Collective Mining to Commence 40,000-m Drilling to Unlock a New Colombian Gold-Copper Discovery

• Collective Mining is focused on drilling high-grade gold, silver, copper and tungsten porphyry systems in Colombia with excellent infrastructure.
• The company recently raised $18.9M from a strategic industry investor to fund a 40,000m drilling program this year to expand its new discoveries.
• Management is highly aligned, owning 40% of shares. The company believes they are developing what will become a famous gold camp.
• Collective Mining is taking a sustainability-focused approach, working closely with local communities to create non-mining jobs and improve the economy.
• Key upcoming catalysts for the stock include drill results demonstrating the large scale of the mineral system, and continued metallurgical work.

Advancing a Major Gold-Copper Camp in Colombia

Collective Mining (TSX:CNL) presents a compelling investment case as an exploration company with a portfolio of high-grade gold-copper porphyry discoveries in Colombia that is well-funded to aggressively drill out the potential of what management believes will become a major new gold camp.

"We're onto a camp of porphyry systems. So we're going to try and do that and look our goal as a company. We want to sell this ultimately," says Ari Sussman, Executive Chairman of Collective Mining. "This is to try and put an envelope around as big a system as possible, let everyone including the potential acquirers dream."

Interview with Executive Chairman Ari Sussman

Porphyry Potential

The company's flagship Guayabales project is located in the Middle Caldas belt of Colombia, host to multiple major gold-copper porphyry and epithermal deposits. Collective has been actively exploring the project over the past two years, and has already made grassroots discoveries named Apollo and Olympus, with more activities involving on the way for Trap, X & Tower and Plutus targets.

"There's no secret that Apollo is going to be multi-millions of ounces," claims Sussman. "We don't have any resource estimates yet, but you think Marmato sitting next door to us is 9 million ounces roughly in measured, indicated and inferred. What is Trap going to evolve to? What is Olympus Deeps? We're drilling 3 new targets this year. I'd be shocked if we don't make another discovery again this year."

To realize the full potential, Collective is taking a big-picture approach. The company plans to drill at least 40,000 m this year to hit the entire 4.5 km porphyry trend and identify the best locations for future infrastructure before focusing in on delineating resources.

"Every year when we do a budget, I ask of the management team - prepare a doomsday scenario budget," outlines Sussman. "It doesn't matter if we're at the top of a bull market and money's flowing, I say prepare it because then it trains people to think about how do you scale back in that problem time."

This forward planning allowed Collective to optimize its drill programs over the past two years during difficult market conditions and still make solid progress while minimizing dilution.

Sustainability Strategy

Mining companies today face increased ESG scrutiny and need to earn their social license to operate. Collective Mining takes a proactive approach to sustainability and working with local stakeholders.

"Go into the community, create before you're while you're drilling, start to create employment opportunities that are not related to mining," advises Sussman. "So you want to expand the local economies, train people in new careers and grow. And if it grows, mining just then becomes a part of it - it comes in, it lasts 10, 20, 30 years, whatever a mine life is, but then it goes out and the economy is stronger. And that is the trick."

In partnership with Colombia's National Learning Service (SENA), Collective recently graduated 280 local women in job training programs across industries like textiles, food services, hospitality and agriculture to create a more diversified economy. With the local area already at less than 5% unemployment, these newly graduated women represent a significant expansion of the available labor force.

"I don't like ESG as a word - sustainability is what makes these projects work," emphasizes Sussman. "Environment - all these things you need to do, but there's a way to do that, it's not that complicated - being responsible. It's improving lives that's the hard part."

Funding to Execute

Collective Mining is well-funded to deliver on this year's drilling goals after recently securing a $18.9M strategic investment. Notably, this financing did not come with an onerous investor rights agreement or a board seat.

"We wanted to make sure that this investor didn't have any control," notes Sussman. "So it's an under 10% shareholder, but when we take large investors that have skills, we like to utilize their skills...we're good at picking the pockets and opening the toolbox and pulling what we need out of the box."

Having a strong treasury in a tough market provides a lot of flexibility to drive the business plan forward.  While the immediate focus remains on drilling to demonstrate the scale of the system, Collective is starting to look ahead to the engineering studies that will underpin an eventual resource.

"We're at that point where we're ready to take that next step," reveals Sussman. "I like that because here's the thing - when I'm thinking about retail, some of the questions that get sent, you realize that not everyone's got all the information that they need or their understanding, quite frankly."

The Investment Thesis for Collective Mining:

• Exposure to the discovery and growth of a potentially major gold-copper camp in Colombia
• Aggressive 40,000 m drill program this year funded by recent $18.9M strategic investment
• Experienced team with strong inside ownership making new discoveries in challenging markets
• Sustainability-focused approach working proactively with local communities
• Steady news flow of drilling results from three discoveries with expansive potential
• Modest market cap relative to the multi-million ounce potential of the emerging mineral system

The broader investment thesis for gold exploration and development ties into the ongoing rotation back into mining equities after a prolonged bear market. Commodity prices have remained robust but equities are depressed, creating opportunities for astute stock pickers.

"I'd call it a somber mood, but there was a lot of generalists there starting to look to figure out where they should be putting money in this space," observed Sussman at a recent industry conference. "There wasn't a hot sector, there wasn't money chasing anything - I thought that was good."

"The equities this week have really started to improve," he noted. "Maybe we're seeing the bottom because the resource specialized funds who are decimated, they have no money - let's see over the next 3-4 months if they start to get some inflows. That that's how we'll know that there's a bottom, because they can't buy positions right now. If they're back in the market starting to build small positions in companies, that incremental buyer is going to drive valuations back to something more normal."

Summarizing the opportunity comes from Sussman:

"I'm not Robert Friedland - he has the lowest cost of capital in the industry. I would like to be that, but I'm not. But we've done a good job of managing our money and still advancing relatively quickly in an environment where no one was doing much."

Collective Mining has a combination of strong management with inside ownership, well-funded aggressive exploration plans, and a sustainability-focused approach that position it to create value in both the near-term through discovery drilling and the long-term through the potential development of a major new gold-copper camp in Colombia. The overarching investment thesis appears to be attractive for investors, especially considering the scarcity of active high-quality exploration projects in favourable jurisdictions. Continued drilling success could drive a re-rating of the stock as the market gains an appreciation for the scale potential of this emerging discovery.