Mr. Dave Anthony reports

ASANTE PROVIDES UPDATE ON PROJECT DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONS

Asante Gold Corp. has provided progress update related to the planned sulphide treatment plant and rerouting of the Bibiani-Goaso Highway at the Bibiani gold mine. All dollar figures are in United States dollars unless otherwise indicated.

Sulphide plant progress update

Installation of the sulphide plant is key to the company's plans to grow gold production at Bibiani to more than 250,000 ounces per year. Cumulative production of 1.2 million ounces of gold is anticipated over the next five years at lower all-in sustaining costs (AISC), as detailed in the 2024 Bibiani technical report. The plant is planned for completion in the first quarter of 2025, at a total capital cost of approximately $30-million. Once in operation, gold recovery from sulphide ore processed at Bibiani is expected to increase from 70 per cent to approximately 92 per cent, resulting in increased gold production and lower AISC. On this basis, the estimated payback on the sulphide plant is expected to be just four months.

The sulphide plant is a unit operation that will be integrated with the existing process plant. It will include rougher flotation to produce a sulphide concentrate that is 10 per cent of total process plant feed. This concentrate will be thickened and reground to 25 microns in order to liberate gold that occurs at 35 microns or more. Following this, the material will be treated with high-intensity leach, after which the tailings will be returned to the main carbon-in-leach plant.

Installation of the sulphide plant continues to advance on schedule and within budget, with civil works now 55 per cent complete. Long-lead time equipment was ordered in 2022, including the flotation equipment, thickener, grinding mill and the associated structural steel for the regrind section. Shipment of these items will start in mid-August, 2024, with delivery to the Bibiani site starting in September, 2024. In addition, other relevant equipment including pumps, instrumentation, switchgear, Aachen reactor and leach tank agitators are being ordered at this time. All other structural steel and platework for the project will be fabricated in Ghana.

As far as energy needs are concerned, the additional connected power load is approximately 3.5 megawatts, with an operating load of 2.4 megawatts. Detailed engineering is being progressed by Mining Process and Project Engineering (MPPE), a Ghanaian engineering company. The project execution plan has been developed and issued by Jet-Rom, the Ghanaian project management company, which estimates six months for completion.

When the sulphide plant is completed, Asante expects to be producing approximately 20,000 ounces per month at Bibiani, which is in line with the company's long-term planning for the mine. Asante looks forward to the completion of the sulphide plant as it works to improve and optimize its operating mines.

Rerouting of the Bibiani-Goaso Highway

Traffic was redirected onto the new road constructed to maintain access to Bibiani-Goaso Highway on June 3, 2024. This allowed closure of the portion of the road impacted by the mine's expansion plans. As previously announced (see press release of June 13, 2024), rerouting the highway allows the company to access 170,000 ounces of contained gold from the main pit in the next 12 months. This ore was previously inaccessible.

The company completed its first pass of grade control drilling on June 10, 2024, and started to deliver oxide ore to the process plant on June 14, 2024. To date this oxide ore has yielded gold recovery of approximately 85 per cent through the process plant.

In addition to improved gold recovery in the short-term, mining south at the main pit of Bibiani defers full processing of sulphide ore until the sulphide plant is completed. This will allow Asante to recover approximately 92 per cent of the gold in the sulphide ore, compared to the current recovery rate of approximately 70 per cent.

Financial initiatives

Asante has engaged Endeavour Financial to conduct a comprehensive and non-dilutive financing initiative, to strengthen the company's balance sheet and prepare it for further advancement. At this stage, the initiative is well advanced and the company expects to report substantive news in the near term.

Qualified person statement

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by David Anthony, PEng, mining and mineral processing, president and chief executive officer of Asante, who is a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101.

About Asante Gold Corp.

Asante is a gold exploration, development and operating company with a high-quality portfolio of projects and mines in Ghana.

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