Antares Metals (ASX:AM5) advances Quinns drilling program following Program of Work approval

Antares Metals has received approval for its Program of Work for the Quinns Copper Gold Zinc VMS Project in Western Australia.

Heritage surveys are scheduled to commence in mid August 2026, with completion expected to clear the way for the company's maiden RC and diamond drilling program shortly thereafter.

Highlights

The Quinns Project spans approximately 383km² of exploration tenure in the Murchison mineral field, centred approximately 70km south of Meekatharra and adjacent to existing processing infrastructure.

Antares acquired a 100% interest in the Quinns tenure in January 2026, gaining exposure to the historic Austin copper zinc gold silver VMS deposit and the untested Defiance and 4E prospects along the same mineralised trend.

Existing processing infrastructure within trucking distance includes Monument Mining's Burnakura Mill together with Westgold Resources' Bluebird, Paddy's Flat and Tuckabianna mills.

The company says its maiden drill program is designed to build on the existing dataset, targeting what it describes as a low cost, near term path to a meaningful resource.

The program is supported by $237,500 in combined Western Australian Government Exploration Incentive Scheme co funding secured in May 2026, comprising $150,000 in direct RC and diamond drilling co funding, $50,000 for regional target generation and $37,500 for a high resolution aeromagnetic geophysical survey.

According to the company, several shallow, high grade historical copper and zinc intersections remain excluded from the current resource and represent near term upgrade potential.

Reported historical intersections include 58m @ 2.0% Cu, 8.6g/t Ag and 0.42g/t Au from 148m, including 5m @ 10.2% Cu, 36.4g/t Ag and 2.0g/t Au from 164m and 2m @ 16.9% Cu, 61.8g/t Ag and 3.1g/t Au from 165m.

Other reported intersections include 38m @ 14% Zn from 105m, including 6m @ 33.3% Zn from 126m and 2m @ 45.6% Zn from 140m, together with 2m @ 4.7% Cu, 21.1g/t Ag and 0.36g/t Au from 99m, and 9m @ 7.9% Cu from 84m and 10m @ 37.3g/t Ag from 84m.

The Austin deposit hosts a historical Mineral Resource Estimate of 1.48Mt at 1.02% Cu, 1.39% Zn, 3.51g/t Ag and 0.24g/t Au prepared under the JORC 2004 Code.

The company states that the historical estimate is not a Mineral Resource or Ore Reserve under the JORC 2012 Code, that it is not treating the estimate as such, that investors should not rely on the historical estimate, and that there is no certainty further exploration and evaluation work will result in the historical estimate being reported as a Mineral Resource or Ore Reserve under the JORC 2012 Code.

According to the announcement, the historic Austin resource was estimated in 2010 using a 0.4% Cu cut off grade when copper traded at approximately US$7,700/tonne.

The company says copper is currently trading at approximately US$13,400/tonne, an increase of around 75%, which it says may warrant a review of the cut off grade applied in any future resource estimation work.

The company also states that any revised estimate would need to be prepared by a Competent Person in accordance with the JORC Code and that there is no certainty it would result in a larger or higher grade resource.

Antares Managing Director Terry Topping said,

"Approval of our Program of Work is a big step forward for Quinns, it means we move straight into heritage surveys next month and follow with maiden drilling shortly after. With EIS funding of $237,500 providing up to 50% of direct drilling costs, this non dilutive funding is a genuine endorsement of our geological work here."

According to the company, priorities over the coming quarter include advancing Phase One drilling at Austin, followed by Phase Two testing at Defiance and 4E, while progressing assay results from Mt Isa North in parallel.

Planned activities include finalising drill targeting, completing heritage surveys, continuing mapping and expanded soil sampling, undertaking a comprehensive review of geophysical datasets, and progressing exploration activities at Mt Isa North.