Minerals Exploration Limited announced that further to its announcement on 19 November 2025 on the grant of the Invincible Prospecting Permit, the initial sampling at the historic
Invincible Gold Mine of surface dump samples has returned significant rock chip results of up to 49.7g/t Au with visible gold observed in several samples. The Invincible Gold Project shares key geological features with several large gold deposits in the Otago Goldfields, including OceanaGold's world class Macraes Gold Mine located 170km to the southeast and Santana Minerals' 2.2Moz Bendigo-Ophir deposit located 65km to the east. The Company's technical team believe there is potential for the historic Invincible Gold Mine to be hosted in the same structural settings as Macraes and Bendigo-Ophir, both of which are of a bulk tonnage nature with discrete high-grade gold and tungsten zones. The 164.3 km2 Invincible Prospecting Permit hosts historic workings from the late 1800s and historical production at the Invincible Gold Mine to the early 1900s from the gold- rich veins graded up to 30g/t Au. Despite its prospectivity the area has not been exposed to any modern exploration drilling programs. The Invincible Gold Project is considered prospective for orogenic gold and tungsten mineralisation, both of which are on New Zealand's critical minerals list. The Invincible vein is orientated in a NE-SW striking and steeply dipping fault zone in lower Rees Valley near Glenorchy township. The mineralisation is hosted in Haast schists and is of orogenic style related to metamorphism. The main underground mine was active from 1882 to 1887 and produced approx. 70,000 tons of ore grading ~30g/t Au. Mineralisation in quartz vein is typically represented by pyrite, arsenopyrite rare chalcopyrite and native gold.
Mapping by Nomad Mining in 2009 identified a shear zone in the footwall of the main Invincible vein with samples assayed up to 2.3g/t Au. Otago Goldfield's Projects ­ Priority Exploration Commencing 2026: The initial work program at the Invincible Gold Project will consist of stream sampling, rock chips and confirmation of a previous outcrop location identified by past government mapping programs including zones of possibly mineralised shears. The shear zones may coincide with TZ3 ­ TZ4 schist contact similar to Santana
Minerals Rise and Shine Project and Oceana Gold's Macraes Project setting. The Company will seek to replicate those project's footwall feeder and mineralised shear models.
The initial work program will build upon the work carried out in 2009 to define a full extent and continuity of continuous mineralised shear zone concepts initially at
Invincible and later at the Glenorchy Au-W field. The report by Nomad Mining concluded that if the assumption that the vein at McDougall Creek and of historically mined vein at Invincible Mine are representing the same vein, then the mineralised zone has at least 350m vertical extension over a distance of 950m grading at 2g/t Au up to a possible 5g/t Au as indicated by the grab sample from the Invincible Mine area. The historical report also indicates that quartz vein worked at the Invincible Mine was >2m wide2. The rock chip assays of up to 49.7g/t Au as reported by the Company in this announcement further enhance the overall potential.