Miata Metals Announces Initial Progress on Major Suriname Gold Exploration Program
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Miata Metals Corp. has reached a significant milestone in its ambitious gold exploration efforts in South America. The company has successfully completed the first four holes of its fully funded 25,000-metre diamond drilling program at the Sela Creek Gold Project located in Suriname.
Expanding on Previous Success with Aggressive 2026 Campaign
The 2026 drilling initiative represents a substantial expansion of the company's exploration activities, more than doubling the metres drilled during Miata's highly successful 2025 campaign. This comprehensive program has been strategically designed to simultaneously advance the Jon's Trend gold system toward commercial scale while aggressively testing multiple high-priority exploration targets across the broader Sela Creek project area.
This ambitious drilling program positions Miata Metals to potentially transition from discovery success to establishing scale and multi-zone growth throughout 2026. The company's approach demonstrates a disciplined strategy for resource development in the promising Suriname gold region.
Encouraging Early Results from Initial Drilling
The company has reported several significant highlights from the early stages of its drilling program:
- The fully funded 25,000-metre diamond drill program has commenced with support from two drill rigs operating simultaneously
- Occurrences of visible gold have been observed in the first two drill holes inspected to date, specifically at depths of 128.70 metres and 132.20 metres in hole 26DDH-JT-001, and at 181.70 metres in hole 26DDH-JT-002
- These gold occurrences were found within intervals characterized by dense veining and elevated sulphide content, suggesting promising mineralization
- First quarter 2026 drilling will prioritize expansion efforts at the established Jon's Trend target while simultaneously conducting exploration drilling at multiple additional prospects including Puma, Stranger, Golden Hand, Big Berg, and Howler
Advanced Targeting Methodology Driving Exploration Success
The exploration drilling program benefits from a refined structural framework developed through extensive geological analysis. This approach incorporates over 10,000 structural measurements from oriented core samples, which previously resulted in a remarkable 100% hit rate at the Jon's Trend target during earlier exploration phases.
Initial 2026 drill targets have been supported by exceptionally high gold grades identified in 1-metre-wide chip samples collected during surface exploration. Notable results include samples containing 30.02 grams per tonne gold and 44.64 grams per tonne gold at the Big Berg prospect, indicating significant mineralization potential.
Leadership Perspective on Program Significance
Dr. Jacob Verbaas, CEO of Miata Metals, commented on the program's importance: "This drill program marks the beginning of a defining year for the Sela Creek Gold Project. Intersecting visible gold in the first two holes of the year is an encouraging early validation of our refined targeting approach and a strong start to the 2026 campaign."
Verbaas further elaborated: "With 25,000 metres planned and multiple high-priority targets ready to be tested, we are executing a disciplined strategy that advances Jon's Trend toward scale while aggressively pursuing new discoveries across the broader project. Supported by two rigs from Major Drilling, this program gives us the ability to build critical mass at Jon's Trend while simultaneously unlocking the significant, largely untested exploration upside that defines Sela Creek."
Comprehensive Program Structure and Allocation
The 2026 drilling program has been carefully structured to systematically expand known gold mineralization at the established Jon's Trend target while advancing a pipeline of discovery-stage targets generated from recent geological modeling, surface sampling, geophysical surveys, and structural reinterpretation.
Approximately 12,500 metres of drilling are planned specifically for the Jon's Trend target area, where previous drilling in 2025 confirmed a broad, shallow-dipping, structurally controlled gold system extending over approximately 750 metres by 250 metres, with mineralization remaining open along strike and at depth. This portion of the program will focus on step-out expansion, continuity drilling, and targeted depth extensions along interpreted plunge directions.
The remaining 12,500 metres of drilling will be allocated to advanced exploration targets across the Sela Creek project area, including prospects such as Puma, Stranger, Howler, and other emerging opportunities. These targets benefit from several favorable indicators including extensive artisanal mining activity, coherent soil geochemical anomalies, and structural settings analogous to those successfully defined at both Jon's Trend and Puma during the 2025 exploration season.
This balanced approach allows Miata Metals to simultaneously advance its most promising discovery while systematically evaluating additional high-potential targets throughout its extensive Suriname land package.
