High Grade Rock Chips at Invincible Gold Project

mineralsexploration.com.au






24 February 2026

High grade rock chip assays
from the Invincible Gold Project

The historic Invincible Gold Mine recorded production graded up to 30g/t Au,
shares similar geological features, including footwall tungsten mineralisation,
with other large gold deposits in the Otago Goldfields.

Highlights
• High grade rock chip results of up to 49.7g/t Au received from the historic
Invincible Gold Mine sampling, with several rock chips containing visible gold
• In light of these significant results, the Company will commence new field
programs including stream and soil sampling ahead of a maiden drilling program
• The 164.3km
2
Invincible Gold Project covers the historic Invincible Gold Mine and
Glenorchy Tungsten Mine
• Invincible Gold Mine production in the late 1800s to early 1900s graded up to
~30g/t Au
1

• Mapping program by Nomad Mining in 2009 identified the presence of a large
mineralised shear zone at Invincible
• No modern drilling programs have been undertaken on the Invincible Gold
Project
Minerals Exploration Limited (Minerals Exploration or the Company) (ASX: MEX, NZX:
MEX) is pleased to advise 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.

1
Hay, R., Craw D.: Syn-metamorphic gold mineralisation, Invincible Vein, NW Otago Schist, New Zealand. Mineralium
Deposita 28, 90-98, 1993

Page 2 of 10


Figure 1: Location of recent material MEX and historical gold rock chip samples at Invincible
now being combined with work done by Nomad Mining in 2009
The 164.3 km
2
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.
Historic Invincible Gold Mine (Au)
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
2
.

2
Blakemore

H., 2009: PP 39 324. Field mapping & geochemical sampling-Invincible Prospect, Rees Valley, South Island, New
Zealand. Technical Report prepared for Nomad Mining. MR4477, open file report, 31p. NZPAM archive

Page 3 of 10


Figure 2: Visible gold in rock chip sample 387032 at Invincible which
returned 7.32 g/t Au (refer Table 1).
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 (Figure 3), 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 wide
2
. The rock chip assays of up to 49.7g/t Au as reported by
the Company in this announcement further enhance the overall potential.

Page 4 of 10


Figure 3: Rock chip channel sampling of the Invincible structural zone by Nomad Mining in
2009 defined sheared auriferous zones (Au ppm in red), which have never been drilled (refer
Table 1).

Figure 4: Invincible and Oturehua Gold Projects, within the Otago Goldfields/Otago Schist.

Page 5 of 10


Figure 5: Location of MEX ́s NZ brownfields Gold Projects.

-ENDS-
This announcement has been authorised by the Board of Minerals Exploration Limited.
For enquiries contact:
Brett Mitchell Paul Armstrong
Executive Director Read Corporate
+61 8 6319 1900 +61 8 9388 1474
bmitchell@mineralsexploration.com.au

Page 6 of 10

About Minerals Exploration Limited – NZ Gold Focused Explorer
Minerals Exploration Limited (ASX/NZX: MEX) is implementing an aggressive brownfields
exploration strategy at its portfolio of New Zealand gold assets. These assets host
known high-grade mineralisation from historical production and exploration activities,
are located in the historical Hauraki and Otago Goldfields and sit close to major
deposits. The Company is led by Directors and Management with an outstanding track
record of exploration success and value creation and is dual-listed on the ASX and NZX.
Competent Persons Statement
The information in this Report that relates to Exploration Results is based on
information compiled by Mr Peter Zitnan, who is a Member of the Australian Institute
of Geoscientists. Mr Zitnan has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of
mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is
undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 edition of the
'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore
Reserves'. Mr Zitnan consents to the inclusion in this Report of the matters based on
the information in the form and context in which it appears.
The information in this announcement that relates to prior exploration results is based
on, and fairly represents, information and supporting documentation previously
announced to ASX on 27 June 2025 and 4 November 2025. The Company confirms that
it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information
included in the original market announcements.
Visual estimates of mineral abundance should never be considered a proxy or substitute
for laboratory analyses where concentrations or grades are the factor of principal
economic interest. Visual estimates also potentially provide no information regarding
impurities or deleterious physical properties relevant to valuations.

Page 7 of 10

Appendix 1: Rock Chip Sample Identification and Location Table
Table 1. Rock chip sample identification and location referenced in the announcement
including previous sampling programs from 2009 with 55 or 57 sample number prefixes.
Refer to sampling 387 prefix for samples taken by the Company.

Page 8 of 10




Appendix 2: JORC Code, 2012 Edition – Table 1 Invincible, New Zealand
Section 1 Sampling Techniques and Data

Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary
Sampling
techniques
• Nature and quality of sampling (eg cut channels,
random chips, or specific specialised industry
standard measurement tools appropriate to the
prospect under investigation, such as down hole
gamma sondes, or handheld XRF instruments,
etc). These examples should not be taken as
limiting the broad meaning of sampling.
• Include reference to measures taken to ensure
sample representivity and the appropriate
calibration of any measurement tools or systems
used.
• Aspects of the determination of mineralisation that
are Material to the Public Report.
• In cases where ‘industry standard’ work has been
done this would be relatively simple (eg ‘reverse
circulation drilling was used to obtain 1 m samples
from which 3 kg was pulverised to produce a 30 g
charge for fire assay’). In other cases more
explanation may be required, such as where there
is coarse gold that has inherent sampling problems.
Unusual commodities or mineralisation types (eg
submarine nodules) may warrant disclosure of
detailed information.
Rock chip grab samples were collected from outcrops, spoil
heaps and accessible surface soil assumed from the internal
workings.
Samples were taken to understand the style and tenor of
mineralisation prior to more detailed work being undertaken.


Drilling
techniques
• Drill type (eg core, reverse circulation, open-hole
hammer, rotary air blast, auger, Bangka, sonic, etc)
and details (eg core diameter, triple or standard
tube, depth of diamond tails, face-sampling bit or
other type, whether core is oriented and if so, by
what method, etc).
• N/A – no drilling reported in this release.

Drill sample
recovery
• Method of recording and assessing core and chip
sample recoveries and results assessed.
• Measures taken to maximise sample recovery and
ensure representative nature of the samples.
• Whether a relationship exists between sample
recovery and grade and whether sample bias may
have occurred due to preferential loss/gain of
fine/coarse material.
• N/A – no drilling reported in this release.
•
Logging
• Whether core and chip samples have been
geologically and geotechnically logged to a level of
detail to support appropriate Mineral Resource
estimation, mining studies and metallurgical
studies.
• Whether logging is qualitative or quantitative in
nature. Core (or costean, channel, etc)
photography.
• The total length and percentage of the relevant
intersections logged.
• N/A – no drilling reported in this release.
•
Sub-sampling
techniques and
sample
preparation
• If core, whether cut or sawn and whether quarter,
half or all core taken.
• If non-core, whether riffled, tube sampled, rotary
split, etc and whether sampled wet or dry.
• For all sample types, the nature, quality and
appropriateness of the sample preparation
technique.
• Quality control procedures adopted for all sub-
sampling stages to maximise representivity of
samples.
• Measures taken to ensure that the sampling is
representative of the in situ material collected,
including for instance results for field
duplicate/second-half sampling.
• Whether sample sizes are appropriate to the grain
size of the material being sampled.
• N/A – no drilling reported in this release.
•

Page 9 of 10

Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary
Quality of assay
data and
laboratory tests
• The nature, quality and appropriateness of the
assaying and laboratory procedures used and
whether the technique is considered partial or total.
• For geophysical tools, spectrometers, handheld
XRF instruments, etc, the parameters used in
determining the analysis including instrument make
and model, reading times, calibrations factors
applied and their derivation, etc.
• Nature of quality control procedures adopted (eg
standards, blanks, duplicates, external laboratory
checks) and whether acceptable levels of accuracy
(ie lack of bias) and precision have been
established.
Assays were carried out by SGS Waihi, an internationally
certified laboratory. Technique FAA505 was used with lower
detection limit of 0.01 and upper detection limit of 100 ppm Au.
The SGS FAA505 technique refers to the fire assay method
used for analyzing gold in high-grade ores. This technique
involves several steps:
The sample is pulverized and mixed with a fluxing agent,
typically lead or nickel, to facilitate melting and separation of
the precious metals from gangue.

The sample is heated in a furnace, where it fuses and
separates into a "button" containing the precious metals.

The button is then subjected to cupellation, where the lead in
the button is oxidized and absorbed into a cupel, leaving a
metallic bead known as a prill.

The prill is analysed for gold content by spectroscopy.

Verification of
sampling and
assaying
• The verification of significant intersections by either
independent or alternative company personnel.
• The use of twinned holes.
• Documentation of primary data, data entry
procedures, data verification, data storage
(physical and electronic) protocols.
• Discuss any adjustment to assay data.
• N/A – no drilling reported in this release.
•
Location of data
points
• Accuracy and quality of surveys used to locate drill
holes (collar and down-hole surveys), trenches,
mine workings and other locations used in Mineral
Resource estimation.
• Specification of the grid system used.
• Quality and adequacy of topographic control.
• No drillholes or resources reported, sample locations were
surveyed by handheld GPS. Coordinates are in NZGD 2000
Grid (EPSG:2193).

Please refer to Table 1 in the body of the text.

•
Data spacing
and distribution
• Data spacing for reporting of Exploration Results.
• Whether the data spacing and distribution is
sufficient to establish the degree of geological and
grade continuity appropriate for the Mineral
Resource and Ore Reserve estimation
procedure(s) and classifications applied.
• Whether sample compositing has been applied.
• No resource or reserve reported in this release.
Orientation of
data in relation
to geological
structure
• Whether the orientation of sampling achieves
unbiased sampling of possible structures and the
extent to which this is known, considering the
deposit type.
• If the relationship between the drilling orientation
and the orientation of key mineralised structures is
considered to have introduced a sampling bias, this
should be assessed and reported if material.
No drilling results reported. Rock chip samples from the waste
dump of historical mine may not represent historical mining
grades, but are representative of the mineralisation style.
Sample security
• The measures taken to ensure sample security. • Samples were collected by MEX employed personnel, bagged
dispatched to the laboratory by independent courier.
Audits or
reviews
• The results of any audits or reviews of sampling
techniques and data.
• No audits or reviews of the data management system have
been carried out.

Section 2 Reporting of Exploration Results
Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary
Mineral
tenement and
land tenure
status
• Type, reference name/number, location and ownership
including agreements or material issues with third
parties such as joint ventures, partnerships, overriding
royalties, native title interests, historical sites,
wilderness or national park and environmental
settings.
• The security of the tenure held at the time of reporting
along with any known impediments to obtaining a
license to operate in the area.
• Minerals Exploration Limited has 100% interest in Otagold
Ltd (‘Otagold’), a company incorporated in New Zealand
The laws of New Zealand relating to exploration and mining
have various requirements. As the exploration advances
specific filings and environmental or other studies may be
required. There are ongoing requirements under New
Zealand mining laws that will be required at each stage of
advancement. Those filings and studies are maintained and
updated as required by MEX’s environmental and permit
advisors specifically engaged for such purposes.
• The Company is the manager of operations in accordance
with generally accepted mining industry standards and
practices.

Page 10 of 10

Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary
Exploration
done by other
parties
• Acknowledgment and appraisal of exploration by other
parties.
• The areas discussed have been mapped, geochemically
sampled (not reported) and but never drilled in the past.
Geology
• Deposit type, geological setting and style of
mineralisation.
• Mesothermal orogenic gold silver mineralisation in a
metamorphic schists.


Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary
Drill hole
Information
• A summary of all information material to the
understanding of the exploration results including
a tabulation of the following information for all
Material drill holes:
o easting and northing of the drill hole collar
o elevation or RL (Reduced Level – elevation above
sea level in metres) of the drill hole collar
o dip and azimuth of the hole
o down hole length and interception depth
o hole length.
• If the exclusion of this information is justified on
the basis that the information is not Material and
this exclusion does not detract from the
understanding of the report, the Competent
Person should clearly explain why this is the
case.
Channel - Information NZGD 2000 Grid.
N/A as no drilling results reported.




Data
aggregation
methods
• In reporting Exploration Results, weighting
averaging techniques, maximum and/or minimum
grade truncations (eg cutting of high grades) and
cut-off grades are usually
Material and should be stated.
• Where aggregate intercepts incorporate short
lengths of high grade results and longer lengths of
low grade results, the procedure used for such
aggregation should be stated and some typical
examples of such aggregations should be shown
in detail.
• The assumptions used for any reporting of metal
equivalent values should be clearly stated.
N/A no drilling results/intercepts reported.


Relationship
between
mineralisation
widths and
intercept
lengths
• These relationships are particularly important in
the reporting of Exploration Results.
• If the geometry of the mineralisation with respect
to the drill hole angle is known, its nature should
be reported.
• If it is not known and only the down hole lengths
are reported, there should be a clear statement to
this effect (eg ‘down hole length, true width not
known’).
N/A – no drilling reported in this release.

Diagrams
• Appropriate maps and sections (with scales) and
tabulations of intercepts should be included for
any significant discovery being reported These
should include, but not be limited to a plan view of
drill hole collar locations and appropriate sectional
views.
• The location and results received for the sampling campaign are
displayed in the attached maps and/or tables.
•
Balanced
reporting
• Where comprehensive reporting of all Exploration
Results is not practicable, representative
reporting of both low and high grades and/or
widths should be practiced to avoid misleading
reporting of Exploration Results.
• Results for all samples collected in the past are displayed on the
attached maps and/or tables.
Other
substantive
exploration data
• Other exploration data, if meaningful and material,
should be reported including (but not limited to):
geological observations; geophysical survey
results; geochemical survey results; bulk samples
– size and method of treatment; metallurgical test
results; bulk density, groundwater, geotechnical
and rock characteristics; potential deleterious or
contaminating substances.
• No metallurgical or bulk density tests were conducted at the
project by the Company.
Further work
• The nature and scale of planned further work (eg
tests for lateral extensions or depth extensions or
large-scale step-out drilling).
• Diagrams clearly highlighting the areas of
possible extensions, including the main geological
interpretations and future drilling areas, provided
this information is not commercially sensitive.
• The Company plans to conduct low impact geochemical
sampling stream sediment sampling and/or geophysical surveys
seeking out further justification for drilling designs.