Maple Gold Announces Continued Growth of High-Grade Gold Zones Beyond Historical Mine Workings and Current Mineral Resources at Joutel
Rhea-AI Summary
Maple Gold (OTCQX: MGMLF) reported new high-grade drilling results from its 100%-owned Joutel project, extending mineralization up to 450 m beyond historical Eagle-Telbel mine workings.
Key intercepts include up to 32.6 g/t Au over 0.8 m and 5.6 g/t Au over 10.4 m in shallow holes east of the Telbel shaft. A maiden Joutel mineral resource, reported at a 1.70 g/t Au underground cut-off, totals 126,000 oz indicated (0.9 Mt at 4.53 g/t) and 992,000 oz inferred (7.5 Mt at 4.11 g/t). The fully funded 32,000-m 2026 winter program is ~95% complete, backed by a $13.9 million exploration budget for 2026 from an existing ~$30 million treasury.
Positive
- High-grade intercepts up to 32.6 g/t Au over 0.8 m at Joutel
- High-grade mineralization now traced up to 450 m beyond old mine workings
- Near 100% drill hit rate along the MICH target horizon
- Maiden Joutel resource: 126 koz indicated, 992 koz inferred at underground cut-off
- 22 Joutel drill holes totaling 10,870 m completed in 2026 program
- 2026 exploration budget of $13.9 million fully funded from ~$30 million treasury
Negative
- Most Joutel resource currently classified as inferred (992 koz vs 126 koz indicated)
- Current drill results are not yet included in the 2026 mineral resource estimate
- True widths are estimated at only 60–90% of reported drill intervals
- Morris VMS drill program results remain pending, adding short-term exploration uncertainty
News Market Reaction – MGMLF
In the Jun 3 session, MGMLF declined 1.65%, reflecting a mild negative market reaction.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
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Highlights
Drilling at Joutel continues to extend broad zones of high-grade gold mineralization up to 450 metres ("m") beyond the historical Eagle-Telbel underground workings and the system remains open in multiple directions.
Selected gold assay intercepts reported herein include:
JO-26-13: 16.3 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold ("Au") over 1.3 m within 2.7 g/t Au over 10.2 m in a 50-m step-out southeast of previously reported drill hole JO-25-05 within the Main Iron Carbonate Horizon ("MICH") hosting historical gold production at Joutel.
JO-26-14: 15.5 g/t Au over 2.0 m within 7.4 g/t Au over 7.5 m in a further 250-m step-out located 50 m above the eastern extent of the Telbel Mine underground workings.
JO-26-15: 32.6 g/t Au over 0.8 m within 14.0 g/t Au over 2.0 m, confirming high-grade gold mineralization within the footwall micro-gabbro unit.
High-grade gold mineralization at Joutel demonstrates remarkable continuity and predictability along the stratiform MICH with a near
100% drill success rate to date.Assay results have now been reported for 32 holes (~17,600 m), 14 holes from Douay and 18 holes from Joutel, out of 66 holes (~30,500 m) completed to date under the current drill program, with additional, fully funded drilling planned in H2 2026 and 2027.
Results from the current drill program are not included in the updated Mineral Resource Estimate ("2026 MRE") at Douay/Joutel (see news release dated April 27, 2026); the maiden Joutel Mineral Resource, reported at a 1.70 g/t Au underground cut-off grade, includes:
Indicated Resource: 0.9 million tonnes ("Mt") at an average grade of 4.53 g/t Au for 126,000 ounces ("oz") Au; and
Inferred Resource: 7.5 Mt at an average grade of 4.11 g/t Au for 992,000 oz Au.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 3, 2026) - Maple Gold Mines Ltd. (TSXV: MGM) (OTCQX: MGMLF) (FSE: M3G0) ("Maple Gold" or the "Company") today reported new results from its ongoing, fully funded 32,000-m winter drill campaign (the "Program") at its
"Drilling at Joutel continues to demonstrate strong grade and continuity in previously under-explored areas, with the latest high-grade intercepts now extending gold mineralization up to 450 m beyond the historical Eagle-Telbel underground workings," stated Kiran Patankar, President and CEO of Maple Gold. "Recent results have sharpened our understanding of the key controls on mineralization and strengthened our confidence in Joutel's near-term resource expansion potential beyond the 2026 MRE. We expect to continue testing this high-grade gold system with aggressive, fully funded step-out drill programs in H2 2026 and 2027."
Discussion of Joutel Drilling Results
Results reported today include four (4) additional diamond drill holes ("DDH") designed to test shallow areas with limited drilling along strike from the historical Telbel Mine at Joutel (see Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4). These holes targeted interpreted zones of high-grade gold mineralization projected up-plunge and along strike from previously mined-out stopes within a geologically favourable stratigraphic host unit termed the MICH. The historical Eagle, Eagle West and Telbel gold mines (together, the "Joutel Mining Complex") produced 1.1 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 6.5 g/t Au from the MICH between 1974 and 1993.
The Joutel Mining Complex lies along the southern branch of the regional Casa Berardi Deformation Zone, a major gold-bearing structure in the prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt. Mineralization is hosted within the uppermost cycle of the Joutel volcanic complex (the "Mine Sequence"), which includes a thick rhyodacitic to dacitic pyroclastic footwall unit overlain by interbedded clastic and chemical sedimentary rocks, felsic pyroclastics, and mafic flows. Within the Mine Sequence, the continuous MICH, with strong iron carbonate alteration and veining, hosts the bulk of historical gold production. The Mine Sequence is also cut by two significant, late east-northeast to northeast-trending Proterozoic diabase dykes (see Figures 1 and 2).
Gold mineralization at Joutel is typically hosted within semi-massive pyrite-quartz-ankerite-siderite-carbonate horizons (including the MICH) cut by quartz and quartz-dolomite veins and veinlets. The MICH trends southeast at 130° azimuth and dips sub-vertically. Both the Eagle and Telbel mines host higher-grade 'shoots' that show primary plunges of 55° to 60° to the southeast, consistent with the regional plunge lineation. A secondary shallower westerly plunge has also been noted, orthogonal to the primary plunge. The MICH is the primary exploration target at Joutel, along strike, up- and down-dip, and up- and down-plunge of known high-grade mineralization. Sub-parallel carbonate horizons are secondary exploration targets.
Drill holes JO-26-12, JO-26-13, JO-26-14 and JO-26-15 were completed over a 350 m strike length and 450 m vertical distance, southeast of the Telbel Mine shaft, to target the interpreted up-plunge projections of high-grade gold mineralization in under-explored areas at shallower depths.
Drill holes JO-26-12 and JO-26-13 were designed as step-out holes 50 m above and 50 m east, respectively, from previously reported drill hole JO-25-05, which returned 8.5 g/t Au over 8.0 m including 17.5 g/t Au over 1.5 m within the MICH (see news release dated February 26, 2026). Highlights include:
DDH JO-26-12: 2.3 g/t Au over 6.6 m, including
2.9 g/t Au over 4.7 m
DDH JO-26-13: 2.7 g/t Au over 10.2 m, including
16.3 g/t Au over 1.3 m
Drill hole JO-26-14, a further 250-m step-out located southeast from drill hole JO-26-13 and 50 m above the eastern extent of the Telbel Mine underground workings returned another strong intersection in the MICH as follows:
DDH JO-26-14: 5.6 g/t Au over 10.4 m, including
7.4 g/t Au over 7.5 m, including
15.5 g/t Au over 2.0 m
Drill hole JO-26-15 was drilled 350 m up-dip from JO-26-14 to test the shallow Telbel Mine environment for additional southeast plunging 'shoots' and intersected high-grade gold mineralization within the 'footwall micro-gabbro' unit. This distinct marker unit has previously returned 13.3 g/t Au over 3.0 m including 25.4 g/t Au over 1.5 m in drill hole JO-25-01 (see news release dated February 26, 2026), and 11.4 g/t Au over 3.0 m including 24.4 g/t Au over 1.0 m in drill hole EM-22-009, located 2 km to the northwest (see news release dated August 15, 2022). Highlights include:
DDH JO-26-15: 14.0 g/t Au over 2.0 m, including
20.9 g/t Au over 1.3 m, including
32.6 g/t Au over 0.8 m
DDH and assay intercept locations are shown in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 with significant assay highlights provided in Table 1.
Key Findings of Joutel Drilling To-Date
Successful demonstration that the known MICH-hosted gold mineralization extends well beyond the historic Eagle-Telbel mine underground workings.
Gold mineralization is associated with a zone of hydrothermal breccia hosted by felsic tuff underlain by the MICH and then well bedded, semi-massive pyrite mineralization.
Anomalous gold is present locally within the hanging wall felsic tuff sequence and in a continuous microgabbro intrusive within the footwall sequence often carries gold grades > 1 g/t Au and occasionally > 20 g/ t Au (drill holes JO-25-01 and JO-26-15).
Five (5) of the drill holes (JO-25-01, JO-25-05, JO-25-07, JO-26-11, JO-26-15) have returned eight (8) individual assays greater than 20.0 g/t Au with a high of 40.8 g/t Au over 0.5 m in drill hole JO-25-05.
Current drilling at Joutel has now extended high-grade gold mineralization up to 450 m beyond the historical Eagle-Telbel underground workings.
The strength and continuity of the gold mineralization at Joutel is very encouraging and the system remains open in multiple directions with strong potential for expansion through follow-up drilling.
The Company has completed 22 drill holes to date at Joutel totaling 10,870 m of the approved 12,000-m program. Assays have now been reported for 18 drill holes at Joutel.
Figure 1: Plan view map of the Eagle-Telbel Area highlighting the MICH Horizon, Drill Target Areas, and 2025-2026 Completed Drill Holes
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https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/3077/299906_5f81bf1d44f43b3d_001full.jpg
Figure 2: Joutel longitudinal section with Eagle-Telbel Underground Workings & Mined-Out Stopes (in grey), 2026 MRE blocks and 2025-2026 Completed Drill Holes with Significant Assay Results. Looking Northeast.
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Figure 3: Joutel DDH Cross-Section - Telbel Mine East - Drill Holes JO-25-12 and JO-26-13 with Significant Assay Results. Looking West.
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Figure 4: Joutel DDH Cross-Section - Telbel Mine East - Drill Holes JO-25-14 and JO-26-15 with Significant Assay Results. Looking West.
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Table 1: Joutel 2026 Winter Program - Significant Assay Results
| Target | From | To | Length | Au_FA |
| Drill Hole | (meters) | (meters) | (meters) | (g/t) |
| Telbel Mine East | ||||
| JO-26-12 | 467.3 | 473.9 | 6.6 | 2.3 |
| Including | 468.0 | 472.7 | 4.7 | 2.9 |
| Including | 470.0 | 472.0 | 2.0 | 4.8 |
| Including | 471.0 | 472.0 | 1.0 | 6.4 |
| And | 493.5 | 495.7 | 2.2 | 1.1 |
| JO-26-13 | 468.0 | 476.0 | 8.0 | 1.0 |
| Including | 474.0 | 476.0 | 2.0 | 2.9 |
| And | 513.4 | 519.0 | 5.6 | 1.7 |
| Including | 516.0 | 519.0 | 3.0 | 2.2 |
| And | 605.0 | 615.2 | 10.2 | 2.7 |
| Including | 606.5 | 614.3 | 7.8 | 3.5 |
| Including | 612.1 | 613.4 | 1.3 | 16.3 |
| And | 625.5 | 637.3 | 11.8 | 0.3 |
| Including | 631.0 | 632.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| JO-26-14 | 598.5 | 608.9 | 10.4 | 5.6 |
| Including | 598.5 | 606.0 | 7.5 | 7.4 |
| Including | 600.0 | 602.0 | 2.0 | 15.5 |
| And | 622.7 | 624.3 | 1.6 | 1.0 |
| JO-26-15 | 238.8 | 240.9 | 2.0 | 14.0 |
| Including | 238.8 | 240.2 | 1.3 | 20.9 |
| Including | 239.4 | 240.2 | 0.8 | 32.6 |
| * Intersections are reported as drilled widths; true widths are estimated to be 60 | ||||
2026 Winter Program Update
The Company has completed 66 drill holes totaling ~30,500 m as part of its ongoing 32,000-m Program, with approximately
At Douay, drilling has focused on testing of the down-plunge extensions of the higher-grade Nika, 531, Douay West, Z10 and Porphyry West Zones.
At Joutel, drilling has focused on extensions of high-grade gold mineralization along the entire Eagle-Telbel mine trend and on 50-m-spaced step-out drill holes in the east Telbel Mine area to follow-up on encouraging results from drill holes JO-25-01, JO-25-05, JO-25-06, JO-25-07, and JO26-11.
Concurrent development milestones are anticipated throughout 2026 to advance and de-risk Douay/Joutel, including the recently released 2026 MRE as well as internal scoping/engineering/trade-off studies.
The Company has also completed an inaugural three (3) hole, 1,317-m diamond drill program at its Morris VMS Project ("Morris"), east of Matagami, Québec to evaluate prospective stratigraphy known to host the Matagami VMS deposits and mines. Results for the Morris drill program are currently pending.
A total exploration budget of
Additional Notes
Starting azimuth, dip and final length (Azimuth/Dip/Length (m)) for the four (4) drill holes reported in this news release are noted as follows: JO-25-12 (037/65/636), JO-25-13 (034/65.5/700), JO-25-14 (037/63/756), and JO-26-15 (049/47/312).
Quality Assurance and Quality Control
The Company implements strict Quality Assurance ("QA") and Quality Control ("QC") protocols at Joutel covering the planning and placing of drill holes in the field, drilling and retrieving the NQ-sized drill core, drill hole surveying, core transport, core logging by qualified personnel, sampling and bagging of ½ cut drill core for analysis, and the transport of samples from site to commercial laboratories for analysis.
All core drilling conducted by the Company is oriented. Samples of drill core were cut by a diamond blade rock saw, with half of the cut core placed in individual sealed polyurethane bags and half placed back in the original core box for permanent storage at the Douay site. Sample lengths typically vary from a minimum 0.3-m interval to a maximum 1.5-m interval, with an average 0.5 to 1.0-m sample length. Drill core samples were delivered by truck in sealed woven plastic bags to ALS Geochemistry laboratory facility in Val-d'Or, Quebec for sample preparation with final analysis at ALS Geochemistry Analytical Lab facility in North Vancouver, BC. for the fire assay fusion method and induced coupled plasma ("ICP") atomic emission spectroscopy. ALS Geochemistry operate meeting all requirements of International Standards ISO/IE 17025:2017 and ISO 9001:2015.
Drill core samples were crushed to
All ALS Geochemistry sites operate under a single Global Geochemistry Quality Manual that complies with ISO/IEC 17025:2017. ALS Geochemistry follows the quality management and operational guidelines set out in the international standards ISO/IEC 17025 - "General Requirement for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories" and ISO 9001 - "Quality Management Systems".
Qualified Person
Pascal Lessard, géo (OGQ #00434), Vice President, Exploration of Maple Gold, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information related to exploration and Mineral Resource matters contained in this news release. Mr. Lessard is a Qualified Person as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
About the Douay/Joutel Gold Project
The Douay/Joutel Gold Project is located adjacent to Highway 109 in the heart of Québec's Abitibi greenstone belt, Canada's premier gold mining jurisdiction. This large,
About Maple Gold
Maple Gold Mines Ltd. is a well-funded Canadian gold exploration company focused on advancing its
Maple Gold's property package also hosts a significant number of regional exploration targets along a 55-kilometer strike length of the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone that have yet to be tested through drilling, making the property ripe for new gold and volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) discoveries. The Company is currently focused on carrying out exploration and drill programs to grow mineral resources and make new discoveries to establish an exciting new gold district in the heart of the Abitibi. For more information, please visit www.maplegoldmines.com.
ON BEHALF OF MAPLE GOLD MINES LTD.
"Kiran Patankar"
Kiran Patankar, President & CEO
For Further Information, Please Contact:
Sarah Herriott, Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Development
Phone: +1 (647) 265-8688
Email: sherriott@maplegoldmines.com
Website: www.maplegoldmines.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/maplegoldmines
NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS PRESS RELEASE.
Forward-Looking Statements and Cautionary Notes:
This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively referred to as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation in Canada, including, without limitation, statements regarding the intended acceleration of the Warrants. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective,", "strategy", "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements about the resource expansion and discovery potential across the Company's gold projects, and its intention to pursue such potential, and the Company's exploration work and results from current and future work programs. Although the Company believes that forward-looking statements in this news release are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct, as forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, uncertainties and management's best estimate of future events on the date the statements are made and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations and projections, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. For a more detailed discussion of additional risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements in this news release, please refer to the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators available on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval Plus (SEDAR+) at www.sedarplus.ca or the Company's website at www.maplegoldmines.com. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and/or the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any intention to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
[1] The Douay Gold Project contains Indicated Mineral Resources estimated at 18.2 Mt at a grade of 1.33 g/t Au (containing 779,000 oz Au), and Inferred Mineral Resources estimated at 122.7 Mt at a grade of 0.84 g/t Au (containing 3,305,000 oz Au). The 2026 Douay Mineral Resource Estimate was prepared by SLR with an effective date of April 24, 2026.
[2] The Joutel Gold Project contains Indicated Mineral Resources estimated at 0.9 Mt at a grade of 4.53 g/t Au (containing 126,000 oz Au), and Inferred Mineral Resources estimated at 7.5 Mt at a grade of 4.11 g/t Au (containing 992,000 oz Au). The 2026 Joutel Mineral Resource Estimate was prepared by SLR with an effective date of April 24, 2026.
[3] The Eagle, Eagle West and Telbel Gold Mines at Joutel were in production from 1974 to 1993 and produced 1.1 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 6.5 g/t Au (Agnico Eagle Mines Limited's corporate website).
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