FPX Nickel Defines Significant Near-Surface High-Grade Awaruite Nickel Zone in First Drill Holes at Advocate Nickel Property in Newfoundland; Expands Drill Program to Over 5,000 Metres

FPX reported assay results from the first four diamond drill holes completed on a single lateral section at the Birchy North target, Advocate Nickel Property, north-central Newfoundland (Baie Verte Peninsula). Results are reported as Davis Tube Recoverable (DTR) nickel over essentially the entire length of each hole, with total nickel shown alongside.

• B26-004: 5.00–284.00 m, 279.0 m at 0.21% total Ni / 0.11% DTR Ni, including 29.00–83.00 m, 54.0 m at 0.21% total / 0.14% DTR
• B26-001: 3.50–351.00 m, 347.5 m at 0.21% total / 0.10% DTR, including 102.00–306.00 m, 204.0 m at 0.21% / 0.12% DTR, and within that 234.00–297.00 m, 63.0 m at 0.22% / 0.13% DTR
• B26-002: 1.00–275.00 m, 274.0 m at 0.23% total / 0.07% DTR, including 86.00–128.00 m, 42.0 m at 0.23% / 0.10% DTR and 182.00–230.00 m, 48.0 m at 0.24% / 0.10% DTR
• B26-003: 5.00–353.00 m, 348.0 m at 0.22% total / 0.06% DTR, including 275.00–350.00 m, 75.0 m at 0.23% / 0.08% DTR
• Company interpretation: holes B26-001, B26-002 and B26-004 define a high-grade awaruite core ~350 m wide by 300 m deep with DTR grades "generally in excess of 0.10%", open to the northwest
• Pending: B26-005 through B26-008 test 1,250 m of strike; all show "visible awaruite", assays in the coming weeks
• Wolverine target (~24 km NE): program expanded to nine holes / ~2,800 m over 1,800 m strike; six holes complete (W26-004 abandoned at 11 m and re-drilled as W26-005), all show "significant visible awaruite", all assays pending
• Advocate tenure expanded 210.5 km² → 237.5 km² by staking
• Inaugural program expanded from 4,000 m to over 5,000 m
• Secondary: 250,000 employee options at C$0.30, expiring Nov 6, 2031

This is not an earnings release — no revenue, no production, and the prior-period financials are backdrop only, not new information. FPX is pre-revenue with a H1-2026 net loss of C$3.32M, C$11.36M cash at June 30, 2026 (down from C$16.23M at year-end 2025), no debt, and working capital of C$17.24M.

What the release changes:

• It converts a surface-geochemistry concept into a drilled grade class. Prior Advocate disclosure (June 23, August 4, October 1, 2026) was rock samples up to 0.14% DTR and magnetics — a two-dimensional footprint. The November 9 release shows the grade persists from surface to ~300 m depth over hundreds of metres of core, in three of four holes at or above the Baptiste resource class on the company's own cutoff-relative framing. That is a change in the perceived scale of FPX's awaruite inventory beyond BC.
• It is genuinely new information the market has not paid for. The stock closed at C$0.27 on November 6, 2026 — at its 52-week low and roughly 59% below the C$0.66 high of January 7, 2026. The October 1 drilling update produced only a brief C$0.28 → C$0.33 bounce that fully faded by mid-October. There is no embedded Advocate anchor at all: nothing in the price assumes this drilling works. The reaction function to a first-ever drill confirmation is therefore open on the upside, not a bar to clear.
• The 25% program expansion to over 5,000 m and the Wolverine build-out to nine holes over 1,800 m strike are modest capital commitments that signal internal conviction rather than a market-moving step-up.

What tempers it:

• Advocate is a 40% FPX interest (JOGMEC holds the ability to earn 60% and has funded 60% to date), under an option from Shoreline to acquire up to 100%. Attributable value to FPX is 40% of whatever this becomes.
• The equity is dominated by Baptiste: 1,815 Mt Indicated at 0.129% DTR, PFS NPV8 US$2.01B at US$8.75/lb against US$2.18B capex, with the Detailed Project Description not due until mid-2027. A C$85M market cap against a US$2.0B NPV reflects the market's view of a US$2.2B capex bill and a multi-year permit, and a pre-resource discovery on a 40%-owned Newfoundland property does not change that arithmetic today.
• Evidence density is thin: four holes, two pads, one fence, no true width, half the metres at or near cutoff, recoverable fraction well below Baptiste.

Weighting by stage and price: this is a pre-resource explorer whose stock has round-tripped to its lows with the drill result unpriced. Under those conditions a first-pass result that demonstrably reaches the flagship's grade class over 300 m of core is the kind of news that re-rates a small cap, and it is symmetric with the downside case the framework warns about. It is positive and material, and it falls short of re-rating the business on its own because no tonnes, no width and no recovery have been established and the asset is 40% owned.

FPX Nickel Corp. (TSXV: FPX; OTCQX: FPOCF) is a pre-revenue junior focused on awaruite — a naturally occurring sulphur-free nickel-iron alloy (Ni3Fe) — hosted in serpentinised ultramafic and ophiolite rocks. Its thesis is a nickel product that needs no intermediate smelting or refining, on grid power, with low carbon intensity.

Baptiste (flagship, 100% owned, Decar District, central BC, 453 km²): 2022 MRE of 1,815 Mt Indicated at 0.129% DTR Ni / 0.211% total Ni and 339 Mt Inferred at 0.131% / 0.212% on a 0.06% DTR cutoff, for 2,879 kt contained DTR nickel. September 2023 PFS: NPV8 US$2.01B, IRR 18.6%, 3.7-year payback, 29-year life, LOM average 132 Mlb (60 kt) Ni per year, initial capex US$2.182B, C1 US$3.70/lb at a US$8.75/lb nickel deck, 0.56:1 strip, 2.4 tCO2/t Ni. Product is a 60% Ni concentrate plus MHP from tailings leach, with >90% payability. Environmental assessment commenced January 2026 with acceptance of the Initial Project Description by BC EAO and IAAC; Baptiste was named a BC priority major project in April 2026; Detailed Project Description targeted mid-2027. Federal assessment confirmed June 2026, with FPX requesting the federal planning phase be paused to align with the provincial process. Approximately US$55M has been spent on Baptiste since 2010.

Van target (Decar District, 6 km north of Baptiste): ~2.5 km² footprint, 5,200 m drilled; best intercepts 22VAN-016 at 427 m of 0.127% DTR and 21VAN-001 at 101 m of 0.150% DTR.

Klow (BC, 164 km²): four awaruite targets (Klow, Upper Klow, Mesa, Nick), surface DTR up to 0.09%; JOGMEC earn-in of up to 60% extended to March 31, 2028 on US$1.0M of expenditures; historical 2012 drilling of 316 m at 0.10% Ni-in-alloy re-analysed 7–10% higher on DTR.

Advocate (Newfoundland, 237.5 km² after the November 2026 staking): >45 km strike of the Advocate Complex ophiolite, road access 5–10 km from the Trans-Canada Highway and Route 410, ~50 km from a deep-sea port at Pine Cove. Structures: FPX holds 40%, JOGMEC 60% under the Generative Alliance (JOGMEC has funded 60% to date), with FPX holding an option from Shoreline Exploration to acquire up to 100% of the property. Targets: Birchy North, Wolverine, North Brook, Birchy Lake. ~5,200 m of drilling now planned across the first season.

Corporate: 315.9M shares basic, 337.7M diluted, no debt, no warrants, C$11.36M cash at June 30, 2026. Strategic holders Sumitomo Metal Mining (9.9%, US$0.48/share cost base, offtake right for up to 60 kt Ni) and Outokumpu (9.9%, US$0.58/share, right of first offer on 60 kt Ni). JOGMEC global generative alliance renewed April 2026 for Year Four with a C$1.2M budget, FPX contributing 60%. PPES (Toyota/Panasonic) non-binding MOU on battery supply chain. UL Solutions EcoLogo certification achieved November 2025.