Great Western Mining Corporation PLC Regulatory News (GWMO)

GREAT WESTERN MINING CORPORATION PLC

("Great Western", "GWM" or the "Company")

MILL UPDATE

Great Western Mining Corporation PLC (AIM - GWMO, Euronext Growth - 8GW), which is exploring and developing gold, silver and copper targets in the Walker Lane belt of Nevada, USA, provides the following update on its Western Milling joint venture.

· Mill site construction substantially complete

· Environmental permits in place and confirmed

· State Mine Inspection clears path for start-up

· Proposed upscaling for commercial gold production

Great Western chairman Brian Hall commented: "The price of gold has never been higher than it is today. The Western Milling Joint Venture began as a very low-cost project to process its partners' own material and has achieved a great deal with limited funds, despite frustrating delays. Initial trial production could begin at any time but, to become an effective and significant revenue generator, we now consider that Western Milling's capacity should be expanded with external finance and independent engineering and we are in early-stage discussions to achieve this." 

Great Western is a 50% party to the Western Milling LLC joint venture ("Western Milling") which has been created to construct and develop a mill for processing gold and silver from mine waste and shallow ore deposits, based at Sodaville, just south of Mina, Mineral County, Nevada and adjacent to state highway 95. Muletown Enterprizes LLC. ("Muletown"), a Nevada-based mining contractor, holds the other 50% in Western Milling and owns the mill site and the water rights, which it provides to the joint venture for a nominal rental. The joint venture was formed primarily to process mine waste which is available on claims held by Great Western and on patented land owned by an affiliate of Muletown.

Construction of the mill site was substantially completed in late 2024 resulting in an impressive structure, on a site which will allow for expansion of processing capacity beyond the needs of the joint venture partners for their own material. It has now been prepared for trial production, involving a single gravity circuit.

On the advice of the Nevada State Inspector of Mines following a visit in January this year, the mill is now ready to start trial production subject to minor modifications and final hook-up. Muletown has been responsible for a competent construction job, although this has taken longer than originally anticipated, in part due to incorporating features which would allow for expanded operations at a later stage. However, due to ongoing contractual commitments, the small Muletown team has not had the capacity to begin non-stop operations at the mill, while 'stop-start' operations would be expensive and inefficient, yielding no meaningful returns for shareholders in the short term.

Given the prevailing record price of gold, the absence of any other commercial milling operation in the locality and a number of recent approaches from other local claim owners with available material, the joint venture partners are planning to expand the Western Milling project. This will require some third-party financing and the introduction of a specialised mine engineering company with the relevant expertise and a proven track record to upscale the mill and bring it on to full commercial production. 

The Company is in early-stage discussions with financing parties and has identified and received initial proposals from two mine engineering houses with the right qualifications to manage this phase and subsequently monitor commercial operations. 

The Board of Great Western considers that third party financing and the introduction of a dedicated, specialist team for the project will accelerate the expansion of the mill's operational capacity to generate meaningful gold revenues without further recourse to shareholders for this purpose, enabling the Company to remain focused on its highly promising copper projects and gold exploration prospects.

For further information:

Notes to Editors

The Company has a large tract of acreage in Mineral County, Nevada. The area consists of rugged, mountainous terrain, which means that large parts of it remain under-explored. Mineral potential is hosted by the regional Walker Lane Structural Belt, the largest structural and metallogenic belt in Nevada, yet one of the least explored in recent times, with gold, silver and copper currently produced in Mineral County. Great Western has seven distinct concession areas which offer the potential for exploiting (1) short term gold and silver deposits and (2) long-term, world-class copper deposits. 

Six of the Company's properties are in the west of Mineral County and the seventh and most recent acquisition, the Olympic Gold Project, is in the east of the county, some 50 miles from the main group. All the Company's claims are 100% owned. Claims at the Eastside Mine Group have been contributed to a pooling agreement with Bronco Creek Exploration, Inc. and in addition the Company participates in the Huntoon Mine Area Cooperation Agreement with landowner-neighbour Crowne Point Resources with whom it shares resources. Great Western's small exploration team is supported by locally based consultants and contractors. 

The state of Nevada is one of the world's most mining friendly jurisdictions. While tightly regulated and environmentally conscious, Nevada welcomes the mining industry. Great Western takes care to ensure that its claims are maintained in good standing and all regulations observed. 

There are numerous gold and silver prospects on the Company's acreage, including extensive historic mine workings which offer the opportunity for secondary recovery. The Company is party to a 50-50 joint venture known as Western Milling LLC which is constructing a mill to process pre-mined material for secondary recovery of gold and silver.

Furthermore, through extensive drilling over a five-year period, GWM has established a Mineral Resource on its first target area known as M2, of 4.3 million tonnes at 0.45% copper, for 19,000 tonnes of contained copper metal. This resource has been independently reported in accordance with JORC guidelines. 

GWM has also established an Inferred Resource Estimate of 31,000 tonnes grading 1.6 g/t gold and 3.0 g/t silver in tailings associated with the OMCO Mine at the Olympic Gold Project. Additionally, exploration targets have been independently reported as follows:

· 3,400 - 6,400 tonnes grading between 0.5 and 1.2 g/t Au and 1.2 and 2.1 g/t Ag in the substrate beneath the tailings volume at the Olympic Mine.

· 9,000 - 12,000 tonnes grading between 0.9 and 2.4 g/t Au and 2.0 and 5.1 g/t Ag in a coarse stockpile at Olympic Mine.

· 4,200 - 7,700 tonnes grading between 40 and 140 g/t Ag and 0.3 and 0.3 g/t Au in spoil heaps at Mineral Jackpot.