Name of the Project
Berg gold project.

Location
Tahtsa Ranges of British Columbia, Canada.

Project Owner/s
Canadian-based mineral exploration and development company Surge Copper Corp.

African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) entered into a subscription agreement for a private placement financing with Surge Copper in April 2024. ARM will subscribe for 39 608 708 common Surge shares for C$3.8-million through its wholly owned subsidiary ARM Copper. ARM will own 15% of Surge’s shares on completion of the placement, subject to TSX Venture Exchange and South African Reserve Bank approval.

Project Description
The project has an estimated 30-year life-of-mine, with average yearly production of 191-million pounds of copper equivalent. 

Mine planning is based on large-scale conventional drill, blast, load and haul openpit mining methods suited to the project location and local site requirements.

The process design is based on processing mineralised material from the Berg deposits through copper and molybdenum flotation to produce saleable copper and molybdenum concentrates.

Mine facilities include:

• mining administration offices, a mine fleet, truck shop and mine workshop, as well as wash bays;
• common facilities, including an entrance/exit gatehouse, a security/medical office, an overall site administration building, potable water and fire water distribution systems, compressed air facilities and power distribution facilities, as well as diesel reception and communication areas;
• a near-pit mineralised material and waste crushing facility with associated electrical infrastructure;
• process facilities housed in the process plant, including grinding and classification, flotation, regrinding, concentrate handling, reagent mixing and distribution, as well as an assay laboratory, process plant workshop and warehouse; and
• an on-site camp, tailings and waste management facility, as well as a nonacid-generating rock storage facility.

The processing plant is designed for a throughput of 90 000 t/d at 92% availability. The crushing circuit is designed with an availability of 75%. Average production is estimated at 125.9-million pounds of copper, 13.3-million pounds of molybdenum, three-million ounces of silver and 12 000 oz of gold.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
On an after-tax basis, the net present value, discounted at 8%, is estimated at C$2.08-billion and the internal rate of return at 20%, with a payback period of 3.9 years.

Capital Expenditure
About C$1.97-billion.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Surge Copper has completed its 2025 multidisciplinary drilling and field programme at the Berg copper project, marking an important step towards a prefeasibility study (PFS) scheduled for the first half of 2026. The programme was aimed at upgrading mineral resources, validating historic drilling data and advancing technical and environmental studies needed for mine design and permitting.

Four infill drill holes intersected continuous porphyry-style mineralisation on the outer margins of the Berg deposit. These results are expected to support conversion of inferred mineral resources into higher-confidence indicated and measured categories in a future resource update.

Surge Copper also resampled 17 historic drill core holes using modern analytical methods and updated quality assurance/quality control protocols. This work has increased confidence in the historic dataset, enabling it to be used in future resource estimation and classification.

Notably, the re-assaying has identified a meaningful silver component in the north-western portion of the deposit, with several drill holes showing long intervals of elevated silver grades. The company has said this could enhance copper-equivalent values and potentially improve future resource estimates.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
ALS Metallurgy Kamloops (metallurgical test programme) and Ausenco Engineering Canada (lead consultant – PFS); and Moose Mountain Technical Services (mineral resource estimation, openpit design and scheduling).

Contact Details for Project Information
Surge Copper, tel +1 604 718 5454 or email info@surgecopper.com.