Solstice Minerals Limited reported a maiden JORC Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) at the 80% owned Hobbes Gold Project located 5km to the southwest of Northern Star's Porphyry mining centre. Significant intercepts of supergene gold mineralisation included: 19.8m @ 1.13g/t gold from 59.2m (HOBDD0004); 12m @ 1.21g/t gold from 57m (HOBRCDD0027); 13m @ 1.34/t gold from 58m (HOBRC0037); 17m @ 1.18g/t gold from 56m (HOBRC0032); 20m @ 1.55g/t gold from 53m (HOBRC0038); 10m @ 4.18g/t gold from 78m (HOBDD0002); 11m @ 0.96g/t gold from 55m (HOBDD0003); 7m @ 2.44g/t gold from 49m (HOBRC0029); 7m @ 1.15g/t gold from 69m (HOBRCDD0035). Significant primary gold intercepts1 beneath the supergene blanket included: 27m @ 2.67g/t gold from 113m (including 20m @ 3.25g/t gold from 120m); 4.8m @ 3.19g/t gold from 150m and 7.2m @ 1.30g/t gold from 190.8m (HOBRCDD0003); 13m @ 4.04g/t gold from 96m (HOBRC0030); 8m @ 2.05g/t gold from 110m and 8m @ 2.32g/t gold from 187m (HOBRC0033); 9m @ 1.59g/t gold from 156m (HOBRC0031); 31m @ 1.71g/t gold from 118m (HOBDD0002); 11m @ 4.47g/t gold from 264m and 4.30m @ 3.38g/t gold from 395m (HOBRCDD0027); 8.43m @ 1.28g/t gold from 134.67m and 10.08m @ 1.73g/t gold from 174m (HOBDD0003); 5.93m @ 1.95g/t gold from 235m (HOBRCDD0007).

These results added confidence to the geometry of gold lodes and complement historical RC and DD drilling results at the Project. Primary gold mineralisation remains open down-dip and in places along strike, while parts of the supergene blanket remain open toward the north-east. Geological modelling suggests that primary gold mineralisation is controlled by stacked WSW dipping NNW-striking zones in a fault block immediately south of the NBF.

There is strong potential for the NBF to deliver new mineralisation across sequence, and for other `lookalike' NE-striking faults to control new mineralised positions along strike, these targets will form the basis of ongoing aircore drilling into unexplored areas. Hobbes Drilling Summary: Drilling density through the Hobbes deposit is at 50m line spacing, with angled RC and DD drilling at an approximate 50m spacing along lines for an approximate 50m × 50m drill-out. The dimensions of the blanket of supergene gold mineralisation are supported by historical aircore drilling on typically a 100m × 100m pattern and down to 50m × 100m in places, although these holes are not utilised in the Hobbes MRE.

In addition to drilling carried out by Solstice, the Hobbes MRE includes historical drilling by Newcrest (47 RC holes for 7,085m and five DD holes for 2,587m), Renaissance (9 RC holes for 1,494m), and OreCorp (17 RC holes, 2,687m). The 6,701,750N cross section shows the relationship between supergene and primary mineralised lodes, and significant gold intercepts. Hobbes Preliminary Metallurgy: Preliminary metallurgical testwork3 for both oxide and primary gold mineralisation indicated theHobbes gold mineralisation is non-refractory, with reported combined gravity and cyanide soluble gold recovery results of 97% and 89% for oxide and primary gold mineralisation, respectively.

The testwork was undertaken by ALS Metallurgy in Perth to establish preliminary key process parameters and included comminution testwork, mineralogical analysis by Xray Diffraction (XRD) method, grind establishment, Knelson gravity separation and mercury amalgamation, and direct cyanidation. Composite samples for the testwork were selected from historical DD drill core for both oxide gold mineralisation and primary gold mineralisation. The comminution and grindability testwork indicated that oxide mineralisation is relatively soft, while primary mineralisation is consistent with typical Eastern Goldfields ores.

Gold leach kinetics for both composite samples were fast, with most of the gold leaching in the first 4 hours, which is an excellent result. These initial results are seen as positive, and the overall recovery of gold in primary material is expected to improve with further optimisation testwork. Hobbes Sampling and Assay Summary: The March 2023 Hobbes MRE is based entirely on data gathered through RC or DD drilling.

All Solstice's and OreCorp's RC holes utilised the same techniques and sampling methodology. RC holes were drilled with a 5.25-inch facesampling bit, with one metre samples collected through a cyclone and cone splitter to form a two to three-kilogram sample. Most RC assays used in the MRE are based on the original one metre sample intervals collected from the drilling during operations.

In places composite samples were collected by representative spear-sampling of individual 1m bulk sample bags. Where composite assay results were greater than 0.10g/t Au, the corresponding 1m split samples were collected and submitted for 1m assay, and the 1m results allocated a higher priority in the assay database. A small number of composite samples were included in the MRE.