ABORIGINAL CULTURAL HERITAGE STATEMENT

Malachite places great importance on respecting Aboriginal Cultural Heritage wherever it operates in Australia and goes to considerable lengths to ensure protection of all significant sites, artefacts or other items of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage that it encounters.

Routinely, before commencing field work in a new district, the Company searches the Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System to ascertain whether there are any recorded sites of significance in the area of proposed operations. Field work near any such sites is avoided as far as possible.

Once a target area within a Company tenement is selected for more detailed field investigation, and before any significant ground disturbance takes place in that location, the Company engages a recognised expert to conduct an Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Survey in that area. Any significant sites identified are recorded and in the event that artefacts are discovered, the appropriate authorities are contacted with a view to safe removal and storage of the items before any ground disturbance occurs. In the event that cultural items are not discovered in a cultural heritage survey but are subsequently identified during operations, work at that site is suspended until appropriate action is taken by the traditional owners or other relevant authority.

At the Conrad Silver Project, the Company has an agreement with the Nucoorilma People, arising from the Right to Negotiate process under the Native Title Act (“Section 31 Deed”). This agreement covers compensation and the terms of engagement for procedures to be followed for cultural heritage clearance at Conrad which are implemented when the Company’s exploration activities involve ground disturbance. This includes the construction of access tracks and drill sites on land not previously disturbed or on any land that is subject to the Nucoorilma native title claim.

At Malachite’s Tooloom Gold Project, located in northern NSW the company has signed a Co-operation Agreement with the Githabul People, recognising them as the traditional owners of land in the Tooloom district. The Agreement sets out certain principles and practices in regard to the manner in which Malachite conducts its activities in the district and provides a basis for cooperation between Malachite and the Githabul People in jointly seeking economic development in the district. Through the Agreement, Malachite also acknowledges the Githabul’s claim to native title in the Tooloom region, a claim that Malachite undertakes to support and encourage.
When Malachite wishes to conduct drilling or other land disturbing activity in the Tooloom district, such as at the Phoenix Prospect, the Company engages an authorized representative of the Githabul People, as the recognised expert, to review each proposed drill site and the relevant access route (where new tracks are required) to ensure that no sites or items of significance will be disturbed. During one such survey at Phoenix, a site originally proposed as a drill pad was identified as a possible Bora Ring and this site, of importance to the heritage of the Githabul People, has been effectively quarantined from disturbance.

Similar agreements or MoU’s are expected to be put in place wherever Malachite’s exploration activities are of such a nature as to require action in regard to native title or Aboriginal Cultural Heritage.