C3 Metals starts drilling at Bellas Gate

Mr. Dan Symons reports C3 METALS COMMENCES DRILLING AT BELLAS GATE PROJECT, JAMAICA Exploration diamond drilling has commenced within C3 Metals Inc.'s 100-per-cent-owned Bellas Gate project, Jamaica. The Bellas Gate project comprises three separate special exclusive prospecting licences and totals 13,020 hectares. On Feb. 11, 2025, the company announced it had entered into an earn-in agreement with Freeport-McMoRan Exploration Corp., a wholly owned affiliate of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. whereby Freeport can earn up to 75 per cent in the project by funding up to $75-million (U.S.) in exploration and project related expenditures (see press release dated Feb. 11, 2025). Drilling is designed to test multiple copper-gold porphyry prospects identified over an 18-kilometre strike extent. In total, 14 porphyry prospects have been identified at Bellas Gate. Drilling will primarily be targeting prospects with limited to no prior drilling so that essential data can be collected in the first 500 m. These data, as well as additional geophysical data that are planned to be collected, will help inform optimal locations for potential deeper drilling in the future. Drilling will also target volcanic redbed copper-silver mineralization in the northwest project area (see press release dated July 28, 2025). Dan Symons, president and chief executive officer, stated: "The technical data that we have collected at Bellas Gate thus far suggests that we are the in the upper portions of these confirmed copper-gold porphyry clusters. Previous C3 Metals drilling has primarily focused on four of the 14 copper-gold porphyry prospects identified over an 18 km strike extent. The current drill program will primarily focus on testing some of the other 10 prospects in the first 500 m where there is limited to no drill data. The drill data from this program, combined with the data to be collected during an extensive geophysical survey, will aid in targeting deeper into these copper-gold porphyry systems. Essentially, we are aiming to collect important data over the next several months that will inform where to rate and rank deeper holes into the confirmed porphyry systems." Program highlights Bellas Gate project drilling has confirmed near surface copper-gold porphyry mineralization at multiple porphyry centres exposed within an erosional window, including: Provost -- 390.7 metres at 0.37 per cent Cu (copper) and 0.19 g/t (gram per tonne) Au (gold) in PVT0900-002 from 64.1 m, including 279.5 m at 0.43 per cent copper and 0.24 g/t gold intersected in drill hole PVT0900-002 (see press release dated Sept. 25, 2023); Camel Hill -- 208 m at 0.43 per cent Cu and 0.20 g/t Au in CMH8350-001 from only 22 m down hole, including 135 m at 0.52 per cent Cu and 0.27 g/t Au (see press release dated Oct. 4, 2023); Connors -- 309.0 m at 0.44 per cent Cu and 0.33g/t Au in CON9325-001 from 15.0 m (see press release Sept. 12, 2022). Volcanic redbed copper-silver mineralization located on the northwest project area will also be tested by short holes targeting the favourable horizons. 2025 drilling program The 2025 drilling program will target a cluster of high-level copper-gold porphyries situated along three parallel structural corridors over an 18 km strike extent. These porphyry clusters are locally telescoped by low, intermediate and high sulphidation epithermal vein style copper, gold and silver mineralization. All known porphyries at Bellas Gate project contain gold mineralization, with copper typically in chalcopyrite form and hosted in volcanic andesite rocks and less commonly in diorite porphyry dikes and stocks. Historical and recent drilling confirms copper-gold mineralization is open at depth and along strike in most systems. Four diamond drill holes over 2,000 m have been designed for this phase of relatively shallow drilling into various copper-gold porphyry prospects. A second target of this drilling campaign is volcanic redbed style copper-silver mineralization in the northwest project area. A recently announced closely spaced soil sampling campaign confirmed a strongly anomalous copper in soil zone that extends for 2,700 m and is up to 205 m in width. Soil sampling confirmed a 120 m wide zone that averaged 0.12 per cent copper and a second soil line assayed 0.16 per cent copper over 50 m zone (see press release dated July 28, 2025). This volcanic redbed target has never been drill tested and could potentially be related to a distal porphyry system. Redbed deposits are typically stratabound and can be of significant lateral extent. These styles of deposits account for the second most copper production globally after porphyry deposits. An initial five-hole, 750 m program has been designed to conduct an initial test of the redbed system where strong copper in soil geochemistry has been observed. In total, nine diamond drill holes over 2,750 m are planned to test porphyry and redbed targets. This drilling program is anticipated to run concurrent with an extensive geophysical survey. Both drill and geophysical data are essential for preparing for the next phase of drilling, which is anticipated to target deeper portions of these porphyry systems. About C3 Metals Inc. C3 Metals is a mineral exploration company focused on creating substantive value for its shareholders through the discovery and development of large copper and gold deposits. The company holds approximately 31,000 hectares located in the prolific high-grade Andahuaylas-Yauri porphyry-skarn belt of southern Peru. Mineralization at Jasperoide is hosted in a similar geological setting to the nearby major mining operations at Las Bambas (MMG), Constancia (Hudbay) and Antapaccay (Glencore). At Jasperoide, the company has identified over 15 skarn prospects and an outcropping porphyry system over two parallel 28 km belts. The company has published a maiden resource estimate on the first of these skarn targets, which contained measured and indicated resources of 52 Mt (million tonnes) at 0.5 per cent copper and 0.2 g/t gold. The company is also actively exploring in Jamaica where it has identified 16 porphyry, 40 epithermal and multiple volcanic redbed copper prospects over a 30 km strike extent. The company holds a 100-per-cent interest in 17,855 hectares of exploration licences, of which Freeport-McMoRan Exploration Corp., a wholly owned affiliate of Freeport-McMoRan Inc., has the option on 13,020 hectares to earn up to a 75-per-cent interest by funding up to $75-million (U.S.) of exploration and project related expenditures. The company also holds a 50-per-cent interest in 9,870 hectares in a joint venture with Geophsyx Jamaica Ltd., the largest mineral tenure holder in the country. Barrick Gold Corp. announced on May 1, 2024, that it had entered into an earn-in agreement with Geophysx Jamaica Ltd. on approximately 400,000 hectares of exploration licences, several of which surround C3 Metals' mineral concessions. Mining is currently the second largest industry in Jamaica, and historical mining dates back to the colonial eras of the 1500s (Spanish) and 1800s (British). QP statement Stephen Hughes, PGeo, is vice-president of exploration and a director for C3 Metals, and is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Hughes has reviewed the technical information in this news release and approves the written disclosure contained herein. Technical program C3 Metals adheres to a strict QA/QC (quality assurance/quality control) protocol for handling, sampling, sample transportation and analyses. Chain-of-custody protocols are designed to ensure security of samples until their delivery at the laboratory. Samples will be cut at C3 Metals' operations base in Bellas Gate, St. Catherine, Jamaica, by company personnel. Diamond drill core will be sampled in maximum three-metre intervals, stopping at geological boundaries and using a rock saw. Core diameter will be a mix of HQ3 and NQ3 depending on the depth of the drill hole. Samples will be bagged, tagged and packaged for shipment by DHL air freight service to the ALS preparation laboratory in Sudbury, Ont., Canada, where entire samples were crushed to 70 per cent passing 10 mesh (two millimetres), and a 250 g split was pulverized to 85 per cent passing 200 mesh (75 micron). The prepared samples will be sent to the ALS assay laboratories in Vancouver, Canada, for copper, gold and silver assays, and multielement ICP. ALS is an accredited laboratory which is independent of the company. Gold assays will be by fire assay fusion with AAS finish on a 30 g sample and the overlimit gold assay was completed by fire assay and gravimetric finish on 30 g sample. Copper and silver assayed by ICP-AES following a four-acid digestion on the ME-ICP61 package for a suite of 33 elements and the overlimit copper by four-acid digestion and assayed by ICP-AES on each sample with copper greater than 10,000 ppm (parts per million) (1 per cent). Copper and gold standards as well as blanks and duplicates (coarse crush split) will be randomly inserted into the sampling sequence for quality control. On average, 9 per cent of the submitted samples will be quality control samples. We seek Safe Harbor.