DATE AND SIGNATURE PAGE

This report entitled NI 43-101 Feasibility Study Technical Report for the Hammerdown Project, effective as of August 15, 2022 was prepared and signed by the following authors:

Original document signed and sealed by:

NOTICE

JDS Energy & Mining, Inc. prepared this National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report, in accordance with Form 43-101F1, for Maritime Resources Corp. The quality of information, conclusions and estimates contained herein is based on: (i) information available at the time of preparation; (ii) data supplied by outside sources, and (iii) the assumptions, conditions, and qualifications set forth in this report.

Maritime Resources Corp. filed this Technical Report with the Canadian Securities Regulatory Authorities pursuant to provincial securities legislation. Except for the purposes legislated under provincial securities law, any other use of this report by any third party is at that party's sole risk.

Table of Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.1 Introduction

JDS Energy & Mining Inc. (JDS) was commissioned by Maritime Resources Corp. (Maritime) to carry out a Feasibility Study (FS) of the Hammerdown Gold Project (Hammerdown or the Project), a gold resource development project 100% owned by Maritime located within Maritime's 391 km2 land package in the Baie Verte mining district in north-central Newfoundland and Labrador.  The Project is located about 5 km southwest of the Town of King's Point and 13 km by road due west of the Town of Springdale.

JDS teamed with Halyard Inc. (Halyard), a Toronto-based multidisciplinary engineering company, that provided mineral processing, mineral handling and Nugget Pond infrastructure details for the project. Canenco Consulting Corp. (Canenco) provided metallurgical expertise for sampling, testing, analysis and recommendations for the mineral processing design and recoveries. SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd. was responsible for geochemistry, waste management and mine closure guidance. GEMTEC was responsible for environmental management and water planning while SLR produced the mineral resource estimate and block model that is the basis for the mine plan and mineral reserve estimate.

1.2 Project Description

The project envisions open pit mining of the Hammerdown deposit, which is made up of a system of narrow, near-vertically dipping veins, and the wider, more continuous, lower-grade Wisteria Zone.

The FS envisions open pit mining of the Hammerdown deposit, which is made up of a system of narrow, near-vertically dipping veins, and the wider, more continuous, lower-grade Wisteria Zone. Unlike the 2020 PEA Technical Report, the FS did not consider any contribution from the Orion deposit as the Orion project is at the exploration stage and requires additional exploration, technical and environmental studies before a feasibility level assessment supporting a stand-alone project can be prepared. In contrast, the Hammerdown project is at an advanced stage of development with feasibility level detail and a release from Environment Assessment by the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2021. As well, the Orion project shares no common infrastructure with the Hammerdown project and would require its own dedicated infrastructure for any future development. The infrastructure needed on the Orion project would be vastly different from that of the Hammerdown project given the different project mining concepts applicable to each project - that being an open pit concept for the Hammerdown project, versus a likely underground concept for the Orion project. As such, Maritime is treating the Hammerdown and Orion projects as two separate projects. Open pit mining is planned to produce 1,200 tonnes per day (t/d) of run-of-mine (ROM) ore using conventional equipment of two sizes for ore and waste. The overall strip ratio for the planned open pit is approximately 20:1 but is 16:1 and 12:1 in years -1 and 1 respectively. Narrow vein zones are projected to be mined under geology control using tightly-spaced definition drilling and geologist oversight during loading operations. A stockpile of lower-grade material is planned to be maintained through mine life and processed at the end. ROM ore tonnes and grades are estimated to be approximately 1.9 Mt at a head grade of 4.46 g/t Au over the five-year mine life.

ROM ore is planned to be crushed and fed to two ore sorters that will pull an estimated 40% of the total feed out as low-grade waste. The upgraded 700 t/d of ore is planned to be trucked 140 km to the Nugget Pond mill mainly on public highways where it is planned to be fed through a new grinding circuit to a CIL gold leach circuit attached to Rambler's Nugget Pond Mill but owned by Maritime. Gold doré will be produced at Nugget Pond and the Hammerdown tailings co-mingled with Rambler's tailings in Rambler's existing, permitted tailings facility.

Payable gold production is planned to be 247,000 oz in total and 50,000 oz annually.

The Hammerdown property is a brownfield site that was previously mined in the 2000s by Richmont Mines using underground methods. The site has had a full geochemical investigation conducted and is not expected to have acid rock drainage or metal leaching (ARD/ML) issues.

1.3 Property Description - Location and Access 

The Hammerdown deposit occurs within Hammerdown property located approximately 5 km southwest of King's Point and 10 km west of Springdale, NL. The Hammerdown deposit is centered at approximately:

• 49°33'10" N latitude and 56°14'25" W longitude; or

• 554,900 mE and 5,489,200 mN (NAD 83, Zone 21U). 

The Hammerdown deposit is located within Maritime's 390 km2 land package.

The property is comprised of moderate topography at an elevation of about 200 metres above sea level (masl). The Hammerdown deposit, planned sorting plant and infrastructure are located on a broad ridge that splits two drainages, The north side of the ridge drops off to into a NE-SW trending valley while the south side of the ridge is relatively flat.

Birch, black spruce and fir dominate the property flora, although most of the planned site has been logged. Peat bogs occur on the western side of the Hammerdown site.

1.4 Ownership

Maritime Resources Green Bay property encompasses 98 square kilometers (22,216 acres) held under 34 individual mineral licenses. The project area is bounded to the west by Maritime licenses and all of the Hammerdown Project mineral licenses are owned 100% by Maritime either by direct map staking or earned through option agreements.

1.5 History, Exploration and Drilling

A total of 808 diamond drillholes totaling approximately 85,000 m have been completed on the Project. Most of the drilling was completed by Richmont Mines Inc. (Richmont) while the Hammerdown deposit was in operation.

The Hammerdown deposit was mined by Richmont using underground and open pit methods from 2001 to 2004. Approximately 290,000 t of ore were mined at a grade of 15.74 g/t Au. Richmont utilized the Nugget Pond mill to treat the ore, achieving an average of 97% gold recovery over the mine life. Lack of exploration success at the time lead to the mine shutting down. Gold prices averaged about US$350 /oz from 2002-2004.

1.6 Geology and Mineralization

The Project is located in the northeastern extremity of the Appalachian Orogen of eastern North America, where it is predominantly underlain by Paleozoic volcanic rocks of the Newfoundland Appalachians within the Notre Dame Subzone (Williams et al., 1988) of the Dunnage tectono- stratigraphic sub-division (Williams, 1979).

The rocks underlying the area are represented by volcano-sedimentary assemblages of oceanic supra- subduction zone (ophiolitic) and mature-arc derivations (Szybinski and Jenner, 1989; Swinden, 1991; Kean et al., 1995) accreted to the ancient North American (Laurentian) continental margin during the Taconian Orogeny (Ordovician to Silurian) and further deformed during the Silurian-Devonian, post accretion, Acadian Orogeny (Swinden, 1991).

Other geological elements cover portions of the property including Silurian sub-aerial to fluviatile sediments (conglomerates) of the Springdale Group to the southeast (Kean, 1980; Coyle and Strong, 1987; Kean et al., 1995), Devonian intrusive rocks of the King's Point Complex, Siluro-Devonian intrusive rocks of Burlington Granodiorite to the northwest (Hibbard, 1983), and Devonian granitic intrusive rocks of the Topsails Granite to the southwest (Kean, 1980). A suite of mafic volcanics (informally referred to as the Hammerdown Basalt) in the northeastern part of the area were removed from the Lushs Bight Group and reassigned to the Catchers Pond Group and the Lushs Bight Group (Kean, 1984; Jenner and Szybinski, 1987, O'Brien and Dunning, 2014).

The Property is host to numerous underexplored gold prospects and showings along with VMS style base metal mineralization. The Property is also host to four gold deposits two of which, the Hammerdown and Rumbullion have seen historical mining development.

The most important and well-defined gold deposits include the Hammerdown, Rumbullion, Muddy Shag and Orion deposits, which all occur within the Hammerdown Deformation Zone (HDZ). The HDZ is described has a 100-250 wide structural corridor of strong ductile to brittle shearing hosted in the uppermost units of the Catchers Pond Group. The historic Lochinvar VMS base metal deposit also occurs in the HDZ along with the Golden Anchor gold veins and Beetle Pond VMS alteration zone.

1.7 Metallurgical Testing and Mineral Processing

A number of test work programs have been undertaken on the Hammerdown project prior to the FS as summarized in the previous reports. The most recent metallurgical test program described in Section 13, is the basis for the process selected for the Hammerdown mineralization.  The program included comminution, sorting, gravity separation, flotation, cyanidation, detoxification, and solid/liquid separation studies. Historical and FS test work results indicate that the mineralization responded well to leaching for precious metal extraction.

Grindability test work on the Hammerdown samples indicated that the hardest 75th Percentile Bond Work Index (BWi) of the sorted plant feed was 16.9 kWh/t and the SAG Mill Comminution test (SMC) A*b was 70.6, which places the mineralization in the medium-hard classification for comminution and it is amenable to SAG milling.

The gold leach extractions achieved to date for the Hammerdown composites using the optimized conditions range from 94.6& to 97.5% and average 96.0%. Assuming solution losses of approximately 0.5% the overall Hammerdown gold recovery is predicted to be in the range of 95.5%.

1.8 Mineral Resource Estimate

Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (CIM (2014) definitions) were used for Mineral Resource classification. See Table 1-1 for the Mineral Resource Estimate.

Table 1-1:  Summary of Hammerdown Mineral Resources as of June 30, 2022

Notes:

1. Mineral Resource Estimate completed by Pierre Landry, P.Geo., of SLR Consulting (Canada) Ltd. (SLR), an independent qualified person (QP), as defined by NI 43-101.

2. Effective date: June 30, 2022. All Mineral Resources have been estimated in accordance with Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) definitions, as required under NI 43-101.

3. Open Pit Mineral Resources are inclusive of Mineral Reserves

4. Open Pit Mineral Resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 0.50 g/t Au.

5. Open Pit Mineral Resources are reported at a block cut-off from whole blocks measuring 2.5 m x 1.0 m x 2.5 m.

6. Mineral Resources are estimated using a long-term gold price of US$1,800 per ounce, and a US$/C$ exchange rate of 0.75.

7. Bulk density is 2.84 t/m³ for rock and 1.90 t/m³ for mined out areas.

8. Underground Mineral Resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 2.00 g/t Au.

9. Underground Resources are reported at a block cut-off from whole blocks measuring 2.5 m x 1.0 m x 2.5 m and have been subject to additional reporting shapes to remove isolated blocks.

10. Numbers may not add due to rounding.

11. Mineral Resources reported demonstrate reasonable prospect of eventual economic extraction, as required under NI 43-101.

12. Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.

13. The Mineral Resources would not be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, marketing, and other relevant issues based on information currently available.

Source: SLR (2022)

1.9 Mineral Reserve Estimate

The Mineral Reserve estimation has been constrained to the Hammerdown deposit for this FS. Both Open Pit and Underground mining methods were evaluated but, in the end, the project was designed as an Open Pit only based on the best expected economic outcome. The Mineral Resources were evaluated using open pit optimization software to identify an optimum shell which was then used as a basis for detailed design. The final design along with dilution and mine recovery estimates and a cut-off grade were then used to quantify the final Mineral Reserves. 

The mineral reserves for the Hammerdown deposit are reported below within the final pit design and based on cut-off grades of 0.73 g/t for Vein material and 1.06 g/t for the Wisteria zone. The effective date of the Mineral Reserve stated in this report is August 15, 2022.

The QPs have not identified any known legal, political, environmental, or other risks that would materially affect the potential development of the Mineral Reserves. The mine permitting is well advanced and is not seen as a significant risk.

Table 1-2:  Hammerdown Mineral Reserve Estimate 

Notes:

1. Mineral Reserve Estimate completed by Tysen Hantelmann, P.Eng. of JDS Energy & Mining Inc. (QP).

2. Mineral Reserves follow CIM definitions and are effective as of August 15, 2022.

3. Mineral Reserves are estimated at a cut-off of 0.73 g/t for Veins and 1.06 g/t for Wisteria Zone based on: Gold price of US$1650/oz; Exchange rate of 0.77 USD:CAD; combined transport, treatment, payables and royalties of US$25/oz; an overall metallurgical recovery (including ore sorting) of 90.25% for Veins and 85.5% for Wisteria; and an overall processing operating cost of C$45/t ore mined for Veins and C$62/t ore mined for Wisteria. 

4. The final FS pit design contains an additional 94 kt of Inferred resources above the economic cut-off grade at an average grade of 1.62 g/t.  Inferred Mineral Resources are considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as Mineral Reserves, and there is no certainty that any part of the Inferred Resources could be converted into Mineral Reserves.

5. Tonnages are rounded to the nearest 1,000 t, gold grades are rounded to two decimal places. Tonnage and grade measurements are in metric units; contained gold is reported as thousands of troy ounces.

1.10 Mining

While both open pit and underground mining methods were evaluated, the final design is based on conventional open pit mining (drill, blast, load, and haul) due to its relatively low cost and higher production rates.  Ore material will be delivered to a crusher/ore sorter located just South- East of the pit at a nominal rate of 1,200 t/d (426 kt/a) and provide 700 t/d (256 kt/a) to an offsite Mill for final mineral processing. Over the life-of-mine (LOM), the mine will produce 1.9 Mt of ore at an average gold grade of 4.46 g/t.  Waste materials (40 Mt) will be contained within a Waste Storage Facility (WSF) located just South of the pit.

The design parameters used to define the optimum shape and size of the pit are shown in Table 1-3.

Table 1-3: Open Pit Optimization Parameters

Note: No external dilution was validated due to a combination of using an ore sorter as well as the addition of a significant amount of internal dilution within the block model.

1.11 Recovery Methods

The Feasibility Study's approach to mineral processing includes a crushing and ore sorting stage at the Hammerdown mine site to remove dilution and concentrate the ROM ore into a high-grade feed product for the mill. This product will be hauled 140 km to the Nugget Pond mill for final mineral processing including grinding, thickening, carbon in pulp leaching, refining to doré bars and disposal of tailings.

Hammerdown

The processing facilities will be designed to produce a -12 mm minus crushed and sorted product.  The crushing and sorting plant will be designed for 1,200 t/d of ROM feed with a maximum capacity of 1,800 t/d.

ROM feed will be subjected to primary and secondary crushing stages to produce a -50 mm sorter feed product.  It is estimated that 23% of ROM feed will be rejected as a fine fraction (-12 mm) prior to sorting. The coarse (+25-50 mm) and middling (+12-25 mm) size fractions will be sent to two X-ray transmission (XRT) sorters for concentration.

The sorting program was completed on several bulk and variability samples and has demonstrated that the crushed mineralization is highly amenable to sorting with an average of 52% of the feed to the sorting circuit being separated as waste material resulting in 40% of the crushing plant feed mass being rejected with approximately 5% gold loss.

Sorted product will be tertiary crushed to -12 mm prior to stockpiling in the storage building and hauled to Nugget Pond.  Sorter rejects will be stockpiled and back hauled in mine trucks to the low-grade stockpile.

Nugget Pond Mill

The hydrometallurgical plant was designed and constructed in 1996 and subsequently run by Richmont as a nominal 500 t/d CIP plant at 97% gold recovery. The operational plan for this feasibility study is to process up to 700 t/d at 95.5% gold recovery.

A new truck unloading, storage and reclaim facility will feed a new grinding circuit consisting of ball and vertical grinding mills to achieve a P80 grind size of 50 micron.  Post grinding slurry will proceed through the existing leach / carbon in pulp (CIP) circuit to produce gold doré bars. The new circuit will run in parallel with the Rambler copper concentrator.

Residues from the hydrometallurgical plant will be combined with existing flows and stored in the Nugget Pond tailings storage facility.

1.12 Infrastructure and Facilities

At the Hammerdown mine site the main infrastructure will consist of the crushing and ore sorting plant. Other structures have been planned to site operational requirements and will include an administration complex, security gatehouse, explosive storage facility, truck scales, a warehouse, and a mine equipment maintenance shop.  Site geotechnical investigations have been performed to support the engineering effort for site infrastructure design.  Water from the open pit will be pump and directed to site drainage and pond facilities around the project site. Power will be supplied to the Hammerdown site by a new 570 m long utility line connection to the existing 25 kV grid at Route 391, operated by Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro. The entrance to the Hammerdown site is located a short distance from Route 391 via the Shoal Pond forest access road. A new 2 km bypass road is envisioned to ensure safe passage for the general public, rerouting light vehicle and other traffic away from the Hammerdown mine area. 

At the Nugget Pond mill the main facilities will be the material handling system and covered ore stockpile ahead of the grinding and CIP circuits.  An existing, operational, and fully permitted tailings storage facility is present and will be operated under a custom processing agreement with Rambler Mining and Metals Canada Limited.  Power is supplied by an existing line connection to the provincial power grid.  An existing 10 km access road connects Nugget Pond to provincial highway 414.  Upgrades to the access road have been incorporated into the Feasibility Study to address widening and culvert replacements in certain areas.

1.13 Environmental Studies, Permitting and Social Impacts

Maritime has developed a comprehensive environmental baseline that characterizes the existing biophysical environment of the proposed mine development area. A high-level summary of Project environmental baseline conditions is provided in Section 20 of this report and draws on the results of numerous desktop and field studies and assessments undertaken since 2016 including atmospheric, terrestrial, aquatic, hydrological and hydrogeological studies, as well as supporting site-wide geotechnical investigation (for areas outside of the proposed open pit and historical mine workings footprint) and acid rock drainage/metal leaching studies.

In July 2020, the Project was registered as per the requirements of the Newfoundland and Labrador Environmental Assessment Act (Maritime, 2020).  Since the proposed mine production capacity is less than the federal Impact Assessment Act trigger of 5,000 t/d, the Project was not required to complete a federal Environmental Assessment (EA) review.  Following provincial review of the EA registration document, the Project was subsequently required to prepare an Environmental Preview Report (EPR) (Maritime, 2021a).  The EPR was submitted on March 4, 2021, and included additional requested information on the following:

• Water management;

• Greenhouse gas emissions;

• Plans for enhancing positive impacts and mitigating negative impacts of the Project on the health of local residents, visitors, and business owners;

• Further consultation with occupants with nearby properties to address potential land use conflicts;

• Development of a waste management plan;

• Development of a gender equity and diversity plan; and

• Additional information on Project occupations and hiring arrangements.

Following regulatory review of the EPR, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador approved the Project and issued a release from the EA process in May 2021.

A complete set of provincial and federal approvals, authorizations and permits to approve the construction and operation of the Project have been identified and are in progress.  Future permitting in support of the start of construction will focus on the completion and submission of both the Project Development Plan, and the Rehabilitation and Closure Plan (RCP).  Provincial regulatory approval of these two plans is required prior to the start of construction. 

The RCP will be directly linked to mine development and operation over the life of the mine. Review and revisions of the RCP are needed throughout the development and operational stages of a project, allowing adjustments that reflect the operational and planning changes that can occur. Objectives of rehabilitation and closure will generally be to restore the land to as close to natural conditions as practically possible, minimize any long-term impact of the environment, creation of a landscape which is visually acceptable and compatible with surrounding terrain and land use, mitigation and control to within acceptable levels the potential sources of contamination, pollution, fire risk, and public liability, and provide a safe environment for long term public access. Activities will be undertaken progressively and at end of mine life to meet these objectives. The preliminary cost estimate for closure is estimated to be $3.5 million in 2022 Canadian Funds, excluding Harmonized Sales Tax.

To date, Maritime has discussed the proposed Project with the towns of King's Point and Springdale as well as a number of provincial and federal government departments and agencies. Maritime will maintain consultation with applicable stakeholders, including government departments throughout the planning, permitting, development, operation, and closure phases of the Project. Carrying out meaningful community consultation is not only important for Maritime to obtain social acceptability but is also necessary to fulfill all the regulatory requirements and expectations under the NL EA process. Maritime carried out its most recent public meeting on November 4, 2020, as per the EPR requirements.

1.14 Operating and Capital Cost Estimates

Capital costs have a basis of estimate at Class 3 (Front End Loading (FEL) 3) with a stated -15% / +30% accuracy (after the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International) and are stated in Q2 2022 Canadian dollars.

Capital cost contingency has been allocated on scopes of work depending on level of completion for each scope. The combined contingency for all scopes of work is equivalent to 9.8% of Direct + Indirect Costs or 20% of direct costs, excluding mining equipment and pre-stripping.  More than 82% of equipment costs, bulk materials and labour rates are estimated with budget quotes from vendors. The remaining 18% of costs are estimated from consultant databases on precedent projects, or from factoring such items as freight and construction indirect costs from supply pricing.

Mine equipment is assumed to be acquired through a combination of leasing for most production and support equipment, rentals for pioneering drills, and purchase of some support equipment.

The initial capital cost, including contingency, is estimated at $75.0 million and net LOM sustaining capital cost is estimated at $4.9 million, net of closure costs and salvage values for major equipment, for a total capital cost of $80.0 million. See Table 1-4.

Table 1-4: Summary of Capital Cost Estimate ($C)

Mine operating costs, excluding pre-stripping, are estimated at $4.49/t mined with a strip ratio of 20.3 (waste:ore) over the LOM.

Processing and tailings storage related costs are estimated at $48.06/t processed. General and administration costs are estimated at $12.04/t processed. Diesel costs are estimated at $1.53/l and power at $0.085/kWh (net charge for generated power). See Table 1-5 and Table 1-6.

Overall LOM Cash Costs are estimated at US$897 per payable ounce of gold. The LOM All-In Sustaining Costs are estimated at US$912 per payable ounce of gold.

Table 1-5: Summary of Operating Cost Estimate ($C)

Table 1-6: Main OPEX Component Assumptions

1.15 Economic Analysis

An economic model was developed to estimate annual cash flows and sensitivities of the Project. All costs, metal prices, and economic results are reported in Canadian currency ($C) unless stated otherwise.

Pre-tax estimates of Project values were prepared for comparative purposes, while after-tax estimates were developed to approximate the true investment value. It must be noted, however, that tax estimates involve many complex variables that can only be accurately calculated during operations and, as such, the after-tax results are only approximations.

This Technical Report contains forward-looking information regarding projected mine production rates, construction schedules, and forecasts of resulting cash flows as part of this study. The mill head grades are based on sampling that is reasonably expected to be representative of the realized grades from actual mining operations. Factors such as the ability to obtain permits to construct and operate a mine, to obtain major equipment or skilled labour on a timely basis, or to achieve the assumed mine production rates at the assumed grades may cause actual results to differ materially from those presented in this economic analysis.

The reader is cautioned that the gold prices and exchange rates used in this study are only estimates based on recent historical performance and there is absolutely no guarantee that they will be realized if the Project is taken into production. The price of gold is based on many complex factors and there are no reliable methods of predicting the long-term gold price.

At the base case gold price (US$1,750/oz Au and a $0.77 US$/C$ exchange rate), the Project is estimated to generate an after-tax NPV5% of $102.8M and an after-tax IRR of 48.1%. Payback on initial capital is calculated to be 1.7 years.

1.15.1 Main Assumptions

Table 1-7 outlines the LOM summary and the basis for the economic analysis.

Table 1-7: LOM Summary

*Contained in sorted tonnes.

The main assumptions used in the economic analysis of the Project are outlined in Table 1-8 and Table 1-9 below. 

Table 1-8: Economic Assumptions

Table 1-9:  Off-site Gold Costs and Payable Assumptions

Table 1-10 outlines the metal prices and exchange rates used in the economic analysis.

Table 1-10:  Gold Value Assumptions

1.15.2 Results

The economic results for the Project, based on the assumptions outlined above are presented in Table 1-11.

Table 1-11: Economic Results

The break-even gold price for the project after-tax (NPV0%) is US$ 1,115/oz.

1.15.3 Sensitivities

Sensitivity analyses were performed using metal prices, mill head grade, CAPEX, and OPEX as variables. The value of each variable was changed plus and minus 25% independently while all other variables were held constant. The results of the sensitivity analyses are shown in Table 1-12.

Table 1-12: Sensitivity Analysis Results

1.16 Conclusions

It is the conclusion of the QPs that the FS summarized in this technical report contains adequate detail and information to support a FS-level report. Standard industry practices, equipment and design methods were used in the FS.

Based on the assumptions used for this study, the project shows positive economics and should proceed to permit finalization and expansion of resources through additional drilling.

The most significant potential risks associated with the project are uncontrolled dilution with waste rock and rock from different mineralized zones, operating and capital cost escalation, permitting and environmental compliance, unforeseen schedule delays, changes in regulatory requirements, ability to raise financing, ability to find and retain qualified personnel and gold price. These risks are common to most mining projects, many of which can be mitigated with adequate engineering, planning and pro-active management.

To date, the QPs are not aware of any fatal flaws for the Project.

1.16.1 Geology and Mineral Resources

• The Hammerdown deposit most closely resembles a mesothermal volcanic hosted (greenstone belt) gold deposit.

• The Hammerdown Mineral Resource estimates were prepared in accordance with Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves dated May 10, 2014 (CIM (2014) definitions).

• The sampling, sample preparation, analyses, security, and data verification meet industry standards and are appropriate for Mineral Resource estimation.

• Open pit Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources total 2,845 thousand tonnes (kt) at an average grade of 3.61 g/t Au, containing 329,900 oz Au, and Inferred Mineral Resources total 302 kt at an average grade of 1.31 g/t Au, containing approximately 12,700 oz Au.

• Underground Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources total 55 kt at an average grade of 5.10 g/t Au, containing 9,000 oz Au, and Inferred Mineral Resources total 66 kt at an average grade of 4.00 g/t Au, containing approximately 9,000 oz Au.

• A cut-off grade of 0.50 g/t Au was used to report open pit Mineral Resources for the Hammerdown deposit, while a cut-off grade of 2.0 g/t Au was used to report underground Mineral Resources.

1.17 Recommendations

It is recommended that the Project continues to advance towards a construction decision and complete final permitting and additional exploration drilling around the Hammerdown deposit to extend the mine life and improve project economics.

• Project Permitting: File Hammerdown closure and development plans for mine construction permit. The estimated cost of permit application completion is $100,000.

• Exploration drilling near Hammerdown: Focus exploration drilling on the Orion - Hammerdown trend where potential exists to draw new mineral resources into the Hammerdown mine plan.  The first phase of drilling should include a 5,000 m program. The cost of the drilling program is estimated to be $1.0M based on a $150 /m drilling cost, all-in, and $0.25M for contingency and QA/QC modifications. 

2 INTRODUCTION

The Hammerdown Gold Project is an advanced stage gold project, located in Newfoundland, Canada. It is located approximately 5 km southwest of the town of King's Point and 13 km west of the town of Springdale, Newfoundland and Labrador. Maritime owns 100% of the Hammerdown and Wisteria deposits, the focus of this FS. In 2021, Maritime Resources commissioned JDS Energy & Mining Inc. (JDS) to lead a feasibility study (FS) on the project. Several other engineering and consulting companies contributed to the FS and Technical Report. A list of contributing companies is shown in Section 2.1.1.

2.1 Qualified Persons (QPs)

2.1.1 Scope of Work of Contributing Companies

This technical report summarizes the work of several consultants with the scope of work for each company listed below, which combined, comprises the total Project scope.

JDS Energy & Mining Inc. (JDS):

• Project management and report compilation;

• Economic modeling;

• Open pit geotechnical analysis;

• Open pit mine planning, project production schedule, CAPEX and OPEX;

• Mineral reserve estimate;

• Hammerdown site infrastructure; and

• Infrastructure and Owner's CAPEX and overall CAPEX compilation.

Halyard Engineering (Halyard):

• Process plant design (crushing/sorting plant and gold leach plant);

• Process infrastructure and power distribution design; and

• Processing CAPEX and OPEX estimation.

Canenco Consulting Corp. (Canenco):

• Metallurgical sample selection;

• Metallurgical test work planning and management;

• Process design criteria input;

• Interpretation of test work results and estimation of recoveries and concentration factors; and

• Estimation of reagent usage.

GEMTEC Consulting Engineers and Scientists Limited (GEMTEC):

• Environmental Studies and Permitting

• Site Wide geotechnical and hydrogeological investigations

• Water management design; and

• Closure cost estimation.

SLR (SLR):

• Geological investigations; and

• Mineral resource estimation.

SRK Consulting (SRK):

• Waste rock geochemical test management and analysis and interpretation of results.

2.1.2 Qualifications and Responsibilities

The results of this FS are not dependent upon any prior agreements concerning the conclusions to be reached, nor are there any undisclosed understandings concerning any future business dealings between Maritime Resources and the QPs. The QPs are being paid a fee for their work in accordance with normal professional consulting practice and are independent of Maritime as per NI 43-101 definition of independence.

The following individuals, by virtue of their education, experience and professional association, are considered QPs as defined in the NI 43-101, and are members in good standing of appropriate professional institutions / associations. The QPs are responsible for the specific report sections as follows:

Table 2-1: QP Responsibilities

2.2 Terms of Reference

This Technical Report was prepared for Maritime Resources Corp., a Canadian public company, trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol TSXV: MAE.V. The purpose of this Technical Report is to:

• Summarize the FS conducted on the Hammerdown / Wisteria deposits only within Maritime's Hammerdown Project. No other deposits were included in the FS;

• Present the updated Mineral Resource Estimates for the Hammerdown and Wisteria deposits;

• Provide updated metallurgical test results;

• Explain updated site information;

• Describe FS-level infrastructure and mineral processing designs;

• Produce a life of mine production schedule and mine designs;

• Provide FS-level operating and capital cost estimations and construction schedule;

• Produce an estimate of the FS-level economics for the open pit mining of the Hammerdown / Wisteria deposits;

• Estimate Mineral Reserves; and

• Provide Maritime with a Technical Report for public disclosure to potentially be used to raise funds for the continued to develop of the Project by conducting exploration work, technical investigations and detailed engineering and construction preparation.

This Technical Report was prepared using guidance from National Instrument 43-101 and Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves: Definitions and Guidelines, May 10, 2014.

2.3 Sources of Information

This report is based on information collected by the QPs during site visits performed as per Table 2-2, on additional information provided by Maritime throughout the course of the FS investigations. Other information was obtained from the public domain, from discussions with regulatory agencies, from vendors and from test laboratories. JDS has no reason to doubt the reliability of the information provided by Maritime or any of the other sources.

The documentation reviewed, and other sources of information, are listed at the end of this Technical Report in Section 28.

2.4 QP Site Visits

QP site visits were conducted as shown in Table 2-2.

Table 2-2:  QP Site Visits to the Hammerdown Project

Ivana Sabaj Abumohor, P.Eng., did not conduct a site visit but relied upon information gained from Michael Franceschini, P.Eng. of Halyard.

Stacy Freudigmann, P.Eng., F.Aus.IMM., did not conduct a site visit, but as the Metallurgy QP visited laboratories and relied upon process information gained from Michael Franceschini, P.Eng. of Halyard.

Pierre Landry, P.Geo., did not conduct a site visit and relied on the information from Dorota El Rassi's site visit on behalf of SLR.

2.5 List Of Previous Relevant Technical Reports

The previous Technical Report, "Hammerdown Gold Project, Newfoundland and Labrador Preliminary Economic Assessment", April 15, 2020, WSP et. al. (WSP 2020) was the most recent Technical Report.

The WSP (2020) report considered the use of both underground and open pit mining methods at a combined production rate to the ore sorters of 1,400 t/d and then transport of the sorter concentrate to the Nugget Pond mill for gold leaching. The WSP (2020) report included the mining of Hammerdown / Rumbullion and Orion deposits. The WSP (2020) report is no longer valid, however, site descriptions and basic project information were used in this report after verification and/or editing by the FS QPs.

The FS did not consider any contribution from the Orion deposit as this project is at the exploration stage and requires additional exploration work, technical and environmental studies before a feasibility level assessment supporting a stand-alone project. In contrast the Hammerdown project is at an advanced stage of development with feasibility level detail and a release from Environment Assessment by the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2021.  As such Maritime is treating Hammerdown and Orion as two separate projects. 

2.6 Units, Currency and Rounding

The units of measure used in this report are as per the International System of Units (SI) or "metric" except for Imperial units that are commonly used in industry (e.g., ounces (oz.) for the mass of precious metals).

All dollar figures quoted in this report refer to Canadian dollars (C$ or $) unless otherwise noted.

Frequently used abbreviations and acronyms can be found in Section 29. This report includes technical information that required subsequent calculations to derive subtotals, totals and weighted averages. Such calculations inherently involve a degree of rounding and consequently introduce a margin of error. Where these occur, the QPs do not consider them to be material.

This report may include technical information that requires subsequent calculations to derive sub-totals, totals and weighted averages. Such calculations inherently involve a degree of rounding and consequently introduce a margin of error. Where these occur, JDS does not consider them to be material.

3 RELIANCE ON OTHER EXPERTS

The QPs opinions contained herein are based on information provided by Maritime and others throughout the course of the study. The information, conclusions, opinions, and estimates contained herein are based on:

• Information available to the QPs at the time of preparation of this Technical Report.

• Assumptions, conditions, and qualifications as set forth in this Technical Report.

• The geotechnical analysis relied upon laboratory test data provided by Queens University and WSP as well as geotechnical core logging data provided by WSP and Maritime.

The QPs have taken reasonable measures to confirm information provided by others and take responsibility for the information.

Non-QP specialists relied upon for specific advice are:

• Gord Doerksen relied upon the work of:

• Wentworth Taylor, Chartered Accountant, for project tax advice and input into the economic model in Section 23 of this report, specifically Sections 23.4 and 0.
• Maritime personnel (Perry Blanchard, Larry Pilgrim and Jeremy Niemi) for input into Sections 4, 5 and 6 for general project descriptions, project ownership, title and mineral rights and project history.

• Stacy Freudigmann relied upon the work of:

  • Maritime personnel (Larry Pilgrim and Jeremy Niemi) for input into Section 13 for sample selection, locations and site chain of custody.

The QPs used their experience to determine if the information from previous reports was suitable for inclusion in this technical report and adjusted information that required amending.

4 PROPERTY DESCRIPTION AND LOCATION

4.1 Location

Maritime holds mineral rights to a large package of map staked mineral licenses located approximately 5 km southwest of the Town of King's Point and approximately 15 km northwest of the Town of Springdale in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador (Figure 4-1). The property is situated on North American Topographic Sheet (NTS) 12H/08 and 09 and is centered on coordinates 554475 East, 5488890 North NAD 83 Zone 21. The total package of contiguous mineral licenses encompasses 391 km2 in 62 mineral licenses containing 1564 claim units. The mineral licenses are referred to under three project areas including the Hammerdown Project (also referred to as the Green Bay Property), Whisker Valley Project and the Gull Ridge Project. Maritime's most advanced gold deposit Hammerdown is located on the Hammerdown Project area (Figure 4-2). The Hammerdown Project area encompasses 98 km2 (24,216 acres) held under 22 individual map staked mineral licenses (9,800 ha).

Figure 4-1: Maritime Resources Gold Project Location Map

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

Figure 4-2: Project Location Map Regional Scale

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

4.2 Mineral Tenure

The Hammerdown Project area encompasses 98 km2 (24,216 acres) held under 22 individual map staked mineral licenses (9,800 ha) which includes three mining leases (Figure 4-3).  The project area is bounded to the west by Maritime licenses and the project is also referred to as the Hammerdown Project. All the Hammerdown Project mineral licenses are owned 100% by Maritime either by direct map staking or earned through option agreements. 

All mineral licenses and the mining leases were in good standing as of the issue date of this technical report. Table 4-1 summarizes the mineral license details, along with the Mining Lease details. Figure 4-3 shows the location of the mineral licenses and mining leases on the Hammerdown Project area.

Figure 4-3:  Hammerdown Project Area Mining Licenses and Mining Leases

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

Table 4-1: Hammerdown Mineral Licenses

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

4.3 Royalties and Related Rights

Commander Resources Ltd. (Commander) holds a 1% Net Smelter Return (NSR) royalty on the Project, excluding the Orion deposit. Additionally, there is a $3.165 M royalty payment, commencing one year after the onset of commercial production, payable to holders who received royalty units from the Maritime Resources July 2016 financing, and funded solely from 10% of annual net cash flow from the Project, with net cash flow representing net production revenues realized from the Project after deduction of all Project operating and debt servicing costs.  At the option of the Company, the royalty payments will be paid either in cash or in gold.

4.4 Environmental Liabilities and Considerations

All discussions related to environmental permits and any liabilities are disclosed in detail in Section 20 of this technical report.  The historical Hammerdown mining footprint site has been completely rehabilitated and the closure was accepted by the NL Government, Department of Natural Resources, on January 12, 2005.  There are no known environmental impacts affecting Hammerdown at this time.

4.5 Permit Requirements

The surface rights immediately surrounding the property are held by the Crown.  The permits required to conduct exploration work on the Project are as follows and are renewed prior to expiry:

• Mineral Exploration Permit Green Bay Property E220214 issued by Department of Natural Resources, Government of Newfoundland, and Labrador, expires June 1, 2023.

• Commercial Wood Cutting Permit Green Bay Property 22-09-01527 issued by Department of Natural Resources, Government of Newfoundland, and Labrador, expires December 3, 2022.

4.6 Other Relevant Factors

There are no other relevant factors that would impact the Project.

5 ACCESSIBILITY, CLIMATE, LOCAL RESOURCES, INFRASTRUCTURE AND PHYSIOGRAPHY

Figure 5-1: King's Point

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

5.1 Accessibility

Access to the Project is via Highways 1, 390 and 391, approximately 120 km from Deer Lake, a town of about 5,000 people and a regional hub. From Highway 391 the project is accessed on a 2 km long all-weather gravel road. The Project is easily accessed all year.

The largest airport close to the project site is at Deer Lake. The Deer Lake Regional Airport (YDF). The airport has several scheduled flights every day to Toronto, Montreal, St. Johns, Halifax and others. The YDF runway is 2,440 m long and 46 m wide.

There are small port facilities at Springdale and South Brook. The nearest industrial port facility is located in Cornerbrook, about 150 km from the Project.

Figure 5-2  Road Access Map

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

5.2 Local Resources and Infrastructure

The towns closest to the Project are:

• King's Point: Population: 700 people Road distance to Project: 5 km

• Springdale Population: 2,800 people Road distance to Project: 5 km

• Deer Lake  Population: 5,000 people Road distance to Project: 120 km

King's Point, Springdale and Deer Lake are modern communities that have an abundance of skilled labour and many service providers for the mining industry including diamond drilling, analytical services, welding, electrical, forestry, mining contractors, trucking contractors and general contractors. The Provincial hydroelectric grid transmission line parallels the highway 2 km east the Project along highway 391

5.3 Climate

The Project experiences a maritime climate of warm summers and cold winters. Average highs and lows July, the warmest month are 23°C and 16°C respectively. Average highs and lows in February are -3°C and -14°C (Environment Canada).

Annual precipitation is spread relatively evenly throughout the year with slightly more rain in in late summer and the fall.

The Project climate is conducive to year-round operations.

5.4 Physiography

The property is comprised of moderate topography at an elevation of about 200 masl. The Hammerdown deposit, planned sorting plant and infrastructure are located on a broad ridge that splits two drainages, The north side of the ridge drops off to into a NE-SW trending valley while the south side of the ridge is relatively flat (Figure 5-3).

Birch, black spruce and fir dominate the property flora, although most of the planned site has been logged. Peat bogs occur on the western side of the Hammerdown site.

There are sufficient sources of power, water, mining personnel, potential waste disposal areas, ore stockpile areas, and potential ore sorting plant sites. Tailings storage would be conducted at Nugget Pond and there is sufficient capacity for the volume of Hammerdown tailings estimated in this report pending final sign-off from Rambler.

Figure 5-3: Typical Landscape in the Project Area

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

6 HISTORY

This part of Newfoundland and Labrador has been actively explored for more than a century, however, the area experienced extensive gold exploration activity that only start in the mid-1980s. This work was conducted mainly by Noranda Exploration Company Ltd. (Noranda) in conjunction with other mining companies as joint venture partners.  One such partnership with Major General Resources Ltd. (Major General) resulted in the 1988 discovery of two gold deposits, Hammerdown and Rumbullion, and several gold prospects, including Muddy Shag and Wisteria.

Noranda acquired the ground surrounding the Rendell-Jackman property by staking and by an option agreement with Shear Exploration Pty Ltd. in 1986 (Huard, 1987).  In joint venture partnerships with White Bay Resources and later Springer Resources, Noranda conducted an extensive program of soil sampling, ground geophysics, trenching, and diamond drilling (Andrews, 1988; Tuach, 1991).  This work outlined a cluster of eight gold-in-soil anomalies ranging from 10 ppb to 125 ppb gold over a 200 m distance near what would later become the Hammerdown and Rumbullion areas, collectively referred to as the Hammerdown deposit.  More robust anomalies from other areas surveyed were followed up with limited success but no other work was done near the deposit anomaly.  In 1991, Hemlo Gold Mines Inc. (Hemlo Gold) acquired Noranda's Newfoundland assets, including the Rendell-Jackman property.

Major General acquired the remaining interest in the Rendell-Jackman property from Hemlo Gold in 1993 and conducted drill programs on several of the existing prospects during 1993 and 1994.  Encouraging results prompted Major General to expand their land holdings, mainly to the southwest.  Their exploration focus shifted to base metals as significant zinc-rich massive sulphide mineralization was expanded at Lochinvar, though gold exploration still received some attention.

Higher-density check soil sampling conducted in August and September 1995 confirmed and expanded the Noranda gold-in-soil anomaly cluster on the former Shear Option, returning values up to 135 ppb gold.  Subsequent diamond drilling of this anomaly in October 1995 (BB-95-06) resulted in the discovery of the central portion of the Orion gold deposit.  In November 1995, another cluster of five gold-in-soil anomalies (up to 85 ppb gold) was outlined 250 m along strike to the southwest.  This anomaly was drill-tested in February 1996 (BB-96-32), resulting in the discovery of the western segment of the deposit (Orion West).

Since acquiring the Project, Maritime has been conducting systematic exploration to advance the Project, including additional diamond drilling, surface sampling, geophysics, metallurgical testing, and environmental baseline studies.

Table 6-1 summarizes the historical exploration programs completed at the Property.

Table 6-1:  Property History Summary

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

6.1 Production History

Richmont developed and operated the Hammerdown deposit from 2000 to 2004 as an open pit and an underground mine. Material from the mine was processed off-site at the Nugget Pond mill located approximately 140 km away. Table 6-2 summarizes the production records at the Hammerdown mine (Tully, 2004).

Table 6-2: Hammerdown Production Summary 

Source: Tully (2004)

7 GEOLOGICAL SETTING AND MINERALIZATION

7.1 Regional Geology

The Project is located in the northeastern extremity of the Appalachian Orogen of eastern North America, where it is predominantly underlain by Paleozoic volcanic rocks of the Newfoundland Appalachians (Figure 7-1) within the Notre Dame Subzone (Williams et al., 1988) of the Dunnage tectono-stratigraphic sub-division (Williams, 1979).

The rocks underlying the area are represented by volcano-sedimentary assemblages of oceanic supra-subduction zone (ophiolitic) and mature-arc derivations (Szybinski and Jenner, 1989; Swinden, 1991; Kean et al., 1995) accreted to the ancient North American (Laurentian) continental margin during the Taconian Orogeny (Ordovician to Silurian) and further deformed during the Silurian-Devonian, post accretion, Acadian Orogeny (Swinden, 1991).

Other geological elements cover portions of the property including Silurian sub-aerial to fluviatile sediments (conglomerates) of the Springdale Group to the southeast (Kean, 1980; Coyle and Strong, 1987; Kean et al., 1995), Devonian intrusive rocks of the King's Point Complex, Siluro-Devonian intrusive rocks of Burlington Granodiorite to the northwest (Hibbard, 1983), and Devonian granitic intrusive rocks of the Topsails Granite to the southwest (Kean, 1980). A suite of mafic volcanics (informally referred to as the Hammerdown Basalt) in the northeastern part of the area were removed from the Lushs Bight Group and reassigned to the Catchers Pond Group and the Lushs Bight Group (Kean, 1984; Jenner and Szybinski, 1987, O'Brien and Dunning, 2014).

Figure 7-1:  Regional Geology Setting

Source: Maritime Resources (2022) Adapted from Geological Survey NL Map 90-01, 20132022

7.2 Property Geology

The property area is principally underlain by Ordovician volcanic rocks of the Catchers Pond and the Lushs Bight Groups (Figure 7-2), however peripheral segments of the area extend over other geological elements of the region.

The Catchers Pond Greenstone belt consists of a series of lower Ordovician felsic to mafic volcanics interbedded with sequences of fine-grained arenaceous and chemical sediments. The greenstones are related to the Buchan's Greenstones located 75 km to the south, which produced base and precious metals from rich volcanogenic deposits for over 60 years.

The Catchers Pond Group consist of a north facing, conformable sequence of submarine, predominantly felsic volcanic rocks intercalated with several units of submarine mafic flows, tuffs and rare sediments. The rocks are divided into three subgroups in the property area including the basement Indian Brook Formation overlain by the Long Pond Formation overlain by the lowest member of the West Waters Pond Formation.

The Indian Brook Formation consists of mainly pillowed basalts, pillow breccias, interflow cherts and subvolcanic intrusions. Throughout most of the unit dark green, well stratified, medium to fine-grained pillowed basalts occur with massive, medium to coarse-grained flows of plagioclase-porphyritic andesite and abundant gabbroic sills and multiple diabase dykes. The pillow lavas display pipe vesicles, glassy selvages, interstitial grey-green chert, and breccia. Minor pyrite-chalcopyrite mineralization occurs in gossans present along contacts between mafic breccia and massive flows.

The Long Pond Formation consists mainly of mafic extrusive and intermediate pyroclastic strata with thin sulphidic or jasperitized interbeds of dark to light green, fine-grained plagioclase-phyric dacitic crystal tuff and light grey felsic lithic-crystal tuff typified by quartz eyes set in a lapilli-rich matrix at the base. The middle part of the formation consists of a well stratified interval of polylithic tuff having conspicuous fragments of light green dacitic ejecta together with clasts of light pink rhyolitic glass. The upper part of the formation consists of extensively carbonate-altered and highly silicified basalt flows capping glassy intermediate tuff and jasperitized felsic tuff together hosting laterally discontinuous stratabound zones of massive jasper and crosscutting zones of hematite-bearing quartz veinlets.

The lower felsic unit of the West Waters (Silver) Pond Formation, forming the most widespread unit of felsic volcanic rocks in the Catchers Pond Group, consists mainly of fine-grained felsic pyroclastic strata. At the base of the unit, thin, bedded to laminated, very fine-grained, crystal-lithic tuffs are overlain (in places) by finely laminated ash tuff and lapilli tuff intercalated with banded siliceous argillite, overlain by quartz-phyric tuff and quartz-feldspar crystal tuff commonly carbonate altered.

Late Ordovician to early Silurian-aged Harry's Brook Gabbro intrusives of the Rainy Lake Complex occur within the Catchers Pond Group rocks at the northwestern portion of the property. The intrusives occur mainly as folded intrusive sheets of medium grained, equigranular to porphyritic gabbros and diorites.

The Early Ordovician-aged Lushs Bight Group is considered to form the basement in the area and outcrops in the northeastern portions of the property. The group is composed of a sequence of sheeted diabase dykes, pillow basalts, pillow breccias, basaltic tuffs and cherty argillites interpreted to represent the oceanic crust. Generally non-magnetic extrusive rocks host numerous chalcopyrite-rich gossans and alteration zones marked by polymineralic veins. This is the host rock for the historical Rendell-Jackman volcanic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit.

The Lushs Bight Group of rocks are bounded to the west by younger Cambrian to early Ordovician-aged Western Arm Group of rocks composed of massive flows of generally non-magnetic light grey plagioclase-porphyritic basalt and highly magnetic tholeiitic basalt and tholeiitic gabbro sills (Jenner and Szybinski, 1987). Disseminated epidote alteration is common. Thin horizons of porphyroblastic chalcopyrite occurs in mafic greenschist.

The southwestern portion of the property, located south of Shoal Pond, is underlain by early to late Silurian-aged Topsails Igneous Suite rocks composed mainly of light grey hornblende-bearing microgranites, biotite-bearing granophyres, feldspar and quartz porphyries, granites, while the northwest is bounded by the multi-phased Burlington granodiorite and middle Silurian-aged (and older) King's Point Complex felsic volcanics.

To the southeast and south, the Catchers Pond Group is in contact with the Silurian-aged subaerial rhyolites to terrestrial sediments (conglomerates) of the Springdale Group (Kean, 1980; Kean et al., 1995). Contact relationships between rocks of the Springdale and Catchers Pond Groups on the east-central portion of the area are un-clear and it is speculated that while the contact is fault modified (Lobster Cove Fault), an unconformable contact may exist whereby rocks of the Catchers Pond Group may underlie conglomerates of the Springdale Group.

Contacts between the Ordovician volcanics and the peripheral elements to the north and northwest are typically faulted as defined by the Green Bay Fault running north-easterly through the area. Phases of the Topsails granite are, however, interpreted to intrude volcanic rocks of the Catchers Pond Group on the southwestern portion of the property (Kean, 1980).

The Green Bay Fault, its splays and spatially associated structures are part of a regional system of Appalachian faults which have probably been intermittently active throughout much of the Palaeozoic history of northwestern Newfoundland (O'Brien, 1996). Ductile shear zones and discrete brittle structures displaying variable orientations and senses of movement started forming during the Taconian (early mid Ordovician), Salinic (late Silurian), Acadian (early Devonian), and Variscan (late Carboniferous) Orogenies, finally ceasing during the Alleghanian (Permo-Carboniferous) orogeny.

The volcanic rocks of the Catchers Pond and Lushs Bight Groups are commonly chloritized and epidotized, believed to be related to sea-floor hydrothermal alteration occurring at greenschist facies temperatures whereas the younger Springdale Group rocks are undeformed and lack the greenschist facies metamorphism of the oceanic rocks to the north.

Structural attitudes of various units vary across the property with northeast striking stratigraphy. Rocks of the Catchers Pond Group are interpreted to be folded about a broad open northeast plunging antiformal fold north of Beetle Pond. Stratigraphic units on the western limb of the fold typically dip steeply north, whereas units on the eastern limb typically dip moderately towards the northeast. 

At least two generations of faulting are interpreted in the region including early thrusting (e.g. Shoal Pond thrust contact) and later brittle faulting displaying both apparent sinistral and dextral displacement with unknown vertical offset, most prominently displayed by the Catchers Valley and the Captain Nemo Faults.

Figure 7-2: Property Geology

Source: Adapted from Geological survey NL, O'Brien Map 2012-21

7.3 Property Mineralization

The property is host to numerous underexplored gold prospects and showings along with VMS style base metal mineralization. The property is also host to four gold deposits two of which, the Hammerdown and Rumbullion have seen historical mining development. (Figure 7-3).

The most important and well-defined gold deposits include the Hammerdown, Rumbullion, Muddy Shag and Orion deposits, which all occur within the Hammerdown Deformation Zone (HDZ). The HDZ is described has a 100 m to 250 m wide structural corridor of strong ductile to brittle shearing hosted in the uppermost units of the Catchers Pond Group. The historic Lochinvar VMS base metal deposit also occurs in the HDZ along with the Golden Anchor gold veins and Beetle Pond VMS alteration zone.

Figure 7-3:  Property Mineralization

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

7.4 Hammerdown-Rumbullion-Muddy Shag Vein System

The Hammerdown-Rumbullion-Muddy Shag-Wisteria gold systems consist of both a series of stacked gold veins as well as a zone of broadly disseminated to veinlet hosted gold and pyrite mineralization. Both styles of mineralization are hosted within an 1,800 m long shear zone informally referred to as the HDZ. A plan map and representative cross-section through the centre of the Hammerdown deposit are shown in Figure 7-4 and Figure 7-5. The vein system is now considered to be a single deposit however, historical definition drilling has identified internal faults that have served to segregate the veins into several mineralized domains.

Geologically, the Hammerdown deposit is situated close to the contact of a Lower Ordovician mafic sequence of ophiolitic origin with an overlying felsic island arc sequence. The contact area was uplifted, folded, and intensely sheared, then intruded by early Silurian quartz feldspar porphyry dykes, which were closely followed by the gold-bearing quartz-sulphide veins.

A structural interpretation by Szybinski (internal unpublished report 2003), defined the deposits as being located within a high-strain shear zone that has experienced a prolonged and intense deformational history. At least four major deformational events were determined that shaped the present geometry of this shear zone. Detailed interpretation of the deposits concluded that the Captain Nemo Fault and the Rumbullion Fault represent only smaller segments of much larger and complex fault system. This fault system is characterized by an intricate pattern of en-echelon faults and shears that step right and are oblique to the general trend of the entire system, producing a number of fault-bounded panels containing different slices of the host stratigraphy.

Szybinski described the complex pattern of faults and veins as similar to the strike-slip duplexes of Woodcock and Fisher (1986), which form in 3-D in releasing and restraining bends along faults. The overall geometry of the fault system is characteristic of a contractional duplex or fan formed in a dextral strike slip.

At depth, the entire shear zone, including most gold zones, are cut off by the extensive Captain Nemo Fault, which is a north dipping, normal fault with some strike slip movement. Geological interpretation indicates down drop of the Hammerdown area to be several hundred metres. As the Captain Nemo Fault cuts through the Hammerdown shear at an oblique angle, veins are cut off at depths varying from 150 m to 250 m. Several of the veins appear to pinch out naturally before reaching the fault. During Richmont mining operation (2000 to 2004) cataclastized mineralized material was partly mined from the fault zone.

The Rumbullion Fault, a north-easterly trending right lateral fault, defines the boundary of the Hammerdown designated veins from the Rumbullion veins to the east. To the west, the Hammerdown vein system pinches out at a strong flexure in the shear zone which rotates the shear from east-west at Hammerdown to the southwest. This southwest trending shear extends for several hundred metres and hosts the Muddy Shag gold zone.

The more robust veins in the Hammerdown zone are closely associated with the most extensive of the late quartz feldspar porphyry (QFP) dykes near the top of the hanging wall overturned mafic sequence. Hanging wall veins are hosted in the mafic rocks, and limited drilling into the footwall has identified mineralization hosted in older footwall felsic units. Younger porphyry dykes are only erratically associated with mineralized veins in both footwall and hanging wall locations.

In the Rumbullion and Muddy Shag zones veins at this stage appear to be less numerous and narrower, possibly due to the lack of more extensive QFP intrusions.

The gold-bearing veins throughout the mineralized system consist essentially of vein quartz with 5% to 20% pyrite occurring as massive stringers and dense disseminations. Base metal sulphides total about 1%, with zinc content equaling combined copper and lead values. Minor bismuth occurs as native metal as well as the sulphosalt hammarite.

Gold is intimately associated with all sulphide phases, occurring as discrete grains within sulphides, at sulphide grain boundaries and, occasionally in quartz fractures near sulphide grains. There is a direct relationship between sulphide content and gold grade in veins. The gold is always fine grained, with 80% being of grain size less than 20 µm. The largest grain size is slightly over 100 µm along the long axis; relatively little visual gold occurs in the deposit.

In addition to quartz, gangue minerals include chlorite and carbonate (calcite and ankerite) with minor rutile. Hydrothermal alteration of mafic wall rocks consists mainly of muscovite/sericite and calcite, with minor rutile, creating a light bleaching halo usually similar in thickness to the gold-bearing vein.

During the historical exploration and mining phase, at least 19 veins were designated as making up the entire Hammerdown-Rumbullion-Muddy Shag mineralized system. This vein designation was also used in a 2017 Pre-feasibility Study Technical Report on the Green Bay Property (McCracken et al., 2017) which estimated the remaining resources and reserves in the three deposits. In 2018 and 2019, Maritime completed two in-fill drilling campaigns to better define the geometry of the remaining un-mined resource. The new in-fill drilling and re-interpretation of the mineralized intersections generated 62 new wireframes representing the entire vein system. The original 19-vein wireframe geological interpretation used in 2017 resource/reserve calculation had included un-assayed intervals in the drill core which were believed at that time to be mineralized but un-sampled. Removing these interpreted un-sampled intersections expanded the original 19 wireframes into 62 smaller wireframe shapes.

In 2020 and 2021 additional tight spaced definition drilling was completed around the Hammerdown and deposit in anticipation for a 2022 Feasibility Study. With this additional drill resolution and extensive borehole sampling it was possible to generate 100 vein wireframes. The drilling also noted numerous significant gold assay intervals that could not be incorporated with the new wireframes.

7.4.1 Hammerdown Gold Veins

At Hammerdown, the more robust main veins are located along the north and south contacts of a fairly continuous, sill-like felsic porphyry body intruding the sheared mafic volcanic host. The veins dip predominantly to the north although at depth they rotate to a steep southerly dip due to drag folding has they near the Captain Nemo Fault. The veins also appear to plunge to the west but high-grade shoots within the plane of the vein plunge steeply to the east. These larger veins were the target for the 2000 to 2004 cut and fill mining phase by Richmont and have therefore been predominantly mined out, however the updated wireframes in this report have determined that some of the veins remain at the peripheral edges of the historical mining, probably due to the higher cut-off grade used at the time in defining mining blocks.

The Hammerdown hanging wall veins to the main veins mostly occur in less deformed mafic volcanics with a minor iron formation component and leucoxene bearing mafic dykes. Felsic porphyry sills are present but smaller and do not seem to influence the location of the veins like the larger QFP associated with the larger main veins. The hanging wall veins generally do not have the same depth extension as the larger vein system therefore they do not reach the Captain Nemo Fault. They do exhibit merging and/or bifurcation both along strike and vertically. Dips progressively shallow from south to north but are still quite steep (80°). High-grade shoots within individual veins have steep easterly plunges.

The footwall veins to the main veins are hosted by strongly sheared mafic and felsic volcanics and volcaniclastics intruded by felsic porphyry sills. As with the Main Zone, the porphyries play a significant role in localizing the veining, with the strongest veins occurring along the southern contact of the sills. Dips are near vertical, and all footwall veins are truncated by the Captain Nemo Fault.

7.4.2 Rumbullion Gold Veins

At this stage the veins at Rumbullion are less numerous and are contained in shear zones developed along the limbs of tight, S2 folds in mafic volcanics and leucoxene-bearing mafic dykes. Some veins are preferentially localized along volcanic-dyke contacts. The veins strike east-west in the western portion of the deposit then swing to the northeast in the eastern portion while dips are steep to the north. Although drill spacing is not as tight as at Hammerdown, there appears to be a moderate 45° westward plunge to the high-grade shoots within the western segments of the Rumbullion veins opposite to the plunge exhibited at Hammerdown.

East of the Rumbullion Fault, the Rumbullion vein system continues in an easterly direction for approximately 150 m, where an abrupt flexure rotates the vein system sharply to the northeast. The vein system continues to the northeast for at least 500 m however, the number of lenses seems to reduce in this direction.

Along the north-easterly trend of the Rumbullion zone, the Captain Nemo Fault appears to develop into multiple fault panels which may or not contain QFP dykes and or mineralized veins.

The fault panels and veins diverge to the east and remains open both at depth and along strike. Approximately 500 m along strike to the east, gold intercepts (Golden Anchor Zone) have been encountered in the hanging wall to the zinc-rich Lochinvar VMS deposit.

7.4.3 Muddy Shag Gold Veins

At Muddy Shag, several sub-vertical dipping quartz vein zones with a strike of 050° are hosted within moderately- to strongly-sheared mafic to felsic volcaniclastics and minor black cherty sediments assigned to the Ordovician Lushs Bight Group. All zones are gold-bearing and show significant vertical and lateral geological continuity. The immediate area is intruded by a series of sheeted mafic dykes (often leucoxene bearing) and quartz feldspar porphyry dykes.

One of the stronger veins is intimately associated with a quartz-feldspar porphyry dyke contained within strongly foliated mafic schist. Occurring both within the dyke and along its margins are sulphide-bearing quartz veins which reach up to 5 cm to 10 cm wide and contain up to 40% coarse granular pyrite and lesser sphalerite. Strong pinching and swelling within this vein zone often make it difficult to follow by drilling.

One of the veins also occurs within strongly foliated pyritic mafic schist and is comprised of numerous quartz-calcite stringers which contain up to 40% to 50% coarse granular pyrite. Albeit individually these stringers may not represent a significant zone, when combined in high densities over 1 m to 3 m, these stringers represent a significant gold zone.

7.4.4 Wisteria Gold Zone

The Wisteria Zone gold mineralization is located in the footwall to the Hammerdown deposit near the intersection of the Captain Nemo Fault and the Rumbullion Fault (Figure 7-4 and Figure 7-5). The mineralization is hosted in an intensely deformed fault bound sliver of felsic volcanics with discontinuous quartz veinlets and widespread sericite and pyrite alteration. Gold grade is within the Wisteria Zone is linked with sulphide and base metal content with the highest grades being associated with accumulations of pyrite, galena, and sphalerite. When compared to the high-grade veins typically seen elsewhere at the Hammerdown deposit the disseminated gold mineralization in Wisteria is typically low to moderate in grade but over much broader widths and occasionally associated with high-grade shoots. The Wisteria style of mineralization is similar in character to the nearby Orion Deposit located 2 km southwest of Hammerdown.

Figure 7-4: Hammerdown-Rumbullion-Muddy Shag Vein System

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

Figure 7-5: Hammerdown Cross-Section 554830 East

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

7.5 Other Mineralization

Numerous sporadic exploration campaigns have been completed over the property since the 1950s, with base metals being the focus in the earlier years, and it was not until the 1980s that gold became the exploration target. The Lushs Bight Group which underlies the northeastern portion of the property is well-known for ophiolitic style VMS deposits, however, in more recent years, exploration has identified potential shear hosted mesothermal style gold mineralization.

The Catchers Pond Group which underlies the bulk of the property, is host to VMS style base metal prospects and showings along with accompanying stringer style feeder zones contained within large hydrothermal alterations zones. The project area is predominantly underlain by the Catchers Pond Group. These rocks are considered to be analogous to those hosting the Buchans orebodies. Previous explorers have discovered numerous volcanogenic massive sulphide showings throughout the project with grades and mineralogy similar to the Buchans ores (i.e., combined Zn+Pb grades >20% with Zn:Pb ratios ~2:1).

The following is a summary of the known mineral projects, prospects and showings that occur across the property.  These projects are not included in the FS in any way and are described for information purposes only.  Descriptions which have been adapted from various industry and government reports.

7.5.1 Golden Anchor (Zn/Au) - (Peters, 2016), (Maritime, 2019)

The Golden Anchor prospect is located approximately 100 m northeast of the Hammerdown gold deposit and occurs stratigraphically above the zinc rich Lochinvar VMS deposit. In the Golden Anchor area, the geological structures change direction to the south creating a fold nose and the potential for dilational openings to occur creating a similar mineralizing structural environment similar to the Hammerdown and Rumbullion deposits. Previous exploration in the area has highlighted anomalous gold in soil surveys while historical shallow drilling reported multiple intersections of auriferous quartz/sulphide veins both along strike and in the hanging to the Lochinvar base metal deposit.

In 2019, Maritime completed a deep seeking geophysical Volterra IP survey (9 km) over the Golden Anchor area. The survey located a large, untested chargeability anomaly starting at a depth of approximately 200 m below surface. Historically, chargeability responses are associated with sulphides, as at Hammerdown and Orion where gold is associated with pyrite. The 2019 two-hole drill program completed in late November to December 2019 targeted the 350 m long by 150 m wide chargeability IP anomaly. The 2019 drillholes (GA19-23 and GA19-24) were drilled north and south designed to scissor the chargeability anomaly at a target depth below 200 m. The drilling intersected multiple narrow quartz sulphide veins in a hanging wall mafic sequence down to approximately 200 m to an intensely hydrothermally altered and pyritic felsic volcanic sequence believed to be the Lochinvar horizon which hosts the zinc/silver rich Lochinvar VMS historical deposit 600 m to the west. Assaying of the hanging wall quartz sulphide veins reported anomalous to significant gold grades up to 11.7 g/t over 0.3 m with anomalous base metal values geochemically similar to the Hammerdown / Rumbullion veins further west. The highly altered pyritic felsic units returned anomalous gold values with significant silver and associated highly anomalous zinc values. One 0.35 m intersection of semi-massive sulphides in GA19-24 returned an assay of 169 g/t Ag and 12.8% Zn. Both holes intersected intense and chaotic fault zones with classic tectonic breccias reflecting the folded and faulted geological structures in the area.

In 2020 and 2021 an additional 20 drillholes tested the Golden Anchor and Lochinvar trends. Drilling intersected multiple narrow quartz sulphide veins extending the Golden Anchor trend to the east and west. The best result identified in the 2020 program was GA-20-35 which tested the western extension of the Golden Anchor trend towards the Hammerdown deposit.  The hole intersected thin veins with a spectacular occurrence of visible gold and returning 10.24 g/t Au and 18 g/t Ag over 4 m. As a result of this additional drilling the gold vein system at Golden Anchor has been remodelled and is presently interpreted as a fan of nine stacked veins.  The Golden Anchor veins that have been partially delineated over a strike length of 600 m.

7.5.2 Orion Gold Deposit

The Orion gold deposit is hosted by strongly deformed metavolcanics and metasedimentary units of the Ordovician Catchers Pond Group (Figure 7-6). A major fault zone (Horsehead Fault) has thrust the Catchers Pond Group assemblage over younger, less deformed and possibly sub-aerial volcanics of the Shoal Pond Group (informal name) correlative with the Silurian age Springdale Group (Moore et al., 2002). This northerly striking fault dips 50° to the east and terminates the Orion gold zones to the west. As the fault trends oblique to the N50E strike of the Orion vein system, the base of the gold zones plunges about 40° to the northeast. 

Intruding the stratigraphy are numerous sill-like lenses of quartz-feldspar porphyry up to 6 m thick and a myriad of mafic dykes and sills (often leucoxene-bearing) up to 10 m thick.

The rocks hosting the Orion deposit have undergone a protracted history of complex polyphase deformation, including both folding and ductile to brittle faulting (Dubé et al., 1992). At least three deformational events influenced vein emplacement and overall geometry of the mineralized zones. A Taconian deformation (D1-2) was responsible for the development of the high-strain zone within intensely foliated (S1) and folded (F2) volcanic rocks. The veining is hosted by ductile-brittle D3 high strain zones of Silurian or younger age. Thin section study reveals that quartz-carbonate ±chlorite veins can generally be divided into two populations:

1) an early set which in general does not trend parallel to S2 fabrics; and

2) a late set which trends parallel to sub-parallel to a well-developed planar to wavy S2 foliation/banding (Cunnison, 1996).

The development of the high-strain zones is genetically related to layer anisotropy induced by intrafolial F2 folds and by the presence of felsic porphyry dykes (Gaboury et al., 1996). Post mineralization D4-5 deformation, which included two generations of folds (F4 and F5) and late brittle faulting have also been observed.

Variable degrees of alteration characterize the host lithologies at the Orion gold deposit. The mafic rocks are moderately to strongly chlorite-bearing (with the exception of highly-epidotized samples) and often contain magnetite. The felsic lithologies do not contain magnetite, are strongly sericitic and locally silicified, calcitic, chloritic, and pyritic.

The most highly gold mineralized samples all show increased abundances of sericite, calcite, silica, and pyrite along with higher percentages of late brittle-ductile quartz- carbonate ± chlorite veinlets (Cunnison, 1996). An early pre-kinematic phase of quartz-carbonate veining with recrystallized mineralogy and oriented fabrics definitely pre-dates hydrothermal sericite development (Wells, 1997). Two generations of pyrite are present: an early subhedral to anhedral type occasionally overgrown by magnetite, and a late subhedral to euhedral minimally altered type that appears to have formed during late-stage quartz-carbonate-chlorite alteration (Cunnison, 1996). Gold is usually associated with the late-stage, coarse, crystalline pyrite.

Figure 7-6:  Orion Geology

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

The Discovery Zone, as the name suggests, was the first to be discovered at the Orion deposit. The zone is situated near the transition from the "mixed" mafic-felsic schist. The Discovery Zone consists of single to multiple 1 cm to 30 cm quartz-calcite veins with 1% to 3% pyrite (locally to 10%) and minor amounts of light-coloured sphalerite and chalcopyrite. One vein contained 50 occurrences of visible gold, but otherwise visible gold is generally rare. The hosting schists often have a distinct yellow ochre sericite developed adjacent to the veining. Silicification is also common.

A second larger zone was discovered at Orion deposit and is now referred to as the Main Zone.  The Main Zone is situated within the felsic schist generally 10 m to 30 m northwest of the Discovery Zone. Like the Discovery Zone, it can be traced along strike for 950 m.

The Main Zone consists of multiple 0.5 cm to 15 cm quartz-calcite veins (mainly 1 cm to 3 cm) and strong patchy silicification with 5% to 10% disseminated pyrite (up to 25%) with minor, though locally abundant chalcopyrite, and sphalerite. Visible gold was observed in two drillholes. The host schists are strongly sericitic, silicified, and locally display salmon-coloured bleaching.

The EMS Zone is the smallest of the three significant zones at the Orion deposit. Like the Discovery and Main Zones, it is contained within a distinct stratigraphic interval; in this case the graphitic cherty sediments/volcanic turbidite unit. The zone has a much shorter strike of 350 m while "better grade" mineralization is confined to only about a 50 m strike between 50 m and 100 m below surface. The zone occurs approximately 100 m southeast of the Discovery Zone.

Figure 7-7: Orion Cross-Section

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

7.5.3 Lochinvar Deposit (Pb/Zn/Cu/Au/Ag)

Figure 7-8: Lochinvar and Beetle Pond Interpretive Plan Section and Historical Intersections

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

Figure 7-9: Lochinvar Cross-section and Significant Intersections

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

The historical Lochinvar VMS deposit is located approximately 200 m northeast from the former Hammerdown Gold Mine. Two steeply plunging, massive sulphide lenses have been traced from surface to approximately 200 m depth where they remain open, though there are indications that they will be truncated at depth along the late Captain Nemo Fault. The mineralization is partially delineated over a strike length of 700 m and remains open to the northeast.

The mineralization consists of heavily disseminated to massive sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite, and pyrite with lesser barite and significant tennantite and electrum. It occurs within a steeply-dipping, strongly sericitized, carbonatized and locally chloritized, soda-depleted (0.2% Na2O), schistose felsic volcanic package up to 75 m thick. The altered felsic package is separated from an underlying undeformed mafic volcaniclastic unit by the "Captain Nemo Fault" and is overlain by a unit of aphyric, green andesite/dacite fragmental rocks.

7.5.4 Rendell-Jackman Cu/Au Deposit - (Peters, 2016)

The Rendell-Jackman is a massive sulphide prospect was discovered in 1909. Initial drilling identified two lenses of massive sulphide and in 1910 a shaft was sunk on the Northern lens to a depth of 46 m. In total an estimated 1600 tonnes of ore were brought to surface before closing in 1912 after the death of the Mine Manager. Subsequent IP surveys identified a chargeability anomaly extending approximately 1,200 m to the northwest and southeast of the workings. All historic drilling tested relatively shallow targets, the deepest drillhole extending to 137 m. In 1990, three drillholes tested reconnaissance targets northwest of the workings with only one drillhole testing the IP chargeability extension (Figure 7-10). Recent selective mineralized rock sampling over the Rendell-Jackman workings graded to a maximum of 9.9% Cu and 12 g/t Au, averaging 2.9% Cu and 3.0 g/t Au. A sample chipped from this outcrop graded 11.2% Cu, 0.195% Zn, and 0.44 g/t Au (Figure 7-11). Recent IP surveys on the Rendell-Jackson clearly defined the subsurface mineralization and indicate a stronger broader response at depth (Fraser, 2015).

Figure 7-10: Interpretive Plan Map and Significant Intersections on the Rendell-Jackman Deposit

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

Figure 7-11: Cross-Section of the Rendell-Jackman Deposit with Significant Drill Intersections

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

7.5.5 Rendell-Jackman Southeast (Au) - (Peters, 2016)

In 1990, a trench was dug 400 m southeast of the Rendell-Jackman deposit to test a weak gold in till anomaly. It exposed two narrow (<5 cm) discontinuous quartz veins containing 3% to 5% sulphides. Two grab samples returned values of 7.9 g/t Au, 7.2 g/t Ag, 0.04% Cu, 0.36% Pb, 0.32% Zn, and 4.3 g/t Au, 4.1 g/t Ag, 0.15% Cu, 0.30% Pb, 0.07% Zn. The quartz veins could not be traced beyond the trench (Andrews, 1991). Due to the high lead content, the mineralized quartz veins are considered similar to the Hammerdown style mineralization.

7.5.6 Whisky Bravo (Cu/Au) - (Mitton, 2005)

The Whiskey Bravo Showing consists of a massive pyrite horizon hosted in strongly sheared mafic volcanic rock of the Lushs Bight group. Maximum width is 0.6 m; continuous length is 5 m, with a second narrower outcropping located 20 m southeast. It is a distinct sulphide lens, with sharp planar contacts, in strongly sheared mafic volcanic rock. There are also three parallel, 5 cm to 15 cm wide, semi to massive pyrite layers/veins exposed here over a 10 m width. Most of the sheared and un-sheared wall rock is moderately to strongly silicified/sericitized hosting 1% to 5% fine grained disseminated pyrite. Gold values from the 14 grab samples returned from 51 to 616 ppb gold. Base metal values are elevated; up to 1,006 ppm copper.

7.5.7 Timber Pond VMS (Cu) - (Dyke, B., and Hussey, A.M., 2004)

The Timber Pond Massive Sulphide showing is located 8 km east of Hammerdown and approximately 200 m south of the south end of Timber Pond. The showing is hosted by chloritized, magnetite-rich ophiolitic basalt and is composed of a massive sulphide horizon that is 4 m thick and 8 m long. The massive sulphide contains mostly pyrite and pyrrhotite, with laminae of chalcopyrite and sphalerite. Noranda Exploration Company Ltd. completed a five-hole drill program between 1987 and 1989. The best result obtained from this program were 1.0% Cu, 0.23% Zn, and 2.8 g/t Au over 4.0 m (Jacobs, 1999).

In 2021 Maritime Resources identified a large regional EM anomaly coincident with the Timber Pond VMS Showing. Geophysicists modelled the EM anomaly and successfully generated an EM plate which was subsequently drilled in holes TP-21-01 and TP-21-02 which encountered a pyrrhotite rich massive sulphide lense grading 2.06 m of 0.5% Cu and 3.48 m of 0.77% Cu respectively.

7.5.8 Timber Pond (Au/Ag) - (Dyke, B., and Hussey, A.M., 2004)

The Timber Pond Au-Ag Showing was discovered during an attempt by Noranda Exploration Company Ltd. to source a 6,434 ppb Au stream sediment anomaly. The showing is contained in silicified zones within in a 1.0 m to 2.0 m wide shear zone with up to 15% disseminated pyrite. The shear zone is contained in a brecciated interflow sediment consisting of basaltic ash in a cherty matrix, interbedded with massive and pillowed basaltic flows (Huard, 1987). Channel sampling, by Noranda Exploration Company Ltd. in 1987, returned values up to 5.05 g/t Au, 102.3 g/t Ag, 0.07% Cu, 0.38% Pb, and 0.56% Zn over 1.0 m. Subsequent diamond drilling by Noranda did not intersect the mineralized horizon (Jacobs-NFLD/2655, 1996).

In 2021 Maritime Resources conducted a phase 1 exploratory drilling program consisting of five drill holes totaling 647 m. Drilling tested both the known VMS and gold occurrences. This drilling encountered zones of both massive and disseminated sulphide mineralization as well as a lens of gold mineralization in the hanging wall to the massive sulphides. Two holes encountered significant gold mineralization with hole TP-21-05 encountering 2.33 g/t Au over 4 m, including 6.08 g/t  Au over 1.5 m and hole TP-21-03 encountering high grade silver consisting of 0.73 g/t  Au and 339.7 g/t Ag over 2.0 m, including 1.12 g/t Au and 659.0 g/t Ag over 1.0 m. These zones are open at depth and along strike.

7.5.9 Sprucy Pond Trend (Au) - (Mitton, 2005)

The Sprucy Pond Trend (SPT) occurs over a strike length of approximately 1,400 m and contains four separate gold showings. This strong northeast striking linear is represented by sheared mafic volcanics hosting gold-bearing quartz-carbonate veins. An almost continuous exposure of bedrock was examined over a 300 m length during a period of low water. The mafic volcanic unit here is strongly sheared, displaying a moderate to steep north-dipping, east-west trending shear foliation. Ubiquitous stockwork style carbonate (calcite +/- ankerite) veinlets are present with local 1% to 2% disseminated pyrite and trace chalcopyrite mineralization. Limonite alteration and mineralization increase towards the Dambusters Showing area and further to the west. Exploration in this area has been limited to general prospecting so it is unsure at this point if the host rock is the Western Arm or Catchers Pond Group.

Birchy Island Pond Gold Zone: Located 5 km east of Hammerdown, this target is a newly discovered quartz vein system defined on surface by a mineralized boulder train at the intersection of several faults highlighted on surface as a well-defined 4 km long linear structure. Ground based IP surveys have identified several chargeable anomalies suggesting the presence of disseminated sulphide mineralization. Phase 1 exploratory drilling was completed including five drill holes totaling 1,116 m with drill hole BIP-21-03 intersecting 0.90 g/t Au over 3.42 m, including 10.86 g/t Au over 0.20 m.

Foxtrot Showing: 20% disseminated pyrite and 1% galena in quartz vein (1.249 g/t Au). Strong limonite and sericite alteration. Large angular float at edge of Sprucy pond.

Dambusters Showing: Outcrop quartz-carbonate vein, approximately 10 cm wide, strongly sericitic and limonitic; 3% fine-grained disseminated pyrite, <1% galena and trace chalcopyrite (7.72 g/t Au and 1.96 g/t Au).

Pond Edge Showing: In early 2004, prospecting located two new gold occurrences in quartz +/- carbonate veins (322 ppb, 557 ppb, and 567 ppb Au). One occurrence is hosted in a 20 m to 25 m wide zone of very strongly sericitic and limonitic sheared mafic volcanic rock which outcrops on the east side of a pond. Later grab samples taken from this exposure returned 2.278 g/t Au and 1.429 g/t Au. The strike length from the Dambusters Showing to the Pond Edge Showing is ~170 m. The Sprucy Pond Trend is interpreted to continue westward under the pond.

7.5.10 Beetle Pond (Au/Zn) - (Peters, 2016)

The Beetle Pond showing, is located 1 km east of the Hammerdown deposit and is interpreted as being an extension of the Golden Anchor and Lochinvar Prospects that have been offset by folding and faulting. The showing is 500 m East of Golden anchor and is associated with a high-grade gold and base metal in soil trend that extends for over 325 m and is associated with a large coincident magnetic and IP anomaly. Historic drilling in the Beetle Pond area identified local base metal mineralization and extensive hydrothermal alteration. Beetle Pond was drilled as part of the Company's 2022 drilling program with the first hole encountering a quartz/sulphide vein with abundant visible gold (Figure 7-12 and Figure 7-13)). Samples of the mineralized interval were sent for rush analysis at Eastern Analytical and returned grades of 150.37 g/t Au over 0.20 m in drill hole GA-22-46. In the footwall to the mineralized quartz veins a lower sulphide horizon containing local occurrences of base metals was identified and is interpreted to be an extension of the Lochinvar Horizon.

7.5.11 Muir Pond (Zn/Pb) - (Moore, P.J., and Mullen, D.V., 2002)

Discovered by prospecting in 1911 and drilled by Brinex in the 1960s (Roderick, 1960), this prospect consists of disseminated to massive pyrite-rich sulphides associated with altered felsic volcanics. The best assay returned from this prospect came from a grab sample grading 21.73% Zn, 9.61% Pb (Roderick, 1960), however several subsequent campaigns of drilling failed to return significant results, intersecting only narrow barren semi-massive pyrite over 0.5 m (unpublished Noranda report, 1990).

7.5.12 Batters Brook (Zn) - (Moore, P.J. and Mullen, D.V., 2002)

Figure 7-12: Batters Brook Interpretive Plan Section and Historical Intersections

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

Figure 7-13:  Batters Brook Cross-section and Significant Intersections

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

The zone occurs within a 1.5 km long mineralized felsic volcanic horizon which joins the Rigel massive sulphide prospect along strike to the northeast. The zone remains open at depth and in both strike directions, however, drilling completed by Hudson Bay HBED in 2001 and 2002, has further restrained the potential for possible significant extensions to the mineralization. The discovery hole, BB 7, yielded the best intersection to date cutting 6.3 m averaging 6.57% Zn, 2.7% Pb, 0.75% Cu, 50.8 g/t Ag, and 1.48 g/t Au, including 0.9 m of 23.4% Zn, 12.6% Pb, 2.2% Cu, 147 g/t Ag, and 1.0 g/t Au. Anglo American completed four drillholes to test this zone's potential to extend down plunge towards the northeast and southwest, as well as down dip to 300 m depth. Of these, only one hole, BB-77, intersected massive sulphides comparable to the high-grade shallowly drilled intersections previously obtained by Major General. This hole intersected a 20 cm wide section of zinc-rich massive sulphides approximately 280 m below surface, suggesting the zone may plunge steeply towards the southwest where it remains open below this depth.

7.5.13 Rigel (Zn) - (Moore, P.J., and Mullen, D.V., 2002)

Interpreted to be a continuation of the Batters Brook mineralized horizon, this massive sulphide zone has been intersected by six holes drilled to a maximum depth of 150 m by Major General Resources. Composed of semi-massive to massive sulphides, the best intersection to date includes 1.0 m assaying 11.6% Zn, 1.0% Pb, 4.0 % Cu, 23 g/t Ag, and 0.8 g/t Au. Except for this intersection (hole BB-65), the zone appears to be relatively low grade typically assaying <1% Zn over similar widths.

7.5.14 Ursa Major / Ursa Minor / Southern Cross - (Moore, P.J., and Mullen, D.V. 2002)

These prospects are located approximately 4 km southwest of the Batters Brook massive sulphide prospect. Of these, Ursa Major and Southern Cross, occur within mafic volcanic rocks while the Ursa Minor prospect occurs within felsic volcanics of the Batters Brook package. Host rocks to these prospects are interpreted to lie stratigraphically below the Batters Brook-Rigel horizon. The Ursa Minor zone consists of stringer and semi-massive sulphide mineralization returning low-grade base and precious metal assays over broad widths including 0.23 g/t Au and 25 g/t Ag over 30.8 m as well as 1.1% Zn over 13.5 m. The Ursa Major and Southern Cross prospects have returned sections of disseminated to semi massive sulphides assaying up to 3.7% Cu over 0.2 m.

7.5.15 Pisces (Zn) - (Peters, 2016)

The Pisces Occurrence (Cu, Pb, Zn) was discovered by Phelps Dodge in 1997. This zone is hosted by felsic volcanics of the Indian Brook package and consists of a narrow band of massive sulphides intersected in drilling grading 12.9% Zn, 8.5% Pb, 1.02% Cu, 54 g/t Ag, and 0.11g/t Au over 0.13 m (drillhole GF-3, Thurlow, 1997). Subsequent drilling by Phelps Dodge intersected similar sulphides down dip; however, the zone remains untested along strike and at depth below 100 m (Thurlow, 1998).

7.5.16 Goldfish (Zn) - (Peters, 2016)

The Goldfish Occurrence (Cu, Pb, Zn) was discovered by Phelps Dodge in 1997, and consists of a 0.65 m wide section of granular, pyritic massive sulphides intersected in drill hole GF-9 grading 1.36% Zn, 0.69% Pb, 0.06% Cu, 164.5 g/t Ag, and 0.95 g/t Au over 0.65 m (Thurlow, 1997). The mineralization is interpreted to occur at a transitional contact between aphyric rhyolite breccias (Indian Brook felsic package) and an overlying sequence of felsic tuffaceous rocks and sediments (Batters Brook felsic volcanic package). Subsequent shallow drilling by Phelps Dodge failed to intersect additional comparable mineralization down dip or along strike; however, drilling of the horizon was hampered by a sequence of mafic dyke/sill units which dilate stratigraphy in the area.

7.5.17 Indian Brook (Zn) - (Moore, P.J., and Mullen, D.V. 2002)

This prospect represents one of the earliest discovered base metal showings within Catchers Pond volcanics. The showing is believed to have been originally found by Falconbridge in 1952 and consists of disseminated to stringer base metal sulphides hosted by felsic volcanics of the Indian Brook package. Grab samples from the original trenches have returned assays in excess of 10% Zn (e.g., Jenner and Szybinski, 1987).

7.5.18 Catchers Valley (Zn) - (Moore, P.J. and Mullen, D.V., 2002)

This prospect is located approximately 600 m east of the southeast end of Catchers Pond. The showing is reported to consist of a broad, 40 m wide, zone of disseminated sulphides with local narrow sections of semi-massive sulphides. The best assay returned from drilling included 2.5% Zn and 0.61% Pb over 0.3 m (drillhole CV-1, Major General, 1996).

7.5.19 Harry's Brook (Cu) - (Peters, 2016)

In 2001, Hudson Bay Exploration drilled two holes in the Harry's Brook area, targeting base metal-in-soil and weak IP chargeability anomalies. Both drillholes intersected minor amounts of disseminated to fracture-controlled sulphides including minor chalcopyrite within Indian Brook Formation mafic volcanics in the vicinity of Silurian-aged Harrys Lake gabbroic intrusives. The anomalies were explained as being caused by the sulphides observed in drilling. The best interval assayed graded 0.24% Cu over 0.3 m.

8 DEPOSIT TYPES

Gold-bearing quartz veins at the property are hosted by Ordovician metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks of the Catchers Pond Group. The style of veining, mineralization, alteration, host rock, and tectonism most closely resemble other mesothermal volcanic- hosted (greenstone belt) gold deposits throughout the world.  This deposit type is referred to as Type I01 by the British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas Deposit Profiles and as United States Geological Survey (USGS) Model 36a.  Examples of this deposit type include many of the gold deposits of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt in Ontario and Québec, and the gold deposits of the Kalgoorlie District of Western Australia.

This deposit type is characterized by the following geologic elements:

• Vein systems occur in the central part of discrete shear zones associated with larger regional shear/fault structures or "breaks", but individual veins may extend into less deformed wallrock;

• Vein systems are tabular, sub-vertical structures, with typical thicknesses measured in metres, and strike and dip dimensions measured in tens to hundreds of metres, though the economically viable part of the system may be considerably smaller;

• Quartz-feldspar porphyry dykes and sills are often spatially associated with the vein systems;

• Individual veins generally consist of "cherty" quartz with lesser amounts of albite, carbonate, sericite, chlorite, and occasionally tourmaline;

• Pyrite is ubiquitous, while accessory sulphide minerals often include chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, and trace arsenopyrite;

• Gold is often not visible and is usually intimately associated with pyrite;

• Sericite, quartz, carbonate (calcite and/or ankerite), pyrite, and occasional albite characterize wallrock alteration envelopes; and

• Visible alteration extends tens of metres from the auriferous veins.

9 EXPLORATION

9.1 Introduction

Since 2012, Maritime Resources Corp. has conducted extensive exploration on the Green Bay Property and focused on identifying and delineating gold resources near the Hammerdown gold deposit. 

Figure 9-1: 1995 Sial CVG Magnetics Map Depicting Drilling, PEA Deposit Whittle Shells and Exploration Highlights, Showings and Trends

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

Two deposits with mineral resources have been delineated at on the Green Bay Property, the Hammerdown and Orion deposits have been the primary focus of exploration efforts since this time.

Exploration work in the immediate periphery of the Hammerdown deposit has focused on expanding the footprint of the deposit by exploring for extensions of the deposit to the west, east and south, and have resulted in the partial delineation of the Muddy Shag, Rumbullion and Wisteria Zones (Figure 9-1).  At present mineralization in these areas has only partially been incorporated into the mining plan and for the time being these areas are considered as highly prospective for future resource growth opportunities.

Immediately northeast of the Hammerdown deposit advanced prospects at Golden Anchor and Lochinvar and exploration targets at Beetle Pond and Harrys Brook provide an excellent opportunity for future resource growth.

Exploration work in the immediate periphery of the Orion Deposit has identified a northern extension to the deposit that has been the focus of recent advanced stage exploration.  The Orion North Extension has identified limited vein style gold mineralization up to 750 m north of the known Orion deposit with isolated intersections up to 1.4 km away as seen in drillhole DC-22-02. This exploration corridor is considered by workers to be a high priority for future resource growth. 

Work from 2012 to 2018 is discussed in detail in the WSP (2020) PEA Report.

9.2 2019 Work Program

In 2019, Maritime Resources Corp. conducted an extensive exploration program over the Hammerdown site and surrounding Green Bay Property consisting of:

• Airborne Magnetic-Radiometric-VLF Survey;

• IP Survey;

• LiDAR Survey; and

• Diamond Drilling.

9.3 Airborne Magnetic-Radiometric-VLF Survey

Questor Services Inc. located in Keene, ON was contracted by Maritime Resources to fly a high resolution airborne-magnetic gradient, gamma-ray spectrometry, and VLF survey over the Green Bay Property, as part of a larger survey covering all of Maritime's Property in the Springdale-Baie Verte area (see Figure 9-2). The survey was flown from July 6, 2019 to August 10, 2019.

The system consisted of a PC-based data acquisition system (XDAS), GPS Novatel Pwrpac 7 navigation, Laser Altimeter, Radar Altimeter, a Radiation Solutions RSX5 multi-channel gamma-ray Spectrometer, Billingsley Fluxgate Magnetometer, three Scintrex CS-3 high-sensitivity Cesium magnetometer mounted at the wingtips and tail, a VLF TOTEM-2A system. A Piper Aztec PA-23-250 was used to fly the survey.

For the Green Bay Property, 150 m spaced traverse lines with 1,500 m spaced tie lines were flow at 330° azimuth and at a nominal terrane clearance of 50 m.

Figure 9-2: Questor Magnetic Map Products for Green Bay Property

Source: Maritime Resources (2019)

9.4 IP Survey

In 2019, approximately 15.75-line km of exploration grids were established on both the east and west side of the HDZ.

Western Grid: covered 6.475-linear km and covered the Western side of the Hammerdown deposit including the Muddy Shag extension of the Hammerdown deposit.

Figure 9-3: Hammerdown West IP Grid depicting 2019 Volterra 3D IP Chargeability Voxel Model

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

Figure 9-3 depicts the 2019 Volterra 3D-IP chargeability voxel model at a 21 mV/V filter. The Western Grid survey was successful in defining a number of shallow chargeability anomalies to the west of Hammerdown and delineated a narrow near surface chargeability anomaly that is coincident with the Hammerdown's Muddy Shag extension. The survey also identified several untested chargeability trends that may be related to additional untested mineralized trends.

Figure 9-4 shows the Eastern Grid chargeability voxel model at a 21 mV/V filter. The survey block covered 9.275-linear km and covered the eastern side of the HDZ in the vicinity of the Golden Anchor, Lochinvar, and Beetle Pond Prospects.

Figure 9-4: Hammerdown East IP Grid depicting 2019 Volterra 3D IP Chargeability Voxel

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

The Eastern Grid survey was successful in defining a number of shallow chargeability anomalies along the eastern side of the HDZ. The most conspicuous of these anomalies occurs in the centre of the IP grid and appears to line up with the Lochinvar VMS trend. This anomaly is likely indicative of a large halo of disseminated sulphide and chargeable clays associated with the massive sulphide trend and may be suggestive of an easterly extension of the Lochinvar mineralization.

Two additional less obvious chargeability anomalies occur in the Northeast and Southwest extremities of the survey area. Although the intensity of the Northeast and Southwest chargeability anomalies depicted on the survey appear relatively weak; the chargeability is still significant and more in-line with the moderate chargeability anomalies that are associated with the gold mineralization at the Hammerdown deposit.

9.5 LiDAR Survey

A LiDAR survey was completed by RPM Aerial Services, Holyrood, NL between August 16, 2019 and September 13, 2019, over a V-shaped area south of the former Hammerdown mine. The purpose of the survey was to produce a detailed digital terrain model of the proposed future laydown area for the proposed re-start of the Hammerdown mine. The total area cover by the LiDAR survey was approximately 7 km2. Figure 9-5 shows the spatial extents of the 2019 LiDAR survey.

Figure 9-5: Hammerdown Mine 2019 LiDAR Map

Source: Maritime Resources (2019)

9.6 Diamond Drilling

Three diamond drill holes were completed on license 15579M from June to July 2019 and two holes were completed on license 23591M in November 2019.  The three holes on license 15579M were drilled to test conductors defined by a 2016 detailed EM survey in the Hammerdown-East Rumbullion area.  The two holes on license 23591M were drilled to test an IP chargeability anomaly in the Golden Anchor area defined by the 2019 IP survey.  The five holes totaled 1,441.25 m of NQ drilling and are summarized in Table 9-1.

Table 9-1: Drillhole Collar Data

Source: Maritime Resources (2019)

9.6.1 Golden Anchor Drilling

Two holes were drilled to test a large (350 m by 150 m at approximately 200 m depth) highly chargeable IP anomaly defined by the 2019 IP survey and centred approximately 400 m north of the Golden Anchor Prospect and approximately 600 m northeast of the Lochinvar VMS Prospect. A total of 700.25 m of NQ drilling was completed, as illustrated in Figure 9-6.

Figure 9-6: Plan Map of 2019 Eastern IP Grid Depicting drilling locations

Source: Maritime Resources (2019)

Both holes collared in mafic volcanics and intersected broad zones of hydrothermally altered felsic volcanics and tuffs at depth.  A number of minor mineralized quartz veins were intersected.  Table 9-2 below provides a table of significant drill results.

Table 9-2: 2019 Golden Anchor Drilling Results

Source: Maritime Resources (2019)

9.6.2 Hammerdown East-Rumbullion Drilling

The three holes drilled in the East Rumbullion area designed to test conductors defined by a 2016 detailed EM survey. A total of 700.25 m of NQ drilling was completed, as illustrated in Figure 9-7.

Figure 9-7: Plan Map depicting 2016 HLEM Geophysical Anomalies

Source: Maritime Resources (2019)

The three holes HD-19-01 to HD-19-03 failed to intersect appreciable gold grades; however, two of the holes intersected pyrrhotite lenses that are believed to be responsible for the EM anomalies.

9.7 2020 / 2021 Work Programs

Throughout 2020 and 2021, Maritime Resources conducted a wide-ranging exploration program over the Hammerdown site and surrounding Green Bay Property consisting of:

• Airborne Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetic (VTEM), airborne inductively induced polarization (AIIP), and ZTEM surveys; and

• Ground Surface Pulse Electromagnetic (SPEM) Geophysical Surveys

9.8 Airborne Magnetics VTEM, AIIP and ZTEM

In 2020, Maritime engaged Geotech Ltd. to conduct airborne VTEM and ZTEM surveys over the Hammerdown deposit as well as some of Maritime's other mineral projects within the province.  Due to variations in the survey parameters of both surveys Geotech completed this program in two phases.

Phase 1 consisted of helicopter borne EM survey using the VTEM) plus system. A total of 2342 linear-km of geophysical data were acquired during the survey covering an area of 423 km2. Over 50 strong conductive anomalies were identified on the land holdings, the best of which were selected for follow-up ground SPEM surveys. Figure 9-8 shows the spatial extents of the 2020 VTEM survey.

Figure 9-8: Plan Map Depicting 2020 Geotech VTEM dB/dt Z Component Channel 35

Source: Maritime Resources (2020)

Figure 9-9: Project Map Depicting Total Magnetic Intensity (TMI), Mineral Occurrences and VTEM Geophysical Targets (dashed circles indicate target areas)

Source: Maritime Resources (2020)

Figure 9-9 shows the TMI magnetic results of the 2020 airborne along with interpreted VTEM anomalies and significant mineral occurrences. In addition to the numerous conductive anomalies, a series of large-scale conductive lows were also identified. These have been interpreted by geophysicists as potential zones of chargeability which may be the result of widespread disseminated sulphides or conductive clays. Based on the recommendation of Geotech Ltd. the VTEM survey data was re-processed to provide AIIP map products.

The objective of AIIP mapping of the VTEM data is to derive Cole-Cole parameters. Airborne VTEM™ plus data reflect mainly two physical phenomena in the earth:

• Electromagnetic (EM) induction related to sub-surface conductivity and governed by Faraday's Law of induction; and

• Induced polarization (IP) effect, related to the relaxation of polarized charges in the ground (Pelton et al., 1978, Weidelt, 1982, Kratzer and Macnae, 2012 and Kwan et al., 2015a and 2015b).

For mineral exploration, near-surface sources of AIIP chargeability are clays through membrane polarization (electrical energy stored at boundary layer) and most metallic sulphides, some oxides (i.e., magnetite) and graphite through electrode polarization (electrical charges accumulated through electrochemical diffusion at ionic-electronic conduction interfaces).

The resulting AIIP mapping identified numerous chargeability anomalies. Geotech personnel using various geophysical parameters delineated several major structures as well as six areas of interest associated with prominent chargeability anomalies, as presented in Figure 9-10.

Figure 9-10: Regional Project Map Depicting AIIP Mapping and Interpreted Fault and Areas of Interest

Source: Maritime Resources (2020)

Phase 2 consisted of helicopter borne high-resolution airborne ZTEM. The survey was completed by Geotech Ltd. and covers 484 km2, covering the Green Bay, Whisker Valley, and Gull Ridge Project areas (Figure 9-11).

ZTEM is a type of EM survey to measure variations in the electrical properties of rocks.  EM surveys try to identify bodies of rock that conduct electricity well, like massive sulfide bodies of copper or nickel ore, or rocks that resist carrying current more than their surroundings, like the silicic alteration found in the core of porphyry deposits.  ZTEM surveys are different to other commercial EM systems because they measure variations in naturally occurring EM fields rather than introducing an EM field into the ground and measuring the responding field, like VTEM.  Instead, ZTEM measures variations in the naturally occurring or passive magnetic fields produced by thunderstorms around the world.  This magnetic field is planar-constant in all directions, but areas of highly conductive or very resistive rock will cause measurable disruptions.  ZTEM surveys are designed to map resistivity contrasts to great depths, exceeding one kilometre to two kilometre, making ZTEM well-suited to finding porphyry-hosted and structurally controlled exploration targets at depth.

Figure 9-11: Regional Project Map Depicting ZTEM Shallow 30Hz Channel

Note:  Hot colours indicate conductivity highs.

Source: Maritime Resources (2020)

The ZTEM survey was successful in identifying major structures at depth as well as a series of resistivity anomalies throughout the region that warrant further testing.

9.9 Ground SPEM Geophysical Surveys

As a result of the 2021 Airborne VTEM program, a number of promising EM anomalies were selected by Brian Bengert of Platform Geophysics. Two of the EM anomalies located in the HDZ were referred to as the Orion North EM Target and the Hammerdown North EM Target, and were selected for further exploration via SPEM surveys. The SPEM survey was designed in consultation with Platform Geophysics and Eastern Geophysics, with the latter providing the equipment and operators to execute the survey.

In the Hammerdown area, the surface loop and lines were configured as depicted in Figure 9-12. The survey resulted in the identification of multiple conductive plate anomalies, the strongest of which are interpreted as belonging to the Hammerdown deposit.  A small single line EM plate was identified north of Hammerdown.

This target was subsequently drilled in drill hole MP-21-212, which encountered an iron formation in the hole coincident with the modelled EM plate.

Figure 9-12: Hammerdown SPEM Loop and Grid Configuration Depicting Modelled Conductive Plates

Note: Grid spacing is 1,000 m.

Source: Maritime Resources (2021)

Figure 9-13: Orion North SPEM Loop and Grid Configuration depicting modelled Conductive Plates

Note: Grid spacing is 1,000 m.

Source: Maritime Resources (2021)

In the Orion North area, the surface loop and lines were configured as depicted in Figure 9-13. The survey resulted in the identification of two conductive anomalies which were subsequently modelled as steeply dipping plates. The larger westernmost plate spanned five lines and was intersected in historic drilling which had identified a thin brecciated horizon of semi-massive pyrrhotite. The smaller northerly anomaly spanned only one line.

These targets were subsequently drill tested with holes BB-21-172 and BB-21-174 testing the larger Plate 1 and BB-21-173 testing the smaller westerly Plate 2.  Holes 172 and 173 both intersected pyrrhotite rich massive sulphide lenses with no appreciable metal value while hole BB-21-174 intersected a fault breccia with minor pyrite where the plate should be.

9.10 2020 to Present

Maritime has a number of ongoing exploration programs occurring within the Hammerdown and Orion Mining leases but outside of the current mine plan and represent future resource growth opportunities.  These ongoing programs may not be reported in annual assessment reports but are periodically reported in company press releases and are available on: https://maritimeresourcescorp.com/news-releases/.  The following sections offer a brief summary of these ongoing programs and is derived from various company press releases.

9.11 Orion North Exploration

Initial drilling in the Orion North Area was planned in 2020 as part of a condemnation program to outline an area for waste rock storage immediately northeast of the Orion Deposit. This waste rock storage area was planned within the 2 km long gap between the Orion Deposit and the Hammerdown deposit and was intended to provide waste rock storage for both anticipated mine sites. The initial hole BB-20-123 collared 300m northeast of Orion and intersected several zones of gold mineralization, including a narrow quartz/sulphide vein with visible gold. The sampled intersection returned 22.7 g/t Au over 0.44 m at a vertical depth of 50 m. Since this initial hole drilling has traced mineralization in the Orion North Zone for 550 m and remains open to the northeast. Highlights from the Orion North drilling to date include BB-21-147 which yielded 3.3 g/t Au over 6.3 m, including a high-grade sampling grading 90.7 g/t Au over 0.3 m.

9.12 Area 22 Exploration

Initial drilling in the newly discovered Area 22 target was undertaken as part of a 2022 condemnation drilling program to outline an area for waste rock storage immediately south of the Hammerdown deposit. In total, five broadly spaced holes were drilled in this area with the central hole DC-22-02 intersecting a broad interval of gold mineralization grading 0.76 g/t Au over 30.2 m including 8.9 m grading 1.74 g/t Au. This newly discovered zone is located just 300 m south of the Hammerdown PEA pit shell presents a unique growth opportunity on the doorstep of the Hammerdown deposit.  The mineralization encountered in DC-22-02 resembles mineralization in the nearby Orion Deposit and Wisteria Zone and it was noted that the mineralization encountered in DC-22-02 occurs along the prominent magnetic lineament that hosts the Orion Deposit and Orion North Trend as outlined in Figure 9-14 and Figure 9-15.

Figure 9-14: Plan Map of Orion-Hammerdown Area Depicting Magnetic and Mineralized Trends

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

Figure 9-15: Cross Section of DC-22-02 Intersection and Hammerdown Wireframes and PEA Pit Shape

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

9.13 Golden Anchor and Lochinvar Exploration

Throughout the 2020 and 2021 field season multiple drill programs have targeted the Golden Anchor and Lochinvar Prospects in order bring these projects to a resource stage.  The two exploration targets form sub-parallel trends located Northeast of Hammerdown. Golden Anchor mineralization typically occurs as quartz sulphide veins with high grade gold typically occurring stratigraphically above the Lochinvar VMS trend.  Lochinvar is a polymetallic massive sulphide deposit known for high Ag, Zn and Pb tenor hosted in a broad zone of sericite altered felsic volcanics and tuffs.

9.13.1 Golden Anchor Gold Target

2021 drilling at the Golden Anchor zone, intersected 2.94 g/t Au and 30.55 g/t Ag over 2.98 m in GA-21-36. This was a follow-up to a significant intersection in drill hole GA-20-35 containing a quartz/sulphide vein with visible gold grading 6.9 g/t Au over 6.0 m, including 19.9 g/t Au over 2.0 m (see press release dated February 1, 2021). The Golden Anchor zone is located 200 m east of the Hammerdown deposit, is open in all directions and represents a key area for potential resource expansion.

9.13.2 Lochinvar VMS Target

Drilling at the Lochinvar VMS target continues to return broad intervals of gold, silver and base metal mineralization.  Recent results include 0.4 g/t Au, 29.7 g/t Ag, 0.2% Cu, 2.0% Zn and 1.0% Pb over 21.3 m, including 2.8 m grading 2.7 g/t Au, 178.3 g/t Ag, 0.7% Cu, 12.7% Zn and 6.8% Pb from drill hole GA-20-33. The Lochinvar VMS target is located approximately 800 m northeast from the Hammerdown gold deposit. Two steeply plunging, massive sulphide lenses have been traced from surface to approximately 200 m below surface where they remain open. The mineralization consists of heavily disseminated to massive sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite and pyrite with lesser barite and significant tennantite and electrum.

9.14 Beetle Pond Exploration

In 2022, Maritime completed a 6-hole, 1,206-m diamond drilling program in the Beetle Pond area 1 km east of the Hammerdown deposit. The program was designed to test the potential extension of the Golden Anchor gold vein system as well as the Lochinvar VMS system.  Historical mapping and magnetics in this region indicated that the Lochinvar and Golden Anchor trends had been displaced due to folding and faulting with these rotated and offset mineralized trends likely now occurring in the Beetle Pond Area to the Southeast.  Soil sampling in this area indicated a 300 m long strong coincident gold and base metal anomaly coincident with a prominent magnetic lineament.

The initial drillhole at Beetle Pond GA-22-46 intersected a mineralized quartz veins with visible gold grading 150.3 g/t Au and 81.3 g/t Ag over 0.2 m. The vein style mineralization resembles the Golden Anchor style veins with the deeper portions of the hole intersecting sericite and pyrite altered felsic volcanics and tuffs that are typical to the hydrothermal alteration halo commonly seen around the Lochinvar Massive Sulphide.

In addition to the intersection in GA-22-46, five of the six holes drilled in the Beetle Pond area intersected mineralized zones with over 1 g/t Au with hole GA-22-48 returning 12.1 m grading 19.9 g/t Ag, 0.48 g/t Au, including 4.1m grading 40.87 g/t Ag and 1.07 g/t Au. A table of significant results is available in Table 9-3.

Table 9-3: 2022 Beetle Pond Drilling Results

*Au Previously Reported
Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

10 DRILLING (HAMMERDOWN)

10.1 Introduction

Drilling and channel sampling of the Hammerdown deposit has been completed by multiple operators since the 1980s. The Mineral Resource estimate for the Hammerdown deposit incorporates drilling and channel sampling conducted by the previous owners in addition to the more recent programs completed by Maritime Resources.  The Hammerdown project plan map, with wireframes, drill holes, and geology, can be seen in Figure 10-1.  Historical diamond drilling data is summarized in Section 6.

Figure 10-1: Hammerdown Project Plan Map, Wireframes, and Geology

Source: SLR (2022)

10.2 Maritime Resources 2012-2019 Diamond Drill Program

Since 2012, Maritime Resources has completed several drilling and channel sampling programs. A brief overview of the individual programs is provided below and summarized in Table 10-1.

10.2.1 Maritime Resources 2012 Hammerdown Drill Program

The 2012 Hammerdown / Rumbullion drill program consisted of 16 holes [MP-12-01 to MP-12-16] totalling 2582.8 m of NQ size drill core.

10.2.2 Maritime Resources 2012 Rumbullion Channel Sampling Program

The 2012 Rumbullion trenching program exposed approximately 120 m mineralized veining in the Rumbullion area of the Hammerdown deposit.  A total of 44 channels were cut [RCS-12-01 to RCS-13-44].  From the 44 channels, the total combined length of the channel sampling was 151.3 m from which 477 individual samples were collected.

10.2.3 Maritime Resources 2017 Hammerdown Channel Sampling Program

The 2017 trenching program was designed to define the surface expression of specific veins at the Hammerdown deposit.  The veins were partially exposed from historic mine operation and only required minor amounts of additional stripping and cleaning.  In total fourteen channels totaling 35 m were cut [T1-1 to T3-5] producing 75 samples.

10.2.4 Maritime Resources 2018 Hammerdown Drill Program

The 2018 Hammerdown drill program consisted of 31 drill holes [MP-18-17 to MP-18-47]. A total of 1,729.8 m NQ size drilling was completed. A locally manufactured Duralite 500 coring drill rig was mobilized to the Project from March 28 to May 3, 2018. Core recovery for the drill program exceeded 90%. 

10.2.5 Maritime Resources 2019 Hammerdown Drill Program

The 2019 Hammerdown drill program consisted of 27 drill holes [MP-19-48 to MP-19-74]. A total of 4,620 m of NQ drilling was completed. A Duralite 500 coring drill rig was mobilized to the Project from April 26 to August 3, 2019. Core recovery for the drill program exceeded 90%. 

10.3 Maritime Resources 2020-2022 Channel Sampling and Diamond Drill Program

Since 2020, 165 drill holes have been completed at the Hammerdown Property totalling 19,872.91 m of new drilling.

10.3.1 Maritime Resources 2020 Hammerdown Drill Program

During the 2020 drill program at Hammerdown, a total of 128 drill holes were completed totaling 14,654.11 m including:

• 20 drill holes [HD-GC-20-01 to HD-GC-20-20] drilled at 10 m spacing totaling 1,160 m to confirm validity of wireframes and to improve the understanding of grade variability at short ranges.

• 104 drill holes [MP-20-75 to MP-20-178] totaling 11,882.11 m consisting of both in-fill drilling as well as step-out holes.

• Four drill holes [HD-20-01 to HD-20-04] totaling 1,612 m targeting near-pit exploration concepts.

Springdale Forest Resources Inc. (Springdale Forest), of Springdale, Newfoundland and Labrador, was contracted by Maritime Resources to provide drilling services. A Duralite 500 coring drill rig was mobilized to the Project from June 22, 2020 to December 13, 2020. Core recovery for the drill program exceeded 90%.

10.3.1.1 2020 Wisteria Drill Program

The Wisteria zone is a broad mineralized shear zone located near the juncture of the Captain Nemo and the Rumbullion Fault zones and has been refined by recent drilling campaigns at Hammerdown. Mechanical trenching in 2020 by Maritime Resources exposed the Wisteria mineralization, which is typified as strongly sheared and altered felsic/mafic volcanic assemblage, and Hammerdown style quartz/sulphide veins along with broad zones of finely disseminated pyrite and millimetre scale veins which have returned significant gold grades.  In 2020, limited drilling was completed over the Wisteria zone, with holes MP-20-164, MP-20-130, MP-20-126 and MP-20-127 returning 92.1 m at 1.4 g/t Au, 31.0 m at 2.90 g/t Au, 25.2 m at 1.62 g/t Au, and 22.0 m at 1.45 g/t Au, respectively.  Figure 10-2 shows a plan map of the 2020 Wisteria drilling campaign and Figure 10-3 provides a representative cross-section of the same campaign.

These broad intersections are located on the south side of the 2022 Feasibility Study open pit design where the Captain Nemo and Rumbullion faults converge.  Historically, there has been limited sampling in this area of the Project and holes from previous operators were selectively sampled for quartz veins and overlooked the disseminated mineralization style. The recent drill results from Wisteria represent an opportunity for the discovery of additional a bulk tonnage disseminated mineralization on Maritime's mineral licenses. 

SLR recommends that future exploration drill holes are fully sampled to avoid missing new styles of mineralization.  Larger sample lengths can be used in areas that are believed to be barren and can be re-sampled using ¼ core should the results prove otherwise.

Figure 10-2: Plan Map Depicting 2020 Drilling of Wisteria Zone

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

Figure 10-3: Cross-section Depicting 2020 Drilling of Wisteria Zone

Source: Maritime Resources (2022)

10.3.2 2020-2021 Wisteria Channel Sampling Program

The 2020 Wisteria channel sampling program consisted of 12 channels [WIST-20-Chan-01 to WIST-20-Chan-06 and WIS-21-CH-01 to WIS-21-CH-06]. A total of 78.79 m of sampling was completed.

10.3.3 2021-2022 Hammerdown Drill Program

During the 2021 Hammerdown Drill Program 34 drill holes were completed [MP-21-179 to MP-21-212] totalling 4,432.8m of NQ size drilling. A Duralite 500 coring drill rig was mobilized to the Project from June 2 to July 7, 2021. Core recovery for the drill program exceeded 90%. Maritime Resources 2022 Hammerdown Drill Program

Most recently, during the 2022 Hammerdown drill program, three drill holes were completed [MP-22-213 to MP-22-215] totalling 786 m of NQ size drilling.  A Duralite 500 coring drill rig was mobilized to the Project from March 3 to April 7, 2022.  Core recovery for the drill program exceeded 90%.  These three holes were not included within the Resource Estimate.

A summary of drilling and channel sampling programs completed at the Hammerdown Project is provided in Table 10-1.

Table 10-1: Summary of Drilling and Channel Sampling Completed on Hammerdown Property

Source: SLR (2022)

10.4 Diamond Drilling Procedures

10.4.1 Drilling Procedures

Since acquiring the Property in 2012, Springdale Forest have provided diamond drilling service on the Hammerdown Project.

All drill hole collar locations were positioned in the field using either a handheld Garmin GPS or when warranted a high-precision Trimble Differential GPS system.  Upon completion of drilling, the final collar location was surveyed using differential GPS.  Since acquiring the project, all drilling was planned and surveyed using NAD83 UTM Coordinate system.

All drill holes were numbered in accordance with the historical naming scheme with "MP" (Muir Pond) dash "12" (the year) dash "01" (the next hole number in sequence).  The "MP" prefix also allows for a distinction between the holes drilled by Maritime Resources and the "MS" series holes drilled during initial exploration and mining campaigns.

Since 2012, diamond drilling programs have utilized drill pads which were constructed using either a dozer or excavator and were generally eight metres to nine metres in diameter. Fore and back sight pickets (oriented with a Brunton compass) were used to orient the mast of the drill at the desired azimuth upon being established on the pad. The final azimuth would be either confirmed by Maritime personnel in the field or through confirmation of the azimuth from a Reflex Azimuth Point System (APS). The dip was confirmed with the use of a clinometer by placing it on the head of the drill. Upon completion of a drill hole, the casing was left in the ground. A pressure-treated picket was then inserted into the ground to mark the collar location. A metal tag was then engraved using a Dymo gun and attached to the picket which denoted the hole number, location, azimuth, dip, and hole length.

10.4.2 Surveying: Collar and Downhole Surveys

During the drilling process, downhole surveys were taken every 30 m using a Reflex multi-shot survey tool.

10.4.3 Core Delivery 

Springdale Forest was contracted by Maritime Resources for the 2012 to 2022 diamond drill programs. At the end of each shift, the drill core was boxed and sealed at the drill site and delivered to the core facility by the drillers. The geologist or geotechnician would meet the drillers at the core shack to receive the core for logging and safe storage.

10.4.4 Core Logging and Sampling

Upon receiving the core, the geologist or geotechnician would lay-out the core on the core benches and orientate the drill core in the box making sure to remove unnecessary gaps and fit core together as best as possible.  Once ready, the technician would annotate the core with the downhole meter marks using a white grease pencil.  The technician would also mark the core recovery and RQD (Rock Quality Designation) at the end of each three metre run of core.  The box depth interval, RQD and Recovery data would then be entered into MX Deposit by the technician. The hole number and depth interval for each core box would be recorded and placed onto a metal core box tag and affixed to the end of each core box.

Observations made by the core logging geologist are directly recorded into the Mx Deposit database. The selection of sampling intervals are marked by the geologist using a minimum and maximum sample interval of 0.20 m and 1.20 m, respectively. The start of the first sample is marked with "START" and an arrow pointing in the direction of sampling. Each subsequent sample is marked with red arrows and a perpendicular red line denoting the sample breaks. At the end of the last sample, the core is marked with an up-hole pointing arrow and marked "END". A cut line, to be followed during cutting, is then drawn down the highline of the core. The sample intervals are recorded in a sample book and the logging computer. The sample tag is inserted into the box at the start of each sample.

All core boxes were then photographed using a digital camera. Each box containing samples are placed in the core cutting rack.  Finally, a geotechnician labels all core boxes with aluminum tags and staples the tags to the core boxes.

10.4.5 Core Photography

Maritime Resources used a Nikon D800E and a Canon Rebel T7 cameras to photograph all drill core after logging and sampling has been completed. The camera is attached to a metal stand which maintains the consistency of core photos and can be found in Figure 10-4 and Figure 10-5, respectively.  Maritime Resources requires that the following items must be visible in each drill core photo:

• Hole ID;

• Box numbers;

• Depth intervals;

• Meter blocks;

• Sample tag numbers (if applicable);

• Lithology contacts;

• PXRF sample locations; and

• Magnetic susceptibility locations.

Photographs are completed with both dry and wet core by the logging geologist or geotechnician and are digitally filed for future reference.

Figure 10-4: Core Photography Set-up

Source: SLR (2022)

Figure 10-5: Drill Core Photography Set-Up with Tablet Control

Source: SLR (2022)

10.4.6 Core Cutting

Core cutting is completed as the final step of the drill procedures. The employee designated to cutting core uses a DeWalt masonry saw to cut samples marked by the core logging geologist.  Cut intervals and tags are placed in sample bags with a corresponding sample number, recorded and sent to Eastern Analytical for assay.  The Maritime Resources core cutting setup is shown in Figure 10-6.

Figure 10-6: Maritime Resource Cutting Facility

Source: SLR (2022)

10.4.7 Core Storage

Historical drill holes prior to and including 2012 are stored at the Eastern Analytical core facility.  The QP has reviewed the condition of the core stored at Eastern Analytical core yard.  The core ranges from AX to BQ in size and the run markers within the boxes can be hard to read given the age and previous storage conditions of the boxes.

Following the 2012 diamond drill program, drill core has been stockpiled on site at the core facility.

10.5 Channel Sampling Procedures

Upon completion of mechanical trenching or grubbing program the bedrock surface would be cleaned. The project geologist would identify the mineralized zones and lay-out channel samples so that channels are cut to intersect perpendicular to the targeted vein at regular intervals along the strike of the exposed veins.  The trace and ends of each channel would be marked on the bedrock surface using surveyors spray paint. Once the channel samples are marked on the bedrock surface, notes were recorded for each sample denoting the sample width, location, and any important geological and structural information. Samples were cut using a Stihl TS420 cut-off saw.  Once cut, chisels and a hammer were used to liberate the samples from the bedrock.  A copy of the associated sample tag would be inserted into the channel.

Once complete sealed sample bags were placed in a rice bag, sealed, and stored at a secure location on site prior to transport to Eastern Analytical for assay.

10.6 Drill Hole and Channel Sample Database

Maritime Resources directly records geological logging and geotechnical measurements of drill core into MX Deposit.

Sampling intervals designated by the core logging geologist and their corresponding assay results from Eastern Analytical are also recorded in MX Deposit.

Historical drill logs and assays that were completed on the Hammerdown Project by previous property owners have also been compiled and loaded into the MX Deposit database.

10.7 Hammerdown Deposit Results

The combined drilling and channel sampling data from Maritime Resources and previous operators has been compiled into the Maritime Resources drill hole database.  This database contains data from surface drilling, underground drilling, and channel sampling.  Modelling of the drill hole and channel sampling assay data resulted in the construction of 101 mineralization wireframes depicting the multiple veins and disseminated body that make up the Hammerdown deposit.  Figure 10-7 and Figure 10-8 below depict a plan map and cross section of the Hammerdown wireframes and Table 10-2 to

Table 10-5 detail significant drill hole and channel sample details and composites related to the cross section. 

Figure 10-7: Plan View- Hammerdown Wireframes and Drill Hole Locations

Source: SLR (2022)

Figure 10-8: East Orientated Cross-Section Depicting 2022 Hammerdown Wireframes and Drill Hole Locations

Source: SLR (2022) 

Table 10-2: Key Diamond Drill Hole Parameters Shown in HD Cross-Section