Ivanhoe Mines identifies Cu mineralization at Merke

Mr. Robert Friedland reports IVANHOE MINES ANNOUNCES DISCOVERY OF COPPER MINERALIZATION ON SURFACE AT PROJECT LICENCES IN KAZAKHSTAN Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. has provided an update on exploration activities at the company's new joint venture exploration project in the Chu-Sarysu basin in Kazakhstan. The Chu-Sarysu basin is the world's third-largest sediment-hosted copper basin. As announced on Feb. 12, 2025, Ivanhoe Mines and Pallas Resources (a United Kingdom-based private company) entered into an exploration joint venture to explore a highly prospective package of licences covering 16,000 square kilometres of the basin. The licence package area is over seven times larger than that of Ivanhoe's Western Forelands exploration project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Outcropping copper mineralization discovered in the south of the Chu-Sarysu basin Newly completed fieldwork on the joint venture's Merke licence has identified copper mineralization outcropping on surface, with an approximately 20-metre-thick zone. Reconnaissance work by Pallas and Ivanhoe Mines has identified visible copper mineralization at surface, in the form of malachite, azurite and chalcocite, on the Merke licence. The licence is located in the south of the Chu-Sarysu basin and includes a 36-kilometre-long, historically identified stratigraphic trend, with multiple samples returning between 1.0 per cent and 5.0 per cent copper. While clearly not an economic occurrence in isolation, the discovery of copper mineralization is significant in that it strongly supports the thesis that mineralization is structurally controlled, with faults and fractures acting as conduits for copper-bearing fluids into a package of folded sedimentary carbonate rocks onlapping older intrusive basement rocks. Follow-up work will now prioritize mapping these structures in detail, supported by high-resolution magnetic surveys to trace them at depth, and by evaluating basement contacts and fault systems as potential fluid pathways. Commencement of diamond drilling on licence in the west of the Chu-Sarysu basin The approximately 15,000-metre drill campaign, planned for 2025, has commenced in the western section of the joint venture's licence package on the Glubokoe licence several hundred kilometres to the north of the Merke licence. Drilling has started within 10 months of forming the joint venture with Pallas Resources. The first drill hole is testing potential extensions of mineralization first noted in a Soviet-era stratigraphic hole drilled in the 1980s, which intersected three separate copper-bearing intervals over 26 metres. The initial drill holes in the 2025 campaign are expected to be between 800 and 1,000 metres deep and will assist with calibrating the results with historic and newly acquired geophysical data sets. This in turn will inform the stratigraphic and facies models as well as help identify drill targets for the remainder of the current approximately 15,000-metre program. Kazakhstan's Chu-Sarysu basin is the world's third-largest sedimentary copper basin, after the prolific Central African Copperbelt The Chu-Sarysu basin is the world's third-largest sediment-hosted copper basin, after the Central African Copperbelt and European Kupferschiefer, hosting 27 million tonnes of known copper. The basin is host to the world-class Dzhezkazgan deposit, which has been continuously mined for over a century. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that there remains approximately 25 million tonnes of undiscovered copper in the Chu-Sarysu basin, highlighting its untapped potential. In addition, the basin includes occurrences of lead, zinc, silver, barium and strontium. Despite its significant prospectivity, greenfield exploration has largely been neglected across the entire region for over 40 years. Kazakhstan is a low-cost, mining-friendly jurisdiction that is underexplored Kazakhstan has a rich history in mining. The Central Asian country currently ranks as the world's largest uranium producer and the world's second-largest chromite producer and is also a major producer of copper, zinc, iron ore and coal. Mining and quarrying currently account for approximately 14 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and 17.5 per cent of the country's exports, equivalent to approximately $10.5-billion (U.S.). Kazakhstan is a highly cost-effective jurisdiction for mineral exploration and mining, with a skilled work force and a relatively low cost of operations, including labour and power. Despite its geological potential, exploration expenditure in Kazakhstan has notably lagged behind other major mining jurisdictions. On average, approximately $100-million has been spent per annum on exploration activities over the past 15 years, according to data by S&P Global. However, the past 12 months have seen a notable increase in exploration activity following a newly streamlined exploration licence registration process as well as the availability of Soviet-era geophysical data. Ivanhoe Mines alliance and exploration joint venture Ivanhoe Mines formed a strategic alliance and joint venture agreement with U.K.-based Pallas Resources in late 2024. The joint venture has accumulated a licence package totalling more than 16,000 square kilometres, spread across seven projects. The group of licences forms one of the largest exploration land packages in Kazakhstan and the largest in the basin. Ivanhoe Mines will sole finance up to $18.7-million over the first two years and can elect to earn into all seven projects under the alliance, up to 80 per cent, for a maximum consideration of $115-million over four years. The strategic alliance aims to combine Pallas Resources' unique historical exploration data set and first-mover advantage in Kazakhstan with Ivanhoe Mines' decades of exploration success in discovering over 50 million tonnes of sediment-hosted copper deposits in the Western Foreland shelf of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including the Kamoa, Kakula, Makoko and Kitoko discoveries. About Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company focused on advancing its three principal projects in southern Africa: the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex in the DRC; the ultrahigh-grade Kipushi zinc-copper-germanium-silver mine, also in the DRC; and the Tier 1 Platreef platinum-palladium-nickel-rhodium-gold-copper mine in South Africa, which is set to start production in Q4 2025. Ivanhoe Mines is exploring for copper in its highly prospective, 54-to-100-per-cent-owned exploration licences in the Western Forelands, covering an area over six times larger than the adjacent Kamoa-Kakula copper complex, including the high-grade discoveries in the Makoko district. Ivanhoe is also exploring for new sedimentary copper discoveries in new horizons, including Angola, Kazakhstan and Zambia. We seek Safe Harbor.