First Atlantic Nickel Corp. has commenced drilling at the Alloy Max Zone, a new large-scale awaruite (Ni3Fe) nickel-cobalt alloy discovery located 7 kilometers north of the RPM Zone. The Alloy Max Zone represents the Company's second major target area within the 30 km Pipestone Ophiolite Complex at its Pipestone XL Nickel-Cobalt Alloy Project in central Newfoundland.
The Alloy Max discovery was first announced on March 18, 2026, following the Company's ongoing district-wide surface sampling program, which identified a new large area of magnetically recoverable nickel-cobalt alloy mineralization. The initial target area measures approximately 4 km in length and 1.2 km in width. The initial drill program at Alloy Max is designed to test for awaruite mineralization over a large area through four drill holes distributed across 2.4 km of strike length and approximately 950 m in width within the initial 4 km x 1.2 km defined target area.
Due to minimal overburden, geologists were able to directly sample bedrock at the drill pad locations and identified visibly disseminated awaruite mineralization in surface bedrock prior to drilling. The Company has completed a drill access trail to the Alloy Max Zone from the existing camp and will now begin construction of a drill access road extending north from Alloy Max through Super Gulp toward Atlantic Lake, following the geologic 30 km nickel trend of the Pipestone Ophiolite Complex. As road construction proceeds northward, the Company plans to conduct direct bedrock sampling through shallow pits and trenches along the road corridor to evaluate newly identified and historical areas with elevated DTR nickel values that were previously inaccessible by ground.
Drilling has commenced at the Alloy Max Zone, with four initial drill pad locations spanning 2.4 km in strike length and testing nickel-cobalt alloy mineralization across an area approximately 950 m in width. The Alloy Max Zone is located 7 km north of the RPM Zone within the 30 km Pipestone Ophiolite Complex. Prior to drilling, geologists sampled bedrock through shallow pits in areas of minimal overburden at the Alloy Max Zone and identified visibly disseminated awaruite in bedrock at drill pad locations across the 2.4 km strike length and 950 m width covered by the initial drill holes.
Alloy Max, first announced on March 18, 2026, has an initial defined target area of approximately 4 km x 1.2 km. Geological mapping and geophysics indicate Alloy Max may host a larger mineralized area than the RPM Zone. DTR surface sampling has returned magnetically recoverable nickel-cobalt alloy grades comparable to surface values at the RPM Zone, where drill core consistently returned higher DTR grades in drill core.
Surface bedrock samples collected from shallow pits at drill pad locations at the Alloy Max Zone confirmed visible awaruite mineralization. The 4 drill pad locations span 2.4 km in strike length and 950 m in width. The program is designed to test for magnetically recoverable awaruite mineralization to establish initial results and guide further drilling.
The Company has completed a drill access trail to the Alloy Max Zone and will now begin construction of a drill access road extending north from Alloy Max through Super Gulp toward Atlantic Lake, following the 30 km geologic nickel trend of the Pipestone Ophiolite Complex. Upon completion, the road will connect to Grand Falls-Windsor and the Trans-Canada Highway, providing full vehicle access across the entire complex for exploration and development activities. Along the corridor between Alloy Max and Atlantic Lake, the Company has identified areas of interest based on newly identified DTR nickel surface samples that may indicate additional awaruite nickel-cobalt alloy mineralized zones previously inaccessible by ground.
The Company plans to conduct direct bedrock sampling through trenching and shallow pits during road construction, which has been designed to closely follow the 30 km nickel trend of the Pipestone Ophiolite Complex. Drilling at the Alloy Max Zone is targeting magnetically recoverable awaruite nickel-cobalt alloy mineralization across a broad area within the initial 4 km x 1.2 km target area, as outlined through the integration of field geological mapping, surface rock sampling, DTR (magnetic separation and recovery) analysis, and geophysics. The four initial drill pad locations span 2.4 km of strike length and are positioned to test an area approximately 950 m wide prospective for nickel-cobalt alloy mineralization.
The objective of the program is to test for the presence and continuity of magnetically recoverable awaruite nickel-cobalt alloy across the Alloy Max Zone and to generate initial results to guide further drilling. At the RPM Zone, this exploration model has proven effective, with drill core samples consistently returning higher DTR nickel grades than weathered surface samples. During site preparation at the drill pad locations, minimal overburden allowed geologists to directly examine and sample bedrock, where visibly disseminated awaruite was encountered at various pad sites.
This observation further supports the presence of awaruite nickel-cobalt alloy mineralization at surface across the Alloy Max target area and is consistent with the surface sampling results reported on March 18, 2026. Bedrock sample collected beneath shallow overburden at a drill pad location. The sample confirms the drill target prior to drilling and contains visible disseminated awaruite magnetic nickel cobalt alloy mineralization.
Drilling underway at the Alloy Max Zone, testing newly defined targets within the 4 km by 1.2 km wide target area 7 km north of RPM Zone discovery. The Company would like to express its gratitude to the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador for awarding it the maximum grant of $150,000 under the Junior Exploration Assistance (JEA) program. This funding will support critical mineral exploration at the Company's Pipestone XL Nickel-Cobalt Alloy Project, a district-scale nickel-cobalt alloy project strategically located in central Newfoundland with access to key infrastructure, including roads and clean hydro-grid power.
Newfoundland and Labrador is consistently ranked among the world's leading mining jurisdictions. Newfoundland & Labrador has ranked in the top 10 globally for mining investment attractiveness from 2022 to 2025 according to the Fraser Institute's Annual Survey of Mining Companies.
