Ms. Tara Christie reports

BANYAN METALLURGY UPDATE WITH 93% RECOVERY FROM POWERLINE, AURMAC PROJECT, MAYO, YUKON

Banyan Gold Corp. has provided an update on continuing metallurgical test program work for the company's AurMac project in the Yukon Territory. Testwork is being conducted on the AurMac project's Powerline deposit and Airstrip deposit which host the project's 7.0-million-ounce (Moz) gold inferred mineral resource estimate (MRE). Results from the metallurgical test program utilizing bulk composite samples from Powerline and Airstrip demonstrate robust recoveries for multiple conventional mill processing options including gravity recovery in combination with carbon-in-leach (CIL)/carbon-in-pulp (CIP) and work is continuing for flotation-leach. The company will continue to advance and optimize these potential mill flow sheets through ongoing metallurgical testwork to support future economic studies.

Highlights:

• Gold recovery of 93 per cent, 92 per cent and 90 per cent from Powerline, Powerline East and Airstrip, respectively, utilizing conventional gravity separation and whole ore leaching (CIL/CIP) at a grind size of 75 micrometres.
• Gravity recoverable gold was found to be 54 per cent, 46 per cent and 24 per cent from Powerline, Powerline East and Airstrip bulk samples, respectively.
• Low sulphide concentration and excess buffering capacity indicates Powerline, Powerline East and Airstrip are non-acid generating.

"The increase in gold recovery from metallurgical work on the Powerline deposit to 93 per cent for CIL/CIP, demonstrates that Powerline has strong mill options with further optimization having likelihood to continue to result in increased overall gold recoveries," Tara Christie, president and chief executive officer, stated. "The Powerline deposit has been a key focus for drilling, metallurgical work and optimization studies in 2024 as we move towards a PEA in 2025."

Methodology

Banyan shipped 82, 48 and 185 individual intervals (approximately 491, 346 and 1,283 kilograms) of representative drill core from Powerline, Powerline East (formerly known as the Aurex Hill zone) and Airstrip, respectively, to Forte Analytical in Fort Collins, Colo., for the preparation of three master composites for the metallurgical test program. The drill holes and individual intervals selected were based on gold grade, depth from surface, spatial distribution and lithology. The test program has been designed considering the results of previous metallurgical work which includes over 200 bottle rolls and the initial gold recovery estimates for Powerline utilizing the conventional mill flowsheets identified in the phase 1 testwork released on Feb. 6, 2024.

The program includes acid-base accounting, mineralogy, gold deportment, comminution, gravity recovery, bottle roll cyanidation (with and without gravity), flotation (with and without gravity) and Vat leach diffusion extraction tests. The program was overseen by Deepak Malhotra (SME-RM of Forte Dynamics), who is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101).

Head assays

Head samples were assayed for gold, carbon speciation, sulphur speciation, metals and gold deportment. The total sulphur in the samples ranged from 0.61 per cent to 1.53 per cent, and total carbon ranged from 0.63 per cent to 0.90 per cent predominantly as inorganic carbon (greater than 85 per cent) (Table 1). The gold feed grade for the master composite material for Powerline, Powerline East and Airstrip were found to be 1.05, 0.67 and 1.02 g/t. A gold deportment study was completed on the three composites indicating free milling gold of 85.4 per cent, 92.1 per cent and 88.5 per cent for Powerline, Powerline East and Airstrip, respectively.

Industry standard comminution testing was completed on the composite samples to determine Bond's ball mill work index (BWi) and abrasion work index (Ai) parameters. The BWi for the Powerline, Powerline East and Airstrip were 14.7, 14.6 and 13.9 kWh/t (kilowatt-hour-per-tonne), respectively, indicating the composites are classified as medium. While the abrasion indices were 0.094, 0.11 and 0.12 for Powerline, Powerline East and Airstrip, respectively, indicating the composites are slightly abrasive.

Gravity recovery

The phase 1 test work identified 53-per-cent gravity recoverable gold (GRG) for Powerline, and additional evaluation was done using E-GRG testwork consisting of three-stage concentration (1,245, 239 and 94 micrometres). E-GRG testwork had gravity recoverable gold of 53.7, 46.1 and 24.0 per cent for Powerline, Powerline East and Airstrip, respectively. The E-GRG results are consistent with the phase 1 gravity results for Powerline and confirm the opportunity of a gravity circuit in a mill flow sheet for AurMac in future economic studies.

Bottle rolls

Bottle roll tests for the three master composites were run for 48 hours at P80 grind sizes of 53, 75, 150 microns. The whole ore leach results for Powerline ranged from 88.4 to 95.2 per cent, Powerline East ranged from 79.9 per cent to 88.2 per cent and Airstrip ranged from 86.4 per cent to 90.6 per cent. The whole ore leach results show increasing gold recovery with finer grind size. The 75-micron bottle roll tests had an average of 77-per-cent gold recovery within the first eight hours and over 89-per-cent average gold recovery in the first 24 hours showing rapid gold recovery kinetics.

The master composite samples were also run for gravity concentration followed by leaching of the gravity tailings. The gravity concentration utilized a Knelson concentrator and Gemini table collecting approximately 1 per cent of the weight followed by leaching of the combined gravity tailings. Each composite was tested at the same three P80 grind sizes (53, 75, 150 microns) as whole ore leach testing for direct comparison of potential benefits of gravity to the CIL/CIP flow sheet (Table 3). The combined gravity and leach gold recovery for Powerline ranged from 91.2 to 93.7 per cent, Powerline East ranged from 89.2 per cent to 91.8 per cent and Airstrip ranged from 89.1 per cent to 92.4 per cent. The combined gravity and leach results did not consistently show the same trend as whole ore of increased recovery at finer grind size. The inclusion of the gravity gold concentration prior to leaching on average increased gold recovery by approximately 3 per cent.

Environmental

Mineralogy and acid-base accounting were performed on the three master composite samples and the results indicate that Powerline, Powerline East and Airstrip are not acid generating and have excess buffering capacity. The samples were mainly composed of quartz (greater than 64 per cent) and minor quantities of albite, anorthite, augite, plagioclase, biotite, calcite, clinochlore, epidote and muscovite, with pyrite being the primary sulphide mineral present. The non-acid generating nature and excess buffering capacity of AurMac project material is an important consideration in future permitting and waste management designs.

Summary and next steps

These metallurgical results demonstrate strong gold recoveries at 75 microns for the CIL/CIP leaching flow sheets ranging from 86 per cent to 90 per cent for whole ore leach and 90 per cent to 93 per cent for gravity and leach. The gravity, flotation and leach testwork is continuing and further work is planned for optimization. Over all, the CIL/CIP and gravity with flotation-leach processes both continue to be flow sheet options that provide robust gold recoveries.

Additional testwork for AurMac is continuing and further testwork is planned to focus on the CIL/CIP and gravity-flotation-leach flow sheets using 2024 drill core. Continuing test work will advance our understanding of:

• Grind sizes, flotation times and mass pull for the flotation flow sheet;
• Grind sizes, leaching time and reagent usage for CIL/CIP flow sheet;
• Optimizations of both mill flow sheets utilizing gravity recovery.

The focus will remain on mill flow sheet optimization to minimize capital and operating costs for the mill flow sheets to maximize value in future economic studies.

Upcoming events

• Denver Gold Forum Americas -- Sept. 15 to Sept. 18:
  • Corporate presentation: Sept. 17 4:50 p.m. MT.
• Metals Investor Forum Vancouver -- Sept. 20 to Sept. 21:
  • Corporate presentation: Sept. 20 1:50 p.m. PT.
• GCFF Conference (Vancouver) -- Sept. 21:
  • Corporate presentation: Sept. 21 10:30 a.m. PT.

Qualified persons

Deepak Malhotra, SME-RM, director of metallurgy, of Forte Dynamics, is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, independent of the company and have reviewed and approved the content of this news release. Mr. Malhotra has verified the data disclosed in this news release, including the sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information.

Paul D. Gray, PGeo, is a qualified person as defined under NI 43-101, and has reviewed and approved the content of this news release. Mr. Gray is a consultant to Banyan and has verified the data disclosed in this news release, including the sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information.

About Banyan Gold Corp.

Banyan's primary asset, the AurMac project is located in Yukon, Canada. The current inferred mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the AurMac project of seven million ounces has an effective date of Feb. 6, 2024.

The 173-square-kilometre AurMac project lies 40 kilometres from Mayo, Yukon. The AurMac project is transected by the main Yukon highway and benefits from a three-phase power line, existing power station and cellphone coverage. Banyan has the right to earn up to a 100-per-cent interest in both the Aurex and McQuesten properties, respectively, subject to certain royalties.

The inferred MRE for the AurMac project was prepared on Feb. 6, 2024, and consisted of 7,003,000 ounces of gold (see attached table) hosted within near-surface, road-accessible, pit-constrained mineral resources contained in two near-surface/on-surface deposits: the Airstrip and Powerline deposits.

In addition to the AurMac project, the company holds the Hyland gold project, located 70 kilometres northeast of Watson Lake, Yukon, along the southeastern end of the Tintina gold belt. The Hyland project represents a sediment-hosted, structurally controlled, intrusion-related gold deposit, within a large land package (over 125 square kilometres), accessible by a network of existing gravel access roads.

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