Manhattan Gold Corporation (ASX:MHC) completes maiden Hook Lake drilling campaign

Manhattan Gold Corporation has completed the first drilling at its Hook Lake Project in Nunavut, Canada, since 1988, with gold results from Jaws and copper, gold, silver and zinc mineralisation at Spectre.

The 2026 campaign tested 5 targets, alongside regional surveys that will inform planning for the 2027 field programme.

Highlights

• The maiden RC campaign completed 25 drillholes for 4,591.85m against a planned 4,000m, with assays reported for 20 drillholes.

• Jaws returned 41.15m at 4.66g/t Au from 83.82m in JWS26006b, while drilling confirmed gold to 223m vertical depth.

• LiDAR, airborne magnetic surveying and a 550 sample till programme were completed, with integration of exploration datasets scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2026.

Jaws accounted for 17 drillholes and 68% of the metres drilled, with reported assays defining a 490m zone of higher grade gold within 1.25km of tested strike.

Results remain pending for JWS26013 and JWS26014, which will take the strike tested by the 2026 drilling to 2,258m.

The reported intersections include 74.67m at 1.61g/t Au from 21.34m in JWS26009, including 15.24m at 5.35g/t Au from 35.05m.

JWS26012 returned 21.34m at 1.72g/t Au from 32.0m, more than 275m southwest of JWS26006b, extending the zone of higher grade gold.

Geological observations have identified stacked quartz veins through the main shear zone in JWS26003b, while modern drilling indicates that the shear lies approximately 20 to 30m northwest of the position inferred from historical records.

Reported drillhole intersections are drilled lengths, with true thicknesses currently unknown.

At Spectre, a volcanogenic massive sulphide target 26km southwest of Jaws, all 3 maiden drillholes intersected mineralisation across a 340m strike length.

SPC26001 returned 19.81m at 1.77% Cu, 0.80g/t Au, 84.3g/t Ag and 2.30% Zn from 42.67m, alongside a separate upper interval of 3.05m at 29.50% Zn from 12.19m.

Sulphide zones crop out at surface and have been extended to 86m vertical depth, with mineralisation remaining open along strike and untested at depth.

Elsewhere, the first drilling at Quantum and Lotus confirmed anomalous gold below surface outcrops, although results were limited to narrow vein intervals.

These targets lack the substantial silicification and sulphide presence observed at Jaws, with further mapping and magnetic interpretation intended to assist targeting.

Assays remain pending for 3 drillholes at Omega, a banded iron formation target largely beneath shallow glacial cover.

The regional work included approximately 12,600 line km of airborne magnetic surveying, while till sampling covered the northeastern extension of Jaws through to Omega and a priority structural target within the banded iron formation.

Results are also awaited from scoping metallurgical test work on samples from JWS26008 and SPC26001.

Manhattan Gold The exploration camp is now permanent, with Technical Advisor Sam Vaughan stating,

“The permanent camp will also allow us to resupply over the winter and mobilise quickly.”

Planning for 2027 is under way, with diamond drilling to better manage variations in ground conditions that affected RC drilling in some locations.

Interpretation of the drilling, magnetic, LiDAR and till datasets will inform the next field programme.