Mr. Gilbert Clark reports

MERIDIAN REPORTS ON CABACAL INSTALLATION LICENCE SUBMISSION AND PROVIDES DFS UPDATE

Meridian Mining PLC has submitted the Cabacal gold-copper-silver project's installation licence (licenca de instalacao) (IL) application, to the Mato Grosso State Environmental Secretariat (SEMA). An IL for Cabacal is needed prior to commencing any mine-site construction, and extensive preparation and consultations have been undertaken prior to its submission. To ensure the near-term schedule for Cabacal, the ordering of long-lead-time items, including the main transformer of the plant's substation, has commenced. The SAG (semi-autogenous grinding) mill's design, technical specifications and pricing have been agreed, with only contract terms to be finalized. The civil surveying of planned access routes, power easements and bridges forming a key element of the future construction preparation has entered the final stages of completion.

Highlights:

• Cabacal advances the next step toward financial investment decision (FID) with the application for its installation licence;
• Cabacal feasibility study is nearing 50-per-cent completion and remains on schedule for Q4 2026;
• Meridian commences the purchase of Cabacal's long-lead mill equipment:
  • Purchasing of long-lead items now locks in prices and shortens the time to construction;
  • SAG mill technical specification completed and pricing secured;
  • Electrical transformers ordered from Brazilian supplier;
• Preconstruction civil engineering studies fast-tracked:
  • Roads, bridges and power easements surveyed for upgrade and construction;
  • Tenders for civil engineering are now under review;
  • Commitment letters for life-of-mine power supply signed.

Gilbert Clark, chief executive officer, commented: "The submission for an installation licence for Cabacal is a major step in advancing towards a near-term final investment decision. The submission represents a significant amount of engineering design work, adding to the positive engagement with the Mato Grosso environmental agency SEMA and our local communities during the preliminary licence granting process. The commitment to finance the future construction of a major mine is never taken lightly. However, our confidence to start placing the orders and pay deposits for long-lead time items, and shortly to commence the civil works, stems from Cabacal's PFS's [prefeasibility study] circa $1-billion (U.S.) valuation and 60-per-cent IRR [internal rate of return], and its definitive feasibility study's (DFS) workstreams that have reported an increased resource base and higher metallurgical recoveries. Above all, we have a local team experienced in building and operating mines in Brazil.

"The key take-away with Cabacal is this: When you know you have a company-maker of a mine, invest and build it. Then, grow the company via what I see as the most prospective exploration portfolio for VMS-hosted [volcanogenic massive sulphide] gold and copper in South America."

Installation licence submission

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

The licensing process in Brazil generally involves three sequential licences:

• Preliminary licence (licenca previa) (LP): issued at the planning stage, it approves the environmental feasibility, social impact and location of the project and establishes conditions for subsequent phases:
  • Granted in October, 2025;
• Installation licence (licenca de instalacao) (LI): authorizes the construction and installation of the project in accordance with approved engineering design plans and environmental control measures:
  • Complete documentation submitted on May 19, 2026;
• Operating licence (licenca de operacao) (LO): authorizes the commencement of operations upon verification of compliance with the conditions established in prior licences:
  • Submission scheduled for second half of 2028.

Project development -- long-lead-time items

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

• Electrical power main transformer, which has been ordered from Brazilian company Weg Equipamentos Eletricos SA, with an expected delivery in Q4 2026;
• The SAG mill, which has been designed to be 28.0 feet in diameter by 18 feet in length, is in final stages of the ordering process, with the technical specifications and the pricing agreed and contract terms now being finalized; once ordered, delivery is expected within 12 months FCA (free carrier arrangement), plus an additional four months is estimated for maritime and land logistics to the Cabacal site;
• Items also in the long-lead-time item order process include the gold gravity circuit, modular electrical rooms and the regrind circuit.

Project development -- infrastructure and civil works

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

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

Meridian has signed a commitment letter with Energisa Mato Grosso -- Distribuidora de Energia SA to guarantee the supply of the power demand for the Cabacal project during the construction, 2.5-million-tonne-per-annum mining and 4.5-million-tonne-per-annum expansion phases. A 24-kilometre power line route has been mapped to connect the Cabacal site to the existing Araputanga electric substation (the connection to the national grid). This power route has been approved by Energisa. The geotechnical studies for the installation of the power-line towers and environmental studies along the structures' route have been completed, with land permitting now under way. The project to build the power line is running in parallel.

Cabacal definitive feasibility study update

The definitive feasibility study (DFS) of the Cabacal project is approaching 50-per-cent completion and remains on schedule for reporting in Q4 2026:

• Data generation for the DFS has been completed and delivered to Ausenco to progress the engineering. The data included metallurgy to further derisk the process flow sheet, such as testing it on samples from the first five years of proposed mining, covering the payback period for the project and a pilot plant to demonstrate processing is effective at scale, geotechnical studies of all the mine site infrastructure locations have been undertaken.
• The mine plan has been updated using the increased DFS resource estimate and within that outlined in the PL. The layout of the site structures such as the process plant, waste dumps, DSTF (dry-stack tailings facility), facilities and site roads is complete and the process plant design for the ROM (run-of-mine) pad, crushing plant, conveyor, SAG and ball mills, and gravity gold circuit have been engineered, with the flotation and thickening circuits well advanced.
• The contracting process for the company responsible for EPCM (engineering, procurement and construction management) is currently under bidding.
• Design of the mine construction camp and related facilities are under way.
• The process for obtaining vendor quotations for the main capital equipment items as well as key operating costs such as the mining contract has commenced.

The owner's team continues to grow with the appointment of the procurement manager, Fabio Anjos.

Qualified person statement

Erich Marques, BSc, FAIG, chief geologist of Meridian Mining and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed, verified and approved the technical information in this news release.

About Meridian Mining PLC

Meridian Mining is focused on:

• The development and exploration of the advanced-stage Cabacal VMS gold-copper project;
• Expanding the initial resource inventory at the Santa Helena area through extension of Santa Helena Central and new discoveries;
• Regional-scale exploration of the Cabacal VMS belt to expand the Cabacal hub strategy;
• Exploration in the Jauru and Araputanga greenstone belts (the above all located in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil).

The prefeasibility study technical report dated March 31, 2025, entitled "Cabacal Gold-Copper Project NI 43-101 Technical Report and Pre-feasibility Study," outlines a base-case after-tax net present value (discounted at 5 per cent) of $984-million (U.S.) and internal rate of return of 61.2 per cent from a preproduction capital cost of $248-million (U.S.), leading to capital repayment in 17 months (assuming a metals price scenario of $2,119 (U.S.) per ounce of gold, $4.16 (U.S.) per pound of copper and $26.89 (U.S.) per ounce of silver). Cabacal has a low all-in-sustaining-cost of $742 (U.S.) per ounce gold equivalent and a production profile of 141,000 ounces of gold equivalent life of mine, driven by high metallurgical recovery, a low life-of-mine strip ratio of 2.3:1 and the low operating cost environment of Brazil.

The Cabacal mineral reserve estimate in the PFS consists of proven and probable reserves of 41.7 million tonnes at 0.63 gram per tonne gold, 0.44 per cent copper and 1.64 grams per tonne silver (at a 0.25-gram-per-tonne-gold-equivalent cut-off grade).

Readers are encouraged to read the PFS technical report in its entirety. The PFS technical report may be found under the company's profile on SEDAR+ and on the company's website.

The PFS technical report was prepared for the company by Tommaso Roberto Raponi, PEng, principal metallurgist with Ausenco Engineering Canada ULC; Scott Elfen, PE, global lead, geotechnical and civil services, with Ausenco Engineering Canada ULC; John Anthony McCartney, CGeol, Ausenco Chile Ltda.; Porfirio Cabaleiro Rodriguez, engineer geologist, FAIG, of GE21 Consultoria Mineral; Leonardo Soares, BSc, Geo, MAIG, senior geological consultant of GE21 Consultoria Mineral; Norman Lotter, mineral processing engineer, PEng, of Flowsheets Metallurgical Consulting Inc.; and Juliano Felix de Lima, engineer geologist, MAIG, of GE21 Consultoria Mineral.

We seek Safe Harbor.