Centerra Gold Inc.

Mining Authorizations

Mining rights and minerals are exclusively owned by the state. The state delegates rights to explore and operate to Turkish individuals or legal entities through set period licenses in return for royalty payments. Mining licensing is regulated by the General Directorate of Mining Affairs, a unit of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. Other institutions of importance are central government ministries, the provincial administration, and local government institutions.

Due to changes in Turkish mineral laws, which now permit the issuance of mining licenses for areas greater than 2000 hectares, we obtained in 2017 a new operation license number 85712 which unifies the previous two contiguous operation licenses (numbers IR 82468 and 82469). The unified license has a total area of 3,995.81 ha. According to the Turkish Mining Law, OMAS has the right to explore and develop any mineral resources contained within the operation license, provided fees and taxes are paid in order to keep the license in good standing. The operations license was issued on May 1, 2017. In January 2023, the Company received 10-year approvals of an extension of the operations licence and an enlarged grazing land permit to allow expansion of the Keltepe and Güneytepe pits.

While OMAS has the right to explore and develop within the area covered by the operation licenses, it requires various permits for its ongoing operations.

For information on royalties payable in respect of the Öksüt Mine, see “Taxes and Royalties” below.

The Öksüt Mine was discovered by Stratex International Plc (“Stratex”) in early 2007. Reconnaissance rock chip sampling returned up to 0.113 g/t Au from silica ledges within altered andesitic volcanic rocks at what is now the Güneytepe Deposit. In late 2007, Stratex made applications for tenements to cover the property and obtained a total of nine contiguous exploration licences covering an area of 111.6 km 2.

In 2009, Stratex and Teck Resources Limited (“Teck”) agreed that Teck would relinquish its rights under a 2004 strategic alliance agreement to acquire interests in projects owned by Stratex. In exchange, Teck received shares of Stratex and a sliding scale royalty on, among others, the Öksüt Mine. The royalty held by Teck was subsequently acquired by Centerra and cancelled in March 2016.

Centerra and Stratex formed a joint venture in 2009, to explore the project. Centerra earned an initial 50% equity in the project by advancing $3M to the joint venture through October 2011 and acquired an additional 20% interest in the project in October of 2012 with an additional contribution of $3M, which brought its equity interest to 70%. In January 2013, Centerra purchased Stratex’s remaining 30% to own 100% of the Öksüt Mine in exchange for a cash payment of $20M and a 1% NSR royalty up to a maximum of $20M. Centerra acquired and cancelled the 1% NSR royalty held by Stratex in December 2015.

Centerra published the first mineral resource estimate on the project in February 2013 (with an effective date of December 31, 2012) and on February 19, 2014, Centerra announced the results of a preliminary economic assessment on the project. An updated mineral resource estimate was published in February 2015 (with an effective date of December 31, 2014) and on July 28, 2015, Centerra announced the positive feasibility study results on the project and a development decision to proceed with construction.

In January 2018, the Company received the final permits required for the construction of the Öksüt Mine and, in late March 2018, construction activities commenced.

The Öksüt Mine achieved first gold pour on January 31, 2020, and achieved commercial production as of May 31, 2020.

In early March 2022, the Öksüt Mine suspended gold doré bar production at the Öksüt Mine when mercury was detected in the gold room at the ADR plant and subsequently suspended heap leaching operations in August 2022. In early 2023 the Company completed construction and commissioning of a mercury abatement system to allow processing of mercury-bearing ores in the gold room at the Öksüt Mine’s ADR plant. In February and March 2023, the ADR plant underwent inspection and testing by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. Following the completion and commissioning of the mercury abatement system and approval of an amended EIA by the Ministry of Environment, full operations resumed at the Öksüt Mine on June 5, 2023.

The Öksüt Mine is a high-sulphidation epithermal gold deposit within the Central Anatolian Volcanic Province, and part of the Tethyan Metallogenic Belt. The belt extends from southeastern Europe across Türkiye, the Caucasus, and on into Pakistan and contains a number of important gold and porphyry copper deposits. Magmatic activity and related ore forming processes are the result of the closure of the Tethyan Ocean in response to the collision between the north-moving Arabian Plate with the Eurasian Plate that began in the late Cretaceous period and continues today.

The Öksüt Mine gold mineralization is hosted within the Develidağ Volcanic Complex, one of the numerous stratovolcanoes situated along the Central Anatolian Fault Zone. The volcanic complex is composed of Miocene basaltic-andesitic volcanic domes, pyroclastic rocks, and lava flows. Flow-banded Pliocene andesite overlies these sequences and the Öksüt Mine mineralization to the north and east.

There are several gold occurrences in the Öksüt Mine area, the most important of which is the Keltepe Deposit. The distribution of the alteration assemblages and the gold grades at the Keltepe Deposit are strongly zoned, with a central massive silica breccia having the highest gold grade. This core is surrounded by quartz-alunite altered volcanic rocks, and as the alteration intensity diminishes outwardly, the gold grade decreases.

The Keltepe Deposit has been oxidized to a depth of up to 400 metres below the surface. The original copper content of the deposit has been completely leached out of the current resources; however, zones of oxide copper enrichment are found deeper within the deposit, below the planned open pit. An irregular zone of supergene enrichment exists below the oxide zone, with some high-grade sulphide copper intersections. It is surmised that the oxidation of the deposit has liberated the gold allowing heap leaching at a relatively coarse crush size.

The nearby Güneytepe Deposit is significantly smaller and does not show the more straightforward zonation and continuity of alteration and gold grades as observed on the Keltepe Deposit. Silicification is intense, however, the host rocks are much less porous than those at Keltepe, hence, oxidation is restricted to the upper 50 metres to 75 metres of this deposit.