Santa Helena

Asset type:

Open pit

Stage:

Maiden Mineral Resource declared Jan 2026

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 with its stand-alone Preliminary Licence application submitted.

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.