Mines D’Or Orbec Inc. (TSX-V: BLUE) is pleased to announce preliminary results from the inaugural seven-hole drill program (four holes being reported here) spaced over a wide distance of about 2.5 km at the Lac Bernard Sud anomaly located at its 100% owned Muus Property within the Chibougamau, Quebec area of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt.

The next batch of drill hole assays from Lac Bernard Sud (holes MUUS25-20, MUUS25-24, and MUUS25-25) plus assays from surface sampling undertaken in late summer at a separate area of the Muus Property located 15 km to the east of the Lac Bernard Sud area are expected in the coming weeks.

Highlights from the first batch of drill hole assays include:

• Similarities with Nelligan-style mineralization and geology confirmed over sedimentary rocks-hosted intercepts yielding several anomalous gold zones over at least two distinct intervals;
• Orogenic Gold system style of mineralization confirmed;
• The mineralized zone remains open along strike and to depth; and
• Further drilling is planned to expand and test the continuity of the mineralization and to test for higher grades.

“We are extremely excited to have intersected a sediment-hosted mineralized zone with many geologic similarities to the adjacent Nelligan gold deposit. This has exceeded our target for this year’s drill campaign at Lac Bernard Sud,” said John Tait, CEO.

“To be noted, the geological setting shares strong similarities with IAMGold’s adjacent Nelligan Discovery [which has an indicated mineral resource of 3.1 million ounces of Gold in 102 million tonnes at 0.95 grams per ton and an inferred mineral reserve of 5.1 million ounces of Gold in 166 million tonnes at 0.96 grams per ton, NI43-101 as of December 31, 2024. (The QP has been unable to verify the information, and that the information is not necessarily indicative to the mineralization on the property that is the subject of the disclosure)] such as highly deformed metasedimentary rocks hosting silicified zones containing pyrite and as common in orogenic gold system, arsenopyrite. The presence of silicification, pyrite, and arsenopyrite with no clear association with intrusive rocks indicate that Lac Bernard Sud is an orogenic gold system. It is important to note that both Nelligan and Lac Bernard Sud are located in the Guercheville Deformation Zone, which is highly prospective for gold mineralization,” reported Mr. Tait.

“In fact, we control 14 km in length of this favorable structure. We look forward to receiving the further batch of drill assays from our early summer campaign. Nelligan’s scale discoveries always require multiple phases of work, and our first phase has already delivered highly compelling geological characteristics and anomalous gold geochemistry over significant widths that clearly justify further drilling. In summary, phase one drilling has given us valuable insights, and we are now well-positioned to target phase two with even greater precision and confidence. IAMGold is a significant shareholder, and we will benefit from their many years of regional expertise from their very large Nelligan gold discovery.”

Lac Bernard Sud Geological Results

The 2025 drill campaign returned encouraging results from holes located in the eastern part of the Lac Bernard Sud sector, which is situated in the western part of the Muus property (see Figure 1). The best results obtained so far have been obtained along, and south of, a major lithological contact between the Obatogamau Formation (volcanic rocks-dominated) and the Caopatina Formation (sedimentary-rocks dominated), along the Guercheville Deformation Zone, and from highly sheared pyritized, carbonatized, and silicified sedimentary rocks that, locally, contain arsenopyrite. This geological context is typical of orogenic gold systems, which is a significant conclusion as it implies similarities to IAMGold’s adjacent Nelligan discovery and with other gold mineralized systems in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt. 

Our geological team feel like we could be on the edge, i.e., within the halo, of a potentially larger and higher-grade gold-mineralized system. A 16 to18 meter zone (along-hole length, true width is unknown) of highly anomalous gold has been identified in each of MUUS25-23 and MUSS25-19 with gold grades ranging from 0.15g/t Au to 0.20g/t Au. Further drilling must be done to confirm the continuity of these two zones. Within hole MUUS25-23, joining the mineralized zones provides a gold anomalous zones that is about 45 m long (along-hole length). The widths of these anomalous gold zones are encouraging and demand further work.

Of note, the mineralized intervals contain pyrite. In one interval, containing arsenopyrite is also observed in addition to pyrite (Figure 3). Another two holes (MUUS25-21 and MUUS25-22), to the north, returned no significant gold values. The Company is still waiting on assays from another three holes that were drilled in this campaign.

This has been the best drill campaign in the Lac Bernard Sud area historically (Tables 1 and 2). The area located south of drillholes MUUS25-19 and MUUS25-23 is considered highly prospective and requires further drilling to unlock Muus’ potential.

Figure 1. Map showing the location of Muus Property and Drill Zone for holes MUUS25-19 and MUUS25-23.

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Figure 2. Map showing the distribution of drillholes in the Lac Bernard area.

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Table 1. Downhole drill intervals from recent drilling. NOTE: widths are reported as drilled (along-hole lengths) and may not represent true widths.

Figure 3. Lithologies and gold assays from drillhole MUUS25-23.

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Next Steps

The Company plans to conduct the following work:

• Review all new data obtained from our Phase One 2025 drill program;
• Test extensions along strike and at depth drilling to the South;
• Refine geological modeling and targeting through data compilation and further geological understanding of the area; and
• Wait on results from our Summer 2025 Field Work Program in the eastern part of the property, which targeted the surface expression of historically-drilled sulfide-bearing gabbro sills located along the Guercheville Deformation Zone.

Table 2. Survey

*NAD83, zone 18

QUALIFIED PERSON

Technical information in this news release has been approved by Lucie Mathieu, P.Geo. OGQ #1774, technical adviser to the Company, who is a Qualified Person (QP) for the purpose of National Instrument 43-101.

About Orbec

Mines D’Or Orbec Inc. is a gold company that owns 100% of a large and highly prospective mineral claim position near Chibougamau, Québec. The Muus Project covers approximately 25,250 hectares in the northeastern part of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt. Muus is prospective for gold mineralisation and is adjacent to and on strike with IAMGOLD’s Nelligan Gold Project. Orbec has announced that exploration of the Muus Gold Project will advance in technical collaboration with IAMGOLD, which owns approximately 9.9% of the Company. Field work completed during 2022 established that the northern portion of the Muus Gold Project is also prospective for copper-gold volcanogenic massive sulphide mineralisation, as well as confirming that it is prospective for high-grade gold mineralisation similar to IAMGOLD’s nearby Nelligan gold discovery.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

John Tait, CEO and Director

For more information, please visit our website www.orbec.ca or contact Mr. John Tait, info@orbec.ca.