Meridian Mining - A Promising Near-Term Copper-Gold Developer in Brazil

• Meridian Mining (MNO) is focused on developing the Cabaçal copper-gold belt in Mato Grosso, Brazil.
• The company raised $18.4 million in a recent fundraising despite a challenging market, attracting institutional investors.
• Meridian's success is attributed to its execution track record, stable jurisdiction in Brazil, and attractive project fundamentals.
• The project boasts low capital expenditure, stable commodity prices (copper and gold), and a favorable jurisdiction for permitting and project advancement.
• The company's approach includes focusing on a short-term cash-flowing production strategy, attracting long-only funds that value the potential for returns and equity growth.

About Meridian Mining

Meridian Mining is a mineral exploration and development company focused on advancing its flagship Cabaçal copper-gold project located in Mato Grosso, Brazil. With a highly experienced management team and board, the company is positioned to become a near-term copper-gold producer in the stable and mining-friendly jurisdiction of Brazil.

In a recent conversation with Gilbert Clark, Executive Chairman of Meridian Mining, he provided updates on the company's achievements over the past few months and outlined the tremendous potential ahead.

Interview with Executive Chairman Gilbert Clark

Strong Institutional Backing Validates Cabaçal Potential

Despite challenging market conditions, Meridian Mining successfully raised CAD$18.4 million from institutional investors in recent months. The offering attracted high-quality institutions from Canada, the US, Europe and Australia and was oversubscribed, demonstrating strong confidence in the Cabaçal project.

As Mr. Clark explained, "What we presented to the our own shareholders in the investment community internationally was what we see is it being a near-term developer in a very stable jurisdiction of Brazil and that really tweaked to a lot of the institutional local in Canada but globally."

The impressive institutional backing validates the enormous potential investors see in Cabaçal to be a low-cost, rapid payback copper-gold mine.

De-Risked Project in Tier-1 Location

Mr. Clark emphasized that Cabaçal offers investors an attractive risk-reward profile thanks to the project's tier-1 location in Brazil, conventional process flowsheet and experienced management team:

"Let's look at what we're developing in Brazil - let's just a couple of fundamentals. If you're going to deploy the shareholders' and new shareholders' capital it comes down to what I've always said in these discussions – execution risk. In Cabaçal, within Meridian with our Brazilian guys who manage these projects, who deliver the guidance, how we're going to build this mine – we have an execution team that has delivered consistently on time, on budget and getting upside at each stage."

He added that Brazil offers a stable and mining-friendly jurisdiction where permits can be obtained efficiently. The Brazilian management team's proven expertise in project development significantly de-risks execution.

Clear Pathway to Production

Work is already underway on the next phase of engineering and economic studies for Cabaçal, with results expected in Q4 2022. The upcoming studies will outline a clear pathway to production for the project.

As drilling continues to expand resources, especially higher-grade near surface mineralization, Mr. Clark stated that the plan is to increase production capacity from the 2.5 million tonnes per year contemplated in the PEA to 4-4.5 million tonnes per year in the first 5 years of operations. This could boost projected annual gold production to over 100,000 ounces.

Tremendous Exploration UpsideIn addition to the core Cabaçal deposit, the project includes extensive regional exploration targets that provide substantial upside potential. However, the company remains focused on advancing Cabaçal itself into production first before allocating significant capital to exploration.

As Mr. Clark explained, "We're not going to splash all their capital on some exploration upside, we're going to test it and prove it. We're going to build the equity value on that hard asset of the copper gold deposit at Cabaçal."

This disciplined strategy aims to create value for shareholders by achieving initial cash flow, minimizing dilution and using operating cash flow to fund expansions and exploration.

Risks & Opportunities

Risks

• Execution risk - Ability to bring Cabaçal into production on time and on budget. Relies on expertise of management team.
• Capital costs - Initial capex and any cost overruns could require further equity financings, diluting shareholders.
• Operating costs - Higher than projected opex could impact project economics.
• Mineral resources - Changes to size and grade of deposit could alter production plans.
• Permits/regulations - Delay in securing permits or adverse regulatory changes in Brazil.
• Commodity prices - Lower copper and gold prices would affect revenue projections.

Opportunities

• Significant exploration upside - Potential to expand resources and make new discoveries along belt.
• Higher grades - Ongoing drilling intersecting high-grade mineralization could enhance project.
• Production expansion - Plan to boost capacity in early years could increase cash flow.
• Re-rating potential - Advancing project could lead to increased valuation.
• M&A appeal - Asset could attract takeover interest from mid-tier producers.
• Rising copper/gold prices - Would have very positive impact on project economics.

Conclusion

With its tier-1 location, experienced team, near-term production timeline and exploration upside, Cabaçal offers investors an attractive value proposition. Meridian Mining is primed to create significant value as it systematically advances the project towards production. The company's disciplined strategy and ability to attract high-quality institutional backing further validates the opportunity. Investors have a chance to position themselves in an emerging, de-risked copper-gold developer at the early stages of its growth trajectory.