Idaho Strategic provides 2022 review, 2023 objectives

Idaho Strategic Resources provides the following review of 2022 and objectives for 2023.Early in 2022 Idaho Strategic added Rich Beaven to its Board of Directors and completed its up listing onto the New York Stock Exchange American in March. In celebration of IDR‘s up listing, the company rang the opening bell of the NYSE from underground at the Golden Chest Mine, becoming the first company in history to do so. Following the up listing, Idaho Strategic’s management participated in the "Idaho Mining, Critical Minerals, and Water Resources" panel discussion in Boise, ID, appeared as a guest on the Planet MicroCap Due Diligence Podcast, and attended the 18th Annual International Rare Earth Elements Conference. Throughout 2022 there were several announcements/executive orders/bills proposed to President Biden and the U.S. Government with the goal of showing support for domestic critical mineral production in order to reduce the U.S.’ reliance on foreign sources. The most notable of which were the Inflation Reduction Act, the recent expansion of the Defense Production Act, the Thorium Energy Security Act, the 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Bill, and the Industrial Base Policy Consortium. While many of these have been aimed at the processing and permitting of domestic critical minerals, the shift toward domestic mining has begun. IDR continues to advance its Diamond Creek, Roberts, and Lemhi Pass rare earth elements projects and continued expanding its partnerships with local stakeholders like Idaho National Labs, the University of Idaho, and the Idaho Geological Survey to potentially appeal to larger Government programs. At the closing of 2022, IDR also announced a business combination proposal to Westwater Resources’ Stakeholders. For a more comprehensive overview of IDR’s offer, please read our press release dated Dec. 22nd, 2022. IDR’s management continues to believe that the combination of the two companies represents an attractive opportunity for the stakeholders of both. While members of Westwater’s management initially responded not in favor of the proposal, Idaho Strategic is a shareholder-focused company and believes that Westwater’s shareholders deserve to have a voice with regard to the proposal. IDR’s management has evaluated its next steps, beginning with a recent invitation to Westwater’s management to engage in further discussion/negotiation. Since adding our Diamond Creek and Roberts rare earth elements projects in 2020, they have proven to be transformative additions for the Company and led to IDR’s addition of Lemhi Pass in 2022, which is not only the largest known concentration of Thorium resources in U.S., but also a highly prospective rare earth element property as well. It became apparent to us during the year that the prior work and coverage conducted over the area has made ‘Lemhi Pass’ a more well-known location amongst industry folks and academics. In 2022 IDR completed its inaugural drill program at Diamond Creek despite the Moose Fire doing its best to delay the program by nearly 3 months. With the results from our drill program expected to be released early in 2023, IDR has taken a proactive approach by expanding its land position and partnerships within the industry. In addition to conducting one of the few REE drill programs in the country in 2022, Idaho Strategic is now the second largest rare earth elements landholder in the United States and has accumulated much of the land along the Idaho REE-Th Belt, which runs subparallel to the Idaho Cobalt Belt. Also in 2022, Idaho Strategic announced its partnership in the IGEM Program along with the University of Idaho, Idaho National Labs, the Center for Advanced Energy Studies, and the Idaho Geological Survey in a research program to discover environmentally friendly processes for the separation and extraction of rare earth elements using drill core and surface samples from IDR’s Diamond Creek property. The IGEM program is currently underway and is being funded by the Idaho Department of Commerce. In order to support Idaho Strategic’s investment in its rare earth projects, the Company purchased a building in Salmon, ID during 2022 in part due to the obvious cost savings over time and to establish a more permanent presence in the community. The property was nicely setup for core cutting, storage, and living and will serve as a great base of operations for future exploration and development work. Rounding out Idaho Strategic’s busy 2022 are the achievements the Company has made at its Golden Chest Mine and the surrounding Murray Gold Belt district. The Company experienced a very high success rate drilling at the Golden Chest Mine in 2022 leading to the further delineation of two ore shoots, the Klondike and the Paymaster, which are adjacent to the Skookum shoot. In September of 2022, the Company drove an exploration drift from the currently producing Skookum shoot into the nearby Klondike shoot to follow-up and confirm vein orientations, sizes, and grades that were discovered with the drill. Once the exploration drift into the Klondike began, IDR shifted the focus of its drilling to the Paymaster shoot for the remainder of 2022. With consistent and favorable results coming from the Paymaster drill program, the Company has plans to begin to drive a similar style exploration drift into the Paymaster shoot during 2023. Because we have the necessary skillsets, it was presented to the team to determine if the Paymaster development under IDR’s existing cost structure was feasible. This ‘goal’ included the completion of ample development ahead of production in the Skookum in order to begin development toward the Paymaster without the need to greatly increase the current level of manpower. In addition to the Company’s favorable production-based drilling at the Golden Chest, Idaho Strategic conducted the first ever drill program on its additional 7,000 acres of contiguous patented and unpatented mining claims that surround the Golden Chest Mine within the Murray Gold Belt. On September 1st, 2022, IDR released favorable results from a drill hole in an area of land referred to as the Argus. The results from the Argus drill program help confirm IDR’s belief that the Murray Gold Belt has district scale potential and remains as one of the last great undeveloped patented/private land holdings in the western U.S. Beyond drilling/exploration, Idaho Strategic has advanced its gold production and is currently mining the 821-level underground within the Skookum shoot. Throughout 2022 IDR began its transition from a mix of underground and open pit operations to solely producing from underground. In response to softening gold prices and higher inflation in the second half of 2022, IDR implemented a revised mine plan which prioritized the higher-grade stopes on the North side of the Skookum ore shoot which has worked out favorably so far. Also in 2022, Idaho Strategic completed a ~$600k expansion of its New Jersey Mill tailings storage facility located in Kellogg, ID, providing the company with greater flexibility and timing with regard to building a new mill on-site within the Murray Gold Belt.