IONIC RARE EARTHS LIMITED — Capital/Financing Update 2016

Nov 22, 2016

23 November 2016

ASX Announcement

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NEWCREST AND ORO VERDE TO DRILL AT TOPACIO

HIGHLIGHTS

• Highly encouraging exploration results from completed first year of farm-in agreement at Topacio

• Rebeca-Sahino Zone shows potential for a buried epithermal gold system

• Newcrest agrees to fund initial drill testing of priority targets in the Rebeca-Sahino Zone

• Planning is well advanced for drilling to commence as soon as possible, subject to final regulatory clearance

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Oro Verde Limited (ASX: OVL) (“Oro Verde” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce that Newcrest has agreed to fund initial drill testing of priority targets in the Rebeca-Sahino Zone at the Topacio Gold Project, located in southeastern Nicaragua (Figure 1).

The first year Stage 1 exploration program of the Farm-In Agreement between Newcrest International Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) (“Newcrest”), and Oro Verde that was executed at the end of November 2015[1] , has been completed successfully.

Highly encouraging results from the exploration program across the 93km[2] concession – including detailed vein mapping and sampling, broad scale soil geochemistry, airborne geophysics and subsequent targeted infill soil geochemistry – have highlighted a number of target areas that require drill testing.

The highest priority target area for drill testing is the Rebeca-Sahino zone (Figure 2) which displays characteristics indicating potential for a buried epithermal gold system. The technical team is completing preparations for drilling of this target, which will occur once final regulatory approvals have been obtained.

Oro Verde’s Managing Director, Mr. Trevor Woolfe, commented “We are extremely happy that Newcrest has decided to continue to the next phase of the farm-in agreement on the Topacio Gold Project in partnership with Oro Verde. We will now proceed to drill test the priority targets with initial focus on the Rebeca-Sahino zone. This area has demonstrated a strong geological, geochemical and geophysical signature suggesting potential for a buried epithermal gold system.”

1 Refer to ASX announcement dated 30 November 2015 “Newcrest Signs A$11M Farm-in Agreement with Oro Verde”

Oro Verde Limited (ASX code: OVL)

Level 1, 34 Colin St, West Perth, WA 6005 Phone: +61 8 9481 2555 Fax: +61 8 9485 1290 Email: info@oroverde.com.au

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Figure 1 Major Nicaraguan gold deposits and the Topacio Gold Project

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Figure 2 Topacio: Target zone – Rebeca Zone and Sahino Silica Cap

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TOPACIO PROJECT BACKGROUND

Oro Verde holds an Option to Purchase Agreement over the high grade Topacio Gold Project, located in southeastern Nicaragua (Figure 1). Details can be found in the announcement to the ASX dated 27 February 2015[2] . The project contains a historical NI 43-101 (Canadian standard, similar to JORC) compliant Inferred Resource of:

2,716,176 tonnes at 3.9 g/t gold, containing 340,345 ounces of gold, at a 1.5 g/t gold cut-off

National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”) is a national instrument for the Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects within Canada and as such this estimate is a foreign estimate and is not reported in accordance with the JORC code (Australia). A competent person has not done sufficient work to classify the foreign estimate as mineral resources in accordance with the JORC code and it is uncertain that following evaluation and/or further exploration work that the foreign estimate will be able to be reported as mineral resources in accordance with the JORC code.

For enquiries contact: Mr Trevor Woolfe Managing Director +61 411 127 837 +61 8 9481 2555

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About Oro Verde Limited: Oro Verde Ltd is a mineral exploration company focused on identifying and developing significant gold projects in Central America, particularly Nicaragua. Oro Verde holds an Option to Purchase Agreement to acquire 100% of the Topacio Gold Project in Nicaragua that contains a NI43-101 compliant Inferred Mineral Resource of 340,000 ounces of gold. A US$7.9 million 5 year farm-in agreement was signed on November 25, 2015 with a subsidiary of global gold major - Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) – to jointly explore for multi-million ounce gold deposits at Topacio. Oro Verde also holds 100% of the early stage San Isidro Gold Project, also in Nicaragua, located adjacent to the 2.3 million ounce La India gold project.

COMPETENT PERSON STATEMENTS

The information in this document that relates to Exploration Results is based on information compiled by Mr Trevor Woolfe BSc Hons (Geol), who is a Member of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Mr Woolfe is the Managing Director and a shareholder of the Company, and is employed through consultancy Shordean Pty Ltd. Mr Woolfe has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the ‘Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves’. Mr Woolfe consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

The information in this document that relates to Historical Mineral Resources is extracted from the report entitled “Acquisition of High Grade Gold Project” created on 11 November 2014 and available to view on www.asx.com. The Company confirms that it is not in possession of any new information or data that materially impacts on the reliability of the estimates in the original market announcement and that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the estimates in the relevant market announcement continue to apply and have not materially changed. The Company confirms that the form and context in which the Competent Person’s findings are presented have not been materially modified from the original market announcement.

2 Refer to ASX announcement dated 27 February 2015 “Oro Verde Proceeds to Acquire Topacio Gold Project”

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