Whiskey Jack, Gibson and South Zone. For all but the Gibson zone, gold mineralization is hosted mainly in mafic volcanic rock types, extending into sediments in the Contact deposit and into syenite intrusive rock types at the Gibson deposit.

The structural controls and continuity of grades were confirmed during the 2019 exploration program, which targeted northwest dipping quartz-carbonate and breccia vein structures that were partially tested by historical drilling on a predominantly east-to-west azimuth. McEwen Mining drilled these structures perpendicular to strike (from north-west to south-east), the results of which provided the basis for an improved geological interpretation and revised geological model of the Grey Fox area. The growth potential recognized through the early stages of the drilling program has now been confirmed by the 2019 drill results and the updated resource estimate.

Using a gold cut-off grade of 3.6 g/t, the deposits host a cumulative underground resource last updated in April, 2020:

Indicated: 888,000 gold ounces at an average grade of 7.1 g/t; and
Inferred: 173,000 gold ounces at an average grade of 6.6 g/t.

Open pit and underground mining scenarios are being evaluated for the development of the Grey Fox deposits and environmental studies are in progress to allow access to the area for potential bulk sampling and initial open pit mining.

147 Zone

Additional drilling at the 147 Zone was done in 2019 to reinforce our confidence in the geometry of the mineralization for modeling purposes and to provide additional drill intersections perpendicular to some of the mineralization controlling structures. Significant intersections were reached, such as in hole 19GF-1204 (12.3 g/t gold over 6 m) and 19GF-1175 (148 g/t gold over .7 m), core lengths.

147NE

2018 exploration activities at Grey Fox included a 3,000 m drill program at the 147 Zone Hanging Wall, the 147NE target, tracing a mineralized cross-structure at a different orientation, over a strike length of 140 meters and from surface to a depth of 125 meters. The results indicated that the mineralized cross-structure is continuous and traceable, and that it provides a framework for adding resource ounces at Grey Fox. Significant drill intersections at 147NE included 23.9 g/t gold over 1.7 m and 13.4 g/t gold over 2.8 m (true widths).

2019 exploration results from 147NE are now defining a mineralized structure that occurs within a zone of altered mafic volcanics with veining and brecciation and currently measures approximately 250 meters (820 feet) in strike length, 200 meters (660 feet) in depth from surface, and has an average thickness of approximately 10 meters (33 feet). It is composed of quartz-carbonate veins and breccia hosting visible gold. Highlights from the surface drill programs include (true widths):

10.3 g/t gold over 4.3 m including 14.3 g/t gold over 1.5 m, and 9 g/t gold over 1.5 m;
4.3 g/t gold over 7.3 m including 14.5 g/t gold over 0.7 m;
8.2 g/t gold over 2.3 m, and 21 g/t gold over 0.8 m;
48.8 g/t gold over 0.5 m;
95.2 g/t gold over 0.8 m and 33 g/t gold over 3.2 m;
47.4 g/t gold over 1.1 m and 3.4 g/t gold over 36.8 m.

The drilling exploration program at 147NE is continuing in 2019 with the main objective to infill and extend the mineralization discovered in 2018. New drill results from Q3 2019 are confirming the continuity of the high-grade mineralization, and indicate a mineralized shoot extending the main zone down plunge by approximately 100 meters (330 feet). Highlights from this drill program include (true widths):

78.6 g/t gold over 1.56 m including 261 g/t gold over .5 m;
9.6 g/t gold over 5.5 m;
11.9 g/t gold over 7.9 m;
9.7 g/t gold over 4.5 m.

At 147NE, we have observed that higher grades and thicker mineralization occur where northwest dipping structures intersect favorable iron-rich volcanic host rocks, for example 5.7 g/t gold over 8.2 m, including 19.3 g/t gold over 2.2 m in hole 19GF-1173. This zone is exposed at surface and has been drill tested to a depth of 350 meters, where mineralization is offset by a fault.

Our knowledge and success drilling 147NE resulted in the generation of targets with the same characteristics, which were drilled at Whiskey Jack and South Zone.

Whiskey Jack

Whiskey Jack is a new exploration target located 1 km north of the South Zone intercepts, where drilling began in mid-September of 2019. Assays for one hole have been received to date, which returned a very encouraging result of 14.1 g/t gold over 8.4 m, including 59.1 g/t gold over 1.3 m core lengths, with multiple occurrences of visible gold in quartz-carbonate veins and breccias overprinted by faulting. Additional drilling in this area is underway to confirm the orientation, thickness and continuity of the vein.

South Zone

South Zone drilling in 2019 has improved our knowledge of the structural controls on the replacement-style mineralization. Drill hole 19GF-1198 returned 10.9 g/t gold over 18.8 m, including 15.9 g/t gold over 10 m core lengths, and contained visible gold associated with 2-10% disseminated pyrite in silica-albite-hematite alteration (replacement-style mineralization). Both styles of mineralization occur preferentially in iron-rich volcanic rocks.

Gibson

Gibson is located Southwest of the Contact Zone. The Gibson resource area has present dimensions of approximately 100 meters along strike and 400 meters depth from near surface.

During the 2018 drilling program, one drill intercept returned 344.9 g/t gold over 1.3 m, including 639 g/t gold over .7 m (core lengths) 500 meters Southwest of the resource area. Under the resource area, at a vertical depth of 450 meters, drill hole 18GF-1079 intersected a broad interval of alteration and brecciation within an intrusive rock unit, returning 3.1 g/t gold over 34 m, including 10.8 g/t gold over 6 m (core lengths), suggesting the potential for extension of the mineralization to depth.

In 2019, drilling 250 meters down dip was completed to test the extension of the mineralization in hole 18GF-1079. A higher-grade interval of 16.9 g/t gold over 3 m (core length), within a 60 meters wide envelope of alteration and anomalous mineralization was encountered in hole 19GF-1106. An upper wedge hole was drilled between these two holes and cut a similar style of mineralization, with partial results from a 20 meters interval returning a high-grade assay result of 519 g/t gold over .4 m (core length). These are encouraging occurrences of potentially minable gold grades and widths, in a geologic environment where a significant volume of mineralization could be defined.

For 2018 Grey Fox drill intersections see links to tables from press releases published on Apr 30, Jul 25 and from Sep 6, 2018.
For 2019 Grey Fox drill intersections see link to press release published on May 23, Jul 10 and Nov 4 2019.


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