Maple Gold posts final Joutel Winter drill results at Joutel Gold Project, Québec
Maple Gold Mines Ltd. [TSXV: MGM; OTCQX: MGMLF; FSE: M3G0] reported new results from the final four holes of its 10,870-metre winter drill campaign at the Joutel Gold Project, part of its 100%-owned Douay/Joutel Gold Project located along the Casa Berardi-Douay Gold Trend in Québec, Canada.
Highlights: High-grade gold mineralization at Joutel has been extended up to 450 metres beyond the Eagle-Telbel mine workings; system remains open along strike and at depth.
New drill hole intercepts, located between the Eagle and Telbel shafts at approximately 200 m vertical depth and approximately 100 metres above the Eagle mine workings, include: JO-26-18: 8.6 g/t gold over 4.2 metres within 2.5 g/t Au over 18.3 metres. JO-26-19: 2.5 g/t Au over 2.0 metres within 1.2 g/t Au over 9.7 metres.
Reconnaissance drilling >1 km southeast of the Telbel shaft intersected ~69 metres of anomalous gold-bearing hydrothermal breccia—the same mineralization style associated with historical gold production at Eagle-Telbel—highlighting potential well beyond the mine complex.
Assays for all 22 winter drill holes (10,870 m) have now been reported, with 19 of 22 drill holes (86%) from the inaugural Joutel drill campaign intersecting target mineralization.
None of the winter drill results were included in the company’s updated 2026 Douay/Joutel Mineral Resource Estimate (the 2026 MRE). The maiden Joutel underground resource comprises: Indicated: 0.9 million tonnes (Mt) at 4.53 g/t Au for 126,000 oz Au; Inferred: 7.5 Mt at 4.11 g/t Au for 992,000 oz Au.
The company has launched an expanded, fully funded 25,000-metre fall drill campaign focused on accelerating near-surface resource growth and targeted resource conversion at Joutel.
Following the successful Winter Program, which confirmed the strength, continuity and growth potential of Joutel’s high-grade gold system, the company has launched an expanded 25,000-metre fall drill campaign to accelerate resource growth and targeted resource conversion. This budgeted $9 million Fall Program is fully funded by the company’s approximately $23 million treasury.
“The success of the Winter Program, together with the 2026 MRE, underscores Joutel’s potential as a premier asset within our district-scale gold platform, and we are moving decisively to turn exploration success into meaningful resource growth,” stated Kiran Patankar, President and CEO of Maple Gold. “To support this work, we have launched an aggressive 25,000-metre Fall Program backed by a strong treasury, a completed internal scoping study that is guiding our exploration and development decisions, and additional near-term catalysts across Douay/Joutel. We believe Maple Gold is well positioned to deliver value for shareholders as we continue to advance one of Québec’s most compelling emerging gold districts.“
Joutel hosts the historical Eagle, Eagle West and Telbel gold mines (together, the Joutel Mining Complex) which produced 1.1 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 6.5 g/t Au between 1974 and 1993. The Joutel Mining Complex lies along the southern branch of the regional Casa Berardi Deformation Zone (CBDZ), a major gold-bearing structure in Québec’s prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt.
Gold mineralization is hosted within the uppermost cycle of the Joutel volcanic complex (the Mine Sequence), which includes a thick rhyodacitic to dacitic pyroclastic footwall unit overlain by interbedded clastic and chemical sedimentary rocks, felsic pyroclastics, and mafic flows. Within the Mine Sequence, the continuous Main Iron Carbonate Horizon (MICH) hosted the bulk of historical gold production.
The MICH trends southeast and dips sub-vertically. Both the Eagle and Telbel mines host higher-grade ‘shoots’ within the MICH that plunge to the southeast, consistent with the regional plunge lineation. The MICH is the primary exploration target along strike and up- and down-plunge of the known high-grade mineralization. Secondary targets include sub-parallel carbonate horizons, altered zones within felsic tuffs, and a continuous microgabbro unit in the footwall to the MICH.
The four drill holes (JO-26-16, JO-26-17, JO-26-18 and JO-26-19) reported today were designed to test shallow areas with limited drilling between, and along strike from, the historical Eagle and Telbel Mines. These holes targeted interpreted zones of high-grade gold mineralization projected up-plunge from historic mined-out stopes within the MICH host unit.
The best results came from drill hole JO-26-18 drilled between the Eagle and Telbel mine shafts, which returned 8.6 g/t Au over 4.2 metres within 2.5 g/t Au over 18.3 metres within the MICH. Drill hole JO-26-19 returned 2.5 g/t Au over 2.0 metres within 1.2 g/t Au over 9.7 metres in a 50-metre horizontal step-out northwest along the MICH from previously reported drill hole JO-25-07 which returned 5.3 g/t Au over 6.8 metres. Hole JO-26-19 also intersected 4.3 g/t Au over 1.6 metres in the parallel and continuous microgabbro unit in the footwall to the MICH.
Further southeast, drill hole JO-26-16, located >1 km from the Telbel mine shaft, intersected ~69 metres of hydrothermal breccia—a key mineralization style associated with the MICH. This strongly suggests that the gold mineralizing system at Joutel extends well beyond the Joutel Mining Complex and the potential for additional southeast plunging shoots with a similar attitude to Eagle-Telbel.
Importantly, all Winter Program results were received after the November 1, 2025 cutoff date for the 2026 MRE, representing additional resource upside. Refer to original press release for complete assays. Intersections are reported as drilled widths; true widths are estimated to be 60-90% of drill widths.
The Winter Program was designed to test both the continuity of the system and the strength of the company’s geological and targeting model. Five key takeaways at Joutel are shaping how the company approaches H2 2026: The Joutel system is predictable, and the geological model is well understood: An 86% drill success rate that returned multiple thick intervals of high-grade gold mineralization within modeled stratigraphy provides confidence to target continued near-surface resource expansion along all prospective mineralized horizons during the Fall Program, with a particular focus on the MICH.
Significant expansion potential remains: The majority of step-out holes drilled this season intersected gold mineralization, reinforcing the strength of the system and meaningful opportunities to further expand the resource at shallow depths, and eventually at depth, where the mineralized system remains wide open.
Confirmation of high-grade: Seven drill holes returned 11 individual high-grade core intervals >15 g/t Au with a high of 40.8 g/t Au over 0.5 metres, underscoring the strength of mineralization within this system.
Understanding of plunge control and potential for sub-parallel zones: Drilling to date has confirmed both the continuity of the MICH and a strong southeast plunge to the high-grade mineralization, which helps drive future targeting up-plunge to surface and also down-plunge to depth below the historical underground workings. Drilling has also identified parallel zones within the hanging wall felsic volcanic tuffs and the footwall microgabbro unit and these represent additional targets for the Company in the Fall Program.
Completed scoping study guiding integrated exploration/development approach: The Fall Program will continue to prioritize resource expansion, while also targeting resource conversion from Inferred to Indicated in selected areas to deliver a more robust resource base and completing metallurgical test work to support broader development objectives at Douay/Joutel.
Fall Program Outline: Maple Gold has commenced an aggressive Fall Program at Joutel, including 25,000 metres of diamond drilling, focused on three key objectives: Filling in the gaps between and around the past-producing Eagle and Telbel mines, targeting the shallow, under-explored areas between the two mine shafts where the Winter Program returned some of the strongest results.
Strengthening the overall resource base, by improving drill density, confidence and classification of Class 4 (Speculative) material in the 2026 MRE and completing targeted conversion from Inferred to Indicated in selected areas, to support future resource updates and development studies.
Testing the highest-priority expansion zones, including areas northwest of Eagle, between Eagle and Telbel, and southeast of Telbel, where this year’s step-out holes confirmed the mineralized horizon extends well beyond the mine complex and 2026 MRE.
The Fall Program is expected to generate a steady pipeline of exploration results through the remainder of 2026 while supporting future resource updates and development studies. The company recently completed an internal Douay/Joutel scoping/engineering/trade-off analysis to support future development studies aimed at evaluating potential mining scenarios within the district. This work included an evaluation of a centralized mill facility to process material from both the Joutel and Douay deposits, leveraging their close proximity (~35 km by road) to drive operational efficiencies.
As part of ongoing project de-risking initiatives, the planned Fall Program will also include metallurgical testing at Joutel to better understand ore behaviour and support process flowsheet design for optimal gold recoveries, alongside additional trade-off, engineering and financial analysis.
During H1 2026, the company completed 68 drill holes totaling ~31,700 metres at Douay/Joutel and three drill holes totaling ~1,300 metres at its Morris VMS Project located east of Matagami, Québec. Assay results have now been reported for 14 holes from Douay and all 22 holes from Joutel. Additional assay results will be reported as they are received, following QA/QC validation.
Maple Gold Mines Ltd. is a well-funded Canadian gold exploration company focused on advancing its 100%-owned, district-scale Douay/Joutel Gold Project located in Québec’s prolific Abitibi Greenstone Gold Belt. Douay/Joutel benefits from exceptional infrastructure access and boasts ~481 km2 of highly prospective ground including an established gold mineral resource at the Douay2 and Joutel3 deposits, both with significant expansion potential, as well as the past-producing Eagle and Telbel mines at Joutel that were key parts of the historical Joutel Mining Complex. The total Douay/Joutel Mineral Resource Estimate now stands at 905,000 oz Au Indicated (19.1 Mt at 1.48 g/t Au) and 4,297,000 oz Au Inferred (130.2 Mt at 1.03 g/t Au).
Maple Gold’s property package also hosts a significant number of regional exploration targets along a 55-km strike length of the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone that have yet to be tested through drilling, making the property has the potential for new gold and VMS discoveries.
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