Highlights:
- Camp Opening and Drill Setup Underway: The Company has successfully mobilized all critical equipment and consumables to the Project ahead of schedule. Crews are actively constructing drill pads at high priority targets, with the drilling crew expected to mobilize to site to commence drilling in the coming weeks.
- Executing the Growth Strategy: The Program will feature diamond core drilling focused on high-priority targets within the Whistler – Raintree area (see Figure 1). The objective is to develop a pipeline of discoveries that can underpin significant step-out growth opportunities for the Project.
- Building on a Strong, Conservative Economic Foundation: The upcoming exploration strategy is designed to build upon the recent Whistler initial assessment ("PEA")1 (see news release March 2, 2026). The PEA, which incorporates only the Indicated Resources from the Whistler deposit, outlines an after-tax net present value at a 5% discount rate ("NPV5%") of $2.0 billion, a 33% internal rate of return ("IRR"), and initial payback of 2.1 years, at base case prices.
- New District-Scale Infrastructure Catalysts: The Company congratulates its neighbor Terra Energy Center ("TEC"), on receiving $89M in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Energy ("DOE") to assess the viability for commissioning a new 1.25-gigawatt power plant with carbon capture and storage, located just 30 miles east of Whistler. Along with Whistler, the TEC project represents another major resource development project that underpins the business case for the State-proposed West Susitna Access Road. TEC also offers a potential long-term, energy alternative for optimizing future Whistler mining development studies.
Tim Smith, Chief Executive Officer of U.S. GoldMining commented: "We are pleased to report that our 2026 exploration program is ahead of schedule and on budget. Drill site preparation is actively underway, and we look forward to turning the drills in the coming weeks. Despite the recent volatility in global markets since the release of our Whistler PEA in early March, we remain highly confident in our ability to build upon the Project's already strong economic and resource fundamentals through active exploration and systematic de-risking.
Furthermore, we are seeing powerful macro and regional catalysts align for Whistler. Copper fundamentals remain exceptionally strong due to tightening supply and structural deficits, with COMEX futures breaking record highs of $6.64/lb earlier this month – well above the $4.50/lb base case prices used in our PEA. Regionally, the recent DOE grant awarded to the proposed neighboring Terra Energy Center is a significant milestone for the district. In the short term, it greatly strengthens the business case for the West Susitna Access Road, and in the longer term, it introduces a potential reliable energy source for Whistler."