Final results for the year ended 31 December 2024.

16 June 2025

Phoenix Copper Limited

("Phoenix", the "Company", or the "Group")

Final audited results for the year ended 31 December 2024

Notice of Annual General Meeting

Phoenix Copper Limited (AIM: PXC; OTCQX ADR: PXCLY), the AIM quoted, USA focused base and precious metals emerging producer and exploration company, is pleased to announce its audited results for the year ended 31 December 2024 (the "Year"). All references to $ are United States Dollars.

Highlights

Corporate & Financial

-     Investment in Empire Mine increased to $43.77 million (2023: $38.43 million)

-     Group reports loss of $6.27 million (2023: loss of $1.57 million) after charging an exceptional $4.60 million write-down of bond issue expenses

-     Year-end Group net assets of $40.93 million (2023: $37.19 million)

-     Company loans to Idaho operating subsidiaries increased to $38.83 million (2023: $32.54 million)

-     Authorised class of $300 million floating rate corporate copper bonds created. Initial $5 million drawn down during the Year, and bonds listed on The International Stock Exchange ("TISE") in the Channel Islands. Letter of Intent to subscribe for a further $75 million signed in June 2025

-     Placing, subscription and retail offer to raise $3.52 million completed in January 2024, and equity placings to raise $1.07 million completed post-period end

-     $2 million unsecured short-term loan refinanced into 18-month unsecured term loan in March 2024

-     Andre Cohen retired as a director and joined the Advisory Board

-     Paul de Gruchy, VP of Investor Relations, also joined the Advisory Board

Operational

-     Empire Mine open-pit mineral resources upgraded to mineral reserves. Inaugural mineral reserve statement published

-     Proven & Probable mineral reserves of 10.1 million tonnes containing 109,487,970 pounds ("lbs") of copper, 104,000 ounces ("oz") of gold and 4,654,500 oz of silver (66,467 tonnes of copper equivalent metal)

-     Mineral reserves estimated using assay data from 485 drill holes, extensive geological modelling, metallurgical recovery test work, geotechnical evaluation, and mine design

-     Empire Mine open-pit Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS") published. Pre-tax cumulative net free cash flow of $153 million over 8-year mine life; total cash costs of $2.44/lb

-     Life of mine production of 40,424 tonnes copper, 40,161 oz gold and 1.76 million oz silver

-     Initial Empire Mine open-pit equipment delivered to site, including two pre-owned ball mills and a fully equipped assay laboratory, purchased at significant discounts to the price of the same equipment when new

-     Areas of significant and consistent mineralisation identified at the Navarre Creek gold claim block. 20 additional mining claims totalling 400 acres staked

-     Earn-In Agreement on the Redcastle cobalt property renewed with Electra Battery Materials

The Company also announces that the Annual General Meeting ("AGM") will be held at The Washington Hotel, 5 Curzon Street, London W1 5HE on 27 June 2025 at 11.00 BST.

The Notice of AGM and Forms of Proxy were despatched to shareholders and made available on the Company's website at https://phoenixcopperlimited.com on 13 June 2025.

The Company's Annual Report and Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2024, and the 2024 Sustainability Report, will also be available on the website from 17 June 2025.

Dear Shareholders

While we are not in the business of creating a political chat forum, it would be unrealistic to say that we are not monitoring current events with huge interest. We have been hoping for some time that the US would react to the fact that around 45% of its annual refined copper consumption is imported. We are therefore very encouraged that the Trump Administration has decided to address this issue and take steps to increase domestic production of critical minerals, and copper in particular.

At the time of writing, our main basket of metals is trading at or close to historically high prices. As mentioned before, due to Covid and the Ukraine war's disruptions, we took the opportunity to redraft the Pre-Feasibility Study (''PFS'') for our Empire open-pit copper, gold and silver project in Idaho USA, streamlining it into a more compact and efficient process. The PFS that we published in September 2024 has been worth the wait, generating net (after repaying capex) pre-tax cashflow of $153 million over an 8-year mine life, using $4.45/lb copper, $2,325/oz gold and $27.25/oz silver. This compares with initial capital expenditure of $62.6 million, and also produces a 5% Net Present Value ('NPV') of $105 million and Internal Rate of Return ('IRR') of 46%. If we adjust the precious metal prices to current ($3,350/oz gold and $34.50/oz silver), the net pre-tax cashflow increases to $204 million, the NPV to $143 million and the IRR to 57%.

This is no mean achievement. The copper equivalent grade of 0.66% is higher than the global "in production" grade of 0.53% and significantly higher than the estimated 0.39% for mines under development. Relative costs are also competitive. Total cash costs at Empire, including royalties, are forecast at $2.44/lb. These compare favourably with Cerro Verde and Copper Mountain ($2.58), Morenci ($2.66), Bagdad ($2.73) and Olympic Dam ($2.88), to name a few (source: S & P Capital IQ, copper total cash cost 2024).  Our place beckons amongst western copper producers.

On the global stage, we are always keeping an eye on China, consuming as they do approximately 50% of the world's copper. It is reassuring to see strong growth rates still prevailing in electric vehicles (''EVs''), with recent rates of 18% showing no signs of slowing down. The Chinese EV market is forecast by some to grow as high as $780 billion between now and 2029 from its current $377 billion. However, there are newer consumers to consider. Annual copper consumption per capita in India is now close to 1kg, compared with a global average of 3.2kg or more than 7kg in China and the US. It is notable that in 2023, India consumed 1.5 million tonnes, a 16% increase from 2022, while China consumed 13 million tonnes.

Artificial intelligence and the gig economy are also emerging as key drivers of growth in demand. One gigawatt of power for a new data centre requires in excess of 25,000 tonnes of cabling. Sixteen GW of AI data centre-related capacity is likely to be added in the US by 2026, which will need 400,000 tonnes of copper - equivalent to the output of a major mine, costing $3.2 billion at current prices. With Microsoft reportedly spending $115 billion in this space, it is insignificant by comparison.

The jury may still be out on EVs, but not on solar, hydropower and wind. Solar requires between 2.45 and 7 tonnes of cable per megawatt, hydro 4 tonnes, onshore wind 2.5 to 6.4 tonnes and offshore 10.5 tonnes. While overhead high-tension cables are made from aluminium, submerged or buried cables are nearly always made from copper. 

On the supply side, refined copper production has not grown much since 2016, and new mines are needed to replace depletion from existing mines. Global grades of copper reserves were higher than 1% in the 1980s. This figure has fallen to below 0.4%, which has raised costs, as more than twice the amount of rock has to be processed for the same amount of metal.

Many mining companies have boosted their reserves when the copper price was rising by rebooking lower grade waste rock as reserves, as the higher price made them economic to mine. This process has largely come to an end, and there is a distinct lack of new discoveries of the size to deal with the extra demand outlined above.

Many companies have also preferred to spend money on share buybacks and buying competitors rather than starting new projects.

There are some significant copper deposits that remain unexploited, since it has become increasingly difficult to obtain permits and funding for them. Although the situation may change under the Trump Administration, we are still looking at several years before we see any production from the likes of Resolution or Twin Rivers.

As a result, our bullish stance on copper remains intact.

Although it is disappointing that the $80 million subscription for our corporate copper bonds, signed in June last year, remains only $5 million drawn down, I am pleased to report that we have signed a Letter of Intent with an accredited US investor to subscribe for the additional $75 million. This subscription, which is subject to the preparation and execution of definitive legal documentation, including the bond subscription letter, will enable us to complete construction and proceed into production at the Empire open-pit mine. We are hopeful that we will be able to commence drawdown on this additional funding later this month or early next.

Finally, I would like to thank all of you who have remained with us for your patience under trying circumstances. We appreciate that it has not been an easy ride and are ever grateful for your support.

Marcus Edwards-Jones

Executive Chairman

16 June 2025

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER'S REPORT

The Company marked several notable achievements in 2024, including the publication of copper, gold, and silver mineral reserves in the Empire Open Pit, the Empire Open Pit Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS"), and the receipt of the grinding mills at our Mackay, Idaho lay down yard. The mining industry as a whole also marked a couple of notable milestones over the past 12 months, here in the US with the inauguration of a pro-mining White House administration, and globally with record copper and gold prices.

The inaugural Empire mineral reserves statement was published in May and reported economically viable Proven & Probable reserves of 10.1 million tonnes containing 109,487,970 lbs of copper, 104,000 ounces ("oz") of gold and 4,654,400 oz of silver, for a total of 66,467 copper equivalent metric tonnes ("mt").

The Company's PFS was published in September. The modelling and engineering in the PFS resulted in an 8-year open pit mine life producing payable metal of 89,094,705 copper lbs (40,424 mt), 40,161 oz gold, and 1,759,717 oz silver, with an estimated $62.6 million capex and total cash operating cost of $2.44/lb of copper equivalent metal, and pre-tax economics of US$87.86 million discounted net present value at 7.5% ("NPV7.5"), a 46.4% internal rate of return ("IRR"), and cumulative net free cashflow of US$152.98 million over the life of the mine.

We have spent much of the past year sourcing equipment for the open pit operation, including a grinding circuit (ball mills) that were transported and offloaded in Mackay in the fall.  We also purchased and transported two tailings filtration units to Mackay, as well as other lesser rolling stock and truck shop equipment.  The Company has also invested in a mine office, core logging facility, and an equipment warehouse facility in Mackay, all of which will service the mine. Including the laboratory and assay equipment purchased from Auric in 2023, we are preparing the equipment and supplies necessary for mine construction and operation.

A new White House administration was voted into office in November and immediately positioned itself as pro-mining, pro-energy, and pro-industrial.  The administration announced that it would attempt to fast- track federal mine permitting by utilizing a law created in 2015 known as "Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act - Title 41" (more commonly known as "FAST-41") to simplify and streamline the permitting process for a variety of business sectors, including mineral exploration and mining.  Although FAST-41 does not alter any applicable statutory or regulatory requirements or laws and does not predetermine the outcome of any federal decision-making process with respect to infrastructure projects receiving program benefits, it is intended to promote more transparent timetables for the federal review process, and to reduce the duplicative processes encountered on complex projects that are subject to multiple federal agency reviews.      

Based on the current FAST-41 requirements, Phoenix's Idaho projects do not meet the criteria for inclusion in the program.  The Empire Open-Pit project does not meet the program's minimum investment/capital expenditure requirement. The Horseshoe-Windy Devil and Navarre Creek projects have required federal exploration permitting in the past and have not encountered exploration permitting delays and therefore do not need to be fast-tracked. Exploration of the Empire Copper Sulphides will be completed on private land and will not be subject to federal exploration permitting.  Even though our Idaho projects do not meet the criteria for inclusion in the program, it is still advantageous to Phoenix to have an administration so willing to streamline and advance copper and other critical mineral projects. It is also a boost to the mining sector that the administration is fast-tracking energy and industrial projects, all of which use the same metals that will be mined at Empire.

While the Company hopes that the FAST-41 streamlined federal permitting process will eventually be applied to all mineral projects in the U.S., we are encouraged by the fact that the majority of our Idaho projects are either situated on privately-owned land or are in areas where favorable environmental conditions exist to support mineral exploration activities.

Copper reached an all-time high of $5.24/lb in March of this year. As I write this, the price is $4.52/lb with futures up 5% to $4.90/lb.  Gold has climbed through $3,390/oz, closing in on April's all time high of $3500/oz, and silver has also surged to $34/oz. These metal prices are significant and exciting for Phoenix because the Empire mineral reserves host all three metals, and the crush-grind-flotation-tank leach-cementation circuit recently designed for processing Empire ore will recover all three metals.  Copper, gold, and silver production is highlighted in the 2024 PFS and is made possible employing standard open-pit mining methods and the recently designed milling process. The processing facility has been engineered with a small enough footprint for siting on the Company's patented mining claims near the open pit.  The proximity of the mill to the open pit reduces the haulage distance of the ore to the crusher, which requires a smaller mining fleet in terms of truck count and size, and thereby reduces both capital and operating costs. The mill will produce two pay streams, a copper, gold, silver concentrate stream and a cement copper stream, both of which will be shipped to market without the need of further processing or refining at the Empire site.

In addition to processing ore from the Empire open pit, the flotation circuit will be capable of recovering copper, gold, and silver as a concentrate from the high-grade sulphide vein material that exists below the open pit and was mined extensively until the early 1940s.  The Empire team is currently finalizing a plan to advance the exploration of the deeper sulphide vein system with an eye on augmenting the open pit ore with feed from the higher-grade sulphide vein system below the pit. The planning includes driving an adit toward known sulphide mineralization and developing underground drilling stations along the length of the adit.  Known sulphide mineralization includes the 8.38% copper interval intercepted in the 2021 core drilling program, which also assayed 1.31 grammes per tonne ("g/t") gold and 120 g/t silver. Historically mined grades from the sulphide vein system below the open pit were recorded as high as 8% copper, with smelter recoveries of the time recorded as averaging 3.64% copper, 1.64 g/t gold, and 54 g/t silver.  Resources permitting, we hope to commence underground work later this year.

The Phoenix team is currently in the process of finishing detailed engineering for the mine and processing facility, sourcing equipment and supplies for mine construction, completing land surveys, and preparing a plan of operations with the new processing design to submit to the federal regulatory authorities. Archaeological surveying of the waste rock facility and access road will be completed this month.  Although this work has slowed to some degree while we continue on the funding front, progress is being made, and the Company's Idaho assets are being well maintained.

The Team is also making progress building an underground development plan for drilling the sulphide targets below the open pit reserve, resources permitting. The Navarre Creek gold exploration property and the Redcastle and Bighorn cobalt exploration properties are being well maintained and are positioned for exploration activities to continue once the detailed engineering and plan of operations are completed at Empire and resources permit. The earn-in agreement with Electra Battery Materials on the Company's Redcastle cobalt project was also renewed and extended in mid-2024.

2024 Empire Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves

A Proven and Probable reserve estimate was completed by Hardrock Consulting in April 2024 and reported for the polymetallic Empire Mine open pit oxide deposit. The estimate reports Proven and Probable reserves in the Empire open-pit oxide deposit of 10,097,000 tonnes containing 49,677 mt of copper, 104,000 oz of gold, and 4,654,400 oz of silver, for a combined 66,467 mt of copper equivalent metal. It was estimated using assay data from 485 drill holes, extensive geological modelling, metallurgical recovery test work, geotechnical evaluation, and mine design.

Mineral Reserve Statement for Empire Mine, after Hard Rock Consulting April 2024

Fully diluted tonnes at a Net Smelter Return ("NSR") cut-off of $22.59/tonne

The mineral reserves reported herein for the Empire project have been estimated in a manner consistent with the NI 43-101 Committee of Mineral Reserves International Reporting Standards ("CRIRSCO"), of which both the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") and Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the "JORC Code") are members.

2024 PFS - Summary of Economic Results

The economic analysis of the base case scenario for the Empire open-pit mine uses metal prices of $4.45/lb for copper, $2,325/oz for gold and $27.25/oz for silver. The economic model shows a pre-tax NPV7.5 of $87.86 million using a $22.59/tonne NSR cut-off, as well as a pre-tax IRR of 46.4%. Table 1 summarises the projected cashflow, NPV at varying rates, IRR, years of positive cash flows to repay the negative cash flow ("Payback Period"), and multiple of positive cash flows compared to the maximum negative cash flow ("Payback Multiple") on both after-tax and before-tax bases.

The metal prices used in the PFS economic analysis were based on near-term trailing averages at the time the PFS was being written and were considered to be conservative.  While the current price of copper is similar to that used in the PFS analysis, the price of precious metals has increased considerably, gold in particular.  There is no guarantee that metal prices will maintain their current levels, but in the event that metal prices remain at current levels during open pit production, the Company could expect to see an increase of roughly $50 million in pre-tax cumulative net cashflow and a roughly $30 million increased NPV7.5%.  The Company will be reevaluating the metal prices as part of the detailed engineering work, and if determined prudent will reoptimize the economics using updated metal prices.

PFS - Metallurgy and Process Design

3,502 feet (1,067 metres) of core from the Empire copper oxide deposit was sampled and evaluated for the metallurgical recovery of copper, gold, and silver. The results of the metallurgical test work, as presented in the PFS, show that a crush-grind-flotation-tank leach milling process provides the optimum metal recoveries for the cost. The flotation-leaching circuit that has been designed for the Empire open pit ore has a much smaller footprint than a classic heap leach design, allowing for the processing plant to be sited on the Company's patented (private) mining claims near the open pit.  The proximity of the plant to the open pit will reduce overall operating costs by reducing the ore haulage distance.  The improved haulage cycle-time gained from the shortened haulage distance also allows for the use of smaller, less expensive haul trucks.

In addition to the cost benefits of a smaller footprint plant sited on private land, the flotation-leaching circuit will be capable of processing sulphide material currently being explored elsewhere on the Empire property.  From an environmental permitting standpoint, siting the processing plant on private land should help to simplify the overall permitting process.

The flotation + leaching metallurgical recovery results and reserve pit optimization parameters are shown in the table below. Optimization of the processing circuit is ongoing.

Red Star - High grade silver Inferred Resource

Red Star is a high-angle silver-lead vein system hosted in andradite-magnetite and located 330-metres north-northwest of the Empire oxide pit.  Red Star was identified from a 20-metre wide surface outcrop across a skarn structure.

In May 2019, the Company announced a small maiden Inferred sulphide resource of 103,500 tonnes, containing 577,000 ounces of silver, 3,988 tonnes of lead, 957 tonnes of zinc, 338 tonnes of copper, and 2,800 ounces of gold, as summarized in the table below.

Navarre Creek Gold Claim Block

During the summer of 2023, 28 reverse-circulation drill holes were completed into four (4) target areas within the 16.18 square kilometer Navarre Creek gold claim block. Drilling at two of the four target areas resulted in the identification of continuous, low-grade gold mineralization ranging from 4.5 metres to 22.9 metres thick in the Lehman Creek target area, and anomalous silver and antimony along a structure in the west fork of Navarre Creek.

The initial assays from the two Navarre Creek targets showed low-grade mineralization worthy of further investigation. As a result, an additional 400 acres of unpatented mining claims were staked to the south-west of the Lehman Creek fault target, expanding our Navarre Creek claim block to 197 unpatented claims covering 4,070 acres.

Empire Mine Expansion - Horseshoe, Whiteknob, and Windy Devil

The Horseshoe, Whiteknob, and Windy Devil claim blocks, located immediately north of the Empire Mine project, are situated within the core of the Empire mineralization and remain attractive exploration targets. The core Empire claim group has grown to 8,434 acres (34.13 sq kms) by expanding north to the former Horseshoe and Whiteknob Mines and onto Windy Devil. This expansion covers approximately 30 historic adits, shafts and prospects, which exhibit geology and mineralogy similar to Red Star, and which will be the subject of further exploration going forward.

Idaho Cobalt Belt - Redcastle and Bighorn Projects 

The Company owns two strategically located properties on the Idaho Cobalt Belt in Lemhi County, Idaho - Redcastle and Bighorn.  The Redcastle property is held by Borah Resources, our 100% owned, Idaho registered subsidiary. In May 2021, the Redcastle holding was signed to an earn-in agreement with Electra Battery Materials Corporation, the Toronto-based owner of the Iron Creek Cobalt Mine, which shares a common border with the Redcastle property. The earn-in agreement with Electra Battery Materials on the Company's Redcastle cobalt project was renewed and extended in mid-2024.

The Bighorn property, located on the northern end of the Idaho Cobalt Belt, is held by Salmon Canyon Resources, another 100% owned, Idaho registered subsidiary.  Bighorn is situated east of the historic Salmon Canyon copper cobalt underground mine and shares a common border with New World Resources' Colson cobalt-copper project.

In addition to copper, cobalt is a critical metal for electric vehicles and global electrification projects.  Cobalt deposits are rare, particularly in first world jurisdictions. The Company's cobalt projects are located in the USA's only prospective cobalt region, the Idaho Cobalt Belt, approximately 100 miles north of the Empire Mine. In 2018 we announced the results of our 2017 reconnaissance program of 46 surface grab samples, which gave cobalt values ranging from 2 ppm to 0.31% cobalt.  

Outlook

Copper, gold, and silver prices are testing new ground and are remaining well above the prices used for the Empire mineral reserves estimation and for the reserve pit optimization and economics in the PFS. The current White House administration recognizes the importance of domestic metals production, as well as the development of domestic energy sources and domestic manufacturing in general, all of which creates a demand for the very minerals that we will produce on our Idaho projects.

We believe we have simplified the overall permitting process by siting the open pit and processing facility on private land.  Our energy is currently focused on completing all of the necessary detailed engineering required to submit a plan of operations and successfully permit and construct the open pit mine.  Additionally, and whilst we finalise further construction and development financing, we have identified the sources for the equipment and supplies necessary to complete construction and proceed into operation and mineral production. 

In the meantime, we also continue plan development for our exploration properties to ensure those projects can be executed upon receiving the necessary resources.

Key Performance Indicators ("KPIs")

To date, the Group has focused on the delivery of the project evaluation work programs to assess the available mineral reserves and resources and the extraction methods to apply, each within the available financial budgets. This work will continue until the relevant feasibility studies are completed, and final construction commences.

At that stage, the Group will consider and implement appropriate operational performance measures and related KPIs as the objective of recommencing commercial production at the Empire Mine nears fruition.      

Conclusion

The Company's focus in 2024 was to complete and publish an inaugural mineral reserve statement and PFS for the Empire open pit. Both reports were completed and published, memorializing the extensive geological and engineering efforts of the Phoenix team. The Company has now taken the information developed for the mineral reserve and the PFS, applied it to the detailed engineering, and ultimately into a plan of operations. Additionally, the team is developing an exploration plan for the high-grade sulphide mineralization below the open pit. Although we have seen some funding delays, our Idaho projects continue to move forward. Our team of engineers, geoscientists, and industry consultants continue to do an excellent job moving the Company into the next stage of development.

As I have said before, and will continue to say, thank you to all of our professional staff, consultants and advisors, all of whom work tirelessly to accomplish our common goal of metal production.  And I would like to thank our community liaisons, shareholders, and directors for their considerable support. 

Ryan McDermott

Chief Executive Officer

16 June 2025

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors and authorized for issue on 16 June 2025.

On behalf of the Board 

Richard V L Wilkins

Director