Hycroft General Description
Operations at Hycroft currently involve open pit mining and run-of-mine heap leaching of oxide ore from the Brimstone and Bay pits. The Company has been increasing the mining rate over the last two years with the addition of larger scale mining equipment including Komatsu 320-ton haul trucks and Hitachi EX5500 shovels. In 2013, we expect the first two wire rope shovels brought into operation, one of which has double the capacity of an EX5500. Additionally, the gyratory crushing system and 20,000 gallon per minute Merrill-Crowe facility are expected to come online mid-year 2013 and are expected to improve overall heap leach recoveries and processing time for pregnant leach solution.

Gold and silver sales at Hycroft are expected to increase in 2013 to approximately 225,000 to 250,000 ounces of gold and 1.5 million to 1.8 million ounces of silver. Sales in the first half of the year are expected to be approximately 90,000 to 100,000 ounces of gold, increasing in the second half of the year. A number of critical projects must be completed to achieve the higher end of the stated guidance range of metal sales. The stated guidance assumes that there will be no material delays in the start-up of the North Leach Pad, new Merrill-Crowe facility or operation of additional mobile equipment. Adjusted cash cost* for 2013 is expected to be in the range of $565 to $585 per ounce (with silver as a byproduct credit).

Capital expenditures in 2013 are expected to total approximately $374.0 million, of which $130.8 million is expected to be financed with capital leases. Of the $374.0 million in capital expenditures expected in 2013, $21.7 million is for sustaining capital and the remainder is to advance the Hycroft expansion project and includes equipment, infrastructure, engineering, permitting, and support programs. Major additions to mobile equipment in 2013 include nine additional 320-ton haul trucks, seven additional production drills and the first two wire rope shovels, which are expected to become operational in the third quarter and fourth quarter, respectively.

We expect to begin stacking ore on the new leach pad expansion, the north leach pad, by the end of the second quarter of 2013. In addition, the gyratory crushing system and 20,000 gallon per minute Merrill- Crowe facility are expected to come online in the third quarter of 2013.

Company-wide exploration expense is projected to be $7.5 million in 2013 and does not include capitalized drilling. In addition to corporate office expense and annual land holding costs of approximately $3.2 million, we expect exploration dollars in 2013 to be directed towards follow-up drilling of the encouraging results encountered in the Three Hills area of the Hasbrouck project and to test Hycroft regional targets identified in the southern region of the Hycroft property claim block.

The April 4, 2012 NI 43-101 compliant technical report contains further information regarding the oxide expansion and can be accessed in the Hycroft operations section on this website or at www.SEDAR.com.

* Adjusted cash costs is a non-GAAP financial measure, calculated on a per ounce of gold sold basis, and includes all direct and indirect operating cash costs related to the physical activities of producing gold, including mining, processing, third party refining expenses, on-site administrative and support costs, royalties, and mining production taxes, net of by-product revenue earned from silver sales. Adjusted cash costs provides management and investors with a further measure, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with GAAP, to assess the Company’s performance of the mining operations and ability to generate cash flows over multiple periods. Non-GAAP financial measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP and, therefore, may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Accordingly, the above measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with GAAP.