Ms. Alexandra Sherron reports

EMPRESS ROYALTY EXECUTES GOLD STREAM ON GALAXY MINE

Empress Royalty Corp. has executed an agreement for a $5-million (U.S.) gold stream on the Galaxy gold mine in South Africa owned by Golconda Gold Ltd.

"We are excited to provide a gold stream financing to Golconda's Galaxy mine, which will support Golconda in expanding its production capacity," stated Alexandra Woodyer Sherron, chief executive officer and president of Empress. "The gold stream on the Galaxy mine will immediately increase Empress's revenue projections and expand our long-term revenue profile. With four producing assets in our portfolio generating significant revenue, we look forward to executing similar transactions on producing precious metal mines that will result in substantial returns for our shareholders."

In addition, Nicholas Brodie, CEO of Golconda, stated: "We are excited to partner with Empress who, through their due diligence, have understood the true potential of Galaxy. With the proceeds generated from the investment, we will be able to further implement and execute on our expansion plans at the Galaxy mine."

The investment

Empress has entered into a $5-million (U.S.) metal purchase and sale agreement with Galaxy Gold Reefs Pty. Ltd., a subsidiary of Golconda, and Golconda and certain of its affiliates, for payable gold production from the Galaxy mine in South Africa. The investment is based on 3.5 per cent of the payable gold production from the Galaxy mine for an initial 8,000 payable ounces; thereafter, the percentage will reduce to 2 per cent of the payable gold production until the earlier of: (i) 20,000 ounces having been paid to Empress; or (ii) 20 years after the first payment was made. The purchase price for the payable gold delivered pursuant to the agreement is 20 per cent of the gold spot price. The closing of the transaction and the financing of the investment is subject to customary closing conditions, including Empress's satisfactory completion of technical, legal and financial due diligence which is expected to be completed in early 2024. It is anticipated that the investment will be financed by Empress through a credit facility.

The Galaxy gold mine

Golconda acquired the Galaxy mine in November, 2015. Galaxy is situated eight kilometres west of the town of Barberton and 45 km west of the provincial capital of Nelspruit in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. The property covers 58.6 square km and is part of the prolific Barberton greenstone belt.

Galaxy consists of 22 orebodies, all of which can be accessed via adits at Level 17 and Level 22. Galaxy is currently mining at the following two main orebodies:

• Galaxy orebody -- a large pipe shaped orebody with a thickness of 35 metres and a strike of around 100 m;
• Princeton orebody -- a steeply dipping orebody with a thickness of five m and a strike of 300 m.

The current mine plan includes the mining of the Galaxy orebody and the Princeton orebody using a mechanized cut and fill mining method. There are also extensive tailings around the Galaxy mine site which Golconda intends to use to supplement production. Golconda has already upgraded the crushing circuit, float plant and filtration plant to 50,000 tonnes per month (tpm), from the original 15,000 tpm plant, which produces a gold concentrate.

Galaxy is currently in phase 1 of its expansion program taking production to 15,000 tpm and 1,100 recovered gold ounces per month. The proceeds from the agreement will be used to finance the expansion required in phase 2 to take production to 48,000 tpm and 2,800 recovered gold ounces per month.

Golconda Gold has completed the Galaxy technical report and the preliminary economic assessment (as such terms are defined below) for the Galaxy mine, which supports the expansion plans already undertaken and the future plans for expansion. In addition, Golconda has a drill-ready plan to expand the resource to over four million ounces, which encompasses the other 20 identified orebodies. Work is already under way to determine how this can support future expansion of Galaxy. Further information can be found in the technical report titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Galaxy Gold Mine, South Africa" filed on SEDAR+ on July 6, 2020.

Empress has completed a site visit, and a third party engineering firm has satisfactorily completed a technical analysis of the Galaxy mine. The use of proceeds from the transactions contemplated by the agreement will enhance and expand the production profile at Galaxy moving forward.

Richard Mazur, PGeo, a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release.

About Empress Royalty Corp.

Empress is a global royalty and streaming creation company providing investors with a diversified portfolio of gold and silver investments. Since listing in December, 2020, Empress has built a portfolio of precious metal investments and is actively investing in mining companies with development- and production-stage projects that require additional non-dilutive capital. The company has strategic partnerships with Endeavour Financial and Terra Capital which allow Empress to not only access global investment opportunities but also bring unique mining finance expertise, deal structuring and access to capital markets. Empress is looking forward to continuously creating value for its shareholders through the proven royalty and streaming models.

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