Kirkland Lake Discoveries Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire the Mirado Project with Historical Gold Inferred Resource of 10.6 Mt at 1.29 g/t for 442,000 oz

On December 18, 2025, Kirkland Lake Discoveries (KLDC) announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Mirado Gold Project from Orecap Invest Corp. The consideration for the acquisition is 40,050,398 common shares of KLDC, representing 19.9% of the company's issued and outstanding shares post-transaction. The Mirado project has a historical inferred gold resource of 10.6 million tonnes at 1.29 g/t for 442,000 ounces. This historical estimate is not compliant with current NI 43-101 standards and should not be relied upon. The transaction is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval.

Concurrently, the company provided an update on its flagship KL West project, stating that a second drill rig has been mobilized and 2,500 metres of the planned 25,000-metre program have been completed. Assays for the first 1,000 metres are pending.

The acquisition of the Mirado project is a material event due to the significant share issuance and the addition of a new asset. From a risk-averse perspective, the impact is mixed, though leaning positive.

• Positive Aspects: The company acquires a project with a defined historical resource in a Tier-1 jurisdiction (Ontario) without spending any of its recently raised cash. This provides "strategic optionality" and adds potential ounces to the company's portfolio at a time of high gold prices. The all-share transaction also brings in Orecap Invest Corp. as a significant new shareholder.

• Negative Aspects & Key Risks:

  • Significant Dilution: Issuing ~40 million shares represents a substantial ~20% dilution to existing shareholders. This is a high price to pay for an asset with no current, compliant resource.
  • "Historical" Resource: This is the most critical risk. The 442,000-ounce figure is a headline number from a non-compliant historical estimate. KLDC will have to invest significant capital and time into drilling and technical studies to potentially convert this into a current NI 43-101 resource. There is no guarantee they will be able to replicate or expand upon the historical numbers.
  • Potential Distraction: While the CEO states the acquisition will not distract from the primary focus on KL West, adding a new project inevitably consumes management time and future capital resources. This comes at a critical juncture as the company is in the middle of a large-scale drill program at its flagship property.
  • Strategic Question: This move could be interpreted as a lack of confidence in the near-term discovery potential at KL West, prompting a diversification of assets. The counter-argument, as stated by Orecap's CEO, is that they are taking KLDC shares to gain exposure to the upside at KL West, suggesting the flagship project remains the primary value driver.

In conclusion, the acquisition adds a call option on a potential future asset, but the immediate costs are dilution and a potential loss of focus. The non-compliant nature of the resource cannot be overstated. The market's ultimate reaction will depend heavily on the upcoming drill results from the fully-funded program at KL West, which remains the company's core value proposition.

Kirkland Lake Discoveries Corp. is a junior mineral exploration company focused on gold and polymetallic (copper, zinc) deposits in the prolific Kirkland Lake district of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt in Ontario, Canada.

The company's flagship project is the KL West Property. Exploration is focused on a large, 17-kilometre-long intrusive body known as the Winnie Pluton. The company's model posits this intrusive as the "heat engine" for a large-scale polymetallic and gold mineralizing system. An initial 1,722-metre drill program in Fall 2025 confirmed the geological model, hitting broad zones of copper-equivalent mineralization from surface and discovering a new gold system. This led to the launch of a fully-funded, 25,000-metre drill program in November 2025 to test multiple high-priority targets.

With the latest news, the company has added the Mirado Gold Project to its portfolio.