Omineca Mining and Metals Ltd. (TSX-V: OMM) (OTCBB: OMMSF) is pleased to outline the fall lode gold exploration program located in the Cariboo Mining District in south central British Columbia. The exploration program is aimed at locating the hard rock source of the rich underground paleoplacer gold found beneath Lightning Creek at Omineca’s separate Wingdam underground placer joint venture project (see recent JV update news release Sept 6, 2024). From previous year’s groundwork and drilling, this year’s focus has narrowed substantially to a linear corridor along the NW striking Eureka Thrust Fault, which is importantly located downstream of the current underground placer workings at Wingdam. The 2024 Phase 1 drill program consisting of approximately 3,000 meters in 8 diamond drill holes has now been initiated. The drill rig has been mobilized to site with road access and drill pad construction currently underway. The Company will announce further details and updates once drilling commences.

Omineca has re-engaged TerraLogic Exploration of Cranbrook, BC to manage the exploration and drilling programs for this year. Groundwork prospecting and 288 line kilometers of high-resolution drone magnetic surveying, including interpretations and analysis, has been completed. The drone survey was flown at tree top level along tightly spaced lines over a focused 2km x 1km area covering the shear zone along the Eureka Thrust Fault.

Management believes the reason discovery of a load source has been illusive is due to the presumed depth of the gold system. The gold mineralizing system may actually lie closer to the elevation of the placer gold enriched paleochannel floor. The proximal relationship is potentially analogous to the Shaft and Valley Zones which were drilled up to 300 meters below the valley floor elevation at Barkerville Gold Mines approximately 33 kilometers east of Wingdam.  The lode gold system may have been only briefly eroded into the paleochannel by an interglacial stream before being covered by glacial sediments and other sediments during postglacial mass wasting events at which time the creek valley floor rose to its current elevation 50 meters above the paleochannel bedrock floor.

For this year’s program, Omineca has selected drill pad locations nearer to the bottom of the Lightning Creek Valley (rather than higher elevations along mountain or hill side locations) bringing the drill rig several hundred meters lower in elevation and closer to any potential lode deposit system proximal to the paleochannel floor.

2024 Focus Downstream of the Wingdam Placer Deposit

Omineca first tested upstream, as is standard practice with placer source exploration, but has always entertained the idea that the source may be downstream of the current placer gold emplacement. This year’s groundwork, along with previous exploration and drilling, corroborates the idea of the placer gold possibly being transported to the current upstream location though a combination of historic stream capture and flow reversal along with the movement of glacially transported sediments in a direction opposite to the current flow of water along Lightning Creek. The 2024 drill pad locations have been targeted downstream of known underground placer gold enrichment at Wingdam as well as at lower elevations than drilled in previous programs.

Area of Focus on Trend with the Eureka Shear Zone

Rock sampling and drilling results from previous years show a linear trend of gold mineralization adjacent to and possibly affiliated with the NW trending Eureka Fault shear zone, which is just downstream from the rich underground Wingdam placer gold occurrences. The Eureka Thrust Fault lies on the western limb of the Lightning Creek anticline, which exhibits a significant zone of fault transpression (strike-slip deformation) and dilation structures. The structures further support the potential for a traditional hydrothermal orogenic gold system similar to that on the opposite (eastern) limb of the Lightning Creek anticline at Osisko Development’s Barkerville Gold Project located 33 km east of Wingdam.  Historic placer gold exploration drilling also supports this idea with gold mineralization in sulphides reported in the bedrock beneath the gold bearing paleochannel a short distance downstream from the Wingdam location and directly on strike with Omineca’s recently defined mineralized trend along the fault. Additionally, Omineca’s drill holes closest to the Eureka Thrust Fault have shown the highest anomalous gold values which further supports the thesis that the lode source or sources are potentially affiliated with the fault.

Qualified Person

All scientific and technical information in this news release has been prepared by, or approved by Stephen Kocsis, P.Geo., Lead Geologist. Mr. Kocsis is a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

About Omineca Mining and Metals Ltd.

Omineca Mining and Metals Ltd.’s flagship Wingdam gold exploration and placer recovery projects are located along the Barkerville Highway 45 km east of the City of Quesnel. The Wingdam Property includes mineral tenures totaling over 61,392 hectares (613 square kms) and in excess of 15 linear kilometers of placer claims, both encompassing the Lightning Creek valley where topographic conditions created thick layers of overburden, which preserved a large portion of a buried paleochannel containing placer gold-bearing gravels. Omineca also has an exploration and diamond drill program currently underway exploring for the potential multiple hard rock sources of the placer gold at Wingdam.