Mr. Quinton Hennigh reports

NOVO REPORTS SIGNIFICANT ADVANCEMENTS IN MECHANICAL SORTING TECHNOLOGY

Novo Resources Corp. has completed encouraging gold processing trials at the Steinert Global testing facility in Perth, Australia.

Highlights:

• Recent tests of Steinert mechanical sorting equipment demonstrate recovery of fine gold nuggets as small as 0.4 millimetre, a significant step toward a potentially cost-effective dry and chemical-free means of gold recovery. Recent proprietary technological improvements in sensor sensitivity, image recognition ability and software development made by Steinert have been driven by the need to sort fine particles of metal such as copper from industrial waste, Steinert's main business focus. Novo is working with Steinert to exploit this technology as a potential means of gold recovery.
• This technology, using induction sensors as the primary means utilized to detect small gold particles, adds to Novo's palette of potential processing solutions. Fine-nugget sorting test work complements Novo's recent tests of other technologies including eddy current separation (please refer to the company's news release dated Sept. 16, 2019) and X-ray transmission mechanical sorting of gold-bearing conglomerate (please refer to the company's news releases dated Nov. 19, 2018, and Dec. 20, 2018, and Jan. 31, 2019). Novo envisions applying a combination of technologies to process its conglomeratic and lag gravel gold deposits that it is exploring across the Pilbara region, Australia, noting that Beatons Creek, in addition to coarse gold, has significant quantities of very fine gold amenable to conventional CIL (carbon in leach) gold processing.
• Steinert has provided favourable initial guidance on expected productivities of sorting various size fractions of gold-bearing material utilizing mechanical sorters. Productivity estimates include:
  • Particle sizes 17 to 50 mm: approximately 280 tonnes per hour;
  • Particle sizes six to 17 mm: approximately 90 tonnes per hour;
  • Finer particle sizes including submillimetre: approximately 50 tonnes per hour.

The provided numbers for tonnes per hour at certain particle sizes are estimated based on sorting a loosely packed mono-layer of material scattered across 70 per cent of a two-metre wide conveyor belt moving at a speed of 2.8 metres per second. Sorting of fine material may benefit from use of thinner belts, three mm instead of five mm, which allows for a higher induction signal and is expected to further reduce the size of gold particles that can be detected:

• Steinert has also provided encouraging mechanical sorting operating cost guidance. Typical operational cost of mechanical sorters is around $1 (U.S.) to $1.50 (U.S.) per tonne of feed processed at a belt coverage of 12 per cent. A significant proportion of operating costs are associated with the cost of providing compressed air to the ejection valves. Mechanical sorters are typically used for upgrading feeds ahead of long-distance trucking to a plant or as preprocessing to upgrade material where processing plants are constrained for throughput. Each of these scenarios involve high ejection rates, often exceeding 50 per cent of the total mass. In contrast to this traditional use, Novo's intended application contemplates mechanical sorting as the primary sorting mechanism to separate gold particles and it is expected that less than 1 per cent of material will require ejection at 70 per cent belt coverage. Novo have been advised that processing cost could potentially be reduced under this scenario to as low as 26 U.S. cents per tonne.
• Novo envisions utilization of mechanical sorting as a means of dry processing of Egina lag gravels and is making plans to field test this technology in 2020.
• These technological improvements in nugget detection have positive implications for gold capture at Novo's Karratha gold project. Test work conducted on Karratha conglomerates by Tomra, Sydney, Australia, in late 2018 and early 2019 clearly shows mechanical sorting of plus six mm gold-bearing rock is effective at capturing a significant percentage of gold, but a solution for the negative six mm fraction of crushed gold-bearing conglomerates was not feasible at that time. It now appears a solution is possible.
• Technological improvements in mechanical sorting technology continue apace, with Australia's dominant mechanical sorting companies, Steinert and Tomra, each supported by strong and active research and development divisions. Both companies continue to strive for improved detection and ejection capabilities to advance commercial application of mechanical sorters in the resources sector.

"Our recent tests on sortability of fine gold nuggets are very encouraging," commented Rob Humphryson, chief executive officer and director of Novo. "As investors are aware, Novo is experimenting with a number of waterless, chemical-free processing techniques to handle the unique nuggety gold in our Pilbara conglomerates and lag gravels. Tests over the past few months with Steinert mechanical sorters fitted with induction sensors have shown that we can now reliably identify gold particles orders of magnitude smaller than possible only a year ago. Early this year, we showed that sorting of gold-bearing rock material using Tomra's mechanical sorters utilizing X-ray transmission is highly effective. More recent tests using Steinert eddy current separators also proved very promising. We are quickly developing a palette of processing techniques that can be potentially utilized to treat our various styles of mineralization. Whilst we have been assured that a detected gold particle can be reliably ejected, field testing of these technologies in 2020 will be the next critical step to prove this technology and gain an operational understanding of productivities, costs and detection size limits."

Dr. Quinton Hennigh, PGeo, the company's, president, chairman, director, and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has approved the technical contents of this news release.

About Novo Resources Corp.

Novo's focus is to explore and develop gold projects in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, and Novo has built up a significant land package covering approximately 13,000 square kilometres with varying ownership interests.

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