REG - Meridian Mining plc - Meridian Submits Installation Licence & DFS Update

Meridian MiningAnnouncement

27/05/2026 07:00

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RNS Number : 7824F  Meridian Mining plc  27 May 2026

 

 

Meridian Reports on Cabaçal Installation Licence Submission and Provides DFS
Update

 

Highlights:

§ Cabaçal advances the next step towards Financial Investment Decision
("FID") with the application for its Installation Licence;

§ Cabaçal Feasibility Study is nearing 50% completion and remains on
schedule for Q4 2026;

§ Meridian commences the purchase of Cabaçal's long-lead mill equipment;

-  Purchasing of long-lead items now locks in prices and shortens the time to
construction

-  SAG Mill technical specification completed and pricing secured;

-  Electrical transformers ordered from Brazilian supplier;

§ Pre-construction civil engineering studies fast-tracked;

-  Roads, bridges and power easements surveyed for upgrade and construction;

-  Tenders for civil engineering are now under review; and

-  Commitment letters for life-of-mine power supply signed.

 

LONDON, United Kingdom, May 27, 2026 / Newsfile / Meridian Mining plc (LSE:
MNO) (TSX: MNO) (FSE: N2E0) (Tradegate: N2E0) (OTCQX: MRRDF) ("Meridian" or
the "Company") is pleased to announce the submission of the Cabaçal Au-Cu-Ag
project's ("Cabaçal") Installation Licence (Licença de Instalação "the
IL") application, to the Mato Grosso State Environmental Secretariat ("SEMA").
An IL for Cabaçal is needed prior to commencing any mine-site construction,
and extensive preparation and consultations have been undertaken prior to its
submission. To ensure the near-term schedule for Cabaçal, the ordering of
long-lead time items including the main transformer of the plant's substation
has commenced. The SAG mill's design, technical specifications and pricing
have been agreed, with only contract terms to be finalised. The civil
surveying of planned access routes, power easements and bridges forming a key
element of the future construction preparation has entered the final stages of
completion.

Mr. Gilbert Clark, CEO, comments: "The submission for an Installation Licence
for Cabaçal is a major step in advancing towards a near-term final investment
decision. The submission represents a significant amount of engineering design
work, adding to the positive engagement with the Mato Grosso environmental
agency SEMA and our local communities during the Preliminary Licence granting
process. The commitment to finance the future construction of a major mine is
never taken lightly. However, our confidence to start placing the orders and
pay deposits for long-lead time items, and shortly to commence the civil
works, stems from Cabaçal's PFS's circa USD 1B valuation and 60% IRR, and its
Definitive Feasibility Study's ("DFS") work streams that have reported an
increased resource base and higher metallurgical recoveries. Above all, we
have a local team experienced in building and operating mines in Brazil.

The key takeaway with Cabaçal is this: when you know you have a company-maker
of a mine, invest and build it. Then grow the Company via what I see as the
most prospective exploration portfolio for VMS hosted gold and copper in South
America."

 

Installation Licence Submission

Meridian, through its Brazilian subsidiary, has submitted the documentation
for the IL application to SEMA (the Mato Grosso State Environmental
Secretariat). This is the next step in the permitting process to return
Cabaçal to production.

The licensing process in Brazil generally involves three sequential licences:

·    Preliminary Licence (Licença Prévia- LP): Issued at the planning
stage, it approves the environmental feasibility, social impact and location
of the project and establishes conditions for subsequent phases;

o  Granted in October 2025;

·    Installation Licence (Licença de Instalação- LI): Authorises the
construction and installation of the project in accordance with approved
engineering design plans & environmental control measures;

o  Complete documentation submitted on May 19th, 2026;

·    Operating Licence (Licença de Operação- LO): Authorises the
commencement of operations upon verification of compliance with the conditions
established in prior licences; and

o  Submission scheduled for H2 2028.

Figure 1: Timetable for development of Cabaçal Project

Project Development - Long-lead time items

In order to ensure that the Project execution timetable can be met
efficiently, the Company has, or is placing orders for long lead time items
including:

·    Electrical power main transformer, which has been ordered from
Brazilian company Weg Equipamentos Elétricos S.A. with an expected delivery
in Q4 2026;

·    The SAG mill which has been designed to be 28.0 foot in diameter by
18.0-foot in length is in final stages of the ordering process with the
technical specifications and the pricing agreed and contract terms now being
finalised. Once ordered, delivery is expected within 12 months FCA, plus an
additional 4 months is estimated for maritime and land logistics to the
Cabaçal site;

·    Items also in the long-lead time item order process include the gold
gravity circuit, modular electrical rooms and the re-grind circuit.

Project Development - Infrastructure & Civil Works

The Company has completed an assessment of road and concrete bridge conditions
for access routes. Based on this assessment, the Company will now move to
upgrade certain  concrete bridges, improve the existing access road to site
and increase the load carrying capacity so as to enable the delivery of heavy
equipment to site for the mine construction. Tenders for this work have been
issued and submissions are now being assessed with civil works expected to
commence during H2, 2026.

In addition, a shorter access road to the Cabaçal site from the town of
Araputanga has been mapped and is undergoing municipal designation as a public
road prior to its construction. This road's upgrade to a safer all-weather
heavy tonnage status will also greatly benefit our neighbouring farmers who
are supportive.

Meridian has signed a commitment letter with ENERGISA Mato Grosso -
Distribuidora de Energia S.A. to guarantee the supply of the power demand for
the Cabaçal project during the construction, 2.5Mtpa mining and 4.5Mtpa
expansion phases. A 24km power line route has been mapped to connect the
Cabaçal site to the existing Araputanga electric sub-station (the connection
to the national grid). This power route has been approved by ENERGISA. The
geotechnical studies for the installation of the power line towers and
environmental studies along the structures' route have been completed with
land permitting now underway. The project to build the power line is running
in parallel.

 

Cabaçal Definitive Feasibility Study Update

The Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") of the Cabaçal project is
approaching 50% completion and remains on schedule for reporting in Q4 2026.

·    Data Generation for the DFS has been completed and delivered to
Ausenco to progress the engineering. The data included metallurgy to further
de-risk the process flowsheet such as testing it on samples from the first 5
years of proposed mining, covering the payback period for the project and a
pilot plant to demonstrate processing is effective at scale, Geotechnical
studies of all the mine site infrastructure locations have been undertaken.

·    The mine plan has been updated using the increased DFS resource
estimate and within that outlined in the PL. The layout of the site structures
such as the process plant, waste dumps, DSTF, facilities and site roads is
complete and the process plant design for the ROM pad, crushing plant,
conveyor, SAG and Ball mills, gravity gold circuit have been engineered with
the flotation and thickening circuits well advanced.

·    The contracting process for the company responsible for EPCM is
currently under bidding.

·    Design of the mine construction camp and related facilities are
underway.

·    The process for obtaining vendor quotations for the main capital
equipment items as well as key operating costs such as the mining contract has
commenced.

The owner's team continues to grow with the appointment of the Procurement
Manager, Mr. Fábio Anjos.

 

Qualified Person Statement

Mr. Erich Marques, B.Sc., FAIG, Chief Geologist of Meridian Mining and a
Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed,
verified and approved the technical information in this news release.

 

About Meridian

Meridian Mining is focused on:

•       The development and exploration of the advanced-stage Cabaçal
VMS gold‐copper project;

•       Expanding the initial resource inventory at the Santa Helena
area through extension of Santa Helena Central, and new discoveries;

•       Regional-scale exploration of the Cabaçal VMS Belt to expand
the Cabaçal Hub strategy; and

•       Exploration in the Jauru & Araputanga Greenstone Belts
(the above all located in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil).

The Pre-feasibility Study technical report (the "PFS Technical Report") dated
March 31, 2025, entitled: "Cabaçal Gold-Copper Project NI 43-101 Technical
Report and Pre-feasibility Study" outlines a base case after-tax NPV5 of USD
984 million and 61.2% IRR from a pre-production capital cost of USD 248
million, leading to capital repayment in 17 months (assuming metals price
scenario of USD 2,119 per ounce of gold, USD 4.16 per pound of copper, and USD
26.89 per ounce of silver). Cabaçal has a low All-in-Sustaining-Cost of USD
742 per ounce gold equivalent & production profile of 141,000 ounces of
gold equivalent life of mine, driven by high metallurgical recovery, a low
life-of-mine strip ratio of 2.3:1, and the low operating cost environment of
Brazil.

The Cabaçal Mineral Reserve estimate in the PFS consists of Proven and
Probable reserves of 41.7 million tonnes at 0.63g/t gold, 0.44% copper and
1.64g/t silver (at a 0.25 g/t gold equivalent cut-off grade).

Readers are encouraged to read the PFS Technical Report in its entirety. The
PFS Technical Report may be found under the Company's profile on SEDAR+
at www.sedarplus.ca (http://www.sedarplus.ca/)  and on the Company's website
at www.meridianmining.co (http://www.meridianmining.co)

The PFS Technical Report was prepared for the Company by Tommaso Roberto
Raponi (P. Eng), Principal Metallurgist with Ausenco Engineering Canada ULC;
Scott Elfen (P. E.), Global Lead Geotechnical and Civil Services with Ausenco
Engineering Canada ULC; John Anthony McCartney, C.Geol., Ausenco Chile Ltda.;
Porfirio Cabaleiro Rodriguez (Engineer Geologist FAIG), of GE21 Consultoria
Mineral; Leonardo Soares (BSc Geo, MAIG), Senior Geological Consultant of GE21
Consultoria Mineral; Norman Lotter (Mineral Processing Engineer; P.Eng.), of
Flowsheets Metallurgical Consulting Inc.; and, Juliano Felix de Lima (Engineer
Geologist MAIG), of GE21 Consultoria Mineral.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Meridian Mining plc

Mr. Gilbert Clark - CEO and Director

Meridian Mining plc

8th Floor, 4 More London Riverside

London SE1 2AU

United Kingdom

Email: info@meridianmining.co (mailto:info@meridianmining.co)

Ph: +44 (0) 203 930 3145 (GMT)

Media Enquiries:

Gareth Tredway / Saskia Sizen

Tel: +44 (0) 207 920 3150

Email: meridianmining@tavistock.co.uk (mailto:meridianmining@tavistock.co.uk)

Stay up to date by subscribing for news alerts here:
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Follow Meridian on X: https://X.com/MeridianMining
(https://X.com/MeridianMining)

Further information can be found at: www.meridianmining.co
(http://www.meridianmining.co)

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information or
forward-looking statements for the purposes of applicable securities laws.
These statements address future events and conditions and so involve inherent
risks and uncertainties, as disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" in
Meridian's most recent Annual Information Form filed on www.sedarplus.ca
(http://www.sedarplus.ca) . While these factors and assumptions are considered
reasonable by Meridian, in light of management's experience and perception of
current conditions and expected developments, Meridian can give no assurance
that such expectations will prove to be correct. Any forward-looking statement
speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required
by applicable securities laws, Meridian disclaims any intent or obligation to
update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information,
future events, or results or otherwise.

 

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