First Cobalt Refinery Project Ontario, Canada Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering (AACE) Class 3 Feasibility Study July 9, 2020 Prepared for: First Cobalt Corporation 401 Bay St., 6th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5H 2Y4 Prepared by: Ausenco Engineering Canada 855 Homer St., Vancouver, BC, V6C 2X8 This report was prepared to summarise the results of the feasibility study related to the First Cobalt Refinery Project. This report does not constitute a feasibility study within the definition employed by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), as it relates to a stand-along industrial project and does not concern a mineral project of First Cobalt. As a result, disclosure standards prescribed by National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) are not applicable to the scientific and technical disclosure in this report. Any references to scoping study, prefeasibility study or feasibility study by First Cobalt, in relation to the Refinery Project, are not the same as terms defined by the CIM Definition Standards and used in NI 43-101. First Cobalt Refinery Project AACE Class 3 Feasibility Study 1 Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Property Description & Location ............................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Infrastructure & Physiography .................................................................................................................. 1 1.3 History ........................................................................................................................................................ 2 1.4 Metallurgical Testwork .............................................................................................................................. 3 1.5 Recovery Methods ..................................................................................................................................... 4 1.6 Site Infrastructure ...................................................................................................................................... 7 1.7 Market Studies & Contracts ...................................................................................................................... 8 1.8 Environmental Studies, Permits & Social or Community Impact .......................................................... 10 1.9 Capital Costs............................................................................................................................................ 12 1.10 Operating Costs ....................................................................................................................................... 12 1.11 Financial Evaluation ................................................................................................................................ 14 1.12 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................. 16 1.13 Recommendations for Future Work ....................................................................................................... 17 2 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 18 2.1 Terms of Reference & Purpose of this Report ....................................................................................... 18 2.2 Units & Currency ...................................................................................................................................... 18 2.3 Property Location .................................................................................................................................... 18 2.4 Property Description ................................................................................................................................ 19 2.5 Block Map ................................................................................................................................................ 20 2.6 Property Identification Numbers ............................................................................................................ 21 2.7 Accessibility ............................................................................................................................................. 21 2.8 Climate ..................................................................................................................................................... 26 2.9 Local Resources ...................................................................................................................................... 26 2.10 Infrastructure ........................................................................................................................................... 26 2.11 Physiography ........................................................................................................................................... 27 2.12 History ...................................................................................................................................................... 28 3 Metallurgical Testwork ................................................................................................................ 31 3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 31 3.2 Sample Composition ............................................................................................................................... 32 3.3 Program 17070-01................................................................................................................................... 34 3.4 Program 17070-03................................................................................................................................... 41 3.5 Solvent Extraction Modelling .................................................................................................................. 57 3.6 Environmental Testing ............................................................................................................................ 60 4 Refinery Design ........................................................................................................................... 66 4.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 66 4.2 Design Basis ............................................................................................................................................ 66 4.3 Plant Design Criteria ................................................................................................................................ 70 4.4 Feed Handling & Re-Pulping.................................................................................................................... 71 4.5 Atmospheric Leaching ............................................................................................................................ 72 4.6 Neutralisation & Dewatering ................................................................................................................... 72 4.7 ISX ............................................................................................................................................................ 74 9 July 2020 First Cobalt Refinery Project – AACE Class 3 Feasibility Study i 4.8 CoSX ......................................................................................................................................................... 76 4.9 Crystallisation & Drying ........................................................................................................................... 77 4.10 Sodium Treatment ................................................................................................................................... 78 4.11 Effluent Treatment & Dewatering ........................................................................................................... 80 4.12 Reagents .................................................................................................................................................. 81 4.13 Site Services ............................................................................................................................................ 83 4.14 Process Control ....................................................................................................................................... 85 5 Project Infrastructure .................................................................................................................. 86 5.1 Overall Site ............................................................................................................................................... 86 5.2 Roads ....................................................................................................................................................... 86 5.3 Power Supply ........................................................................................................................................... 86 5.4 Water .......................................................................................................................................................