REG - Central Asia Metals - Sasa Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve Statement

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RNS Number : 0205V  Central Asia Metals PLC  03 March 2026

3 March 2026

Central Asia Metals PLC

(the 'Group', the 'Company' or 'CAML')

Sasa Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve Statement

Central Asia Metals PLC (AIM: CAML) provides the year-end statements of
Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve for its 100%-owned Sasa zinc-lead mine in
North Macedonia.

Key points

-    Mineral Resource at 31 December 2025 estimated at 20.5 million tonnes
at an average grade of 2.2% zinc and 3.9% lead

-     Ore Reserve at 31 December 2025 estimated at 6.9 million tonnes at
an average grade of 2.5% zinc and 3.5% lead

-    Sasa mine life, currently based solely on Svinja Reka reserve and
resource, estimated to 2034

-    Revised mine life, along with other assumptions(1), expected to result
in a non-cash impairment charge to the carrying value of Sasa, anticipated to
be no greater than $120 million, to be reflected in CAML's consolidated
financial statements for the year to 31 December 2025

-    No change to CAML's dividend policy

-    Work continues to improve Sasa's operational efficiency and to
optimise mine planning

-    Exploration at Sasa is ongoing, targeting potential extensions to the
known mineralisation with the aim of increasing the Mineral Resource and
extending the mine life

Gavin Ferrar, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"Over the course of 2025 and continuing into this year, we have been working
hard to improve the operating and financial performance of our Sasa operation.
As part of this work, we have comprehensively updated the life-of-mine (LoM)
plan, which has resulted in a five-year reduction in the LoM as currently
envisaged.

"The shorter mine life, along with adjustments to other assumptions, in
particular updated operating costs, is expected to result in a downwards
revision to the carrying value of Sasa in the Group's consolidated financial
statements for the year to 31 December 2025, leading to a non-cash impairment
charge anticipated to be no greater than $120 million.

"Although the expected impairment charge will negatively impact CAML's
reported 2025 earnings, I would stress that this is a non-cash charge and does
not in any way affect the Group's cash generation nor its intention to
continue to distribute dividends to shareholders. As previously reported, CAML
ended 2025 with cash of just over $80 million and only a minor overdraft
drawn.

"Meanwhile, the work at Sasa continues, and these efforts are expected to
deliver a material improvement in the operation's performance in the years
ahead."

 

 1. Other assumptions include commodity prices, exchange rates, operating costs
and discount rates

Background

As mining has progressed deeper at Sasa, the geology has presented increasing
challenges. In particular, the orebody has become narrower, and the transition
to the new mining methods of cut-and-fill and long-hole stoping (from the bulk
mining method of sub-level caving) has been designed to provide flexibility
and to control dilution.

In addition, the orebody has become more variable in both geometry and grade,
which has impacted head grades and thus metal production, and which in turn
has adversely affected profitability. In response, in 2025 CAML undertook a
comprehensive review of Sasa critically examining all aspects of the business.

The changes in geology with depth and the business review have prompted a
re-evaluation of Sasa's LoM plan, which now envisages mining up to
approximately 830,000 tonnes annually over the next eight years, followed by a
reduction in the final year (2034). This is reflected in the revised Ore
Reserve estimate at 31 December 2025, which stands at 6.9 million tonnes, at
an average grade of 2.5% zinc and 3.5% lead. This compares with 9.2 million
tonnes at 2.4% zinc and 3.4% lead at 31 December 2024.

The reduction in reserve tonnage was due principally to revisions to the mine
design; the application of higher net smelter return (NSR) cut-off values in
response to increased assumptions for operating costs; revised assumptions for
metals prices and concentrate treatment charges (TCs); and normal mining
depletion (amounting to approximately 0.8 million tonnes in 2025).

As detailed below, the Ore Reserve has been derived from the Indicated Mineral
Resource. This was largely unchanged, at 11.4 million tonnes at an average
grade of 2.8% zinc and 4.2% lead, compared to 11.5 million tonnes at 2.8% zinc
and 4.2% lead at 31 December 2024. Reductions from mining depletion, higher
NSR cut-off values and revised assumptions for TCs, were largely offset by
increased assumptions for metals prices and resource additions from drilling.

The updated Inferred Mineral Resource of 9.1 million tonnes at an average
grade of 1.5% zinc and 3.6% lead compares with 9.6 million tonnes at 1.5% zinc
and 3.7% lead at 31 December 2024. The reduction in tonnage was due
principally to the higher NSR cut-off values.

Improvement programme

The business review at Sasa, conducted with the help of external consultants,
examined all relevant areas. These included mine planning and grade control,
ore handling and processing plant throughput, productivity and staffing
levels, and other cost-control measures.

Specific initiatives in mining have been aimed at both the long term, by
improving understanding of the orebody at depth, and at the short term through
enhanced mine planning. Additional exploration drilling is a priority for
2026, and other actions planned or already under way include increasing the
density of drilling used in mine planning and grade sampling; boosting the
capacity of on-site assaying; and additional training of personnel involved in
mine planning.

The drive for improvements in productivity has already resulted in a reduction
in staffing levels of approximately 10%, and other initiatives include
improvements in development drilling and changes in maintenance planning. This
has resulted in an increase in productivity per employee-shift. Cost control
is a key focus, and measures taken include optimisation of inventory
management and the re-tendering of large procurement contracts.

A project to test the viability of ore sorting is also under way, which may
unlock more value in the lower-grade portions of the Mineral Resource, in
particular with respect to Golema Reka.

Mineral Resource Statement for Svinja Reka and Golema Reka

Sasa's technical services team has updated the Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE)
for the Svinja Reka and Golema Reka deposits. This is given below, and has
been reported in accordance with the terms and definitions of the JORC Code.
In order to limit this to mineralisation that has reasonable prospects for
eventual economic extraction, NSR cut-off values for each mining method were
applied as in the notes below.

                                        Grades                          Contained metal
 Classification  Deposit          Mt    Zn (%)  Pb (%)  Ag (g/t)  Zn (kt)       Pb (kt)  Ag (koz)
 Indicated       Svinja Reka      9.6   3.0     4.2     32.8      290           404      10,100

                 Golema Reka      1.8   1.3     4.1     13.8      24            75       810
                 Total Indicated  11.4  2.8     4.2     29.8      314           479      10,910
 Inferred        Svinja Reka      2.3   2.4     2.9     35.5      56            68       2,662
                 Golema Reka      6.8   1.2     3.9     13.2      82            263      2,880
                 Total Inferred   9.1   1.5     3.6     18.9      138           331      5,541
 Total Mineral Resource           20.5  2.2     3.9     24.9      452           810      16,451

Notes

The Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve are reported in accordance with the
guidelines of the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Joint Ore Reserves
Committee Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore
Reserves (JORC Code).

The Mineral Resource has an effective date of 31 December 2025.

The Competent Person for the declaration of the Mineral Resource is Graham
Greenway, BSc Honours (Geology), PGeo. Mr Greenway, CAML's Group Geologist, is
a Practising Registrant of the Professional Geoscientists of Ontario and has
over 37 years' experience in the exploration, definition and mining of
precious and base metal mineral resources, and has sufficient experience
relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under
consideration, and to the type of activity which he is undertaking, to qualify
as a Competent Person as defined by the JORC Code (2012) and as required by
the June 2009 Edition of the AIM Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies.
He has reviewed, and consents to, the inclusion of these matters based on the
information in the form and context in which it appears, and confirms that
this information is accurate and not false or misleading.

The Mineral Resource is reported inclusive of the Ore Reserve.

The Mineral Resource is based on an NSR cut-off of $53 per tonne for sub-level
caving, $65 per tonne for cut-and-fill stoping and $60 per tonne for long-hole
stoping. The NSR block values are based on metal price assumptions of $3,041
per tonne for zinc, $2,506 per tonne for lead and $31 per ounce for silver
(these prices allow the inclusion of mineralisation that has 'reasonable
prospects for eventual economic exploitation' but which is not economic
assuming the prices used for reporting the Ore Reserve).

The Mineral Resource is reported as undiluted. No mining recovery has been
applied in the Statement.

Tonnages are reported in metric units, grades in percent (%) or grammes per
tonne (g/t) and the contained metal in metric units or ounces. Tonnages,
grades and contained metal totals are rounded appropriately.

Rounding may result in apparent summation differences between tonnes, grade
and contained metal content.

Sasa Ore Reserve Statement

The following Ore Reserve Statement, which has also been reported in
accordance with the terms and definitions of the JORC Code, has been prepared
by Sasa's technical services team based on a LoM plan that includes the
transition from the sub-level caving mining method to cut-and-fill and
long-hole stoping with paste backfill. The Ore Reserve Statement is a subset
of the updated Indicated Resource, constrained within a practical and economic
mine design. NSR cut-off values and design modifying factors for each mining
method were applied as in the notes below.

                                   Grades                          Contained metal
 Classification  Deposit      Mt   Zn (%)  Pb (%)  Ag (g/t)  Zn (kt)       Pb (kt)  Ag (koz)
 Probable        Svinja Reka  6.9  2.5     3.5     26.1      170           244      5,782
 Total Ore Reserve            6.9  2.5     3.5     26.1      170           244      5,782

Notes

The Ore Reserve has an effective date of 31 December 2025.

The Competent Person who takes responsibility for the Ore Reserve is Scott
Yelland, CEng, FIMMM, MSc, who is an employee of, and Senior Technical Adviser
to, CAML. He is a mining engineer with over 43 years' experience in the mining
and metals industry, including operational experience in underground zinc and
lead mines, and as such qualifies as a Competent Person as defined in the JORC
Code (2012).

The Ore Reserve is reported using a NSR cut-off of $53 per tonne for sub-level
caving, $65 per tonne for cut-and-fill stoping and $60 per tonne for long-hole
stoping. The NSR block values are based on metal price assumptions of $2,644
per tonne for zinc, $2,179 per tonne for lead and $27 per ounce for silver.

The Ore Reserve has been estimated utilising 3D-modelling software (Deswik)
and includes the application of a minimum mining width and practical mining
shapes.

Rounding may result in apparent summation differences between tonnes, grade
and contained metal content.

Market abuse regulations

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
Regulation 596/2014.

All dollar amounts in this announcement are US dollars unless otherwise
stated.

For further information contact:

 Central Asia Metals                             Tel: +44 (0) 20 7898 9001
 Gavin Ferrar
 CEO
 Louise Wrathall
 CFO
 Richard Morgan                                  richard.morgan@centralasiametals.com
 Investor Relations Manager
 Peel Hunt (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)  Tel: +44 (0) 20 7418 8900
 Ross Allister
 David McKeown
 Emily Bhasin
 BMO Capital Markets (Joint Broker)              Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1010
 Thomas Rider
 Pascal Lussier Duquette
 BlytheRay (PR Advisers)                         Tel: +44 (0) 20 7138 3204
 Megan Ray                                       CentralAsiaMetals@BlytheRay.com
 Rachael Brooks

Rachael Brooks

 

Note to editors:

Central Asia Metals, an AIM-quoted UK company based in London, owns 100% of
the Kounrad SX-EW copper operation in central Kazakhstan and 100% of the Sasa
zinc-lead mine in North Macedonia. The Company also owns an 80% interest in
CAML Exploration, a subsidiary formed to progress early-stage exploration
opportunities in Kazakhstan, and a 32.6% interest in Aberdeen Minerals Ltd, a
privately-owned UK company focused on the exploration and development of base
metals opportunities in northeast Scotland.

For further information, please visit www.centralasiametals.com and follow
CAML on X at @CamlMetals and on LinkedIn at Central Asia Metals Plc

 

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