Mr. Kenneth MacLeod reports

SONORO ANNOUNCES POSITIVE PEA RESULTS AND UPDATED MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE FOR THE CERRO CALICHE GOLD PROJECT WHICH DEMONSTRATES A PRE-TAX NPV OF US$68.7 MILLION AND AN IRR OF 52.7 per cent

Sonoro Gold Corp. has released the results of an independent preliminary economic assessment (PEA), including an updated mineral resource estimate completed on the company's Cerro Caliche gold project located in Sonora state, Mexico.

The PEA has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of National Instrument 43-101 by D.E.N.M. Engineering Ltd. of Burlington, Ont., with an updated resource estimation completed by Micon International Ltd. of Toronto, Ont., and metallurgical testing completed by McClelland Laboratories Inc. of Sparks, Nev.

PEA highlights:

• Pretax net present value (NPV) (5-per-cent discount rate) of $68.7-million (U.S.) and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 52.7 per cent with a price of $1,750 (U.S.) per ounce of gold (Au) and $22 (U.S.) per ounce of silver;
• After-tax NPV (5-per-cent discount rate) of $41.5-million (U.S.) with an IRR of 32.4 per cent with a price of $1,750 (U.S.) per ounce of gold and $22 (U.S.) per ounce of silver;
• Seven-year life of mine (LOM) producing 323,500 ounces (oz) of gold equivalent (AuEq);
• Gold recovery of 74 per cent and silver recovery of 27 per cent produced from a three-stage crushing circuit, crushing the ore to p80 of one-half inch;
• LOM annual average production of 45,700 oz AuEq;
• Years 1 to 3 annual production of 56,500 oz AuEq with average grade of 0.51 g/t AuEq;
• Initial capital expenditure (capex) costs of $32.2-million (U.S.), including $3.8-million (U.S.) in contingency;
• Sustaining capital costs of $4.8-million (U.S.);
• Operating expenditure (opex) costs of $1,227 (U.S.) per oz AuEq;
• All-in sustaining cost (AISC) of $1,462 (U.S.) per oz AuEq;
• Payback period of 2.2 years.

Updated mineral resource estimate highlights at Au cut-off of 0.207 gram per tonne (g/t):

• Measured and indicated mineral resources of 349,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 0.41 g/t Au;
• Updated inferred mineral resources of 71,000 ounces of gold at a grade 0.40 g/t Au.

Also noted in Micon's report -- a range of the potential mineralization that may conceptually exist outside of the resource pit shells has been included in the report. Utilizing the same cut-off grade of 0.207 g/t Au as the current resource estimate, the range of the potential mineralization is believed to be from 19.25 million to 34.37 million tonnes containing:

• 204,000 to 365,000 ounces of gold;
• 1,683,000 to 3,005,000 ounces of silver.

The reader is cautioned that the potential mineralization ranges are conceptual in nature and that, despite being based on a limited amount of exploration drilling and sampling outside the current resource pit shells, it is uncertain that further exploration will result in the mineralization targets being delineated as a mineral resource.

"The PEA really highlights the intrinsic value and potential economic viability of the Cerro Caliche project," said Mel Herdrick, vice-president of exploration for Sonoro Gold. "Considering only 30 per cent of the mapped mineralized zones have been drilled and assayed to date, I believe the PEA also justifies resuming drilling this fall to continue expanding and categorizing the project's oxide gold mineralization."

Kenneth MacLeod, president and chief executive officer of Sonoro Gold, stated: "We are extremely pleased to announce the completion of the PEA. The results support management's continuing strategy to develop a heap leap mining operation (HLMO) with a targeted operating capacity of up to 15,000 tons per day (tpd). We are preparing to resume drilling this fall to investigate the prospect for expansion of the mineralized zones to extend the potential life of the proposed future mining operation."

John Darch, chairman of Sonoro Gold, commented: "The completion of the PEA is a decisive step in our efforts to unlock the potential value of Cerro Caliche and deliver value to our shareholders. The PEA demonstrates the potential for economic viability which we hope will support our strategy to establish an initial mining operation that will generate the funds to continue exploring and developing the project's potential. As we continue working towards these goals, management believes we will continue building additional value for our shareholders."

PEA summary

The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred resources that are considered too speculative to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves and there is no certainty the estimates presented in the PEA will be realized. The full PEA will be filed on SEDAR and Sonoro's website within 45 days of the issuance of this news release.

Capital costs

The estimated capital costs for the Cerro Caliche gold project are based on an open-pit mining and heap leach operation processing five million tonnes per year and utilizing contract mining. An initial capital expenditure is estimated at $32.2-million (U.S.) for the construction period, including 15-per-cent contingency. An additional $4.8-million (U.S.) is estimated for sustaining capital and $2.9-million (U.S.) is estimated for reclamation.

Capital cost estimates are based on industry standards and were developed using quotes provided by mining contractors and specialists experienced in mining development in Mexico.

Operating costs

Cash costs for Cerro Caliche for the life of mine are estimated at $396.9-million (U.S.), or $1,227 (U.S.) per gold equivalent ounce, and include mining, crushing and processing, as well as maintenance and administration costs. All-in sustaining costs for the project for the life of mine are estimated at $489.3-million (U.S.), or $1,462 (U.S.) per gold equivalent ounce, and include operating costs, sustaining capital, reclamation, taxes, royalties and refining charges.

Royalties include a 2-per-cent net smelter return (NSR) to certain landholders and taxes include payments to the Mexican government for mining royalty and specific mining-related taxes. Refining costs include shipping loaded carbon to a third party processing facility, as well as costs for processing the carbon and production of dore bars.

Open-pit mining will be undertaken by a contractor and carried out by drill and blast conventional loading and truck haulage to the crushing facility. An estimated mining cost of $1.90 (U.S.) per tonne includes drilling, blasting, hauling waste and mineralized ore to the heap leach area.

The processing facilities at Cerro Caliche will comprise a crushing circuit where mineralized material is processed through a three-stage crushing plant to produce material that is has p80 of one-half-inch (80 per cent passing) method. The material is then conveyed and stacked in a conventional heap leach pad and irrigated with a low-concentrate cyanide solution. Solution collected from the leach pad is then directed through a system of ditches to the processing ponds where it passes through a series of carbon columns. Gold and silver impregnated carbon is collected periodically from the columns and then dried and shipped to a third party processing facility for stripping and dore bar production. An estimated processing cost of operating costs of $5.70 (U.S.) per tonne include crushing, leaching, assaying, carbon handling and labour.

Operating cost estimates are based on industry standards and were developed using quotes provided by mining contractors and specialists experienced in mining development in Mexico.

Mineral resource estimate

As part of the PEA, an updated mineral resource estimate was completed to incorporate geological data from the company's 2020 and 2021 drilling campaign. The resource estimate is based on Sonoro's geological interpretation of the deposit that established six geological domains. The geological domains account for the two primary trends of vein-breccia structures which are surrounded by stockwork mineralization. These domains were analyzed for grade capping, variography and interpolated using ordinary kriging method. Once the block model was completed, it was classified into the measured, indicated and inferred categories, followed by a Lerchs-Grossman open-pit optimization which resulted in the mineral resource statement presented in an attached table.

Mineral resources, which are not mineral reserves, do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing or other relevant issues.

The inferred mineral resource in this estimate has a lower level of confidence than that applied to an indicated mineral resource and must not be converted to a mineral reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of the inferred mineral resource could be upgraded to an indicated mineral resource with continued exploration.

The mineral resources in this news release were estimated in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) definition standards for mineral resources and reserves, prepared by the CIM standing committee on reserve definitions and adopted by the CIM council on May 14, 2014.

The pit-constrained AuEq cut-off grade of 0.207 g/t Au was derived from an Au price of $1,800 (U.S.) per oz, silver (Ag) price of $25 (U.S.) per oz, process recoveries of 74.0 per cent Au and 27.2 per cent Ag, $1.90 (U.S.) mining, process of $6.47 (U.S.) per tonne, general and administrative costs of 49 U.S. cents, and 50-degree pit slopes.

The effective date of the mineral resource estimate is Aug. 24, 2021, and the estimate is only for the oxide portion of the mineralization on the Cerro Caliche project.

Qualified persons statement

David Salari, PEng, of D.E.N.M. Engineering, and William Lewis, PGeo, of Micon International, both of whom are independent of the company, have reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information herein regarding the company's Cerro Caliche project. Mr. Lewis, PGeo, was responsible for the updated Cerro Caliche mineral resource estimate and, along with Mr. Salari, PEng, has approved the information pertaining to the Cerro Caliche project in this news release. Each of Mr. Salari, PEng, and Mr. Lewis, PGeo, is a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101.

Stephen Kenwood, PGeo, a director of Sonoro Gold, is a qualified person within the context of National Instrument 43-101 and has read and approved this news release.

About Sonoro Gold Corp.

Sonoro Gold is a publicly listed exploration and development company holding the near-development-stage Cerro Caliche project and the exploration-stage San Marcial properties in Sonora state, Mexico. The company has highly experienced operational and management teams with proven records for the discovery and development of natural resource deposits.

We seek Safe Harbor.