Technical Overview of the Garden Lake Properties

Focus Xplore PLC (AIM: FOX) provides a technical overview and details of the Phase 1 exploration programme underway for the Garden Property (‘Garden Property’) and the Kearns Property (‘Kearns Property’ and together with Garden Properties, the ‘Garden Lake Properties’). The Garden Lake Properties cover a combined 2,569 hectares (25.7 km²) in northwestern Ontario, Canada, and form part of the Group’s acquisition of five Canadian gold projects announced on 6 October 2026.

Key Highlights

Phase 1 Fieldwork underway on the Property: Started Sunday 25th October, comprising soil geochemical sampling and geological prosecting across four main target areas.

Location and Access: Two neighbouring claim packages, Garden Property (13.84 km2, in two blocks) and Kearns Property (11.85 km2, in two blocks), about 135 km north-northwest of Thunder Bay, Ontario, and about 2.5 km apart. The area is reached by road from Thunder Bay via Highway 527, Highway 811 and forest access roads.

Prospective Geological Setting: Both properties lie in the Garden Lake greenstone belt, which is interpreted to be a westward continuation of the Beardmore-Geraldton greenstone belt, a historical gold-mining district1 2.

Untested Gold Targets: About 9.6 km of inferred banded iron formation on Garden Gold and over 2 km on Kearns Gold, together with interpreted faults and altered volcanic ash (tuff) units. None of these targets has been systematically explored for gold.

Nearby Gold Occurrence: The Conick Lake showing, a quartz vein with visible gold about 200 m from the Garden Gold boundary, has returned historical grab samples of up to 1.5 oz/t (51.4 g/t) Au (Pitman, 1991). The showing lies outside the property; grab samples are selective, and results from neighbouring ground are not necessarily indicative of mineralisation on the Garden Lake Properties.

Geological Summary

The Garden Lake Properties lie in the western extent of the Garden Lake greenstone belt, within the Wabigoon subprovince of the Superior craton, the world’s largest Archaean craton. Greenstone belts are belts of ancient volcanic and sedimentary rocks that have been folded, faulted and metamorphosed; in Ontario they host most of the province’s gold deposits. The Garden Lake Greenstone Belt is interpreted to be a westward continuation of the Beardmore-Geraldton greenstone belt1, a historical gold-mining district that has produced over 4.1 million ounces of gold3

Despite its favourable geological framework, the Garden Lake belt has remained substantially underexplored relative to other regional greenstone belts1. The combined tenure encompasses approximately 21 km² of largely untested mafic-to-felsic metavolcanic and volcaniclastic sequences cut by inferred faults and containing banded iron formation (BIF):

Garden Property: Encompasses 11 km² of untested greenstone belt stratigraphy hosting over 9.6 km of inferred, strike-extensive BIFs, split into two areas of tenure (Figure 1). Several inferred faults cross the iron formation and may have acted as pathways for gold-bearing fluids. The property also has potential for volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) mineralisation, indicated by historical copper, zinc and nickel occurrences on and adjacent to the property.

Kearns Property: Situated 2.5 km south-west of Garden Property, covering 10 km² of greenstone package with over 2.0 km of inferred BIF, split into two areas of tenure (Figure 1). The property is crossed by belts of tuff (consolidated volcanic ash), which government mapping records as showing albite, carbonate and epidote alteration4; carbonate and albite alteration occur around some orogenic gold deposits.

The claims are in good standing as set out in Table 1 below:

Table 1: Garden Lake Greenstone Belt Properties Mineral Tenure Details

Figure 1: Western Garden Lake Greenstone Belt, Mineral Tenure and Mineral Occurrences.

Property Geophysics

The area is covered by regional airborne magnetic and electromagnetic (EM) geophysical surveys flown for the Ontario Geological Survey5 - 8. On the Garden Property, the magnetic data show a series of east-north-east-trending highs parallel to the layering of the belt, which broadly coincide with the inferred iron formation. The most distinctive feature is a V-shaped magnetic low that opens eastwards from the Conick Lake gold showing into Garden East, with arms about 2 km long; it probably reflects non-magnetic sedimentary rocks or alteration along faults that converge at the showing. In Garden West, a linear magnetic low about 1.4 km long coincides with mapped chert and ironstone (Hart, 2001).

The EM survey identified numerous conductors, most following the magnetic trend. They include a belt about 3.5 km long along the northern edge of the western part of Garden East, which coincides with the sulphide horizon trenched in 1990–911, and a cluster of strong conductors in the east of Garden East that coincides with drill targets recommended from the 1988 induced polarisation (IP) survey2. Conductors can be caused by graphite as well as by sulphides, and none on the property has been tested for gold.

Previous Exploration

The Garden Lake Greenstone Belt was first prospected for gold in the late 1930s9, at which time a showing was found on the east shore of Conick Lake, about 200 m from the Garden Property boundary. Historical grab samples from the vein, which is 7–30 cm wide and contains visible gold, returned up to 1.5 oz/t (51.4 g/t) Au over 10 cm, with an average of 0.45 oz/t (about 15.4 g/t) Au reported from Little Long Lac Gold Mines’ 1946 sampling1. Resampling in 1989 returned up to 0.918 oz/t (31.5 g/t) Au1, although eight of the eleven samples returned less than 0.02 oz/t Au. Although multiple geophysical surveys (described above) have indicated the presence of east-west and northeast-southwest trending features through Conick Lake, the shear zone hosting the vein has never been drill tested.

In 1962, Ruffo Lake Mines drilled a short hole (8-1) in the western part of Garden East that intersected 3.3 m (11 ft) of iron formation containing minor magnetite, pyrite and pyrrhotite; no assays were recorded1 10. In 1966, Canadian Nickel Company Limited drilled two diamond drill holes totalling 364 ft (110.9 m) east of Conick Lake, in the eastern part of Garden Property ; one hole lies on the property boundary. The drill logs provide for copper and nickel analyses only, consistent with a nickel-copper target. Hole 30622 (261 ft; 79.6 m) was drilled on a geophysical anomaly and intersected sericite schist, chert breccia containing pyrite and graphite, and a series of pyrite-rich sulphide zones between 103.8 ft and 142.4 ft (31.6–43.4 m) downhole. Below these, it intersected altered volcanic rocks cut by quartz and quartz-chalcedony veins carrying pyrrhotite and pyrite. Hole 30619 (103 ft; 31.4 m) intersected chlorite and quartz-sericite schists with minor pyrite and pyrrhotite.

No assay results are recorded for either hole, so the sulphide zones remain untested for gold. Sericite alteration with pyrite is characteristic of the alteration found close to greenstone-hosted gold deposits11, and pyrite-bearing, chert-rich horizons can act as chemical traps for gold12. Similar features also occur around volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits13.

In 1988, an induced polarisation survey over the eastern part of Garden Property outlined several northeast-trending anomalous zones, up to 5.5 km long, along the sedimentary horizon that hosts the Conick Lake gold showing2. The anomalies were attributed mainly to graphitic shale and to carbonate rock containing finely disseminated sulphides, and were recommended as gold drill targets. Of the three specific drill targets recommended, two lie within Garden Property and the third lies on its southern boundary (Figure 2). None has been drilled.

In 1991, Weaver Lake Resources Corporation trenched, prospected and carried out ground electromagnetic (EM) and magnetic surveys over a sulphide horizon along the northern boundary of the western part of Garden East1. Trenching exposed a 9 m-wide zone of pyrite-pyrrhotite stringers and massive sulphide lenses 0.6–0.8 m wide, which were traced by trenching and along EM conductors over about 1,200 m of strike. One grab sample, from a trench at or just beyond the property boundary, returned 6.11% Cu, 0.1% Zn and 0.47 g/t Au; other samples returned only weakly anomalous values. Petrographic study identified alteration similar to that found around volcanogenic massive sulphide13 (VMS) deposits, which offer a secondary target on the property.

Apart from prospecting in 199313, which returned up to 1,690 ppm Ni but low gold values; no further work is reported on Garden Gold since the early 1990s.

Significantly less work has been completed on Kearns, with no recorded exploration directly on the property, although regional-scale geological mapping in the early 2000s4 identified several belts of volcanic tuff crossing the property (figure 3). The mapping recorded albite and carbonate alteration in the north of the property, giving way to mainly epidote alteration in the south. In Archaean greenstone belts, alteration of this kind, particularly carbonate and sodic (albite) alteration, is commonly found around gold deposits. The property also hosts over 2.0 km of untested inferred banded iron formation (BIF) in contact with albite-altered rocks. Several inferred faults cross the tuff units and the BIF horizons, and their intersections are favourable sites for gold-bearing quartz-carbonate veins. Together these features form priority targets for geochemical sampling.

While limited, the historical work on the Garden Lake Properties between 1946 and the early 1990s included shallow drilling that intersected iron formation and pyrite-rich, sericite-altered rocks, and geophysical surveys that outlined several electromagnetic and IP anomalies that have never been drilled. It also included trenching that traced a sulphide horizon with iron formation and hydrothermal alteration for about 1,200 m along the property boundary, alongside sampling of up to 6.11% Cu and 1.5 oz/t Au just beyond its boundary. The combination of iron formation, hydrothermal alteration, untested conductors, and nearby high-grade gold supports the properties' potential for gold mineralisation.

Figure 2: Garden Property’s Geology, Targets and Proposed Soil Sampling Areas.

Figure 3: Kearns Property’s Geology, Targets and Planned Soil Sampling Areas.

Exploration Model for the Garden Lake Properties

The exploration model for the Garden Lake Properties is orogenic gold, the main type of gold deposit in Archaean greenstone belts. In these systems, gold was deposited from hot fluids that moved along faults while the belt was being deformed and metamorphosed15. Gold is concentrated where the fluids met chemically reactive rocks or structural traps, typically within zones of carbonate, sericite and sulphide alteration11. The Garden Lake belt has been interpreted as a westward continuation of the Beardmore-Geraldton belt, where gold is characteristically associated with deformed iron formation1. Immediately outside Garden Gold, a historical gold showing shows the same setting: quartz veins with visible gold in a sheared chlorite schist in contact with chert-magnetite iron formation1.

Three settings are proposed to be targeted on the Garden Lake Properties:

Banded iron formation (BIF): Iron-rich layers can react with gold-bearing fluids, converting their iron minerals to sulphides and depositing gold12. Historical drilling has recorded iron formation on Garden Gold, and petrography has confirmed it nearby1. Over 2 km of BIF has been inferred on Kearns Gold.

Faults and shear zones, especially where they cross the BIF: These may have channelled the gold-bearing fluids. The Central Garden Lake Shear Zone, up to 425 m wide, and several smaller parallel and branching shears cross the belt1.

Permeable tuff units on Kearns Gold: The targets are particularly where the tuffs show albite and carbonate alteration, which occur in the alteration zones of some orogenic gold deposits15. Epidote alteration is more typical of the outer parts of such systems.

Regional Context & Infrastructure

Kenorland Minerals Ltd (TSXV: KLD) and other operators hold claims surrounding almost all of both properties. The Garden-Pakashkan Conservation Reserve, which includes Garden Lake and in which mineral exploration is not permitted, lies to the south of the Garden Lake Properties; neither property lies within it. The area is reached from Thunder Bay by Highway 527 and the gravel Highway 811, and by forest access roads.

Recent wildfires during summer 2026 have burnt large parts of the area, including the northern part of Garden Gold. The loss of forest and moss cover has exposed bedrock that was previously obscured, which is expected to improve the effectiveness of prospecting and mapping and may reveal outcrops and mineralisation not previously recognised.

Phase 1 Exploration Programme

Focus Xplore has allocated £37,000 from its recent £0.5m fundraise to a combined Phase 1 programme on the Garden Lake Properties, which commenced on Sunday, 25th October 2026. The programme will comprise geological prospecting and systematic soil geochemical sampling.

The Garden Lake Properties comprise four separate claim blocks (Garden East, Garden West, Kearns East and Kearns West). As the blocks are not contiguous, assessment work must be carried out on each, and the Phase 1 programme includes work on all four.

Sampling in Garden East is proposed to test the continuation of conductive and magnetic geophysical features extending eastwards from the Conick Lake gold showing; these are interpreted to reflect iron formation, graphitic shale and sulphide-bearing carbonate rocks2. This sampling will also cover the extent of previously identified drill targets (via IP2), and drilled intersections of sulphide horizons which were never assayed for gold10.

Sampling in Garden West is designed to test a linear magnetic low, about 1.4 km long, mapped as chert and ironstone4. Within the sampling grid, this unit is cut by a mapped fault. Chert and ironstone are more brittle than the surrounding volcanic rocks, so faulting is likely to have fractured them, creating pathways for gold-bearing fluids15. Iron-rich layers can then react with these fluids and deposit gold with sulphides, which makes horizons of this kind important hosts for orogenic gold in Archaean greenstone belts. Apart from government mapping, no exploration is recorded on most of this part of the Garden Property, making it a largely greenfield target. The major wildfires in the summer of 2026 including "Dryden 35" have burnt the woodland within the sampling area, and may allow for the greater evaluation of the geology.

On Kearns East, sampling will focus on similar cherty ironstone horizons, and tuff units broken by faulting. Government mapping has indicated the presence of carbonate alteration (Hart, 2001), a typical feature of the alteration halo around orogenic gold deposits11. About 7–12 km to the east, at the Agar Creek16 and Point17 showings, iron-carbonate alteration is associated with gold-bearing quartz-carbonate veins4. A portion of Kearns East is understood to have been affected by the Dryden 35 wildfires in the summer of 2026, and thus greater geological exposure may be expected.

Sampling on Kearns West will focus on a widely spaced grid targeting an area of greenstone with mapped quartz4 veining and tuff units. While a secondary target, this area offers scope for gold mineralisation.

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