The exploration update from Oreterra Metals centers on the company’s wholly owned Kinkaid project in Nevada’s Walker Lane trend, where late 2026 field work has delivered high-grade assay results that validate earlier discoveries. The recent program targeted zones first identified in spring 2026 at the PM Skarn and Bismark Hill prospects and expanded sampling across numerous historical workings and prospect pits. The results suggest these surface epithermal occurrences could be expressions of larger, deeper porphyry Cu-Au systems, a model the company intends to test with airborne geophysics and subsequent induced polarization surveys scheduled for later in 2026.
Field teams combined mapping with systematic rock and soil sampling, using targeted chip and grab sampling to characterize veining, alteration, and trace element signatures. Laboratory assays were processed at Bureau Veritas facilities in Reno and Vancouver under an ISO/IEC 17025:2017 program with QA/QC standards and blanks inserted regularly. Company management emphasizes that these surface samples are exploration-stage indicators—selective by nature—but the coherence of alteration, mineralization, and pathfinder elements supports advancing several targets to a drill-ready stage.
Table of Contents:
Key assay highlights at Bismark Hill
The Bismark Hill area was delineated in part by a 2026 SWIR alteration study that identified a concentrated sericite anomaly roughly 350 x 240 metres in size. Sericite, an alteration mineral (white mica), commonly marks hydrothermal systems linked to copper-gold mineralization. Fall 2026 sampling confirmed gold ± copper mineralization across all sericite anomalies tested. The program returned a grab sample of 50.5 g/t Au from a 10 cm quartz-veined, hematite-stained pod within a 20 metre sericite-altered zone; an earlier pod sampled in May 2026 assayed 13.95 g/t Au. Chip samples across the sericitic zone yielded 23.68 g/t Au over 0.6 m and 5.55 g/t Au over 1.52 m, while larger quartz veins nearby graded up to 0.50 g/t Au and 0.55% Cu in grab samples.
Trace elements and geological inference
Trace element assays included locally elevated mercury (up to 21,798 ppb) and antimony (up to 786 ppm), signatures commonly associated with epithermal fluids above magmatic centres. The distribution of sericite alteration, quartz veining, and copper-gold mineralization supports the interpretation of shallow epithermal systems likely emanating from deeper porphyry intrusions. Based on these observations, Oreterra plans detailed chip sampling, expanded soil grids, and an airborne magnetic and radiometric survey to help pinpoint buried porphyry centres prior to conducting IP surveys intended to define drill targets.
PM Skarn zone: chalcedonic quartz and satellite mineralization
The northern claim block’s PM Skarn zone produced its first significant observations in 2026, with follow-up sampling in spring and fall 2026. A 30 metre, intermittently exposed corridor of chalcedonic quartz flooding and brecciated quartzite has returned encouraging results, including 10.6 g/t Au from veinlets and a chip of 1.36 g/t Au across 0.5 m. Large chalcedonic boulder fragments assayed 6.53 g/t Au and 2.16 g/t Au where trace chalcopyrite was present, while nearby historical stockpile material tested 1.7 g/t Au (and previously 3.2 g/t Au in April samples).
Supporting geochemistry and context
Geochemical anomalies such as manganese to 4,760 ppm, mercury to 617 ppb, and antimony to 673 ppm reinforce an epithermal gold model for the PM zone. Historical vein material sampled elsewhere on the property returned extreme values—up to 1,725 g/t Ag (61 oz/t), 6.9% Zn, 0.4% Cu, and 1% Pb—illustrating the polymetallic nature of some epithermal expressions on the claims. These datasets guide the company’s decision to escalate geophysical surveys to locate causative intrusions and fault-controlled fluid pathways before committing to drill campaigns.
Regional strategy, corporate position and next steps
Oreterra Metals holds the Kinkaid claims 100% and balances Nevada prospects with a large program in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle, where the newly identified Trek South porphyry prospect and other holdings are priorities. The company reports a recently completed financing that funds a maiden, two-phase ~10,000 metre drill program at Trek South, which management expects to advance this summer. At Kinkaid, airborne magnetic/radiometric surveys and planned IP surveys in 2026 aim to generate robust drill targets that test both the epithermal shoots and the suspected underlying porphyry centres.
All rock sample results were produced under a formal QA/QC regime and reviewed by Qualified Person John Biczok, P.Geo. Management reminds readers that grab and chip samples are selective and that further work is needed to define true widths and continuity. The company’s public filings on SEDAR provide additional risk disclosures and forward-looking cautions typical for exploration-stage projects, and the next technical updates will focus on geophysical interpretations and drill targeting as surveys are completed.