One Lens Becomes Three at Wedge as Phase 3 Hits 8.59% CuEq

Three distinct VMS mineralised lenses now sit where geologists once mapped a single body at the Wedge deposit, and the most recent drill hole peaked at 8.59% CuEq in a single high-grade sample. That geometric shift, from one lens to three, is the change that matters most for anyone tracking the New Brunswick copper-zinc story.

The context frames why. Nine Mile Metals’ Phase 3 programme at Wedge has reached its midpoint: 22 holes and roughly 5,500 metres of a planned 10,000 metres completed as of late September 2026. The drilling is complicated by a collapsed upper section that forces rigs to work from below and around the deposit, and the payoff milestone, an NI 43-101 technical report and Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE), is targeted for Q1 2027.

This all sits inside the Bathurst Mining Camp, a jurisdiction with a proven volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) pedigree through past mines like Brunswick No. 12 and Caribou.

Here is what these drill results actually show, what the three-lens discovery means for the company’s 10-million-tonne resource ambition, and what the Q1 2027 report will and will not settle for investors weighing the story before it lands.

Three lenses, not one: what Phase 3 drilling has changed at Wedge

The single most important development at Wedge is not any one intercept. It is the confirmation that the deposit holds three distinct VMS mineralised lenses where the previous model recognised only one.

According to the company and consolidated reporting from Crux Investor (25 September 2026), the three-lens structure emerged from tectonic activity and structural deformation over geological time. An original single mass was fractured and displaced into separate bodies, each now being drilled on its own terms.

Each lens carries its own metal character:

• Primary lens: the full polymetallic suite, combining lead, zinc, silver, copper, and gold in a single high-grade body.
• Eastern lens: roughly 40 metres wide, copper-gold dominant, with lower lead and zinc content. A 2024 drilling programme confirmed this extension, and its first drill hole returned 130 metres of visible mineralisation.
• Third lens: identified through Phase 3 drilling, with geometry and metal associations still being refined via ongoing downhole survey and 3D modelling work.

The scale involved is not trivial. Across the first three eastern holes, more than 500 metres of assay intervals were analysed, giving early confidence that the eastern lens is a genuine volume rather than a thin edge.

VMS zone extension drilling at comparable projects illustrates what meaningful lateral continuity looks like in practice: persistent grades across widths above 20 metres, combined with strong intercepts in step-out holes, are the markers that separate genuine deposit expansion from isolated high-grade pods.

The programme itself began in July 2026 and is targeted for conclusion in autumn 2026.

Why does the lens count matter so much? Because in the Bathurst camp, tonnage comes from stacked geometry. Brunswick No. 12 and Caribou both built their scale on multiple discrete ore lenses, not one homogeneous body. Wedge now shows the same architecture, and that changes how any future resource figure should be read: three lenses can each contribute their own volume of massive sulphide, multiplying the deposit’s potential rather than adding to it linearly.

Hole by hole: the highest-grade intercepts from Phase 3

The individual results build a picture of a deposit that strengthens rather than fades. Reading them in descending order of grade rather than release order makes the pattern clearer.

The standout is WD-26-14, the most recent release (24 September 2026) and the highest-peak result to date. It returned 5.09% CuEq over 14.15 m true width, including 6.35% CuEq over 9.00 m and 7.45% CuEq over 6.00 m, on the southwestern edge of the drill pattern. Its peak sample reached 8.59% CuEq.

Peak sample, DDH WD-26-14 8.59% CuEq over the 1-metre interval from 120.50-121.50 m, comprising 3.41% Cu, 2.29% Pb, 11.30% Zn, 55 g/t Ag, and 0.829 g/t Au.

WD-26-09 delivered 24.55 m at 3.49% CuEq true width. WD-26-11 intersected two distinct zones over a combined 27.6 m, with upper-zone copper to 3.47% Cu and a polymetallic lower zone running as high as 117 g/t Ag in the assays, alongside a peak sample of 5.68% CuEq.

The widest single interval so far came from WD-26-10: 31.95 m at 2.52% CuEq, carrying higher-grade sub-intervals including 14.15 m at 3.73% CuEq and 4.15 m at 5.16% CuEq. Earlier, WD-26-07 returned roughly 24 m at 2.77% CuEq and 9.2 m at 4.14% CuEq, with grades explicitly increasing at depth.

What the pattern signals matters more than any single number. Grades rising with depth in multiple holes, and high-grade sub-intervals sitting inside wider mineralised envelopes, tell you the deposit is not depleting at its edges. It is holding continuity across widths up to 32 metres and grades consistently above 2.5% CuEq, which is exactly the lateral and vertical persistence a compliant resource estimate needs.

How downhole surveys and 3D modelling are shaping the next drill targets

The geometry that makes Wedge interesting also makes it hard to drill. A historical collapse in the upper deposit prevents any vertical hole through the centre, so rigs are positioned roughly 300 metres below surface, an effective depth closer to 500 metres, drilling south and northwest from surrounding positions.

That angle creates a second problem: holes cross the steeply dipping lenses obliquely, so apparent intercept widths do not necessarily match true widths. Resolving that distortion is where the survey work comes in.

Turning survey data into precise targeting

Nine Mile Metals is running a downhole survey across eight holes, with readings taken every 10 metres in all directions and a lateral range of 300-400 metres per measurement point. Survey data was expected on site within about two weeks of the late-September CEO interview.

The sequence runs in three steps:

1. Complete the downhole survey across the eight holes.
2. Build a 3D model integrating legacy drill data with three years of Nine Mile’s own results, mapping historical workings and voids.
3. Use the refined model to target the remaining roughly 4,500 metres of Phase 3 drilling.

The modelling is being done with Apex and chief geophysicist Mike Deverin, whose reputation spans both the Bathurst and Flin Flon camps. The company has been candid that it will not drill blindly near the collapsed workings, partly because Teck has never shared the legacy underground records.

For investors, the read here is discipline, not delay. Pausing targeting decisions until the survey resolves true lens orientation reduces the risk of wasted metres, and it explains why results may not release at an even pace through autumn. The final 4,500 metres should be more precisely positioned than the first 5,500 metres were.

What the Q1 2027 MRE will and will not settle for investors

The upcoming milestone is genuinely significant. Phase 3 drilling is set to conclude in autumn 2026, the NI 43-101 technical report is targeted for Q1 2027, and the Mineral Resource Estimate should follow shortly after. No compliant MRE has been published to date.

That last point defines everything. The company’s headline 10-million-tonne figure is a geological aspiration stated by management, not a classified resource.

Mineral resource estimates under NI 43-101 require a qualified person to classify tonnes and grade into Inferred, Indicated, and Measured categories based on drill-hole density and geological continuity criteria that no management target or historical figure can substitute.

Exploration target versus mineral resource Under NI 43-101 and the CIM Definition Standards, any disclosure of potential quantity and grade, such as a 10-million-tonne target, must carry explicit cautionary language that it is conceptual and not based on sufficient work to be classified as a mineral resource. Apply that distinction before acting on the number.

The historical record needs the same caution. A pre-NI 43-101 estimate of 545,200 tonnes at 1.75% Cu, 1.71% Pb, and 5.21% Zn to 274 m depth exists, alongside historical high-grade assays up to 19% Cu, 30%+ Zn, and 97 g/t Ag. None of it can be aggregated with new drilling to claim a modern resource.

The MRE will classify what Wedge actually contains for the first time. The gap between the 10-million-tonne aspiration and the eventual compliant figure will be the single most important number for investors, especially given the known risks: drill density, continuity across a structurally complex multi-lens system, and the missing legacy underground records. Right now, you are pricing geological potential, not a defined resource, and Q1 2027 is when that potential first meets independent scrutiny.

The CIM Definition Standards establish the classification hierarchy that governs how Inferred, Indicated, and Measured mineral resources are reported under Canadian securities law, and an independent qualified person must certify that the drill data meets those thresholds before any figure can appear in a compliant technical report.

What the Wedge results mean for Nine Mile’s position in the Bathurst camp

The three-lens structure only makes full sense against the camp’s history. Geological Survey of Canada literature describes Bathurst VMS deposits as commonly occurring in stacked or clustered lenses recording repeated episodes of seafloor hydrothermal venting, rather than single-event mineralisation.

The Bathurst Mining Camp exploration record stretches back decades, with the camp’s stacked VMS geometry underpinning some of the largest base metal deposits in Canadian history, a context that gives the three-lens architecture at Wedge its full significance.

Brunswick No. 12 illustrates the scale that geometry can reach: it extended to roughly 2 miles in depth with a surface footprint near 1,000 metres. Multi-lens systems in the camp built their tonnage precisely by stacking discrete bodies, which is why Wedge showing three lenses is a structural signal rather than a footnote.

The grade-depth pattern reinforces the point. VMS models summarised by researchers including Franklin, Sangster, and Lydon, and by Galley, Hannington, and Jonasson, describe copper and precious-metal grades as typically highest in the stockwork and lower parts of massive sulphide lenses, closest to the feeder conduits. Phase 3’s rising-at-depth results, seen in holes including WD-26-07, are consistent with that architecture.

Three variables will determine how much of the aspiration converts to classified tonnage:

• Drill density and continuity across all three lenses.
• Grade distribution at depth in the remaining 4,500 metres.
• How the 3D model resolves lens geometry and true widths.

If the grade-depth trend holds into the rest of the drilling, it positions Wedge as a well-developed VMS system rather than a surface-enriched anomaly. That is the thesis investors are weighing before the report arrives.

Before the MRE: what investors should be watching and why it matters

The state of play is clear enough. Three lenses are confirmed, high-grade results span five reported Phase 3 holes, the downhole survey and 3D modelling are underway, and roughly 4,500 metres of drilling remain before the MRE.

Crucially, 17 of the 22 completed holes still had unreported results as of late September 2026. That pending data flow, plus the remaining drilling, will substantially shape the market’s read on whether the Q1 2027 MRE surprises to the upside or settles below the 10-million-tonne aspiration.

Three things are worth tracking in the interim releases:

• Whether grades continue to increase at depth.
• Whether the third lens develops meaningful geometry in drill results.
• Whether downhole survey data materially revises apparent intercept widths.

An investor who follows these signals reaches the MRE with context. One who waits for the report alone has less time to form a view before the market reacts.

Comparing drill programme results across junior explorer datasets reveals a consistent pattern: projects that report grade increasing with depth rather than flattening tend to attract higher valuation multiples ahead of their first compliant resource, because the grade-depth relationship is the primary signal of a well-developed hydrothermal system.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Investors should conduct their own research and consult with financial professionals before making investment decisions.

Financial projections and geological targets are subject to market conditions and various risk factors, and forward-looking statements are speculative and subject to change based on drilling outcomes and company performance.