Former Ma'aden CFO Joins Marimaca Board Ahead of US$587M Copper Financing

• Marimaca Copper appointed Louis Irvine, the former Chief Financial Officer of Ma'aden and Endeavour Mining, as an Independent Non-Executive Director effective November 1, 2026.
• Irvine has worked on developing and financing 3 Peruvian copper operations: Las Bambas, Quellaveco and Antapaccay.
• Irvine joins as Marimaca prepares the project financing package for the Marimaca Oxide Deposit (MOD) in northern Chile and advances toward a full construction decision.
• The 2025 feasibility study (FS) puts initial capital at US$587 million, with US$140.0 million in cash and no debt as of June 30, 2026.
• At US$4.30 per pound copper, the study returns an after-tax net present value (NPV8%) of US$709 million, rising to US$1.1 billion at the August 2025 3-month average COMEX price of US$5.05 per pound.

What Has Happened

Marimaca Copper Corp. (TSX: MARI | ASX: MC2 | OTCQX: MARIF) appointed Louis Irvine to its board as an Independent Non-Executive Director, effective November 1, 2026. Irvine is a chartered accountant with more than 30 years in the mining industry. He was Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Ma'aden (Saudi Arabian Mining Company) from 2022 until his retirement in mid-2025, where he shaped its financial strategy and capital allocation framework.

Before Ma'aden, Irvine was CFO of Endeavour Mining, Executive Head of Strategy and Business Development at Anglo American, and CFO Copper at Xstrata. He has extensive experience developing and financing copper projects in South America, including the Las Bambas, Quellaveco and Antapaccay operations in Peru.

Irvine joins an 8-member board as a Non-Executive Independent Director. The other directors are Independent Chair Hayden Locke, Chief Executive Officer Michael Haworth, Tim Petterson, Kieran Daly, Zenon Wozniak and Nicole Porcile.

A Finance Director for a US$587 Million Build

The appointment lines up with the company's next funding step. The 2025 Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS), led by Ausenco, outlines an open pit heap leach and solvent extraction-electrowinning (SX-EW) operation at the Marimaca Oxide Deposit (MOD) producing 50,000 tonnes per year of Grade A copper cathode at steady state. Initial capital is US$587 million, and total life-of-mine capital is US$1.2 billion, including US$529 million of sustaining capital.

Marimaca held US$140.0 million of cash and no debt at June 30, 2026. That balance covers pre-construction engineering and early works, but it does not fund the initial build, so external financing is required. A project financing process is under way, and the company describes market conditions as supportive of a competitive process. The split between project debt and any further equity has not been set, and that split will decide how much dilution existing shareholders take on.

Assore holds 19.6% of the company, Ithaki Limited 14.8%, Greenstone 6.3% and Mitsubishi Corporation 3.4%, as at August 26, 2026. Strategic shareholders including Assore and Mitsubishi Corporation support the financing process, although no shareholder funding commitment for the build has been disclosed. With 135.5 million shares outstanding, Marimaca had a market capitalization of C$903 million at a C$6.66 share price as of October 30, 2026.

Peru Copper Financings & the Quellaveco Link

Irvine's track record comes from the same asset class Marimaca is building toward: large copper projects in the Andes taken from development to operation. Independent Chair of Marimaca, Giancarlo Bruno Lagomarsino, linked that background to the workload ahead of the board:

"Louis brings first-hand experience financing mining projects through the development and construction phases, into operations across various commodities and jurisdictions. He joins at a pivotal time for Marimaca, as we prepare the project financing package for the MOD and advance towards a full construction decision."

The appointment also adds to Quellaveco's existing experience. CFO Peter Garner-Winship, promoted on October 8, 2026 after joining as Vice President Finance in March 2026, spent 17 years at Anglo American, including as Financial Controller for the US$5.5 billion Quellaveco project through construction and into operations. Irvine has worked on developing and financing the same operation, so the two roles complement each other: his on the financing side of the build, and Garner-Winship's in financial control through construction and into production.

Construction depth on the board comes from Wozniak, who has more than 40 years leading multi-billion-dollar mining projects, including Cobre Panama.

What the Appointment Adds & What It Leaves Open

Irvine adds senior-level financing and development experience to the board as Marimaca prepares to negotiate the capital structure for the MOD. His appointment does not secure project financing, reduce the US$587 million capital requirement or set a construction date, and the company has not published a date for a Final Investment Decision.

The milestones to track from here are the remaining sectorial permits, the terms of the project financing package and a formal construction decision. Irvine's background bears most directly on the second of those.

The Project Case Behind the Financing

The DFS gives the financing team a low-capital-intensity case to present. The company reports initial capital intensity of US$11,700 per tonne of annual copper production, which it benchmarks among the lowest of North and South American development projects. The capital estimate falls within AACE Class 3 guidelines, an industry classification for capital-cost estimates, with an expected accuracy of minus 20% to plus 25%, budget quotes for 80% of mechanical equipment and a 10% contingency.

At the DFS long-term copper price of US$4.30 per pound, the study returns an after-tax net present value (NPV8%) of US$709 million, an after-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 31%, and a 2.5-year payback. Using the 3-month average COMEX price of US$5.05 per pound as of August 25, 2025, the NPV8% rises to US$1.1 billion and the IRR to 39%. Sensitivity analysis shows the IRR ranging from 20% at a 20% lower copper price to 40% at a 20% higher price, at DFS operating costs. Over the first 5 years of steady state, the study projects average annual post-tax free cash flow of US$222 million, with C1 cash costs of US$1.45 per pound, and Proven and Probable reserves of 178.6 million tonnes at 0.42% total copper support a 13-year mine life.

Several permitting and infrastructure items are already closed. The MOD received its Resolución de Calificación Ambiental environmental approval in November 2025. On September 22, 2026, Chile's Panel of Experts upheld approval of the grid connection to the 110-kilovolt El Lince line, about 13 kilometers from the project. The company has agreed to a preliminary power purchase framework for 100% renewable power at an all-in cost closely aligned with the DFS assumption of US$93 per megawatt-hour, and water will come from recycled seawater through an already permitted intake and an approximately 32-kilometer pipeline.

Broader Context & What to Watch Next

Study economics are one input to a financing package, which also has to account for the outstanding execution items: the sectorial permits required for construction and operation, which the company reports are progressing in line with its master schedule; long-lead equipment with delivery times of more than 50 weeks; and the accuracy range on the capital estimate. Detailed engineering is under way with an engineering, procurement and construction management firm.

Dated items on the company's timeline include upgrades to the main access road from Ruta B-12, scheduled to finish by the end of 2026, and site early works scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026. Seawater pipeline route preparation is set to allow construction to start in 2027, and the crushing plant and heap leach and SX-EW plant packages are targeted for award in the first half of 2027.

Exploration continues alongside development. A 30,000-meter drilling program is defining the footprint of the Pampa Medina discovery, about 28 kilometers east of the MOD, where the company states data spacing is not yet sufficient to estimate a resource. The MOD financing package and the construction decision Bruno tied to Irvine's arrival remain the next decisions for the company.

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