Nortec Minerals commences trenching at Barker Bay Gold Project
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 13, 2026) - NORTEC MINERALS CORP . (TSXV: NVT) (" Nortec " or the " Company ") is pleased to announce that bedrock trenching and sampling have commenced following completion of a drone magnetic and LiDAR survey at its 100%-owned Barker Bay Gold Project ("Barker Bay" or the "Project"), located approximately 55 kilometers south of Dryden, Ontario.
Targets and rationale:
Nortec completed a drone magnetic and Light Detection and Ranging ("LiDAR") survey over the Barker North and Petrie target areas, and has commenced bedrock trenching, mapping, and sampling to test interpreted structures associated with anomalous gold-in-soil geochemistry and drone magnetics.
The trenching is designed to expose bedrock, characterize structure, lithology, alteration, and potential mineralization at surface, and prioritize the strongest targets ahead of drilling.
Results will be used to rank targets and design a focused, derisked, and cost-effective drill program.
Highlights:
The Barker Bay Gold Project is built around two historical gold showings, Barker and Petrie, where historical grab samples returned up to 24.5 g/t Au and 11.3 g/t Au, respectively (see "Historical Results and Verification). The Project includes multiple interpreted, subparallel structural corridors prospective for shear-hosted gold mineralization.
The drone magnetic and LiDAR surveys cover both the Barker and Petrie target areas, providing higher resolution, more continuous coverage highlighting gold-hosting structures over a broader area than the previous ground magnetic survey.
The new magnetic data coincides with a coherent, >700-meter, northwest-trending gold-in-soil anomaly at the Barker North trend. This anomaly is defined on multiple survey lines, with several values above 0.2 g/t (200 ppb) Au. Magnetic responses aid in mapping lithological contrasts and magnetic minerals associated with interpreted gold-bearing structures, allowing for higher-confidence trench targeting.
Trenching, mapping, and bedrock sampling are now underway to directly test interpreted mineralized structures, with results intended to derisk and refine targets ahead of a maiden drill program.
Barker Bay is a 100% owned, road-accessible gold exploration project comprising 4,650 hectares, located ~55 kilometers south of Dryden, Ontario.
Geological Context
The Barker Bay project sits within the Eagle-Wabigoon-Manitou greenstone belt of the Western Wabigoon Subprovince, a gold-endowed Archean volcanic belt in northwestern Ontario. The belt hosts several significant gold deposits, including Dryden Gold Corp.'s Kenwest deposit (Gold Rock project), where historical drilling returned 3,497 g/t Au over 8.45 meters, including 53,700 g/t Au over 0.55 meters (drillhole KW-11-26) ( Ontario Mineral Inventory Record MDI52F07NE00002: Big Master, Kenwest ). The Western Wabigoon Subprovince hosts the Cameron Lake Deposit, which contains mineral resources of 515,000 oz Au M&I plus 740,000 oz Au Inferred ( 2026 NI 43-101 Technical Report, Cameron Property, 2026; Seva Mining Corp. ).
At Barker Bay, gold occurrences are interpreted to be structurally controlled and associated with steep shear zones, quartz veining, sulfide-bearing wall rock, and favourable mafic-felsic lithological contacts. Nortec's current work is focused on confirming the geometry and continuity of these structures at surface before drill testing. The Project was mined at a small scale in the 1890s, with shafts sunk on the Barker and Petrie showings, but has seen limited follow-up work and has never been drill tested.
Historical sampling from the Barker Bros. shaft, which represents the interpreted southeastern strike extent of key structures, returned high-grade gold (see "Historical Results and Verification" below) highlighting the Project's prospectivity.
Figure 1: The Barker Bay Project positioned within the Eagle-Wabigoon-Manitou greenstone belt, Western Wabigoon Subprovince, Ontario. Nearby property information is sourced from public disclosure by the relevant issuers and has not been verified by the Company's Qualified Person; mineralization on nearby properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization on the Project.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/4874/309454_81d52cd594fef80b_001full.jpg
Drone Magnetic and LiDAR Survey
The drone magnetic and LiDAR survey is an efficient, low-cost exploration tool used to better define structures and lithologies associated with the anomalous gold-in-soil trend at Barker North, and within the Petrie deformation corridor. The survey was designed to define magnetic units, lithological contacts, and structural breaks associated with potential mineralization.
The survey highlighted northwest-trending magnetic features coinciding with a >700-meter, northwest-trending gold-in-soil anomaly, defined on multiple survey lines and with several values above 0.2 g/t (200 ppb) Au (Figure 2); the Company interprets these as an expression of northwest-trending, subparallel gold-bearing structures requiring follow-up trenching, sampling, and mapping. Magnetic and LiDAR responses reflect physical rock properties and terrain and are not, by themselves, indicative of gold mineralization; the significance of these features will be tested by the current trenching and sampling program.
The Company's earlier ground magnetic survey was limited to approximately 500 meters of the Barker trend ( see News Release, May 20, 2026 ); new drone magnetic data, together with historical work, soil geochemistry, and mapping, will help refine trenching locations and prioritize targets for future drill testing.
Figure 2: Reduced-to-pole drone magnetics overlain on LiDAR topography with Au-in-soil results and interpreted NW-trending fault structures in the Barker Bros shaft area.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/4874/309454_81d52cd594fef80b_002full.jpg
Figure 3. Reduce-to-pole drone magnetics overlain on LiDAR topography with interpreted fault structures in the Petrie target area.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/4874/309454_81d52cd594fef80b_003full.jpg
Trenching and Sampling
The trenching and bedrock sampling program is designed to test the Barker North and Petrie target areas, by exposing bedrock beneath coincident northwest-trending gold-in-soil anomalies, magnetic features, and interpreted structural corridors. The work will allow the Company to assess lithology, structure, alteration, and potential mineralization of bedrock at surface. Trenching also helps to understand the geometry, continuity, and grade of potential mineralized structures.
Results will support conversion of geochemical and geophysical targets into ranked drill-ready structural targets. By confirming which structures are mineralized at surface, Nortec can better plan a maiden drill program and reduce the risk and cost of early-stage drill testing.
Historical Results and Verification
Historical records and assessment files report selective historical samples from the Barker, Petrie, and east Price Lake areas. At Barker, a sample of quartz vein material from the muck pile adjacent to the Barker shaft reportedly assayed up to 24.5 g/t Au ( Ontario Mineral Inventory Record MDI52F06SE00002: Barker ). At Petrie, historical records report 13 shaft samples ranging from 0.096 to 0.33 oz/t Au (3.29 to 11.31 g/t Au) ( Ontario Mineral Inventory Record MDI52F06SE00003: D.C. Petrie ). At the old shaft east of Price Lake (the "Mystery Shaft"), quartz veins near the shaft reportedly assayed up to 494 ppb Au (0.49 g/t Au) ( Assessment Report 52F06NE0002 ). These historical grab sample results are selective in nature and are not necessarily representative. They have not been verified by the Company and are included here as they are considered relevant to the Project's prospectivity.
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed, verified and approved by Neil Pettigrew, M.Sc., P.Geo., a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, and a consultant to Nortec.
About Nortec Minerals Corp.
Nortec is a mineral exploration company focused on identifying gold and copper properties with high discovery potential and advancing those projects to create outsized shareholder value. Property holdings comprise:
Pearl Gold Project, located in Nevada, U.S.A., a past producing high-grade gold mine, under option. Drilling at the Columbia Zone has intersected mineralization, including 2.27 g/t gold over 38.1 m (Hole YU21-02) and 11.96 g/t gold over 3.05 m (Hole YU22-11).
Barker Bay Gold Project, located in northwestern Ontario, Canada, having historical (turn-of-the-century) mine workings and no exploration/drilling. Multi-line gold in soil anomaly along 700+ meters of the Barker Bros. Mine trend.
Several gold-in-soil values above 0.2 g/t (200 ppb) Au.
New magnetic survey data coincides with the anomalous soil trend, mapping lithological contrasts and magnetic minerals associated with interpreted gold-bearing structures.
100% interests in two exploration stage critical mineral (zinc) projects, namely the Sturgeon Lake VMS and the Mattagami River Zinc properties, both located in Ontario, Canada. Additionally, the Company holds a 16.4% interest in the Tammela Gold in southwest Finland.
Additional information can be found on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedarplus.ca and its website at www.nortecminerals.com .
On behalf of the Company,
"Ryan Hrkac" Chief Executive Officer info@nortecminerals.com
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No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release. The securities of the Company have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States, or to or for the account or benefit of any person in the United States, absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any common shares in the United States, or in any other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.
Information set forth in this press release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address a company's expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", and "intend", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could", "should", or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, risks associated with project development; the need for additional financing; operational risks associated with mining and mineral processing; fluctuations in gold, zinc, and other commodity prices; title matters; environmental liability claims and insurance; reliance on key personnel; the absence of dividends; competition; dilution; the volatility of our common share price and volume; and tax consequences to Canadian and U.S. Shareholders. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineralization hosted on nearby or adjacent properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted on the Project. Information regarding nearby properties is derived from public disclosure by the relevant issuers and has not been verified by the Company's Qualified Person.
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Newsfile Corp.
August 13, 2026 - 4:00 AM PDT
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