Manhattan Gold Hits 3.18% Copper at Spectre, Opening a Second Front Beside Jaws
Key Takeaways
- Maiden Spectre hole SPC26001 returned 6.10m at 3.18% copper, 1.37g/t gold, 147.9g/t silver and 1.35% zinc, which the company said exceeded expectations on grade and thickness.
- A separate upper zone hit 3.05m at 29.50% zinc, and surface mineralisation sampled in 2025 now extends to over 86m vertical depth.
- The first three holes intersected mineralisation across 340m of strike, and the system remains open along strike and untested at depth.
- Spectre is a VMS target 26km southwest of the Jaws gold target, adding copper, zinc and silver exposure to Manhattan's 665km² Hook Lake project.
- Seven drillholes await assay from Jaws, Quantum, Lotus and Omega, with data integration for 2027 exploration planning due in the December quarter of 2026.
Maiden Spectre drilling delivers 6.10m at 3.18% copper and 1.37g/t gold
Manhattan Gold (ASX: MHC) has reported that its maiden drillholes at Spectre, within the Hook Lake Project in Nunavut, Canada, returned high-grade copper, gold, silver and zinc from massive sulphides. Hole SPC26001 hit 6.10m @ 3.18% Cu, 1.37g/t Au, 147.9g/t Ag and 1.35% Zn from 45.72m.
Why does that matter? Massive sulphides are dense, metal-rich rock, and grade and thickness together shape how seriously a target is taken. The company said the drilling exceeded expectations on both.
That lead intercept sits inside two broader zones:
- 19.81m @ 1.77% Cu, 0.80g/t Au, 84.3g/t Ag and 2.30% Zn from 42.67m
- Within a broad lower sulphide zone of 82.3m @ 0.45% Cu, 0.21g/t Au, 22.7g/t Ag and 1.26% Zn from 38.10m
The results add a second front beside Jaws, the flagship gold target at Hook Lake. In the company’s words, the copper, gold, silver and zinc results complement the gold results from Jaws, adding critical and precious metal exposure across the project.
Sam Vaughan, Technical Advisor, Manhattan Gold
“Spectre has exceeded expectations in the maiden drillholes, returning outstanding copper, gold, silver and zinc results…”
Vaughan also said the first three holes at Spectre intersected mineralisation over a 340m strike length, which he described as “…a strong polymetallic target alongside Jaws.”
Hole-by-hole results across Spectre
All intervals below are drilled lengths, not true thicknesses.
SPC26001 upper zinc-rich zone
SPC26001 also cut a separate upper zone: 3.05m @ 29.50% Zn, 0.24g/t Au and 14.2g/t Ag from 12.19m. That sits within 7.62m @ 13.98% Zn from 10.67m, which in turn sits within 19.82m @ 5.55% Zn from 9.14m.
Mineralisation sampled at surface in 2025 now extends to over 86m vertical depth. For you as an investor, that suggests the surface showings are not a thin skin, which is the question depth drilling is meant to answer.
SPC26002 and SPC26003
SPC26002, collared 77m along strike to the southwest, repeated the copper, gold, silver and zinc mineralisation. It returned 6.10m @ 1.10% Cu, 0.27g/t Au, 88.3g/t Ag, 3.34% Zn and 0.147% Pb from 73.15m, plus 1.52m @ 1.50% Cu from 91.44m.
Both sit inside a broad zone of 39.62m @ 0.28% Cu, 0.09g/t Au, 23.5g/t Ag and 1.32% Zn from 59.44m.
SPC26003, collared 341m northeast of SPC26002, intersected 15.24m @ 0.13g/t Au and 23.7g/t Ag from 74.68m. The company said this highlights potential for additional mineralised zones and provides another target for follow-up drilling.
| Hole | From (m) | Interval (m) | Key grades | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPC26001 (lower) | 45.72 | 6.10 | 1.373g/t Au, 147.9g/t Ag, 3.180% Cu, 1.346% Zn | Within 19.81m @ 1.77% Cu |
| SPC26001 (upper) | 12.19 | 3.05 | 0.244g/t Au, 14.2g/t Ag, 29.500% Zn | Within 7.62m @ 13.98% Zn |
| SPC26002 | 73.15 | 6.10 | 0.274g/t Au, 88.3g/t Ag, 1.103% Cu, 0.147% Pb, 3.340% Zn | Within 39.62m broad zone |
| SPC26003 | 74.68 | 15.24 | 0.126g/t Au, 23.7g/t Ag | Follow-up target |
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What is a VMS deposit and why Spectre matters
A volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit is a metal-rich sulphide body. The source describes Spectre as a different type of deposit from Jaws, located 26km southwest of Jaws along the greenstone belt.
The drilling encountered massive sulphide lenses of pyrite-sphalerite-chalcopyrite with lesser galena. Copper, gold and silver grades are strongest in the lower zone, with zinc-rich mineralisation in the upper zone.
For you, the takeaway is diversification. Manhattan’s story is no longer only gold, and the company says mineralisation remains open along strike and untested at depth.
Sampling in 2025 also defined several regional VMS targets across Hook Lake, with assays up to:
- 1.36% Cu, 0.69g/t Au at the Skyfall VMS Target
- 1.85% Cu, 11.6% Zn, 116g/t Ag, 0.22g/t Au at the Silva VMS Target
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Hook Lake pipeline and next steps
Hook Lake comprises 12 prospects covering 665km² within the Rankin-Ennadai greenstone belt, which also hosts Agnico Eagle’s Meliadine mine and BG Gold’s Vickers deposit. A recent Jaws result was 41.15m at 4.66g/t Au.
Jaws also carries a historical “foreign” estimate of 3.4Mt @ 2.38g/t Au (~285,000 oz Au). It is not reported in accordance with the JORC Code 2012, and a competent person has not done sufficient work to classify it as Exploration Results or Mineral Resources. Treat it as historical context only.
Catalysts the company points to include:
- Seven drillholes pending assay, from Jaws, Quantum, Lotus and Omega.
- First-ever drilling at Quantum and Lotus (orogenic gold targets) and Omega (a banded-iron formation target), none drill tested historically.
- Assays from the regional till sampling program, guided by the As-Sb-W pathfinder element assemblage.
- Metallurgical test work, with samples en route to SEPRO laboratories in British Columbia, Canada.
- Integration of 2026 drilling with magnetic datasets, LiDAR and till geochemistry to inform 2027 exploration planning, which will use diamond drilling. The source states data integration will be completed during the December quarter of 2026.
Vaughan said drilling at depth remains very limited, so the full extent of these systems is still largely untested. With more than 60km of prospective geology across Hook Lake, he said the company now has the datasets to target the next phase of exploration much more effectively.
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