Mink Ventures Corporation press release

Moneta Increases Resources to 4,265,000 Oz Gold Indicated and 7,496,000 Oz Gold Inferred at Tower Gold Project

2022-05-11

TSXV - TSX Venture Exchange · Nickel · Copper · Cobalt · Silver · Zinc · Canada · Resource Estimate

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 11, 2022) - Moneta Gold Inc. (TSX: ME) (OTCQX: MEAUF) (XETRA: MOP) ("Moneta" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an updated mineral resource estimate ("MRE") for its 100% owned Tower Gold project ("Project"), located 100 kilometres ("km") east of Timmins, Ontario. The consolidated mineral resource now totals 4.27 million ("M") ounces ("oz") indicated gold ("Au") and 7.50 Moz inferred gold, positioning Tower Gold as one of the advanced exploration projects in Canada. The MRE will form the basis of an updated preliminary economic assessment ("PEA") scheduled for completion later this quarter.

Highlights of the Updated Tower Gold Mineral Resource Estimate:

70% increase in total contained Au to 7,496,000 oz (combined underground and open pit) in the inferred category on the Tower Gold project Addition of 3,097,000 oz of total inferred gold resources

8% increase in total contained Au to 4,265,000 oz (combined underground and open pit) in the indicated category on the Tower Gold project Addition of 298,000 oz of total indicated gold resources

Increase in grade of the underground resources (22% indicated and 2% inferred) and no material change in the average grade of the open pit resources 25% increase of indicated open pit Au resources to 4,153,000 oz and 156% increase in inferred open pit Au resources to 5,801,000 oz Increase in higher grade ounces in the Garrison starter pit to 1,748,000 oz contained Au indicated resources at a grade of 1.07 g/t Au Definition of high-grade open pit at Westaway containing 1,067,000 oz at a grade of 2.14 g/t Au inferred resources Re-establishment of the open pit at South West containing 316,000 oz Au indicated and 1,195,000 oz Au inferred resources Infill of the Windjammer open pit to contain 1,767,000 oz Au indicated and 2,393,000 oz Au inferred contained ounces (Windjammer South and Windjammer Central)

The updated mineral resource was independently prepared by APEX Geoscience Ltd. in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"), with an effective date of May 11, 2022, and using a database current as of March 15, 2022. The Tower Gold project has shown a significant improvement in size over the December 2020 resource estimate and remains open in several directions. The majority of the new resources are attributed to the addition of over 3.0 Moz of total inferred gold resources and 0.3 Moz indicated resources, including the re-establishment of an open pit resource at South West, the discovery of additional resources at Westaway, the infill of the Windjammer open pit at Windjammer Central, and the definition of underground resources at Garrcon.

Mr. Gary O'Connor, Chief Executive Officer commented "We are extremely pleased with the outcome of this mineral resource estimate update for the Tower Gold project. The objective of a significant increase in mineral resources was achieved, while confirming once more the potential of this exceptional Project. We have seen an increase in the underground grade and an expansion of our open pit resource base without any material loss in grade, whilst capturing some of the previous underground resources within the new open pits. This resource update will form the basis of the long-life mine plan, with large scale open pit and high-grade underground optionality, to be outlined in a preliminary economic assessment ("PEA") study, anticipated to be completed in late June 2022. We would also like to acknowledge the excellent work of our employees and contractors in managing our significant drill program to deliver this very significant resource and a special thank you to our Wahgoshig First Nation hosts, stakeholders, and shareholders for their continued support as we advance this Project".

Table 1: NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate by Deposit - Tower Gold Project

| May 2022 Resource | Category | Indicated | Inferred | | | | | | Tonnes (t) | Grade (g/t Au) | Ounces (oz) | Tonnes (t) | Grade (g/t Au) | Ounces (oz) | | | | Total | Open Pit | 146,294,000 | 0.88 | 4,153,000 | 207,878,000 | 0.87 | 5,801,000 | | Underground | 701,000 | 4.95 | 112,000 | 12,269,000 | 4.30 | 1,695,000 | | | Total Open Pit + Underground | 146,995,000 | 0.90 | 4,265,000 | 220,147,000 | 1.06 | 7,496,000 | | | Breakdown by Deposit | | | | | | | | | South West | Open Pit | 11,176,000 | 0.88 | 316,000 | 41,178,000 | 0.90 | 1,195,000 | | Underground | 168,000 | 4.54 | 25,000 | 6,761,000 | 4.36 | 948,000 | | | Windjammer South | Open Pit | 45,146,000 | 0.78 | 1,135,000 | 26,631,000 | 0.72 | 613,000 | | Underground | - | - | - | 918,000 | 4.57 | 135,000 | | | Westaway | Open Pit | 312,000 | 2.22 | 22,000 | 15,530,000 | 2.14 | 1,067,000 | | Underground | - | - | - | 3,214,000 | 3.94 | 407,000 | | | Windjammer Central | Open Pit | 31,986,000 | 0.62 | 632,000 | 85,086,000 | 0.65 | 1,780,000 | | Underground | - | - | - | - | - | - | | | 55 Zone | Open Pit | 4,379,000 | 1.25 | 176,000 | 4,621,000 | 1.02 | 151,000 | | Underground | - | - | - | 186,000 | 4.20 | 25,000 | | | Discovery | Open Pit | 2,251,000 | 1.72 | 125,000 | 5,511,000 | 1.50 | 266,000 | | Underground | - | - | - | 440,000 | 4.19 | 59,000 | | | Garrcon | Open Pit | 25,614,000 | 1.02 | 841,000 | 707,000 | 0.67 | 15,000 | | Underground | 533,000 | 5.08 | 87,000 | 750,000 | 4.98 | 120,000 | | | 903 | Open Pit | 18,843,000 | 1.01 | 610,000 | 25,040,000 | 0.74 | 600,000 | | Underground | - | - | - | - | - | - | | | Jonpol | Open Pit | 6,587,000 | 1.40 | 297,000 | 3,574,000 | 0.99 | 114,000 | | Underground | - | - | - | - | - | - | |

Notes:

1. Mineral Resource Estimates are reported at two different cut-off grades; 0.3 g/t Au for the surface mining scenario and 2.6 g/t Au for the underground mining scenario. 2. The cut-off grade was determined at a gold price of US$1,750 per ounce and an exchange rate of USD$/CDN$ of 0.78. 3. The resource estimate is supported by statistical analysis with different high-grade capping applied to each of the deposits ranging from 1.6 g/t Au to 80.0 g/t Au applied on assays composited into one (1) metre composites 4. The mineral resources presented here were estimated with a block size of 2.5mx2.5mx2.5m utilizing percent blocks and constrained within geological wireframes with a minimum width of 1.50m. Gold was estimated by Ordinary Kriging using locally varying anisotropy variogram models. The max range of the variogram models generally are between 65mx25mx2.5m and 80m x 45m x5m. The search ellipse was constrained to selecting composites flagged within each domain. 5. The mineral resources presented here were estimated by APEX Geoscience Ltd. using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves definitions and guidelines. 6. 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, market or other relevant factors. 7. The quantity and grade of reported Inferred Resources are uncertain in nature and there has not been sufficient work to define these Inferred Resources as Indicated or Measured Resources. It is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration. 8. The historical underground voids from mining in any of the deposit areas have been removed. 9. Tonnage estimates are based on bulk densities individually measured and calculated for each of the deposit areas. Resources are presented as undiluted and in situ. 10. This mineral resource estimate is dated May 11, 2022. The effective date for the drill-hole database used to produce this updated mineral resource estimate is March 15, 2022. Tonnages and ounces in the tables are rounded to the nearest thousand and hundred, respectively. Numbers may not total due to rounding. 11. A new NI 43-101 report will not be produced as the total tonnage or total contained metal have not changed by more than 100% over the most recent previous resources. A new updated NI 43-101 technical report will be produced with updated resources upon completion of the updated PEA. 12. Discovery includes the Windjammer North resource. 13. Mr. Mike Dufresne, P.Geo. of APEX Geoscience Ltd., who is deemed a qualified persons as defined by NI 43-101 is responsible for the completion of the updated mineral resource estimation.

Mineral Resource Comparisons; May 2022 versus December 2020

Table 2: NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate Comparison - Total Resources May 2022 vs December 2020

| Open Pit + Underground | Indicated | Inferred | | | | | | Category | Tonnes (t) | Grade (g/t Au) | Ounces (oz) | Tonnes (t) | Grade (g/t Au) | Ounces (oz) | | December 2020 | 121,604,000 | 1.01 | 3,967,000 | 95,083,000 | 1.44 | 4,399,000 | | May 2022 | 146,995,000 | 0.90 | 4,265,000 | 220,147,000 | 1.06 | 7,496,000 | | Difference | 25,391,000 | | 298,000 | 125,064,000 | | 3,097,000 | | Percentage Change | 21% | | 8% | 132% | | 70% |

Table 3: NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate Comparison - Open Pit Resources May 2022 vs December 2020

| Total Open Pit | Indicated | Inferred | | | | | | Category | Tonnes (t) | Grade (g/t Au) | Ounces (oz) | Tonnes (t) | Grade (g/t Au) | Ounces (oz) | | December 2020 | 116,745,000 | 0.89 | 3,335,000 | 79,372,000 | 0.89 | 2,270,000 | | May 2022 | 146,294,000 | 0.88 | 4,153,000 | 207,878,000 | 0.87 | 5,801,000 | | Difference | 29,549,000 | | 818,000 | 128,506,000 | | 3,531,000 | | Percentage Change | 25% | | 25% | 162% | | 156% |

Table 4: NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate Comparison - Underground Resources May 2022 vs December 2020

| Total Underground | Indicated | Inferred | | | | | | Category | Tonnes (t) | Grade (g/t Au) | Ounces (oz) | Tonnes (t) | Grade (g/t Au) | Ounces (oz) | | December 2020 | 4,859,000 | 4.05 | 632,300 | 15,711,000 | 4.21 | 2,128,100 | | May 2022* | 701,000 | 4.95 | 112,000 | 12,268,000 | 4.30 | 1,694,000 | | Difference | -4,158,000 | | -520,300 | -3,443,000 | | -434,100 | | Percentage Change | -86% | | -82% | -22% | | -20% |

Resources reported in the underground category in December 2020 have been reclassified into the open pit category in May 2022 due to the expansion and deepening of the open pits in the current estimate.

Mineral Resource Sensitivities

Mineral resources at various cut-off grades are presented for the open pit resources and for the underground resources in Table 5 and Table 6. Design basis assumptions for the calculation of the cut-off grades applied to the resource estimates are provided below for the open pit resources and for the underground resources. The mineral resources are reported at the same cut-off grades as for the December 2020 open pit resource estimates (0.30 g/t Au) in both the Golden Highway and Garrison areas, and for the December 2020 underground mineral resource for the South West deposit at Golden Highway (2.60 g/t Au).

Table 5: Tower Gold, Open Pit Resource Estimate Sensitivity Table

| | Indicated | Inferred | | | | | | Cut-Off Grades | Tonnes (t) | Grade (g/t Au) | Ounces (oz) | Tonnes (t) | Grade (g/t Au) | Ounces (oz) | | 0.20 | 179,584,000 | 0.77 | 4,421,000 | 259,798,000 | 0.74 | 6,218,000 | | 0.25 | 162,836,000 | 0.82 | 4,299,000 | 232,794,000 | 0.80 | 6,023,000 | | 0.30 | 146,293,000 | 0.88 | 4,153,000 | 207,879,000 | 0.87 | 5,802,000 | | 0.40 | 117,035,000 | 1.02 | 3,826,000 | 162,690,000 | 1.01 | 5,296,000 | | 0.50 | 94,078,000 | 1.16 | 3,495,000 | 128,435,000 | 1.16 | 4,803,000 |

Table 6: Tower Gold, Underground Resource Estimate Sensitivity Table

| | Indicated | Inferred | | | | | | Cut-Off Grades | Tonnes (t) | Grade (g/t Au) | Ounces (oz) | Tonnes (t) | Grade (g/t Au) | Ounces (oz) | | 1.50 | 1,584,000 | 3.30 | 168,000 | 28,201,000 | 2.99 | 2,711,000 | | 2.00 | 1,035,000 | 4.10 | 136,000 | 18,983,000 | 3.59 | 2,190,000 | | 2.60 | 701,000 | 4.95 | 112,000 | 12,268,000 | 4.30 | 1,695,000 | | 3.00 | 545,000 | 5.53 | 97,000 | 9,443,000 | 4.74 | 1,438,000 |

Mineral Resource Methodology, Assumptions and Cut-Off Grades

Modeling was conducted in the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate space relative to the North American Datum (NAD) 1983, and UTM zone 17N. The mineral resource block model utilized a block size of 2.5 m (X) x 2.5 m (Y) x 2.5 m (Z) to honor the mineralization wireframes. The percentage of the volume of each block below the bare earth surface, below the modeled waste overburden surface and within each mineralization domain was calculated using the 3D geological models and a 3D surface model. For the open pit resources, the block model was block-averaged up to a 5 m (X) x 5 m (Y) x 5 m (Z) SMU block size for pit optimization with the outer blocks on the boundaries of the domains diluted.

The MRE is based on the combination of geological modeling, geostatistics and conventional block modeling using the Ordinary Kriging method of grade interpolation with locally varying anisotropy variogram models.

The Golden Highway area drillhole database consists of 748 drill holes that intersected the interpreted mineralization wireframes. The gold assays were composited to 1 metre composites lengths and the estimation utilized 75,652 composited samples. A total of 10% of the total drilled metres inside the interpreted mineralization wireframes were not sampled, assumed to be waste, and assigned a nominal waste value of half the detection limit of modern assay methods (0.0025 g/t)

The Garrison area drillhole database consists of 992 drillholes that intersect the interpreted mineralization wireframes. The gold assays were composited to 1 metre composites lengths and the estimation utilized 166,673 composited samples. A total of 13% of the total drilled metres inside the interpreted mineralization wireframes were not sampled, assumed to be waste, and assigned a nominal waste value of half the detection limit of modern assay methods (0.0025 g/t).

The Gold estimation was completed using ordinary kriging. The search ellipsoid size used to estimate the Au grades was defined by the modelled variograms. Block grade estimation employed locally varying anisotropy, which uses different rotation angles to define the principal directions of the variogram model and search ellipsoid on a per-block basis. Blocks within estimation domains are assigned rotation angles using a modelled 3D mineralization trend surface wireframe, which allows structural complexities to be reproduced in the estimated block model. The number of variogram structures, contributions of each structure, and their ranges are set per estimation domain and do not vary within the estimation domain.

A total of 11,252 bulk density samples are available from the Golden Highway area drillhole database. APEX personnel performed exploratory data analysis of the bulk density samples available and the density was assigned for each deposit in the Golden Highway area. The density of the deposits ranged from 2.7 g/cm3to 2.84 g/cm3. The non-mineralized zones were assigned density based on lithological unit. The modeled overburden was assigned a density of 1.8 g/cm3.

A total of 4,228 bulk density samples were available from the Garrison area drillhole database. APEX personnel performed exploratory data analysis of the bulk density samples available and density was assigned based on lithological unit. The density of the lithological units ranged from 2.77 g/cm3to 3.1 g/cm3. The modeled overburden was assigned a density of 1.8 g/cm3.

The resource is classified according to the CIM "Estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Best Practice Guidelines" dated November 29th, 2019, and CIM "Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves" dated May 10th, 2014. Mr. Dufresne believes the Tower Gold project has the potential for future economic extraction. The unconstrained resource block model was subjected to several open pit optimization scenarios and underground mining parameters. The following criteria, detailed in Table 7 and Table 8, were considered reasonable and were utilized.

Table 7: Tower Gold, Parameters Used for Open Pit Resource Estimate

| Parameters | Unit | Value | | Gold Price | US$/oz | 1,750 | | Exchange Rate | US$/C$ | 0.78 | | Mill Recovery by Deposit | | | | Discovery, Windjammer-North | % | 89.40 | | Windjammer-Central | % | 92.20 | | Windjammer-South | % | 94.10 | | South West | % | 93.33 | | Westaway, Westblock, 55 | % | 92.54 | | Bulk Rock Banded Iron Formation | % | 90 | | 903 | Formula | 1-(0.0828*Head Grade Au Gpt ^ 0.4854)/Head Grade Au Gpt) | | Jonpol - Non-Refractory | % | 92.54 | | Jonpol - Refractory | % | 56.20 | | Garrcon | % | 96.11 | | Mining Parameters | | | | Sell Cost | C$/oz | 2.40 | | Royalties* | % | 0.00/1.50 | | Mining Cost - Rock | C$/t mined | 2.75 | | Mining Cost - Overburden | C$/t mined | 1.84 | | G&A Cost | C$/t milled | 1.00 | | Processing Cost | C$/t milled | 10.60 | | Pit Slope in Rock | degrees | 50 | | Pit Slope in Overburden | degrees | 25 | | Reporting Cut-Off Grade | Au g/t | 0.30 |

*Golden Highway area has no royalties and in the Garrison area royalties average 1.50%

For the open pit optimization, the estimation models were block averaged to a 5m x 5m x 5m SMU block size and the blocks partially outside of the mineralized wireframes were diluted with a nominal waste value of 0.0025 g/t based on the volume of block outside of the mineralized wireframes. The overall strip ratio for the Golden Highway area and the Garrison area open pits was 4.8:1 and 5.2:1 respectively, inclusive of overburden.

The calculated cut-off of 0.30 g/t Au was selected in reporting the open pit mineral resources in the 2022 resource estimates using the 5m x 5m x 5m SMU block size model.

Table 8: Tower Gold, Parameters Used for Underground Mineral Resource Estimate

| Parameters | Unit | Value | | Gold Price | US$/oz | 1,750 | | Exchange Rate | US$/C$ | 0.78 | | Mill Recovery | % | 92.00 | | Sell Cost | C$/oz | 2.40 | | Payable | % | 99.95 | | Royalties | % | 0.00/1.50 | | Mining Cost | C$/t mined | 75.00 | | G&A Cost | C$/t milled | 1.00 | | Processing Cost | C$/t milled | 10.60 | | Cut-Off Grade | Au g/t | 2.60 |

*Golden Highway area has no royalties and Garrison area royalties average 1.50%

The calculated cut-off of 2.60 g/t Au was selected in reporting the underground mineral resource in the 2022 resource estimates. Underground mineral resources below the resource open pit are constrained by wireframe solids that encapsulate contiguous 2.5m x 2.5m x 2.5m underground blocks that are above the 2.60 g/t Au cut-off with a volume greater than 1,400 m3.

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Figure 1: Tower Gold Project: Mineral Resource Location Map

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Figure 2: Tower Gold project: Mineral Resources- Isometric View to NW

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Figure 3: Golden Highway Area: Mineral Resources- Plan View

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Figure 4: Golden Highway Area- Long Section

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Figure 5: Garrison Area: Mineral Resource- Plan View

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