TRX GOLD Corp

Notes:

Mining Methods

The Buckreef Gold Mine has been an open pit operation since 2021. The currently mined Main Pit contains several gold veins hosted within a shear zone. Approximately 80% of the Buckreef Deposit is sulphide-hosted within fresh rock, whilst the remainder is available as oxide or transitional material near the surface. The upper portions of the Buckreef and Eastern Porphyry Deposits are near surface and lend themselves to conventional open pit mining methods. This PEA studies two open pits (Main Pit, Eastern Porphyry Pit) based on mined pit topography as of January 1, 2025 and the current Mineral Resource Estimate. There has been no mining to date at the Eastern Porphyry Pit. Underground mining below the open pits has also been studied, and a long-term production plan has been developed.

The processing rate is planned at 1,750 tpd during the first two years of open pit production, increasing to 3,000 tpd in YR3 (year three). Open pit mining is completed in YR4. Underground development is planned to start in YR3 and ramp up over two years in order that by YR5 production is at 3,000 tpd.

The PEA mine production plan utilizes Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them to be classified as Mineral Reserves. It is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resource could be upgraded to an Indicated Mineral Resource with continued exploration.

An open pit mining contractor has been engaged to mine the Main and Eastern Porphyry open pits. The contractor undertakes all drill and blast, loading, hauling, and mine equipment maintenance activities. The Company provides overall mine management and technical services. Mining is planned on 10 m height benches, using conventional equipment such as hydraulic excavators, and a mix of 20 to 45 t haulage trucks. Dilution in mineralized material is estimated at 18% by tonnage and 15% by grade. The overall strip ratio for open pit mining is 6.0:1. Over the four-year open pit life of mine (“LOM”) a total of 3.5 Mt of mineralized material will be mined at an average grade of 1.92 g/t Au. Approximately 0.6 Mt of low-grade material at 0.73 g/t Au is planned to be stockpiled during mining and will be processed at the end of the Project life. Waste rock will be transported to a storage facility located just east of the Eastern Porphyry Pit, and mineralized material will be hauled to the primary crusher or placed on temporary stockpiles. Figure 1.2 presents the open pit designs.

Extraction of mineralization from the underground portion of the Buckreef Project will be through longhole sublevel mining with cemented paste backfill. The underground portion of the Project comprises three Zones: Buckreef Main, Eastern Porphyry and Stamford Bridge. The Main Zone is comprised of a series of sub-parallel veins extending from surface (where there is an active open pit operation) to a depth in excess of 950 m, with a strike of over 2 km. Approximately 250 m east of the North Zone is the recently discovered satellite Stamford Bridge Zone, with a strike of approximately 200 m and vertical extents (limited by drilling) of approximately 50 to 170 m below surface topography. Lastly, approximately 800 m east of the Main Zone is the Eastern Porphyry Zone, with a strike of approximately 600 m and extending to a depth of approximately 250 m below surface.

All underground mining will be completed by a specialist underground mining contractor. Overall mining dilution is estimated at 26% and mining recovery is estimated to average 93%. Sublevels are spaced at a nominal interval of 30 m and stopes are a maximum of 18 m along strike. The average HW-FW span is 10.1 m, with 60% of stopes being less than 8 m in span. Longitudinal retreat mining that involves driving an access through mineralization along the strike of the vein to the end of a group of stopes will be used where stopes are narrower than 13 m. Transverse access mining is planned where stopes are wider than the nominal 13 m limit for longitudinal mining. Haulage trucks will typically be 50 t, with 10-t and 17-t load-haul-dump units. Steady-state production of 3,000 tpd (nominally 1.08 Mtpa) will be reached after a two-year ramp-up period, and full production will be maintained for almost 13 years. Over the life-of-mine (“LOM”), a total of 14.4 Mt of mineralized material will be recovered from the underground mine at an average grade of 2.22 g/t Au for a total contained 1.02 Moz Au. An isometric view of the underground mine design is presented in Figure 1.3.

The Buckreef Gold Project is operating a process plant at a current average throughput of 1,439 tpd with 1.21 g/t Au head grade, and 72.2% Au recovery average. The current process facility consists of two trains of three-stage crushing, four closed circuit ball mills, eleven carbon-in-leach (“CIL”) tanks, and complete elution (less reactivation kiln), electrowinning, and carbon reactivation for the production and sale of gold doré.

In 2024, Orway Mineral Consultants (WA) Pty Ltd was engaged to assess options to increase throughput to 3,000 tpd and also consider options to maintain or increase the process recovery on 100% fresh (sulphide) mineralization.

The proposed expansion to the facility will be completed in two phases. Phase 1 has a production target rate 1,750 tpd (636,738 tpa) for YR1 and YR2 with capital expenditures for the following major equipment:

While in operations during Phase 1, expansion will be underway for an increased production target rate of 3,000 tpd (1,080,000 tpa) for YR3. With a planned grinding target of P₈₀ at 100 - 150 µm, capital expenditures are planned for the following major equipment:

The introduction of a flotation circuit to recover and regrind sulphide concentrates as well as regrinding, thickening, additional CIL capacity and elution circuit expansion is expected to improve overall process recovery to 88%.

Project Infrastructure

The Buckreef Mine site contains all necessary infrastructure for open pit mining, processing and production of doré. Facilities include staff offices, warehousing, camp and cafeteria, drill core shack, diesel fuel tank farm and fueling station, explosives storage, tailings storage, and water and sewage treatment. The open pit mining contractor has established infrastructure for offices, maintenance facilities and warehousing. The buildings are supplied with treated water for showers and toilets, and drinking water is bottled. The Property has telephone, cell phone coverage and high-speed internet.

Management employees and select contractors are supplied with camp housing, and hourly workers and most contractors commute from nearby towns.

Future site/camp improvements are planned, as are improvements to the process plant. Items required for underground mining include a paste backfill plant, underground mining contractor maintenance and office buildings, and a Phase 3 tailings facility.

Market Studies and Contracts

Gold prices utilized in this PEA are based on April 2025 CIBC Global Mining Group Analyst Consensus Commodity Price Forecasts compiled from various banks, brokers and financial institutions (Table 1.2).

Gold surged to a record high of US$3,500.10/oz on Tuesday April 22, 2025 on the back of ongoing heightened geopolitical and geo-economic risk.

The gold price payments received by TRX are subject to spot market conditions. There are no gold streaming or hedging agreements in place.

Contracts

Currently there are several contracts in place that are material to the Buckreef Mine. Most of the larger value contracts are as follows:

Environmental Studies, Permits, and Social or Community Impacts

Mining operations have been taking place at the Buckreef site by STAMICO since 1990 until an underground mine was closed in 1994. The current TRX Buckreef Project site is exclusively based on open pit mining and is fully compliant with the existing environmental laws of Tanzania. A review of recent operational reports indicated no significant divergence from regulations and commitments.

TRX is in active contact with the local communities in Geita and Mwanza area and is in constant contact with the local and government leadership about operational results and developments of the Buckreef Mine. The local leadership as well as government leadership are engaged in the planning activities for expansion of the Project.

Many environmental and management plan studies were completed several years ago. The environmental and socio-economic baseline for the Buckreef Project was documented in 2014; an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (“ESIA”) was performed by Enata Ltd. A modification of the existing Environmental Impact Assessment (“EIA”) can be expected with the expansion of mining (to underground) and tonnes processed. The EIA will be submitted for Tanzanian government approval for the duration of the Company’s mining license. Additional environmental assessments could be anticipated during the LOM.

The current Buckreef operation has an efficient system in place to conserve and recycle water including process, mine and storm water. During the Project development, tests from the drill-holes showed that ground water level depth is shallow at an average of 6.3 m below surface.

Capital and Operating Costs

All costs are in Q1 2025 US dollars. No provision has been included in the cost estimates to offset future escalation. Contingencies ranging from 5 to 30% depending on the cost item and have been added to all capital costs (“CAPEX”). No contingency is added to operating costs (“OPEX”).

TRX’s Buckreef Mine has been in production since 2021 and hence initial capital costs are considered to be sunk costs. Growth and sustaining capital costs to be incurred during the 17.6 life-of-mine (“LOM”) production years are estimated to total $359M, including contingencies of $54M (18% average). Total OPEX over the LOM are estimated at $913M which average $50.52/t processed. The following tables provide details of these costs.

Total capital costs over the LOM are presented in Table 1.3. Growth CAPEX are costs required to expand the operations and are estimated at $175M over the LOM. Sustaining CAPEX is the cost incurred to maintain planned production levels and is estimated at $184M over the LOM.

The LOM average operating costs for the Project are summarized in Table 1.4.

Royalties include a 6.0% Tanzania government royalty, 1.0% export fee and 0.3% local service levy, which total 7.3%, all as a gross revenue deduction. The royalties and fees total $182M over the LOM. TRX currently ships its gold for refining to Switzerland and South Africa. Royalties could be reduced to 4.0% if the gold is refined in Tanzania, and TRX is reviewing this possibility.

The current gold selling cost is $14.43/oz and includes doré transportation and security, refining and sales costs. Over the LOM this equates to $16M.

Ongoing reclamation expenses of $3.4M have been planned during the first nine years of the LOM plan to provide for progressive reclamation of tailings facilities and open pit areas. A final closure cost at the end of the mine life has been estimated at $10M and is considered net of mining and processing equipment salvage value.

Cash costs over the LOM are estimated to average $1,024/oz Au and include royalties. All-In Sustaining Costs (“AISC”) over the LOM are estimated to average $1,206/oz Au and include closure costs.

Economic Analysis

Cautionary Statement - The reader is advised that the PEA summarized in this Technical Report is intended to provide only an initial, high-level review of the Project potential and design options. The PEA mine plan and economic model include numerous assumptions and the use of Inferred Mineral Resources. Inferred Mineral Resources are considered to be too speculative to be used in an economic analysis except as allowed by NI 43-101 in PEA studies. There is no guarantee the Project economics described herein will be achieved.

The Buckreef Project economic evaluation conclusions are summarized in Table 1.5. At base case consensus forecast gold prices of US$2,707/oz in YR1, US$2,646/oz in YR2, US$2,495/oz in YR3, US$2,400/oz in YR4 and US$2,245/oz thereafter, the Project has an estimated US$442M after-tax net present value (“NPV”) at a 5% discount rate (“NPV 5%”). The PEA demonstrates the Company’s ability to potentially finance expansion costs from internally generated cash flow without an upfront capital requirement, thus there is no quoted internal rate of return (“IRR”) or payback period.

Table 1.6 presents a gold price sensitivity analysis and Table 1.4 presents OPEX, CAPEX and gold price sensitivity analysis.

The after-tax base case NPV is most sensitive to the gold price followed by operating costs and capital costs.

It is the opinion of the Authors that the base case PEA Project demonstrates robust economics. It is worthy to note that the Company has the potential ability to finance the Project expansion from internally generated cash flow without an upfront requirement. It is recommended that the Company continue with its planned process plant expansion to 3,000 tpd and that underground mining be pursued with further studies and exploration/Mineral Resource drilling.

Risks and Opportunities

A preliminary risk analysis was conducted on the Project by the Authors using a low-medium-high ranking system. The highest risk items were identified to be lack of detailed underground mine geotechnical analysis, mining contractor cost assumptions, and metallurgical recoveries. The main opportunity is that the deposits remain open down dip, and there is potential to increase the current Mineral Resource Estimate.

Conclusions

An open pit and underground mine plan is scheduled over a production period of 17.6 years. The mine plan for the Buckreef Project totals 18.1 Mt at an average grade of 2.14 g/t Au for 1.09 Moz of payable gold at an average 87.1% process recovery. Approximately 97% of the open pit mine plan portion of the Mineral Resource is Measured or Indicated Mineral Resource, which gives a high degree of confidence to the first four years of the LOM plan. Approximately 57% of the underground mine plan portion of the Mineral Resource is classified as Inferred Mineral Resource and will require a substantial drill program to convert to an Indicated Mineral Resource.

Based on the work undertaken to date, as summarized in this Technical Report, and the conclusions listed in Section 25, the base case operating plan is a viable and attractive development opportunity. Overall Project risks are perceived to be low.

Current base case economic analysis indicates that the Project is forecast to be profitable. It is recommended that TRX continue the Project development plans, and implement the drill program and advanced study recommendations set out in Section 26 of this Technical Report.

Recommendations

Based on the results of TRX’s successful drill exploration work and the positive results of this PEA, the Authors recommend that TRX continue with Project development activities on the Buckreef Property and proceed with a drill program in preparation of a Pre-Feasibility Study (“PFS”) with a subcomponent PEA on deeper underground Inferred Mineral Resources. To advance the Buckreef Project and initiate a PFS, additional drilling is recommended by the Authors to upgrade Mineral Resources from Inferred to Indicated Mineral Resources, and geotechnical and hydrogeological studies on the underground zones to be mined. Further study of process plant expansion, metallurgical testwork, infrastructure requirements, environmental/permitting, and Project economics would be part of the PFS.

The Authors have designed a drill program with 85 drill holes for 31,000 m to convert the majority of Main Zone Inferred Mineral Resources, to be mined in the first five years of the underground mine plan, to Indicated Mineral Resources. Upgrading of remaining Inferred Mineral Resources is recommended to be done from underground since it would be expensive to drill from surface.

The Authors recommend reviewing and revising the underground ventilation model since it is currently designed with a large power draw that could likely be reduced. Another recommendation is to redesign the stopes utilizing higher process recoveries to optimize the shapes within the sulphide areas, based on the latest metallurgical testwork and process plant expansion plans, which should improve Project economics.

It is recommended that cyanide destruction testing be conducted at an external laboratory. Further metallurgical testwork is recommended on comminution, confirmatory flotation, thickening, rheology of flotation tails and concentrate, and concentrate leach test at 40% solids, P 80 of 100 – 150 µm with oxygen sparging and kinetic sampling to confirm that the predicted recovery of the proposed circuit is achievable.

In addition, recommendation is made for future drill hole sampling at the Project to include the insertion of certified reference materials (“CRMs”) and blanks at a rate of approximately 1:20, the inclusion of coarse reject duplicates in QA/QC protocol, and to umpire sample a minimum of 5% of all future drill core samples at a reputable secondary laboratory. It is further recommended that quality control samples (CRMs and blanks) are inserted into sample stream of all types of drilling samples.

A work program with an estimated budget of $11M is proposed, as presented in Table 1.7.