Hannan Metals drilling Stavaträsk high-grade gold project, Sweden

Hannan Metals Ltd. [TSXV: HAN; OTC Pink: HANNF] reported that it has mobilized a diamond drill rig and commenced drilling at the Stavaträsk gold project in the Skellefteå district of northern Sweden. The drill rig mobilized as planned and the first hole was collared twelve days after the deal was announced on 10 June 2026.

The initial program comprises 6 to 8 holes averaging 120 to 200 metres in depth, for a total of approximately 1,000 metres, with a second 1,000-metre program planned immediately following review of initial assay results within two to four weeks.

Key Points: Diamond drilling has commenced at Stavaträsk, with an initial program of approximately 1,000 metres in six to eight holes (averaging 120 to 200 metres each), followed by a second 1,000-metre program after review of initial assay results, to test the geometry, continuity and structural controls of this high-grade structurally-hosted gold–copper–silver system.

Previously disclosed surface sampling returned outcrop grades of up to 93 g/t Au and 24 g/t Ag, and a boulder (float) field located 650 metres southeast of the outcrop with grades up to 11.2 g/t Au, 154 g/t Ag and 2.43% Cu.

The first pass drill program is designed to test subsurface extensions of these two primary areas of mineralization at surface over the 650-metre strike.

Michael Hudson, CEO, stated: “Commencing drilling at Stavaträsk within just 12 days of announcing the Swedish deal, is the kind of momentum that speaks to Sweden’s standing as a country that is genuinely open for business. Boliden is one of Europe’s highest-grade gold mines, with 4.2 million ounces at 15 g/t gold, and it sits just 20 km along strike from our drill rig.

“We look forward to running the first 1,000 metres, receiving drill assays, and then returning to drill the second 1,000 metres informed by those results. Previsto in Peru remains our flagship project and primary focus; the Swedish program is designed to complement that work, not replace it, while Previsto advances through permitting toward

The Stavaträsk Project is 20 km north of the Boliden deposit (4.24 Moz at 15.9 g/t Au historic production – source). The project occupies a strategic position on the Vidsel-Röjnoret Shear System (VRSS), the same regional-scale terrane boundary that hosts Boliden.

Gold, silver and copper mineralization is structurally hosted, with massive to semi-massive arsenopyrite, pyrite and chalcopyrite with silica alteration. Outcrop samples return grades of 93 g/t Au and 24 g/t Ag. A boulder field located 650 metres southeast of the main outcrop yielded eight samples averaging 3.2 g/t Au (range 0.1-11.2 g/t Au), 67 g/t Ag (range 1-154 g/t Ag) and 0.83% Cu (range 0.003-2.43% Cu), and is surrounded by historic drill collars for which assay data is largely unavailable.

Collectively, the outcrop and boulder field define a 750-metre mineralized trend. Historic Boliden drilling in the 2000s, for which data is unavailable, traces the system over 2.5 km of strike. The initial staged program of up to 2,000 metres is designed to test the system at and below surface and to establish its scale, geometry and structural controls. Given the massive-sulphide nature of the mineralization, a follow-up electromagnetic (EM) survey is expected to be an effective tool to trace the system under cover along strike and down-dip, informing subsequent drilling.

The Boliden deposit, mined from 1924 to 1967, with 8.3 million tonnes grading 15.5 g/t Au that yielded roughly 4.2 million ounces of gold alongside copper, silver and arsenic and remains the defining benchmark for gold exploration across the entire Skellefteå District.

It is classified as a metamorphosed, structurally remobilized volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) system, with gold hosted in dense arsenopyrite and the highest-grade gold carried in later quartz-tourmaline veins.

The Skellefteå Belt that hosts it is one of the most metal-endowed Palaeoproterozoic terranes globally, having produced over seven million ounces of gold across nearly thirty mines. Stavaträsk sits squarely at the heart of this proven mineral system, and the Company’s geological work has assembled a remarkably complete set of independent lines of evidence: geological, geochemical, structural and historical data that underline a compelling comparison between Stavaträsk and Boliden.

Stavaträsk lies just 20 km north of Boliden on the very same regional-scale Vidsel-Röjnoret Shear System, the crustal-scale terrane boundary that localised the Boliden orebody itself. This is not merely the same district; it is the same first-order mineralizing plumbing system that hosts the Boliden deposit.

Identical metal assemblage and arsenopyrite host – Surface sampling at Stavaträsk returns the exact Au-Cu-Ag polymetallic signature that defines Boliden, hosted in the same massive to semi-massive arsenopyrite with pyrite and chalcopyrite. At Boliden, arsenopyrite was the dominant sulphide and the primary host of gold, and at Stavaträsk that identical gold-arsenopyrite association is abundant in outcrop and float.

Shear-controlled, hanging-wall gold with chlorite footwall alteration – At Boliden, gold was concentrated in the hanging-wall contact zone as splays off a principal shear, underlain by an intense chlorite-dominant footwall alteration pipe, the textbook architecture of the deposit. Stavaträsk reproduces that architecture point for point: gold mineralization in a hanging-wall splay off the main shear, sitting directly above a footwall zone of intense chlorite-dominant hydrothermal and metasomatic alteration. This is the classic Boliden-style exploration vector, and at Stavaträsk it is mapped at surface and pointing straight at depth.

Untested potential for quartz-tourmaline high-grade gold – Boliden’s highest-grade gold and its high-grade core was carried in later quartz-tourmaline veins. The surface expression at Stavaträsk, arsenopyrite-hosted gold with copper and silver, corresponds to the earlier stages of that same proven paragenetic sequence. In Boliden terms, the system is showing its early-stage face at surface while the highest-grade quartz-tourmaline stage remains completely untested.

Taken together, these similarities make Stavaträsk a geologically compelling Boliden analogue identified in the Skellefteå Belt. The comparison is presented as a deposit-type and exploration-targeting analogue rather than a prediction of scale or grade: Stavaträsk remains an early-stage target defined by surface and boulder sampling and historic drilling for which recoverable data is limited, no mineral resource has been estimated, and continuity at depth has not yet been established. That is exactly the prize the upcoming drill program is designed to chase to test whether a system that mirrors Boliden at surface also carries Boliden-style grade and continuity at depth.

Sweden is positioning itself as the cornerstone of Europe’s domestic mineral supply under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act. The efficiency of its permitting regime is demonstrated firsthand at Stavaträsk, where a drill permit was secured in four weeks. The country ranks among the world’s top-10 most attractive mining jurisdictions in the Fraser Institute’s most recent survey, offering stable policy, established infrastructure, low-cost hydropower and a skilled workforce. The district also supports near year-round drilling: an established forestry road network enables access through the summer, while winter snow cover allows rigs to move broadly across the terrain, with only a short shoulder season around April-June.

The large Previsto gold-copper prospect (Amanecer project) in Peru remains the company’s flagship asset and primary focus, and the Swedish projects complement – rather than replace – that priority.

With the Previsto permitting timeline extending maiden drilling into 2027, and with the Company well-funded, Hannan has secured a low-cost, share-based entry into three high-grade gold projects — structured to add exploration optionality with minimal upfront cash — allowing the company to keep the drill bit turning and deliver near-term results for shareholders during the interim window.

The team behind Hannan has a demonstrated track record of creating substantial shareholder value from high-grade gold discoveries. Projects associated with the team, originally advanced within Mawson Gold when it carried a market capitalization of approximately C$40 million, have gone on to underpin Southern Cross Gold Consolidated Ltd. and Goldsky Resources Corp., since valued at approximately C$2.5 billion and C$740 million respectively.

Hannan Metals is an exploration company with a primary focus on advancing its Previsto gold-copper prospect (Amanecer project) in Peru, and an option to earn 100% in three high-grade gold projects in Sweden. Over the last decade, the team behind Hannan has forged a long and successful record of discovering, financing, and advancing mineral projects in Australia, Europe and South America.