Santa Helena

Asset type:

Open pit

Stage:

Maiden Mineral Resource declared January 2026; Multiple new VMS layers discovered through 2026 exploration programme

Product:

Gold & Copper

Location:

Mato Grosso, Brazil

/ projects /

Developing a promising discovery near existing operations

Santa Helena is a Cu-Au-Ag & Zn-Pb deposit located ~10 km to the southeast of the Cabaçal Mine area. It is one of a series of exploration targets along the Mine Corridor.

Santa Helena Central’s maiden resource, reported in January 2026, is solely focused on the central part of an open and prospective system. Since then, an active exploration programme has discovered multiple new stacked layers of gold-copper-silver and zinc-lead VMS mineralisation below and adjacent to the Central resource, including the first visible gold reported at Santa Helena. The stand-alone Preliminary Licence application remains in progress, supported by ongoing engineering and environmental studies.

2026 Exploration Highlights

Since the maiden Santa Helena Central resource was declared in January 2026, an active drilling and exploration programme has continued to expand the system’s potential:

August 2026 – stacked VMS layers drilled below Santa Helena

Drill hole CD‑878 intersected multiple stacked layers of gold-copper-silver and zinc-lead VMS mineralisation below and separate from the Santa Helena Central resource, returning 11.3m @ 0.8g/t Au, 0.2% Cu, 17.6g/t Ag, 3.4% Zn & 0.6% Pb from 199.8m (including 4.4m @ 1.7g/t Au, 32.1g/t Ag, 5.8% Zn & 1.4% Pb and 7.9m @ 1.1g/t Au, 0.2% Cu, 23.7g/t Ag, 4.4% Zn & 0.8% Pb from 199.8m), followed by a lower copper-dominant layer of 1.7m @ 0.9% Cu. This intersection sits roughly 90m down-dip of the previously reported CD‑869 zone, with the mineralised envelope widening from 7.2m to 11.3m and remaining open in all directions. Meridian also commenced its first reconnaissance programmes across the Jauru–Araputanga Greenstone Belts during this period.
- Drill hole CD‑869 intersected a new, second layer of gold-silver and zinc-lead VMS mineralisation located below and east of the Santa Helena Central resource, returning 7.2m @ 1.4g/t Au, 0.1% Cu, 24.3g/t Ag, 2.3% Zn & 0.9% Pb from 177.6m. The intercept included the first appearance of visible gold reported at Santa Helena and is interpreted as the down-dip extension of the Santa Helena North IP (induced polarisation) anomaly. Mineralisation remains open.
  June 2026 – discovery of a second VMS layer, first visible gold as Santa Helena
May 2026 – Álamo gold discovery and Santa Helena Central infill results
- The discovery of gold and base-metal mineralisation at Álamo, located at the southeastern end of the Cabaçal trend, alongside further high-grade infill drilling results from Santa Helena Central, including CD]
Permitting and studies progress
Engineering and environmental work to support the Santa Helena Preliminary Licence application is ongoing, including additional surface diamond drilling for resource definition.

Classification	Weathering	Mass (Mt)	Average Value					Material Content
Classification	Weathering	Mass (Mt)	Au (g/t)	Ag (g/t)	Cu (%)	Zn (%)	Pb (%)	Au (koz)	Ag (koz)	Cu (kt)	Zn (kt)	Pb (kt)
Measured	Saprolite	0.50	0.69	11.07	0.39	0.84	0.49	11.02	177.65	1.96	4.21
	Saprock	0.55	0.53	13.47	0.57	1.27	0.34	9.38	238.45	3.17	7.00
	Fresh Rock	3.70	0.58	17.07	0.45	2.20	0.45	69.03	2,027.86	16.50	81.14
	Total	4.75	0.59	16.02	0.46	1.95	0.44	89.43	2,443.96	21.63	92.36
Indicated	Saprolite	0.08	0.43	11.10	0.21	0.78	0.29	1.06	27.60	0.16	0.60
	Saprock	0.03	0.35	7.27	0.55	0.78	0.24	0.37	7.88	0.18	0.26
	Fresh Rock	0.44	0.35	10.67	0.20	1.24	0.29	4.93	149.84	0.86	5.40
	Total	0.55	0.36	10.52	0.22	1.15	0.28	6.36	185.32	1.21	6.27
Meas + Ind	Saprolite	0.58	0.65	11.07	0.37	0.83	0.46	12.08	205.25	2.12	4.81
	Saprock	0.58	0.52	13.12	0.57	1.24	0.33	9.76	246.33	3.35	7.27
	Fresh Rock	4.13	0.56	16.39	0.42	2.09	0.44	73.95	2,177.70	17.37	86.55
	Total	5.29	0.56	15.45	0.43	1.86	0.43	95.79	2,629.28	22.84	98.63
Inferred	Saprolite	0.00	0.43	11.20	0.19	1.25	0.34	0.06	1.45	0.01	0.05
	Saprock	0.00	0.20	6.78	0.49	0.66	0.25	0.01	0.32	0.01	0.01
	Fresh Rock	0.03	0.31	11.67	0.18	1.50	0.30	0.29	11.11	0.05	0.45
	Total	0.04	0.32	11.41	0.19	1.44	0.30	0.36	12.88	0.07	0.51

Santa Helena Central deposit mineral resource table.

Notes related to the Mineral Resource Estimate:

Measured and Indicated Resource estimate reported inside open pit constraints.
The Mineral Resource Estimates were prepared in accordance with the CIM Standards, and the CIM Guidelines, using geostatistical and/or classical methods, plus economic and mining parameters appropriate to the deposit.
Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and are not demonstrably economically recoverable.
Grades reported using dry density.
The effective date of the MRE was December 31, 2025.
The QP responsible for Mineral Resources is geologist Leonardo Soares (MAIG #5180).
The MRE numbers provided have been rounded to the estimated relative. Values cannot be added due to rounding.
The MRE is delimited by Mining tenement areas.
The MRE was estimated using ordinary kriging in 5m x 5m x 5m blocks with sub-blocks of 1.25m x 1.25m x 1.25m.
The MRE report table was produced in Leapfrog Geo software.
The Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) was constrained by an optimized pit shell generated using the following parameters: metal prices of USD3,103/oz gold, USD35.34/oz silver, USD4.39/lb copper, USD1.22/lb zinc, and USD0.92/lb lead; mining costs of USD2.98/t for oxidized ROM and waste material, USD10.44/t for transitional and fresh ROM material, and USD2.98/t for waste; a processing cost of USD7.82/t processed; general and administrative (G&A) costs of USD2.19/t processed; and logistics costs of USD2.36/t processed.
a. Fresh Rock Gold Equivalent: AuEq(g/t) = (Au_ppm * 57.0%Rec) + (0.970 * Cu_pct * 76.9%Rec) + (0.270 * Zn_pct * 90.6%Rec) + (0.203 * Pb_pct * 78.3%Rec.) + (0.011 * Ag _ppm * 83.7%Rec.). b. Transition Zone Gold Equivalent: AuEq(g/t) = (Au_ppm * 83.1%Rec) + (0.970 * Cu_pct * 75.3%Rec) + (0.270 * Zn_pct * 77.4%Rec) + (0.203 * Pb_pct * 51.4%Rec) + (0.011 * Ag _ppm * 80.1%Rec). c. Oxide Zone Gold Equivalent: AuEq(g/t) = (Au_ppm * 78.1%Rec.) + (0.011 * Ag _ppm * 62.3%Rec.).
The resource cut-off grade applied for Measured and Indicated resources was 0.125 g/t AuEq.
The underground mining void model has been used to deplete the resource.

Santa Helena is a Volcanic Massive Sulphide (“VMS”) deposit located in the Cabaçal Belt, ~10 km southeast of the Cabaçal Mine, and forms part of the 2020 acquisition of the Cabaçal Project under the option agreement. The deposit is located on an approved mining licence. BP Minerals discovered the Santa Helena deposit in late 1984, when their drill campaign tested the “C2-C” target, a Cu-Zn-Pb-Au soil anomaly. BP Minerals conducted over 10,000m of drilling, and ultimately divested the deposit to a private Brazilian company. The private company conducted further drilling and opened an underground mine in 2006, which produced 439,813 t @ 6.65% Zn, 1.62% Cu, 1.77g/t Au, & 43.02 g/t Ag, before ceasing production in August 2008 during a period of subdued metal prices.

A new drilling campaign commenced in August 2023 to assess the deposit’s open-pit potential. The database used for the maiden resource announced in January 2025 contained data for 327 drillholes, 22 trenches, 104 channels and 47 auger drill holes, and 245 grade control holes. Drilling has since continued and will progressively transition to near-mine to more regional exploration programmes.

The deposit is hosted by deformed metavolcanic / metasedimentary rocks. The mineralisation present in the Santa Helena mine consists of massive, semi-massive and disseminated sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and galena typical of a VMS deposit The southern flank of the deposit projects up-dip into the weathering profile. The trend projects westward towards the Sucuri target, and eastwards towards the Álamo target. Geophysical chargeability anomalies to the north of the deposit represent targets for potential repeats of the hydrothermal system.

Santa Helena is a Volcanic Massive Sulphide (“VMS”) deposit located in the Cabaçal belt, located ~10 km southeast of the Cabaçal mine. Meridian acquired the project in 2020 as part of the acquisition of the Cabaçal Project. The deposit is located on an approved mining licence. BP Minerals discovered the Santa Helena deposit in late 1984, when their drill campaign tested their the “C2-C” target, a Cu-Zn-Pb-Au soil anomaly. BP Minerals conducted over 10,000m of drilling, and ultimately divested the deposit to a private Brazilian company.

The private company conducted further drilling and opened an underground mine in 2006, which produced 439,813 t @ 6.65% Zn, 1.62% Cu, 1.77g/t Au, & 43.02 g/t Ag, before ceasing production in August 2008 during a period of subdued metal prices.
Meridian commenced drilling at Santa Helena in August, 2023, to assess the open-pit potential of the deposit. The deposit is hosted by deformed metavolcanic / metasedimentary rocks. The mineralisation present in the Santa Helena mine consists of massive, semi-massive and disseminated sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and galena typical of a VMS deposit The southern flank of the deposit projects up-dip into the weathering profile.

The trend projects westward towards the Sucuri target, and eastwards towards the Álamo target. Geophysical chargeability anomalies to the north of the deposit represent targets for potential repeats of the hydrothermal system.