Hercules Metals Corp. reports exploration and corporate developments tied to its 100%-owned Hercules Property in western Idaho. Company news centers on drilling at the Leviathan porphyry copper system, copper-silver-molybdenum assay results, step-out drilling, geophysical surveys, and target generation across the broader Hercules Copper Belt land position.
Updates also cover epithermal silver-lead-zinc mineralization, exploration rights and land consolidation near the property, permitting and field-program activity, shareholder voting matters, governance changes, and operating and financial results.
Hercules Metals (BADEF) extended copper mineralization west of its Southern Flats discovery with a 200 m step-out drill hole at its Idaho project. HER-26-01 returned 286.52 m grading 0.58% copper equivalent, a combined-metal grade, including 65.54 m at 0.80%. Copper grades were 0.43% and 0.61%, respectively.
The company interprets Southern Flats as a potential approximate 1 km southern extension of Leviathan, but continuity remains unconfirmed. Two rigs are drilling HER-26-05 and HER-26-06 to expand Leviathan southward and fill the drilling gap; HER-26-04 assays are pending. HER-26-01 ended in a lower-grade intrusion due to depth, and Leviathan-style copper enrichment has not yet been located at Southern Flats.
Hercules completed its second C$2.0 million Olympus option payment to Barrick Mining entirely in cash. Ownership completion requires further payments, with the final $2 million payment scheduled for 2028.
Hercules Metals (BADEF) granted 6,650,000 incentive stock options on September 16, 2026, to directors, officers, employees and consultants under its omnibus incentive plan.
The grant partially compensates these parties for the earlier cancellation of an aggregate 20,500,000 options previously issued under the same plan. The new options have a five-year term and an exercise price of $1.31 per common share. They vest in three equal tranches over 24 months: one-third on the grant date, one-third on the first anniversary, and one-third on the second anniversary. The option grant remains subject to acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange.
Hercules Metals (BADEF) reported that reconnaissance hole HER-26-03 at the Hook target in Idaho intersected intense quartz-sericite-pyrite and skarn alteration consistent with the margins of a potential new porphyry copper system.
The hole was drilled from an existing road about 400 meters west of Hook’s approximately 1.8-kilometer-long IP chargeability anomaly, whose highest-intensity core extends roughly 500 meters with values of about 20–40 mV/V and is modelled to start within about 100 meters of surface. Alteration and pyrite content resemble the halo around the nearby Leviathan porphyry system and occur within favourable Triassic volcanic and carbonate-bearing host rocks. Assays are pending and are expected to provide vectoring rather than significant copper-molybdenum grades. Based on these results, the company is advancing permits for temporary access roads and drill pads to directly test the anomaly’s core, with follow-up drilling targeted to begin in 2027, and continues step-out drilling at Leviathan.
The board also approved cancellation of 20,500,000 previously granted stock options, leaving 5,290,000 options and 2,666,000 RSUs outstanding under the omnibus incentive plan.
Hercules Metals (OTCQB: BADEF, TSXV: BIG, FSE: C0X) has closed a previously announced non-brokered private placement of 7,258,066 common shares at C$0.62 per share, raising aggregate gross proceeds of C$4,500,000.92. The shares were purchased by former members of the Arizona Sonoran Copper team who are joining Hercules.
According to Hercules Metals, net proceeds will fund continued drilling and expansion of the Leviathan porphyry copper system, exploration of additional porphyry targets, geological and resource modelling, and general working capital. The new shares are subject to a four‑month‑and‑one‑day hold period and the financing remains subject to final TSX Venture Exchange acceptance.
Hercules Metals (TSXV: BIG, OTCQB: BADEF) has granted 2,350,000 incentive stock options to certain officers, directors and consultants under its Omnibus Incentive Plan approved on July 15, 2022. The options have a five-year term, an exercise price of $0.88 per share, and vest in three equal tranches: one-third immediately, and the remainder on the first and second anniversaries of the grant date.
According to the company, these grants form part of previously agreed incentive compensation, deferred until after announcing recent management appointments and a related private placement. Hercules is a U.S.-focused explorer advancing the 100%-owned Hercules Project in western Idaho, including the Leviathan porphyry copper system.
Hercules Metals (TSXV: BIG, OTCQB: BADEF, FSE: C0X) plans a non-brokered private placement in which the incoming Arizona Sonoran Team, including future CEO George Ogilvie, will personally invest C$4.5 million. The team will subscribe for 7,258,066 common shares at C$0.62 per share, a roughly 5% premium to the prior closing price, with no finder’s fees.
The New Management Investment is expected to close on or about September 1, 2026, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval and customary conditions, coinciding with the team formally assuming management. According to Hercules, net proceeds will fund drilling and expansion of the Leviathan porphyry copper system, exploration of additional porphyry targets, geological and resource modelling, and general working capital. All shares will carry a four-month-and-one-day statutory hold period under Canadian securities laws.
Hercules Metals (TSXV: BIG, OTCQB: BADEF) will appoint mining executive George Ogilvie as President, CEO and director effective September 1, 2026, while founder Chris Paul becomes Senior Vice President, Exploration and remains on the board.
On the Effective Date, six former Arizona Sonoran Copper executives (finance, legal, sustainability, investor relations and geology) will join Hercules to form an integrated leadership team focused on advancing the Leviathan copper-silver porphyry discovery in Idaho. According to Hercules Metals, this team previously helped grow the Cactus Project’s implied equity value from about C$125 million in 2021 to about C$2.0 billion in 2026.
The company granted the incoming team 18,650,000 stock options at an exercise price of $0.59, vesting in three annual tranches over two years and expiring five years after grant, subject to TSX Venture Exchange and other regulatory approvals. Hercules highlights Leviathan’s 2023 discovery hole of 185 metres at 0.84% copper, with mineralization remaining open in multiple directions.
Hercules Metals (OTCQB: BADEF) reported completion of seven IP survey lines totaling about 28 line-kilometers at the Hook target on its Idaho Hercules property. The work outlines a large, continuous 1.8-kilometer near-surface chargeability anomaly (20–40 mV/V) with geometry comparable to the Leviathan porphyry copper discovery.
Drilling is underway at Hook, a 1,255 m hole was completed at the Southern Flats porphyry discovery, and a new step-out hole is testing a shallow extension of Leviathan mineralization.
Hercules Metals (OTCQB:BADEF) reported extensive copper-equivalent drill intercepts from the Leviathan porphyry system at its Hercules project in Idaho.
Key holes include 787.9 m of 0.54% CuEq in HER-25-18 and 801.6 m of 0.40% CuEq in HER-25-21, plus near-surface high-grade zones and strong IP anomalies at the new Hook target.
Hercules Metals (OTCQB: BADEF) reported that hole HER-25-25 at the Southern Flats zone, Hercules project in Idaho, cut 177 m grading 0.66% CuEq within 271 m at 0.51% CuEq. The hole intersected alteration and veining consistent with the outer margins of a porphyry center on the edge of a large MT conductivity anomaly measuring about 2.6 km x 1.3 km x 1.2 km. A 200 m step-out hole, HER-26-01, is now testing the central axis of this anomaly. Hercules has also started maiden drilling at the nearby Pegasus Porphyry Target, supported by MT and IP surveys, while emphasizing rigorous sample preparation and QA/QC protocols at accredited laboratories.