Carolina Rush-OceanaGold Partnership to Commence Deep Drilling at Brewer in January 2026

On December 8, 2025, Carolina Rush Corporation announced that its earn-in option agreement with OceanaGold Corporation for the Brewer Gold-Copper Project became active on November 26, 2025. The joint Technical Committee has approved a Stage 1 exploration program, which includes approximately 3,000 meters of deep drilling scheduled to commence on January 5, 2026. This program, funded by OceanaGold, will test the Brewer project's porphyry copper-gold potential with three proposed deep drill holes.

This follows the closing of a C$3.5 million private placement on December 4, 2025, and shareholder approval of the OceanaGold transaction on November 27, 2025.

The news is a positive operational update that confirms the previously announced strategic partnership with OceanaGold is proceeding as planned and on schedule. The key takeaways are the firming up of the drill start date (January 5, 2026) and the approval of the initial 3,000-meter program.

However, the rating is "Routine - Positive" rather than "Material" because this is the logical and expected next step following the overwhelming shareholder approval of the partnership in late November. The market has already reacted to the transformative nature of the OceanaGold deal itself, which was announced on September 16, 2025. This press release provides execution certainty and a clear timeline for the primary near-term catalyst (drilling), but it does not introduce new fundamental information that would materially alter the company's valuation today.

The company has successfully transitioned from a cash-strapped junior explorer to one with a well-funded exploration program on its flagship asset, backed by a credible senior producer. The risk has now shifted from financing and partnership to geology. The ultimate value driver will be the drill results from this program, not the announcement of the program itself.

Carolina Rush Corporation is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company focused on its 100%-owned Brewer Gold-Copper Project in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, USA. The Brewer Project is a past-producing gold mine located 13 kilometers from OceanaGold's operating Haile Gold Mine. The company's strategy has shifted to exploring the potential for a large, deep porphyry copper-gold system beneath the historically mined, near-surface epithermal gold mineralization. The company published a maiden NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate in March 2025.