Our ref: EEN18041.003 Level 2, 27-31 Troode Street West Perth WA 6005 T +61 8 9211 1111 Date: 04 June 2019 Tanya McColgan Bellevue Gold Limited Suite 3, Level 3, 24 Outram Street WEST PERTH WA 6008 Dear Tanya, Flora and vegetation values identified within PoW 79431 In response to your request for the preliminary results of the detailed flora and vegetation assessment undertaken over the Bellevue Gold Project area, RPS Australia West Pty Ltd (RPS) herein provides a summary of the key results and outcomes of the assessment in lieu of the final report which is due in July. Background Bellevue Gold Ltd (Bellevue Gold) is currently undertaking an exploration drilling program within mining tenement M3625 for the Bellevue Gold Project (the Project). The Project is located in the north-eastern Goldfields; approximately 40 km north of the township of Leinster in the Shire of Leonora. The Project is situated on and surrounded by pastoral lands and is located on Yakabindie cattle station. RPS was commissioned by Bellevue Gold to undertake a detailed flora and vegetation assessment over M3625 and part of M3624 to encompass the area where exploration drilling is currently underway and including the potential mining and associated infrastructure footprint (the proposed development area). The survey area, the proposed development area and the PoW 79431 area are shown in Figure A. RPS understands that the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) and the Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) have requested additional information regarding the natural values of the PoW area, where in-fill drilling is proposed, in order to adequately assess the PoW application. Detailed flora and vegetation assessment All the plant identifications have been completed and so we have a comprehensive flora inventory for the survey area based on collections carried out over three separate surveys (August 2018, October 2018 and March 2019). Additionally, the multivariate statistical analyses of the floristic data have also been completed and the vegetation community types defined and described for the survey area, the mapping however, has not yet been completed but is in progress. The objectives of this detailed flora and vegetation survey were to: 1. Identify and characterise the flora and vegetation within the survey area, via provision of a comprehensive flora inventory and vegetation unit and condition mapping. RPS Australia West Pty Ltd. Registered in Australia No. 42 107 962 872 rpsgroup.com Page 1 Our ref: EEN18041.003 2. Identify the presence and extent of conservation significant flora and ecological communities that are currently listed under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BC Act) and the Commonwealth Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) within the survey area. 3. Describe the flora and vegetation values present or likely to be present within the survey area that may be directly or indirectly impacted by the Bellevue project, including an analysis of the significance of flora and vegetation in local, regional and state contexts. 4. Map the location and extent of conservation significant flora and vegetation within the survey area The scopes of work undertaken for this assessment included: 1. a detailed flora and vegetation survey; and 2. targeted searches for threatened and priority flora known to occur in the vicinity at the appropriate time (the documented peak flowering time). Survey methods The detailed flora and vegetation assessment was undertaken in accordance with Technical Guidance: Flora and Vegetation Surveys for Environmental Impact Assessment (EPA 2016) and is consistent with the regional study undertaken by Meissner and Wright (2010). The survey was coordinated and conducted by RPS Senior Botanist Caroline Gill under Licence to Collect Flora for Scientific or Other Prescribed Purposes No. SL012440. Caroline was accompanied in the field by experienced consultant botanists Kelli McCreery and Brian Morgan, and RPS graduate botanist Julijanna Hantzis. The survey was undertaken over a total of twenty days in August 2018, October 2018 March 2019. The survey methods and sampling quadrat sizes used were based on the requirements for detailed flora and vegetation surveys in the Murchison bioregion as outlined in EPA (2016). The survey was undertaken at the ‘optimal time’ for the botanical province as determined by the EPA (2016). The field survey aimed to sample the full range of flora and vegetation within the survey area by strategically locating the floristic sites (quadrats and relevés) to cover the full toposequence of floristic communities present; from hillcrests, ridges and hill slopes, to pediments, plains, drainage lines and the margins of the saline playa. A total of fifty-one 20 m x 20 m permanent quadrats and eighteen relevés were established and sampled in intact mature vegetation in areas of best condition (i.e. an effort was made to avoid areas obviously disturbed by weeds, grazing or historical mining activities). Each of the quadrats were sampled twice in accordance with EPA (2016) guidance. The survey area and locations of the floristic sites (quadrats and relevés) are shown in Figure A. It should be noted that twenty-seven of the floristic sites (quadrats and relevés) are located outside the proposed development area which is shown on Figure A. Multivariate analysis of the floristic data was carried out using the appropriate modules of the Primer statistical software package (Plymouth Marine Laboratory- Version 6) as outlined in Clarke and Gorley (2006). Data analyses included Classification and Similarity Profile Analysis (SIMPROF). The analyses aimed to: 1. Compare the floristic composition of the quadrats sampled for the survey area to identify groups of floristically similar sites and therefore define the different floristic communities present. 2. Compare the floristic composition of the quadrats sampled for the current survey to the floristic composition of communities defined by Meissner and Wright (2010) in their regional survey of the Perseverance Greenstone Belt. RPS Australia West Pty Ltd. Registered in Australia No. 42 107 962 872 rpsgroup.com Page 2 Our ref: EEN18041.003 Results Flora A total of 316 vascular flora taxa were recorded for the survey area of which 306 (96.8 %) are native species and 10 (3.2 %) are naturalised alien (weed) species. The list of taxa recorded for the survey area is presented in Appendix A. The high number of species recorded for the surveys indicate a good survey effort. For context, between 2000 and 2011 Mattiske Consulting recorded a total of 192 species over a much larger area, in the vicinity of, and incorporating part of the current survey area. The current survey therefore recorded 65 % more species than were recorded for the four Mattiske surveys. The total taxa recorded represent 48 families and 119 genera. The families represented by the greatest number of taxa are: Chenopodiaceae (61 taxa); Poaceae (38 taxa); Fabaceae (38 taxa); Malvaceae (25 taxa); Asteraceae (24 taxa); Scrophulariaceae (15 taxa); Zygophyllaceae (12 taxa); and Amaranthaceae (11 taxa). The genera represented by the greatest number of taxa are: Acacia (18 taxa); Maireana (18 taxa); Eremophila (15 taxa); Senna (14 taxa); Sclerolaena (12 taxa); Sida (11 taxa); Ptilotus (11 taxa); Eragrostis (10 taxa); and Tecticornia (10. taxa). It should be noted that the PoW area is represented by five vegetation units for which a total of 189 taxa were recorded. The complete flora inventory (316 species) is presented as Appendix A; the 189 species that occur in the vicinity of the proposed drilling are highlighted in red. Conservation significant flora No Threatened Flora (TF) species listed under the BC Act or the EPBC Act were recorded within the survey area. One Priority Flora (PF) species listed by the DBCA was recorded within the survey area; Grevillea inconspicua (Priority 4). This species is known to occur on creek lines and drainage lines on rocky outcrops, hills and ridges (WAH 2019) and, within the survey area, is associated with two stony hill vegetation units: H5; and H7. Vegetation unit H7 is present across the low stony hills and plains in the northern half of the PoW area however, despite thorough searches of this vegetation within the PoW area during the surveys the species was not recorded. As is evident from the aerial imagery much of the PoW area has been severely altered by a long history of mining and will be mapped for the survey report as Degraded or Completely Degraded. The locations of G. inconspicua records within the survey area, and in relation to the PoW area are presented in Figure B. Vegetation A total of nineteen vegetation units were described and mapped for the survey area. These units covered the full toposequence of vegetation types from hillcrests and slopes, to pediments, plains, drainage lines and salt lake margins throughout the survey area. The vegetation units were defined from the fifty-one floristic quadrats and eighteen relevés. The vegetation community mapping was conducted using a combination of aerial photo-interpretation, contour data, on- ground confirmation, vegetation structure data, and multivariate analysis of the floristic data. The hierarchical cluster analysis of the quadrat and relevé data (using modules of PRIMER v6) determined there to be eighteen statistically significant groups of sites based on their floristics. These groups are denoted by the black lines in the dendrogram