Laurion 2026 Strategic Update for Ishkōday: Proposed Dual-Drill Program, Stockpile Gold Recovery Initiative, and Phased Path to Mineral Resource Estimate
Press Release
Toronto, Ontario — March 24, 2026 — LAURION Mineral Exploration Inc. (TSX-V: LME | OTCQB:
LMEFF | FSE: 5YD) (“LAURION” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce its 2026 strategic work program at the Ishkōday Gold Project (“Ishkōday” or the “Property”), located 220 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario, within the Beardmore-Geraldton Greenstone Belt.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
⦁ 2026 EXPLORATION PROGRAM: Proposed phased drill campaign targeting up to ~50,000 metres across the 6-kilometre Ishkōday mineralized corridor, which is expected to be the largest exploration program in LAURION’s history, subject to financing.
⦁ PHASED DUAL-RIG STRATEGY: Phase 1 will mobilize a drill rig targeting the A-Zone and Sturgeon River Mine Area. Phase 2 will add a second rig to test nine high-priority IP geophysical targets adjacent to the A-Zone that have never been drilled.
⦁ DISTRICT-SCALE TARGET PORTFOLIO: The 2026 program will systematically test priority targets across the Ishkōday corridor, including historically under-tested gold and polymetallic zones.
⦁ SURFACE STOCKPILE INITIATIVE: LAURION is evaluating a surface stockpile gold recovery program as a potential source of internally generated funding to support exploration, which may reduce future reliance on equity financing and minimize dilution to existing shareholders. The program remains subject to permitting, financing, and completion of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”).
⦁ PATH TO RESOURCE: LAURION plans to initiate an NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) in Q4 2026, with a Technical Report targeted for Q1 2027.
⦁ SHAREHOLDER MEETING: Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders scheduled for April 15, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario.
“The 2026 drill program is the most ambitious in LAURION’s history and represents the culmination of everything we have learned about Ishkōday to date,” said Cynthia Le Sueur-Aquin, President and CEO of LAURION. “Rising gold and base metal prices have sharpened our conviction: a property-scale system hosting both orogenic gold and polymetallic mineralisation within a single contiguous corridor is genuinely rare among Canadian juniors, and we believe Ishkōday is one of them. This program is designed to continue proving it. We will expand the known mineral system with disciplined infill and depth drilling on the A-Zone and Sturgeon River Mine Area and simultaneously test the highest-priority geophysical targets sitting within the same structural corridor, many of which have never been drilled. Subject to financing, the dual-rig configuration will allow us to do both at once, without compromising either objective. Our goal is simple: build a resource that reflects the true scale of this system, not just what we have drilled to date.”
WORKSTREAM 1 — 2026 PHASED DRILL PROGRAM
A Disciplined, Two-Phase Approach
LAURION is launching its 2026 exploration program in two phases. Phase 1 will mobilize a single diamond drill rig in Q2 2026 with focused objectives: advance the A-Zone toward resource-definition hole spacings and test the Sturgeon River Mine Area with structurally corrected orientations. Phase 2, planned for mid-program, will add a second exploration rig to systematically test the nine undrilled IP geophysical anomaly trends identified across the Ishkōday corridor — targets that, in management’s judgment, must be tested before LAURION publishes its planned MRE.
This program reflects the Company’s continued focus on advancing Ishkōday through disciplined technical development, which management believes is the most effective pathway to strengthening long-term strategic outcomes and maximizing shareholder value.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, all metres and timing are proposed targets and are still subject to finalization. Actual scope is subject to financing, ground conditions, assay turnaround, regulatory requirements, and technical results. There is no assurance the full program will be completed as described. Geophysical anomalies are not equivalent to mineralization; drilling results may not confirm geophysical interpretations.
The A-Zone: Building Toward a Resource
The A-Zone is LAURION’s primary mineralized discovery that is a structurally complex fold system hosting dual mineralization styles: stratabound sulphide-bearing volcanic horizons and cross-cutting structurally controlled quartz-gold veins. This dual orogenic and polymetallic system lies within a 6.0 × 2.5-kilometre corridor that has been tested by more than 98,000 metres of drilling across 462 historical and modern drill holes. (NI 43-101 Technical Report “Mineral Property of Merit – Ishkōday Gold Project, Northern Ontario” (October 26, 2023), authored by Maxime Dupéré, B.Sc., P.Geo., SGS.)
The 2026 exploration program at Ishkōday is designed to systematically test twelve discrete target areas across the full 6 x 2.5-kilometre mineralized corridor, which are undrilled or minimally tested IP geophysical anomaly trends and targets within the A-Zone Northeast Area that previous exploration programs failed to adequately test, due to historical structural misorientation. The Company believes that, taken together, these targets represent compelling untested exploration upside on the Property. Management’s considered judgment is that testing this portfolio of targets before initiating a MRE is essential to ensuring that any published resource reflects the true scale and potential of the Ishkōday system.
Phase 2 — Testing What Lies Beneath
The Garvey Zone is located to the north of the A-Zone and is the single most geophysically anomalous target across the entire Ishkōday survey grid. The I-3 North labelled anomaly represents the highest chargeability sector of a 21.8 line-kilometre I.P. survey, accompanied by a strong Metal Factor response — a combination that is characteristic of sulphide-bearing mineralisation of the kind that hosts the A-Zone gold system.
In 1971, Carling Copper Ltd. drilled the spatially coincident Garvey Zone and returned a historical intercept of 16.69 oz/t Au over 2.3 feet in a brecciated quartz diorite. This result has never been followed up with a single modern drill hole. The host rock, a brecciated quartz diorite, is structurally consistent with the type of orogenic gold trap commonly observed in the Beardmore-Geraldton camp. The Garvey Zone is currently untested.
The 2026 program will deliver the structurally informed drilling at the Garvey Zone, designed to test the depth and lateral continuity of the geophysical anomaly and the high-grade 1971 intercept. The Garvey Zone is the highest-priority Phase 2 target on the Property.
The South A-Zone Gold Index Target (I-7) — Highest Gold Index Value in the Survey
The I-7 anomaly, located south of the A-Zone main corridor, carries the highest Gold Index value across the entire Ishkōday IP dataset. The Gold Index is a composite geophysical parameter specifically calibrated to detect the silicification and carbonatization alteration zones that are the hallmark of orogenic gold mineralisation in greenstone belt settings, which represents precisely the mineralisation style that defines the A-Zone. A high Gold Index response in the absence of prior drilling is a direct indicator of untested orogenic gold potential.
The I-7 target has never been drilled. It was identified exclusively through the IP Geophysical survey and lies in an area where limited historical surface work was carried out but no drill holes were ever completed. The combination of the highest Gold Index value in the survey with no historical drilling record makes I-7 one of the most straightforward high-priority targets on the Property: a geophysical signature purpose-built to find orogenic gold, in an area that has never been tested. The 2026 program will deliver the first-ever drill holes at this target.
The Northeast Fork (I-5) — Near-Surface Multi-Parameter Anomaly
The I-5 Northeast Fork anomaly is distinguished by the coincidence of three independent geophysical responses in a near-surface setting along the northeast extension of the A-Zone structural corridor: chargeability, Metal Factor, and magnetic anomalism. The convergence of multiple geophysical indicators at a single target location substantially increases the probability that the anomaly reflects genuine sulphide mineralisation rather than a single-parameter artefact.
The near-surface character of the I-5 anomaly is also practically significant: it allows the target to be tested efficiently within a Phase 2 first-pass program, at a lower cost per hole than deeper targets, while still delivering geologically meaningful results. Like I-3 and I-7, the Northeast Fork lies within the same structural corridor as the A-Zone and has never been tested by drilling. It will be drilled as part of the Priority 1 Phase 2 sequence.
Priority 2 and Priority 3 Targets — Six Additional Anomaly Trends
The IP Geophysical survey identified six additional anomaly trends across the Ishkōday corridor, classified as Priority 2 (five targets) and Priority 3 (one target) based on the strength and multi-parameter character of their geophysical responses relative to the Priority 1 group. These targets will be drilled sequentially as Phase 2 advances, following completion of the three Priority 1 drill holes programs.
Each of the Priority 2 and Priority 3 targets represents an independently anomalous trend within the same geological corridor that has produced the A-Zone mineralisation. The significance of this portfolio is cumulative: a positive result from any single target has the potential to materially expand the footprint of mineralisation at Ishkōday and to add substantively to the character of the planned MRE. The full suite of nine IP targets collectively covers the breadth of the Ishkōday corridor in a way that no previous exploration program has achieved.
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