Soil sampling results from Big Bear Project
Fulcrum Metals PLC has announced significant soil sampling results at its Big Bear Exploration Project in Ontario, Canada, with peak gold grades of 1.46g/t and 51 highly anomalous samples over 30ppb Au, defining a large-scale gold target within a 3km gold corridor that also shows rock samples up to 139g/t Au. These findings strongly correlate with existing data, enhancing drill targeting and extending bedrock targets, with the gold target and corridor remaining open for expansion. The company has 30 drill pads permitted, positioning Big Bear as a high-grade, drill-ready gold project with multiple priority targets, and is now evaluating partnership opportunities.
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Fulcrum Metals plc (AIM:FMET), a company pioneering the use of innovative cyanide free technology to recover precious and critical metals from mine waste with additional interests in highly prospective exploration projects, is pleased to announce soil sampling results of up to 1.46g/t gold at its Big Bear Exploration Project ("Big Bear" or the "Project") in Ontario, Canada. The results define a large-scale gold target within a wider gold corridor and further advance multiple permitted, drill-ready targets ahead of future exploration activities.
Highlights
- Regional stand-out ~2km × 2km gold target defined within 3km gold corridor
- 1460 ppb (1.46g/t) Au peak soil results; 51 highly anomalous samples over 30ppb Au
- 3km gold corridor with rock samples of up to 139g/t Au
- Strong correlation between high-grade soil and rock samples enhances drill targeting and extends bedrock targets
- Gold target and corridor remains open for expansion
- 30 drill pads permitted; multiple priority targets ready for drilling
Ryan Mee, Chief Executive Officer of Fulcrum, commented: "The soil sampling programme has defined a regional stand-out gold target within a 3km corridor that remains open along strike. Results are supported by a growing dataset of high-grade soil samples grading up to 1.82 g/t Au and rock samples up to 139 g/t Au, highlighting the scale and prospectivity of the system.
Soil sampling continues to be an effective tool for targeting mineralisation in areas of limited bedrock exposure, enhancing drill targeting and supporting expansion of the known gold footprint. With permits in place for up to 30 drill pads, Big Bear is a high-grade, drill-ready gold project with multiple priority targets.
Our focus is now on evaluating partnership opportunities for Big Bear, consistent with our strategy at the Tully Gold Project and across our uranium portfolio."
Soil sampling programme background
A soil sampling programme was completed in the latter stages of 2025 which collected 639 samples over the Schreiber-Pyramid, Twomey and Schreiber Johnston Gap areas. This covers a 2km section central and to the east of an established high grade 3km corridor, infilling areas with no bedrock exposure (Figure 2).
The results confirmed a stand-out regional gold target area covering approximately 2km x 2km which is open to the north, east and west including:
- A new target area north of the Powerline occurrence, with 16 samples >30ppb Au, including four samples >100ppb. The east-west strike of the anomalous samples extends approximately 900m and remains open to the north.
- A new target area to the southeast of Schreiber-Pyramid, with 15 samples > 30ppb Au, including four samples >100ppb, over an area measuring approximately 425m x 300m, and remaining open to the east.
- Extension of the Johnston-McKenna occurrence footprint, generating an approximately 1 km-long trend of elevated soil and rock gold values, together with additional elevated gold data north and east of the Powerline occurrence.
Table 1 - Table of soil sampling results
| Soil Sampling programme | Total Number of Samples | Highest Au Sample value (ppb) | Number of samples >100 ppb Au | Number of samples 30 to 100 ppb Au |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 283 | 1820 | 1 | 3 |
| 2020 | 416 | 190 | 3 | 14 |
| 2023 | 329 | 929 | 8 | 15 |
| 2025 | 639 | 1460 | 13 | 51 |
| Total | 1667 | 25 | 83 | |
| Increase* | 62% | 108% | 159% |
* Reflecting percentage increase in total number of samples following 2025 soil sampling programme
Key programme highlights
The combination of the soil and rock sampling programmes and VTEM surveys undertaken since 2020 across the Cook Lake - Schreiber Pyramid target area (Figure 1) has delivered:
- Discovery of a 3km gold bearing corridor, open along strike to the east and west and to the north.
- A database of over 37 rock samples in excess of 1g/t Au, including 15 high-grade samples over 10g/t, with values of up to 139g/t.
- A stand-out regional gold target area spanning 2km x 2km, open to the north, east and west, with highly anomalous soil values of up to 1.82g/t Au.
- Successful detailed mapping of important shear zones with the potential for the discovery and development of an economic mineral deposit.
- Structural observations between Cook Lake and Schreiber-Pyramid which have identified a potential regional-scale shear zone passing through this area on a single mineralised structural system.
- Geological and structural setting which suggests potential for a large, structurally controlled, stratabound-style banded iron formation ("BIF") gold prospect similar to the Musselwhite deposit (McNicoll et al., 2016), as well as an Archean greenstone, orogenic-style lode gold prospect, extending past the bounds of known historical mineral occurrences.
- The establishment of a drill target pipeline (as summarised below).
- VTEM geophysical surveys which have identified five further priority exploration target areas.
Drill target pipeline (Figure 3)
- Four drill ready prospects have been identified with significant gold assays at Schreiber-Pyramid No.1 North and No.1 South, Johnston McKenna and Cook Lake
- A further five prospects for further development to drill target status at Johnston McKenna Mill, Johnston McKenna South, Schreiber-Pyramid South, Twomey Powerline, Schreiber Johnston Gap and the western extension area
- The Project is open for further drill target generation along strike and to the north
Additional exploration target pipeline outside the Schreiber-Pyramid area (Figure 4)
The geophysical survey completed earlier this year identified multiple priority targets for investigation in addition to the more advanced Schreiber-Pyramid area:
o Syenite: Two areas of strong conductance with magnetic highs and strong VTEM targets.
o North: Conductive zone with magnetic highs and strong VTEM targets.
o Schreiber West: A 2.2km northwestern trending anomaly associated with iron formation with coincident magnetic highs and strong VTEM targets.
o Rongie: An 855 metre long, strong, late channel EM anomaly.
o West Hays: A 550 metre long mid-channel conductor, where mapping shows the presence of felsic volcanics with nearby iron formation.
Exploration Permit Details (map at Figure 5)
| Exploration Permit Number | Project Name (claim numbers included) | Expiry Date | Permitted Activities | Exploration Targets Covered |
| PR-25-000170 | Big Bear East (141544, 192268, 288061, 554098) | 7 th October 2028 | · Mechanised drilling (up to 20 Diamond drill holes) · Mechanised stripping | · Schreiber-Pyramid · Powerline |
| PR-25-000190 | Big Bear West (174811, 336359, 556514) | 21 st December 2028 | · Mechanised drilling (up to 5 Diamond drill holes) · Mechanised stripping · Line cutting (2,000 metres) | · Johnston-McKenna · Cook Lake · Twomey BIF |
| PR-25-000191 | Big Bear North (546085, 566379, 571638) | 21 st December 2028 | · Mechanised Drilling (up to 5 Diamond drill holes) · Line cutting (2,000 metres) · Ground geophysics (IP) | · Little Bruin |
Figure 1 - Cook Lake - Schreiber Pyramid area of focus at Big Bear (red box)
Figure 2- 2025 soil sampling grid and previous results
Figure 3 - Cook Lake - Schreiber Pyramid area targets
Figure 4 - Big Bear property geophysical target areas
Figure 5 - Exploration Permit Map
Technical Glossary
| Archean | The oldest of the two divisions of the Precambrian Era; older than 2,500 million years ago |
| Au | Gold |
| banded iron formation ("BIF") | Chemical sedimentary rock composed of finely alternating layers of silica and iron oxide, iron silicates or iron carbonates |
| EM | Electromagnetic |
| felsic | Descriptive of a light-coloured rock containing an abundance of one or all of feldspar, quartz and felspathoids |
| g/t | Grams per metric tonne |
| Greenstone | Variably metamorphosed mafic to ultramafic volcanic sequences with associated sedimentary rocks that can be associated with Archean mineral deposits |
| IP survey | A method of ground geophysical surveying which employs the passing of an electrical current into the ground to test for indications of conductive metallic sulphides |
| late-channel EM conductor | An anomaly detected in the off-time portion of an electromagnetic ("EM") geophysics survey, indicating a conductive geological body |
| orogenic | Pertaining to mountain building events in the Earth's history |
| ppb | Parts per billion |
| shear zone | Plane of failure in faulted body of rock |
| stratabound | Occurring within a particular strata or layer |
| VTEM (Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetic) | An airborne, helicopter-towed geophysics system that uses electromagnetic surveys to map the subsurface conductivity of the earth |
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| Fulcrum Metals Plc Ryan Mee, Chief Executive Officer | Via our investor hub; Or through St Brides |
| Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated adviser) Nick Athanas / Ashur Joseph | Tel: +44 (0) 203 328 5656 |
| Clear Capital Markets Limited (Broker) Bob Roberts | Tel: +44 (0) 203 869 6081 |
| St Brides Partners Ltd (Financial PR) Ana Ribeiro / Paul Dulieu | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 |
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