On July 26, 2021, the company announced that its holding subsidiary, Laizhou Ruihai Mining Co., Ltd., obtained a mining license for the gold mine in the northern sea area of Sanshandao on July 20, 2021, issued by the Shandong Provincial Department of Natural Resources. The license indicates a production scale of 3.96 million tons/year, a mining area of 5.828 square kilometers, and a validity period of 15 years. The successful acquisition of the mining license marks the entry of the sea gold mine construction into a fast track of comprehensive development.

The sea gold mine is located in the first-class mineralization belt of the Jiaodong region, specifically the mining belt of the Cangshang fault on Sanshandao. It is the most important gold mineralization belt in China, surrounded by rich large and medium-sized gold deposits, with extremely favorable geological conditions for mineralization. The future resource potential is limitless, and the development space is vast. As of December 31, 2020, according to the JORC standards, the sea gold mine has a mineral resource reserve of 562.37 tons, with an average grade of 4.20 grams/ton, far exceeding the national average level, making it the largest single gold mine discovered globally in nearly 20 years. Moreover, the geographical location of this gold mine is only 45 kilometers away from the company's base in Zhaoyuan City, adjacent to the company's existing mines and infrastructure in Zhaoyuan Port. The surrounding infrastructure and transportation network have already developed maturely, creating an ideal development environment that is conducive to expanding production capacity, leveraging synergies, and improving efficiency.

The total investment for the sea project is approximately 7.3 billion yuan, with a designed scale of 12,000 tons/day for mining and selection. After obtaining the mining rights license, the company will adhere to high standards and high starting points, aiming for "safety, efficiency, green, and intelligent" operations, and will quickly organize the construction and production of a world-class intelligent mine. Once the project reaches full production, it will produce over 510,000 ounces of gold annually, driving the company's gold output up by nearly 50%. Due to the large reserves, high grade, and low cost of the sea gold mine, the company's profit margin will also improve as the scale grows in the future, undoubtedly becoming the company's largest performance growth engine, enhancing its influence and competitiveness in global gold resources, and accelerating its transformation into a world-class gold mining company with international competitiveness.

Currently, against the backdrop of rising inflation expectations, major investment banks are optimistic about the trend of gold prices. The world-renowned investment bank Goldman Sachs predicts that the gold price will be $1,977 per ounce in 2021 and $2,000 per ounce in 2022, with gold prices expected to continue to rise in the future. The company's current PB/PE ratios are only 1.15 times/14.8 times, far below the Hong Kong stock market's gold and precious metals sector ratios of 2.8 times/49 times. Once the sea project enters the fast track, it will reshape the company's valuation, ushering in a development trend of simultaneous increase in volume and price.

The acquisition of the mining license for the sea gold mine is another milestone following the company's acquisition of the project, marking a solid step towards the comprehensive construction of the sea gold mine project. In the future, once the sea gold mine is put into production, it will significantly expand the company's existing production capacity, enhance the company's self-produced gold output, optimize existing production costs, and assist the company in achieving its strategic goals for medium- to long-term development.