Metallic Minerals Announces Filing of NI 43-101 Technical Report for the La Plata Project Mineral Resource Estimate, Colorado, USA

Core Viewpoint - Metallic Minerals Corp. has filed a National Instrument 43-101 technical report for the La Plata Project, marking a significant milestone with an updated mineral resource estimate that enhances the project's value and metal diversity [1][2]. Group 1: Mineral Resource Estimate - The updated 2026 mineral resource estimate (MRE) increases the inferred resource tonnage by approximately 23% to 181.4 million tons (Mt) at 0.36% copper equivalent, containing 1,307 million pounds (Mlbs) of copper and 17.0 million ounces (Moz) of silver [2]. - For the first time, the estimate includes platinum, palladium, and gold, with a subset of 45.4 Mt reporting 91,000 ounces of platinum, 121,000 ounces of palladium, and 60,000 ounces of gold, totaling approximately 272,000 ounces of platinum group elements plus gold [2][5]. - The inclusion of precious metals results in a 17% higher copper-equivalent grade for the 45.4 Mt subset, with a grade of 0.41% CuEq compared to 0.35% CuEq for copper-and-silver-only equivalent [5]. Group 2: Project Significance and Potential - The La Plata project is a large-scale U.S.-based mineral system that hosts many critical minerals essential to U.S. supply chains, including light and heavy rare earth elements and six additional priority critical minerals [3]. - Ongoing metallurgical work in collaboration with Columbia University has demonstrated the electrochemical recovery of 99.9% pure copper from La Plata mineralization, supporting the evaluation of alternative processing technologies [3]. - Sixteen untested potential porphyry centers have been identified in the La Plata project area, indicating opportunities for significant high-grade epithermal silver, gold, and telluride mineralization [7][8]. Group 3: Exploration and Development Plans - The Allard deposit remains open at depth and along strike, with clear opportunities for resource growth through additional drilling and exploration of new priority targets in 2026 [6][8]. - The project team is finalizing the next phases of exploration to include resource expansion and drilling of new targets, indicating a proactive approach to advancing the project [8].