Big Ridge Gold updates activities

Big Ridge Gold Corp. [TSXV: BRAU; OTCQB: ALVLF] provided an update of ongoing activities and goals for 2026 at the flagship Hope Brook Gold Project (HBGP) located on the southwest coast of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Destiny Gold Project, located near Val d’Or, Quebec.

Planned 2026 Milestones: Complete Hope Brook Preliminary Economic Assessment; finalize metallurgical test work and produce concentrate samples for potential offtake partners; Destiny project partner, Caprock Mining Corp. [TSXV: CAPR] to release results from Phase I Drill Program.

Michael Bandrowski, President and CEO, commented: “2025 was a significant year for Big Ridge and the company expects to build on that success by completing significant milestones in 2026. We have been working diligently preparing representative concentrate samples from Hope Brook ore for marketing studies and offtake discussions and the Preliminary Economic Assessment remains on track. We are also anticipating initial assay results from the Destiny gold project in the coming weeks, where our project partner, Caprock Mining is completing its Phase I drill program.”

Big Ridge engaged SGS Geological Services in late 2025 to prepare a Preliminary Economic Assessment on the HBGP. The PEA continues to advance on time with a completion date in the first half of 2026. Historically, Hope Brook produced approximately 750,000 ounces of gold from 1987-1997. A flotation circuit was installed in 1992 that produced a concentrate grading approximately 22% Cu and 34.28 g/t Au that was shipped to the Horne Smelter in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, Canada.

Given the high-quality concentrate historically produced at the HBGP and strong global demand for premium copper and gold concentrates, Big Ridge is currently producing representative concentrate samples for potential off-take and marketing purposes. More recent metallurgical test work completed on Hope Brook ore has produced high-grade Cu-Au concentrates ranging from 26 to 30% Cu with 270 to 539 g/t Au.

The Hope Brook project is one of very few brownfield Au-Cu concentrate projects located on tidewater and in a tier-one jurisdiction. With current smelter treatment and refining charges at negative levels, the company believes its strategic location on the Southwest coast of Newfoundland and Labrador will generate notable interest from potential traders and offtake partners that could support future project financing efforts.

Big Ridge currently owns 20.25 million shares of Caprock Mining, the company’s partner on the Destiny Gold Project. Caprock commenced a Phase I exploration drill program in the last quarter of 2025, targeting deep-seated, high-grade mineralization identified in two historical drill holes completed by a previous operator where gold grades as high as 26 g/t Au were intercepted. We expect initial drill results from the program in Q1 2026.

The Hope Brook Gold Project is an advanced stage, high-grade gold project that produced 752,162 ounces of gold from 1987 – 1997. Initial production consisted of an open pit before moving to underground mining. Hope Brook operated using both heap leach (1987 -1990) and conventional cyanidation milling methods (1989-1997) with a later inclusion of flotation concentration to recover copper (1991).

Government records indicate that gold recoveries from milling ranged between a low of 78.8% in 1987 and a high of 85.9% in 1989. Government and company annual reports indicate that gold recoveries ranged between a low of 82.1% in 1994 and a high of 89.83% in 1996 following a change of ownership. Copper flotation produced a concentrate at approximately 22% Cu and 34.3 g/t Au for shipment in 1992.

Hope Brook hosts an Indicated gold resource totalling 16,190,000 tonnes grading 2.32 g/t gold for 1.2 million ounces and Inferred resources totalling 2,215,000 tonnes grading 3.25 g/t gold for 231,000 ounces based on a 0.4 and 2.0 g/t cut-off grades for open pit and underground resources respectively using a long-term gold price of US$1,750/oz.

Hope Brook is located 85 km east of Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. The project has well maintained infrastructure on site, including an operational 28-person camp, an 1,100-metre airstrip, ice-free docking facility and importantly, connection to the provincial electrical power grid via an on-site substation.

Big Ridge owns a 100% interest in its flagship Hope Brook Gold Project in Newfoundland and Labrador. Big Ridge also owns 100% in the prospective Oxford Gold Project in Manitoba and the Destiny Gold Project in Quebec.