Great Atlantic Resources drilling Pilley’s Island Project, Newfoundland

Great Atlantic Resources Corp. [TSXV: GR] provided an update regarding exploration progress at the company’s Pilley’s Island Project in Pilley’s Island, north-central Newfoundland, where HM Exploration Corp. [CSE: HM] holds an option to earn a 100% interest in the project through a combination of common share issuances and incurrence of exploration expenditures on the property.

HM Exploration has begun diamond drilling at the project at the Clifford Jones (Bull Road) Trench Zone. HM Exploration refers to their project area as the Lewis Pilley’s Project.

The drilling program is designed to test high-grade copper mineralization directly beneath surface samples collected by HM Exploration in 2025 that returned up to 16.6% copper.

“The massive sulfide exposed at surface at the Zone exhibits high grade copper content and is extensive,” said Nicholas Rodway, CEO of HM Exploration. “The Zone we are currently drilling has not been historically tested. A 2016 trench uncovered the massive sulfide mineralization immediately southwest of prior drill holes, suggesting this zone was overlooked in earlier exploration campaigns. A high-grade, copper-rich intercept here would be transformative for the company, particularly at this early stage of exploration. With recent exploration success in Newfoundland and increasing global focus on high-grade copper systems, we believe this represents a compelling opportunity for HM shareholders.”

Highlights: HM Exploration’s diamond drilling program currently underway will be 2,500 metres minimum.

Drilling targeting high-grade mineralization beneath HM Exploration’s surface samples grading up to 16.56% Cu.

Outcrop grab samples taken in 2025 by HM Exploration at the Zone returned: Sample 181000 returned 6.79% Cu, 2.99% Zn, 22.50 g/t Ag, and 0.64 g/t Au. Sample 181001 returned 4.46% Cu, 2.63% Zn, 22.00 g/t Ag, and 0.53 g/t Au. Sample 181002 returned 16.56% Cu, 1.68% Zn, 18.60 g/t Ag, and 0.80 g/t Au. Sample 181003 returned 5.89% Cu, 27.20 g/t Ag, and 0.38 g/t Au. Sample 181007 returned 8.08% Cu, 17.50 g/t Ag, and 0.18 g/t Au.

Historic drilling conducted by Brinco-Getty and Brinex in the peripheral area produced assay values up to: BBF-27: 3.05 metres at 0.93% Cu, 0.89% Pb, 3.51% Zn, 27.68 g/t Ag. PI-83-01: 7.35 metres at 0.66% Cu, 0.51% Pb, 3.41% Zn, 10.57 g/t Ag. PI-83-07: 2.49 metres at 0.70% Cu, 0.22% Pb, 0.74% Zn, 6.53 g/t Ag.

The Pillay’s Island Project is road accessible and situated approximately 25 km east of the town of Springdale, approximately 55 km southeast of Firefly Metals’ Green Bay Project and approximately a 150 km from the Pine Cove Mill and Port by way of major roads.

The project has a long history of mining and exploration dating back to the late 1800’s when the Pilley’s Island Pyrite Company Ltd. produced approximately 450,000 tons of massive pyritic ore from the Pilley’s Island Mine-Old Mines (after Kerr, 1996).

The Project hosts a cluster of Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide (VMS) systems and prospects with demonstrated high-grade Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag+/-Au intersections. Mineralization is typical bimodal-felsic VMS, with both massive sulfide and sulfide-clast breccias (Thurlow, 2001). The geological setting is directly analogous to the Buchans camp (Thurlow, 1996), and the presence of sulfide-clast breccias is a strong vector toward proximal massive sulfide lenses.

Most of the historic showings that fall within the extents of the Project have not seen systematic exploration recently or historically. Many of the historic drill holes were shallow and drilled in a vertical orientation limiting the geological knowledge of the extents of the underlying lithology and mineralization. Work is being planned to validate historic assay results as well as collect new data from the 3B-Zone, Clifford Jones (Bull Road) Extension, Bouzanne Shaft, Henderson, Mansfield and Pilley’s Cove Showings.

The project is located within the Notre Dame Subzone of the Dunnage Tectonostratigraphic Zone. Of note, most of the project is underlain by Ordovician submarine volcanic rocks of the Roberts Arm Group which is regionally identified as part of a mature arc sequence referred to as the Buchans-Roberts Arm Belt that also hosts the historic Buchan’s mine. Mineralization occurs as lower grade (Spencer’s Dock); medium grade (Old Mines); and high grade (3B-Zone/Clifford Jones) deposits that are of both sub-seafloor replacement and exhalative varieties. The deposits are often flanked by extensive chlorite, sericite, silica, K-feldspar and epidote alteration often observed in bimodal-felsic VMS systems.

The Spencer’s Dock area displays sericite/silica alteration that generally increases in intensity near mineralized zones, while the 3B/Old Mine areas display sericite/silica alteration that is abundant but less widespread and is more intense when proximal to mineralized zones.

The project’s geology shares key characteristics with known VMS districts in Newfoundland, including the past producing Buchans, Ming and Rambler Mines supporting the exploration potential of the project.