New Pacific Metals Corp. press release

New Pacific Metals Reports Results of Updated Carangas Preliminary Economic Assessment: Post-tax $2.65 Billion NPV (5%) and 35.9% IRR; 339.0 Million Oz of Silver Equivalent Produced

2026-07-16

TSX - Toronto Stock Exchange · Silver · Lead · Zinc · Gold · Canada · Technical Studies

PR Newswire

VANCOUVER, BC, July 16, 2026/PRNewswire/ -- New Pacific Metals Corp. (TSX: NUAG) (NYSE-A: NEWP) ("New Pacific" or the "Company") is pleased to report the results of its updated preliminary economic assessment technical report titled "Carangas Project NI 43-101 Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment" (the "Updated Carangas PEA Technical Report") for the Carangas project (the "Project") in Oruro Department, Bolivia prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - _Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects_("NI 43-101") by Ausenco Engineering Canada ULC ("Ausenco") dated effective July 16, 2026. The Updated Carangas PEA Technical Report considers an increased throughput rate and the inclusion of the gold zone when compared to the previous Preliminary Economic Assessment technical report dated September 5, 2024. Highlights from the Updated Carangas PEA Technical Report are as follows (all figures in US Dollars):

Post-tax net present value ("NPV") (5%) of $2.65 billion and internal rate of return ("IRR") of 35.9% at base case metal prices of: $45.00/ounce ("oz") silver ("Ag"), $3,400/oz gold ("Au"), $1.20/pound ("lb") zinc ("Zn"), and $0.90/lb lead ("Pb"); Post tax NPV and IRR of $4.16 billion and 51.5%, respectively, at $67.50/oz Ag and the other metal prices held constant; Post tax NPV and IRR of $3.23 billion and 37.0%, respectively, at $5,100/oz Au and the other metal prices held constant;

19-year life of mine ("LOM"), excluding two-years of pre-production, producing approximately 195 million oz ("Moz") of payable Ag, 1.1 Moz of payable Au, 1,453 million pounds ("Mlbs") of payable Zn and 941 Mlbs of payable Pb, or 339.0 Moz silver equivalent ("AgEq"1); Mining will occur during years 1 through 16. For years 17 to 19 all production will come from stockpiles; Payable silver production of approximately 15.5 Moz per year (18.9 Moz AgEq per year) in years 1 through 8, the "pre-gold production period"; average all-in sustaining cost ("AISC") of $18.25/oz AgEq, or average AISC of $12.11/oz Ag, net of by-products, during the pre-gold production period; Payable silver production of approximately 7.6 Moz per year and payable gold production of approximately 142.7 thousand ounces ("koz") per year (20.7 Moz AgEq per year) from years 9 through 16, the "gold production period"; average AISC of $17.78/oz AgEq, or average AISC of $-39.49/oz Ag, net of by-products, during the gold production period; Payable silver production of 10.3 Moz total (21.6 Moz AgEq total) for years 17 to 19, the "stockpile period"; and Average LOM AISC of $19.16/oz AgEq, or average LOM AISC of $0.11/oz Ag, net of by-products.

Initial capital costs of $644.5 million and a post-tax payback of 2.4 years. LOM capex of $1.2 billion, including $422.7 million of growth capex and $166.5 million in sustaining capex; and Closure costs of $149.8 million.

| | | 1AgEq is calculated using: AgEq Oz = Ag Oz + Au Oz x (Au Price/Ag Price) + Zn lbs x (Zn Price/Ag Price) + Pb lbs x (Pb Price/Ag Price), metal prices shown in Table 1 |

The Project has robust economics, manageable upfront capex, annual silver production of approximately ten million ounces per year, and over one million ounces of gold produced over the life of mine. With the completion of the Updated Carangas PEA Technical Report, the Company will continue to advance technical work, including a 30,000 meters infill drilling program. Besides the technical works, the Company will also focus on advancing the Project's permitting front aiming to complete the Exploration Licenses ("ELs") to Administrative Mining Contracts ("AMCs") conversion and to start the Environmental Impact Assessment Study ("EEIA") process over the remaining periods of the year.

Economic Results and Sensitivities

Table 1 shows key assumptions and summarizes the projected production and economic results of the Updated Carangas PEA Technical Report. Tables 2 and 3 show sensitivities to silver and gold prices and Table 4 shows sensitivities to operating and capital costs.

| Table 1: Carangas Open Pit Mining – Key Economic Assumptions and Results | | | | Item | Unit | Value | | Silver Price | $/oz | 45.00 | | Gold Price | $/oz | 3,400 | | Zinc Price | $/lb | 1.20 | | Lead Price | $/lb | 0.90 | | Total Mill Feed | Mt | 251.5 | | Open Pit Strip Ratio1 | t:t | 1.4 | | Annual Processing Rate | Mtpa | 8.0 - 16.0 | | Average Silver Grade2 | g/t | 36.2 | | Average Silver Head Grade in "pre-gold production period" | g/t | 54.7 | | Average Gold Grade in "gold production period" | g/t | 0.74 | | Silver Recovery to Silver/Lead Concentrate | % | 79.4 | | Lead Recovery to Silver/Lead Concentrate | % | 71.5 | | Silver Recovery to Zinc Concentrate | % | 4.5 | | Zinc Recovery to Zinc Concentrate | % | 62.1 | | Gold Recovery to Gold/Silver Dore | % | 93.0 | | Silver Recovery to Gold/Silver Dore | % | 60.0 | | Total Payable Silver | Moz | 195.1 | | Total Payable Gold | Moz | 1.1 | | Total Payable Zinc | Mlbs | 1,453 | | Total Payable Lead | Mlbs | 941 | | Mine Life3 | Yrs | 19 | | Average Annual Payable Silver Metal over LOM | Moz | 10.6 | | Annual Payable Silver Metal in "pre-gold production period" | Moz | 15.5 | | Annual Payable Gold Metal in "gold production period" | koz | 142.7 | | Total Revenue | $M | 15,254 | | Total Cash Costs of Silver (net of by-products)4 | $/oz | (1.51) | | Government Royalties | $/oz | 4.06 | | AISC (net of by-products)5 | $/oz | 0.11 | | AISC (silver equivalent) | $/oz | 19.16 | | AISC (gold equivalent) | $/oz | 1,448 | | Initial Capital Costs | $M | 644.5 | | Sustaining Capital Costs6 | $M | 166.5 | | Payback Period (post-tax)7 | Yrs | 2.4 | | Cumulative Net Cash Flow (pre-tax) | $M | 7,691 | | Cumulative Net Cash Flow (post-tax) | $M | 4,813 | | Post-tax NPV (5%) | $M | 2,653 | | Post-tax IRR | % | 35.9 | | Post-tax NPV (5%) to Initial Capex Ratio | $:$ | 4.1 |

| Notes | | | 1. | LOM average strip ratio. | | 2. | LOM average Silver zone. | | 3. | Excludes 2 years pre-production period. | | 4. | Includes mining costs, processing costs, tailing costs, general and administrative ("G&A") costs, royalties and selling costs. | | 5. | Includes total operating costs, royalties, sustaining capital costs, and closure costs. | | 6. | Excludes mine closure costs of $149.8 M. | | 7. | The payback period is measured from the beginning of production after construction is completed. |

| Table 2: Economic Sensitivity Analysis for Silver Prices – Post-Tax | | | | | | | | Silver Price Sensitivity | | | | | | Silver Price (US$/oz) | $22.50

(-50%) | $33.75

(-25%) | $45.00

(Base Case) | $56.25

(+25%) | $67.50

(+50%) | | Results (post-tax NPV $M / IRR) | 973/16.3% | 1,814/26.3% | 2,653/35.9% | 3,461/44.4% | 4,163/51.5% |

| Note:Inputs for the base case (100%) are listed in Table 1. Table 2 presents how the Project's post-tax NPV and IRR are affected by varying the selling price of silver. For example, if the silver price increases by $11.25/oz (from $45.00 to $56.25/oz) while other Inputs remain as the "Base Case", then the NPV becomes $3,461 M and the IRR is 44.4%. NPV values are discounted at a rate of 5%. Gold, zinc and lead prices are kept constant at $3,400/oz, $1.20/lb and $0.90/lb respectively. |

| Table 3: Economic Sensitivity Analysis for Gold Prices – Post-Tax | | | | | | | | Gold Price Sensitivity | | | | | | Gold Price (US$/oz) | $1,700

(-50%) | $2,550

(-25%) | $3,400

(Base Case) | $4,250

(+25%) | $5,100

(+50%) | | Results (post-tax NPV $M / IRR) | 2,042/34.7% | 2,347/35.3% | 2,653/35.9% | 2,959/36.5% | 3,230/37.0% |

| Note:Inputs for the base case (100%) are listed in Table 1. Table 3 presents how the Project's post-tax NPV and IRR are affected by varying the selling price of gold. For example, if the gold price increases by $850/oz (from $3,400 to $4,250/oz) while other Inputs remain as the "Base Case", then the NPV becomes $2,959 M and the IRR is 36.4%. NPV values are discounted at a rate of 5%. Silver, zinc and lead prices are kept constant at $45,00/oz, $1.20/lb and $0.90/lb respectively. |

| Table 4: Economic Sensitivity Analysis for Costs – Post-Tax | | | | | | | | Cost Sensitivity | | | | | | Sensitivity Items | -20 % | -10 % | 100% (Base Case) | +10 % | +20 % | | Recovery

(post-tax NPV $M / IRR) | 1,632/26% | 2,143/31% | 2,653/36% | 3,133/40% | 3,497/44% | | Operating Cost

(post-tax NPV $M / IRR) | 2,957/38% | 2,815/37% | 2,653/36% | 2,491/35% | 2,328/33% | | Initial Capex

(post-tax NPV $M / IRR) | 2,775/43% | 2,714/39% | 2,653/36% | 2,592/33% | 2,531/31% |

| Note: Inputs for the base case (100%) are listed in Table 1. Table 4 lists sensitivity analysis for three "Input" variables. For example, if Initial Capex increases by 20% (+20%), while silver price, operating cost, and recovery remain the same as the "Base Case" input, the NPV becomes $2,531 M and IRR is 31%. NPV values are discounted at a rate of 5%. |

Capital and Operating Costs The Project, as outlined in the Updated Carangas PEA Technical Report, is anticipated to include contract mining open-pit operation, supplying mill feed to a conventional crushing, grinding and flotation circuit, which is expected to produce silver-lead and zinc concentrates. The operation is expected to be expanded from 8.0 million tonnes per year ("Mtpa") to 16.0 Mtpa in year 6 by the addition of a twinned crushing, grinding and flotation circuit. In year 9, it is expected that an 8.0 Mtpa gold circuit (including cyanide leaching, counter-current decantation, Merril-Crowe, and smelting) will be put into operation. This circuit will make use of the crushing, grinding and rougher flotation units from the second concentrator plant. It is expected that the initial concentrator plant will continue to operate at 8.0 Mtpa producing silver-lead and zinc concentrates. The Updated Carangas PEA Technical Report anticipates the Project will have several capital and operating cost advantages:

Mineralized material is flat-lying, which is anticipated to result in a pit with a final depth of approximately 520 meters below surface and a low LOM average strip ratio of 1.4:1; It is proposed that the mine will be operated by a contractor with current operations in Bolivia, eliminating the need for the Company to procure a mining fleet and sustain capital for fleet replacement; Bond ball mill work index (BBWi) averaging 12 kilowatt-hours per metric tonne ("kWh/t") and a Bond abrasion index (Ai) averaging 0.06, therefore it is anticipated that processing mineralized material will require modest power consumption and low grinding media consumption; Test work shows that total silver recoveries to the silver/lead and zinc concentrates are favorable at 83.9% on average, with the silver/lead concentrate containing a high silver content expected to exceed 3,500 grams per tonne ("g/t") for years 3 to 9, It is expected that the mine will be connected to the national electricity grid, providing low-cost power at $0.06/kWh to the processing plant and other on-site infrastructure; and The site can be accessed via national highways and all-season local roads.

| Table 5: Total Operating Cost Estimate | | | Item | Cost ($/t milled) | | Mining1 | 8.43 | | Processing | 7.12 | | General and Administration | 1.38 | | Total operating cost | 16.93 |

| Note | | | 1. | Mining cost is $3.56/t mined. |

| Table 6: Total Capital Cost Estimate | | | Item | Cost ($M) | | Mine development1 | 58.7 | | Processing plant | 202.1 | | On-Site infrastructure2 | 65.8 | | Off-Site Infrastructure3 | 114.5 | | Project Preliminaries (Indirect Costs) | 31.7 | | Project Delivery (EPCM) | 45.6 | | Owner's cost | 15.7 | | Contingency | 110.3 | | Initial capital | 644.5 | | Life of mine growth capital4 | 422.7 | | Life of mine sustaining capital5 | 166.5 | | Closure Costs | 149.8 |

| Note | | | 1. | Includes pre-production capitalized operating costs of $55.3 M. | | 2. | Includes earthworks, power switchyard and distribution, fuel storage, sewage, potable water, water management, infrastructure buildings, tailings storage facility, tailings and reclaim pipelines, camp, and site services and mobile equipment. | | 3. | Includes access road, water supply, transmission line, and town relocation. | | 4. | Expansion capital costs include twinning of the concentrator plant in year 6 and addition of the gold plant in year 9. | | 5. | Sustaining capital costs include mining and tailings costs. |

Mining It is anticipated that the deposit will be mined using a conventional open pit approach. This entails drilling and blasting, with loading by hydraulic excavators and haulage by off-highway rear dump haul trucks. A SW-NE cross section showing the resource model grades and pit is illustrated in Figure 1. The mine production schedule is illustrated in Figure 2.

Mill feed tonnes and grade are a subset of the Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE"), accounting for planned mining dilution and recovery. A mining net smelter return ("NSR") cutoff grade of $13.50/t is applied and all mined material below this cutoff grade is treated as waste. The mining cutoff grade is chosen to cover process and G&A operating costs for the Project.

The Updated Carangas PEA Technical Report assumes that mill feed will be hauled to the primary crusher or a run-of-mine ("ROM") stockpile near the crusher. A portion of the oxides and lower grade resources mined in the early years are planned to be stockpiled east of the open pit and processed over the life of mine. Waste rock will be hauled to waste storage facilities north of the open pit or to construct the tailings storage facility dam, further north of the open pit. It is anticipated that mine operations will be conducted by a contractor with current operations in Bolivia.

It is anticipated that open-pit mining will commence in the first year of construction. The mine plan anticipates that 19 Mt of waste and oxide material will be mined, over a two-year pre-production period. Peak open-pit production is expected to be 85 Mt per year. The planned open pit contains a total of 615 Mt of material (mineralized material and waste) which is scheduled to be mined out by Year 16 of milling operations. 105 Mt of oxide and lower grade material is planned to be stockpiled throughout the life of mine, with years 16-19 processing stockpiles exclusively. The stockpiled oxide is rehandled to the mill over the life of mine, targeting 13% of the overall silver zone mill feed.

| Notes:Net Smelter Prices ("NSP") and metallurgical recoveries are used to define the NSR cutoff grade. NSPs include market price assumptions of $40.0/oz Ag, $3,200/oz Au, $0.90/lb Pb, $1.20/lb Zn. Various smelter and refining terms, offsite costs, and a 5% royalty (6% for Ag) derive NSPs of $17.5/oz Ag in Zn concentrate, $34.4/oz Ag in Pb concentrate, $34.8/oz Ag in doré, $3,028/oz Au in doré, $1,070/t Pb, and $1,270/t Zn. Metallurgical recoveries of 6% Ag in Zn concentrate, 81.6% Ag in Pb concentrate, 60.4% Ag in doré, 93.4% Au in doré, 2.3% Pb in Zn concentrate, 73.4% Pb in Pb concentrate, 66.9% Zn in Zn concentrate, and 21.9% Zn in Pb concentrate are applied. The metal prices, smelter terms, and recoveries for the economic analysis are slightly different from the values described here. Checks have been made by the qualified person to ensure that the mine plan would not be materially altered by revising these inputs to the metal prices used to evaluate the project economics in the Updated Carangas PEA Technical Report. |

Mineral Processing The Project is designed to process 8.0 Mtpa of mineralized material in the first 5 years, and 16.0 Mtpa in years 6 to 18. The overall mill production schedule is illustrated in Figure 3. The processing facility will use conventional comminution circuits followed by selective sequential flotation to produce a lead/silver concentrate and a zinc/silver concentrate. These circuits will include primary crushing, followed by a SAG-Ball milling circuit and sequential selective flotation to separate silver/lead and zinc while rejecting pyrite and non-sulfidic gangue minerals. During years 9 to 16, the gold plant will use convention cyanide leaching for the gold flotation concentrate along with CCD, Merrill Crowe, and smelting circuits to produce gold doré. Tailings would then be thickened and pumped to a conventional storage facility.

Mineral Resource Estimate The MRE, constrained by a conceptual open–pit shell for reporting purposes, is reported using a cut–off grade of 30 g/t AgEq and is presented in Table 6 with an effective date of March 31, 2026.

| Table 7: Mineral Resource as of March 31, 2026 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Domain | Category | Tonnage | AgEq | Ag | Au | Pb | Zn | | | | | | | Mt | g/t | Mozs | g/t | Mozs | g/t | Kozs | % | Mlbs | % | Mlbs | | | | Upper Silver Zone | Indicated | 121.6 | 70 | 272.4 | 44 | 173.9 | 0.06 | 220.0 | 0.34 | 923.3 | 0.65 | 1,729.6 | | Inferred | 33.6 | 67 | 72.9 | 42 | 45.9 | 0.11 | 119.6 | 0.29 | 211.6 | 0.48 | 357.6 | | | Middle Zinc Zone | Indicated | 38.7 | 41 | 51.3 | 12 | 15.1 | 0.06 | 68.8 | 0.37 | 314.1 | 0.81 | 688.0 | | Inferred | 9.1 | 39 | 11.5 | 9 | 2.6 | 0.05 | 15.3 | 0.38 | 77.1 | 0.85 | 172.2 | | | Lower Gold Zone | Indicated | 78.4 | 82 | 205.9 | 10 | 24.4 | 0.76 | 1,911.7 | 0.12 | 215.0 | 0.23 | 403.8 | | Inferred | 11.0 | 80 | 28.3 | 10 | 3.6 | 0.70 | 248.5 | 0.15 | 36.2 | 0.34 | 82.4 | | | Total | Indicated | 238.8 | 69 | 529.6 | 28 | 213.4 | 0.29 | 2,200.5 | 0.28 | 1,452.4 | 0.54 | 2,821.3 | | Inferred | 53.8 | 65 | 112.7 | 30 | 52.1 | 0.22 | 383.4 | 0.27 | 324.9 | 0.52 | 612.3 | |

| Source: compiled by SLR, 2026 | | | Notes: | | | 1. | CIM Definition Standards (2014) were used for reporting the Mineral Resources. | | 2. | The qualified person (as defined in NI 43-101) for the purposes of the MRE is Anderson Candido, FAusIMM, Principal Geologist with SLR. | | 3. | Mineral Resources are constrained by an optimized pit shell at a metal price of $41.00/oz Ag, $3,300.00/oz Au, $1.00/lb Pb, $1.30/lb Zn, $4.00/lb Cu, recovery of 81.6% Ag, 93.4% Au, 73.4% Pb, 66.9% Zn, 38.7% Cu and Cut-off grade of 30 g/t AgEq. | | 4. | AgEq formula is: AgEq g/t = Ag g/t + Au g/t 80.49 + (Pb %*2204.6 /100 + Zn %*2866 /100 + Cu %* 8818.5 /100) / 1.318_ | | 5. | Drilling results up to June 1, 2023. | | 6. | The numbers may not compute exactly due to rounding. | | 7. | Mineral Resources are reported on a dry in-situ basis. | | 8. | Mineral resources are not Mineral Reserves and have not demonstrated economic viability. | | 9. | There are certain legal, political, environmental or other risks related to development of the Project. See "Cautionary Note Regarding Results of Preliminary Economic Assessment" and "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information" |

Next Steps

The strong economics shown in the Updated Carangas PEA Technical Report warrant New Pacific continuing to advance both the technical and permitting aspects of the Project. Recent progress has been made with the local community including the signing of a framework community agreement earlier this year (see press release dated February 23, 2026), as well as successfully completing a prior consultation on July 6 to obtain community and other regional stakeholders' consent as part of the requirements for the conversion of the Carangas ELs to AMCs. The application process for the ELs to AMCs conversion started in 2025 and all required documents have been submitted to the Bolivia's Ministry of Mining and Metallurgy since then. With the recently completed prior consultation, the Company expects that the remaining administrative work and legislative approval of the conversion of the ELs to AMCs could take up to six months.

With the progress made on obtaining the AMCs, the Company plans to begin a 30,000 metre drilling campaign at Carangas in September 2026. Approximately 25,000 metres of drilling will be focused on converting inferred resources to indicated resources, with the balance of the drilling testing the Carangas gold zone for possible extensions and new step out targets. As part of this work, the Company will also gather samples for feasibility level metallurgical test work and conduct geotechnical and hydrological drilling.