RUA GOLD Reports Further High-Grade Drill Results and Mineral Continuity at its Auld Creek Gold-Antimony Project

Rua Gold Inc. (RUA) has released assay results from its ongoing resource drill-out at the Auld Creek gold-antimony project, located in the Reefton Goldfield on the South Island of New Zealand, alongside a project status update. The company described the release as an interleaved batch of infill and extension holes rather than a discovery announcement.

Key intercepts reported by the company include the following:

• ACDDH121: 11.7 m @ 5.0 g/t AuEq (4.1 g/t Au & 0.4% Sb) from 365.5 m; true width 4.9 m; incl. 5 m @ 6.5 g/t Au & 2 m @ 1.7% Sb
• ACDDH123A: 2.2 m @ 34.6 g/t AuEq (10.3 g/t Au & 11.3% Sb) from 228 m; true width 0.6 m
• ACDDH123B: 5.0 m @ 7.4 g/t AuEq (4.8 g/t Au & 1.2% Sb) from 236 m; true width 1.3 m
• ACDDH124: 10.4 m @ 1.3 g/t Au & 0.4% Sb from 209.1 m; true width 9.3 m; incl. 0.4 m @ 5.2 g/t Au & 3.4% Sb
• ACDDH126: 7.0 m @ 2.1 g/t Au & 0.1% Sb from 228 m; true width 1.8 m
• ACDDH127: 6.6 m @ 24.9 g/t AuEq (10.5 g/t Au & 6.7% Sb) from 359 m; true width 3.6 m; incl. 0.3 m @ 43.6 g/t Au & 33.3% Sb
• ACDDH130: 6.3 m @ 14.4 g/t AuEq (13.7 g/t Au & 0.3% Sb) from 208.3 m; true width 2.5 m; incl. 0.3 m @ 33.0 g/t Au & 6.8% Sb and 0.3 m @ 69.2 g/t Au

Regarding project geology, the Fraternal structure is drill-confirmed to extend northward over 1,400 m and has been intercepted at depths exceeding 500 m. High-grade shoots dip shallow-to-moderately northward in a repetitive sequence at 40-60 m depth intervals. The company noted that the conversion of inferred resources to indicated resources is currently greater than 70%.

Four rigs are currently drilling at the site. Geotechnical and metallurgical work is described as largely complete. Rua Gold targets an updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the fourth quarter of 2026, a Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS) for December 2026, and a substantive Fast-Track Approvals application for October 2026.

Rua Gold Inc. (RUA) is a pre-permit developer with a maiden mineral resource estimate at Auld Creek comprising 0.3 Mt Indicated at 5.67 g/t AuEq for 54 koz and 1.3 Mt Inferred at 3.66 g/t AuEq for 150 koz. The company has completed a preliminary economic assessment showing an after-tax NPV5% of approximately US$42M at base case and ~US$113M at spot gold, alongside a 5.5-year underground mine plan. The company currently holds no reserves, no revenue, and roughly C$30M in cash.

The recent drill release describes the holes as infill confirming grade continuity along the Fraternal structure, with some probing northward for length. These are resource-definition holes, anchored to the resource grade of ~3.7-5.7 g/t AuEq and 3.36 g/t AuEq in the mine plan. Five of seven holes are at or above resource grade. The strongest intercepts include:

• ACDDH127: 89.6 AuEq g·m on true width
• ACDDH130: 13.7 g/t Au over 2.5 m true

Two holes were disclosed as weak.

A previous release on Sept 8, 2026, which included the following intercepts, moved the stock from about C$1.11 on Sept 4 to C$1.45 on Sept 17, a gain of roughly 30%:

• ACDDH119: 0.6 m @ 136.2 g/t AuEq
• ACDDH112: 2.9 m @ 38.8 g/t AuEq
• ACDDH086: 2.7 m @ 23.2 g/t AuEq

Subsequent releases on Sept 15, 24, and 29 contained near-duplicate content, and the stock gave back those gains, closing at C$1.23 on Oct 1 and Oct 2.

The release does not change the scale, grade, or odds of the system in any way the market was not already told to expect. The >1,000 m strike and >500 m depth have been company talking points since at least January 2026, and the >70% conversion ratio is consistent with resource drilling ahead of a Q4 MRE. Both the updated MRE (Q4 2026) and the PFS (December 2026) are the actual value events, and this release serves as an input to them. The release is a solid, professionally disclosed confirmation with two genuinely good holes and one clear miss (ACDDH126).

Rua Gold Inc. is a New Zealand-focused exploration and pre-development company listed on the TSX (RUA), NZX (RGI), OTCQX (NZAUF) and FSE (X9R). The company generates no revenue.

In the Reefton Goldfield on the South Island, Rua Gold is a dominant landholder with approximately 120,000 to 125,000 hectares of permits in a district that historically produced over 2 million ounces of gold at grades between 9 and 50 grams per tonne. The company’s core asset is the Auld Creek gold-antimony project, which hosts the Fraternal structure. An maiden NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate effective February 27, 2026, identified 0.3 million tonnes of Indicated resources at 5.67 grams per tonne AuEq (54,000 ounces) and 1.3 million tonnes of Inferred resources at 3.66 grams per tonne AuEq (150,000 ounces) at a 1.6 grams per tonne AuEq cutoff.

A Preliminary Economic Assessment filed in May or June 2026 outlined a 5.5-year underground mine operating at 250,000 tonnes per annum. The project is projected to produce approximately 146,700 ounces of AuEq over its life, averaging roughly 26,700 ounces per year, containing 84,000 ounces of gold and approximately 9,000 tonnes of antimony. Total cash costs are estimated at US$1,400 per ounce with an All-In Sustaining Cost (AISC) of US$1,850 per ounce, against initial capital of US$132.6 million. The base case scenario yields an after-tax NPV5% of approximately US$42 million and an IRR of 17%, while a spot-gold case projects an NPV5% of approximately US$113 million and an IRR of 36%. The project utilizes a no-cyanide grind-and-flotation flowsheet with recoveries of 95% for gold and 85% for antimony, producing separate gold and antimony concentrates.

Regional targets in the Reefton area include Alexander River, Big River, Supreme, Caledonian, Murray Creek, and Capleston. The Supreme target holds 1.46 million tonnes at 1.96 grams per tonne Au for an inferred resource of 92,000 ounces.

On the North Island’s Hauraki Goldfield, Rua Gold holds approximately 15,000 hectares at the Glamorgan project, an early-stage epithermal target adjacent to OceanaGold's Wharekirauponga deposit, which contains 1.5 million ounces at 17.3 grams per tonne Au in Measured and Indicated categories. No NI 43-101 resource exists at Glamorgan. Drill approval was received in August 2026 for a planned 9,000-meter program expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Rua Gold up-listed to the TSX on February 17, 2026, and to the NZX on February 23, 2026, with its OTCQX listing becoming effective on February 27, 2026. The company is led by Chairman Oliver Lennox-King, CEO Robert Eckford, and COO Simon Henderson. A C$33 million oversubscribed financing closed on January 28, 2026, at $1.10 per share, with institutional ownership stated at over 40%. For the first quarter of 2026, the last reported quarter, the company held C$36.1 million in cash, no debt, and C$36.0 million in working capital, reporting a net loss of C$5.0 million and an EPS of -C$0.05.