Meridian Smelter produces blister copper from Cabaçal concentrates

Meridian Smelter Tests Deliver High Quality Blister Copper from Cabaçal Copper Concentrates HIGHLIGHTS: Exceptional quality of Cabaçal’s copper concentrates confirmed in smelter test with high-grade, high-quality blister copper produced; Laboratory-scale smelting and converting tests resulted in: Copper 98.9% purity; Precious metals @ 95.2g/t gold and @ 387.6g/t silver 1 ; Cabaçal’s blister copper’s impurity levels assayed better than industry average for high-quality anode copper; The high copper grades, significant gold and silver credits and lack of impurities in Cabaçal’s copper concentrates are expected to make them highly sought after by the world’s copper smelters; and Meridian continues to engage in off-take discussions with a range of potential counterparties. 1 See note on Table 1 London, United Kingdom--(Newsfile Corp. - July 30, 2026) - Meridian Mining plc (LSE: MNO) (TSX: MNO) (FSE: N2E0) (Tradegate: N2E0) (OTCQX: MRRDF) ("Meridian" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the smelting of Cabaçal copper sulphide produced high-quality blister copper grading 98.9 % Cu, 95.2 g/t Au and 387.6 g/t Ag (Table 1). The blister copper was produced from a concentrate sample produced from the Cabaçal copper-gold-silver project ("Cabaçal") in Mato Grosso, Brazil. It was processed in laboratory-scale smelting and converting tests at Kingston Process Metallurgy (KPM), in Ontario, Canada.

Cabaçal's blister copper (Photo 1) contained very low minor-element impurity levels outperforming typical industry anode copper, while maintaining the residual sulphur levels targeted for the laboratory smelting and converting test programme. The associated high recoveries of copper, and gold and silver in the smelting stage, demonstrate that Cabaçal's copper concentrates convert efficiently into high-quality copper blister under smelting conditions representative of commercial operations. Mr. Gilbert Clark, CEO, comments: "These results take the marketability and value of Cabaça