Black Bear Minerals Finds Gold Up to 1.1g/t Alongside Rich Silver at Shafter

Gold upside emerges at Shafter Silver Project as historic data shows up to 1.1g/t Au

Black Bear Minerals (ASX: BKB; OTCQX: BKBMF) has compiled historic drilling data showing gold mineralisation sitting alongside high-grade silver at the Shafter Silver Project in Presidio County, Texas. The gold assays are newly available, while the silver intercepts were previously reported on 2 October 2025.

A second leg of the update matters too. Re-analysis of historic pulps (the crushed sample material left over from original assays) again lifted silver grades.

The Shafter Foreign Mineral Resource of 17.6Moz @ 289g/t Ag covers silver only, with no known previous quantification given to multi-commodity potential. It is a foreign estimate prepared under Canadian National Instrument 43-101 and is not currently reported under the JORC Code 2012.

Dennis Lindgren, Chief Executive Officer

“Gold mineralisation, with grades up to 1.1g/t Au, within the envelope of the MRE is strong upside for Shafter…”

Lindgren also described Shafter as “a clearly emerging multi‑commodity system.” For you as an investor, that suggests the project’s value case may not rest on silver alone, although the gold has yet to be evaluated economically.

Gold intercepts alongside high-grade silver

SU-series results

The six holes below each returned gold coincident with high-grade silver. The “including” column shows the higher-grade core of each intercept.

Notable results include SU075, which included 1.8m @ 1,768g/t Ag, 0.9g/t Au, and SU177 at 23.2m @ 206g/t Ag, 0.2g/t Au.

Where the data came from

The gold assays were recovered from paper records for SU-series underground drillholes completed in 1982 by Gold Fields, in the northeastern portion of the MRE. The data was not previously digitised and did not form part of the database provided to Black Bear Minerals at the time of acquisition.

Gold was also intercepted outside the Foreign Mineral Resource Estimate, in the southwestern corner of the Project during the last phase of drilling in 2017. Hole S-17-468 returned 7.3m @ 249g/t Ag, 1.4g/t Au, including 0.6m @ 9.6g/t Au, 31g/t Ag.

Recent grab and rock chip sampling by the Company has also shown the mineralisation is polymetallic, including gold, zinc, lead and vanadium.

Re-assays keep lifting silver

The SU-series results are the first analysis by the Company of historic pulp material. According to the announcement, that allows a more direct comparison with historic results, because variability and bias from re-sampling drill core and laboratory preparation have been substantially reduced.

• SU061: 11.6m @ 173g/t Ag versus 150g/t Ag originally, a 16% increase in contained silver.
• SU105: 5.5m @ 347g/t Ag versus 320g/t Ag originally, an 8% increase in contained silver.

Results to date include 14 drill holes and 233 comparable assay pairs from drill core, plus 148 comparable assays from five drill holes of re-analysed pulp material.

The Company is candid about limits. The new four-acid digest method may provide more complete digestion than the historic two-acid method, but the higher grades cannot be attributed solely to it. The initial results require further data points to show whether any consistent bias exists.

Earlier pulp and core re-analysis work at Shafter had already pointed to higher silver grades than the original historic assays, giving the current check program a reference point for judging whether any consistent bias exists.

Stage one of the re-sampling check program has concluded, with outstanding results expected later this month. A stage two program may be undertaken depending on the agreement between check and original assay data.

What is a foreign mineral resource estimate?

A foreign estimate is a resource figure prepared under another country’s reporting standard, here Canada’s NI 43-101. It cannot be treated as a JORC resource until a competent person has done sufficient work to classify it as one.

For you, the practical point is that Black Bear is undertaking validation and technical work to assess whether the estimate can be converted. Until that is completed, there can be no assurance it will be reported under the JORC Code. The Company is working towards a planned maiden JORC Mineral Resource Estimate.

Project context from the announcement:

• The Presidio Mine produced 35.2 million ounces of silver, averaging 521g/t Ag, from 1883 until 1942.
• The mineralised zone spans approximately 4km of strike.
• Shafter lies in an extension of Mexico’s Eastern Sierra Madre Belt, which is home to Peñasquito.

Next steps for Shafter

The announcement sets out the following priorities:

1. Continue to locate and digitise historic assay data, with a view to evaluating gold for incorporation into a future Mineral Resource Estimate.
2. Re-log and sample available historic core, including intervals earlier operators did not sample.
3. Complete a maiden JORC Mineral Resource Estimate.
4. Progress towards completion of the Rapid Mine Restart Study.
5. Systematically sample the historic Presidio workings, where 1km of strike is currently excluded from the Mineral Resource Estimate.

Elsewhere in the portfolio, the Independence Gold Project in Nevada has a Scoping Study showing a post-tax NPV₅ of approximately A$511 million, which the Company describes as a preliminary technical and economic study. At the Modoc Project, the first rock chip program collected 50 samples, with results expected within 6 weeks.

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