Fast-Track Permitting Is Reshaping the Gold-Antimony Development Race

Issued on behalf of Rua Gold Inc.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- US Metal News News Commentary - For most of the last decade, the hard part of building a new gold mine in a Western jurisdiction was not finding the ounces. It was getting permission to dig them up. That is starting to change. Governments that spent 2024 and 2025 watching China restrict exports of antimony, a metal used in munitions, flame retardants and solar glass, have since built faster lanes for the projects that could replace it, and gold deposits that happen to carry antimony are among the first to use them. Rua Gold Inc. (OTCQX: NZAUF) (TSX: RUA) (NZX: RGI) is one of the clearest examples, advancing its Auld Creek gold-antimony project in New Zealand through a six-month national Fast-Track Approvals process while companies such as Perpetua Resources Corp. (Nasdaq: PPTA), Nova Minerals Corp (NYSE American: NVA), Dakota Gold Corp. (NYSE American: DC) and i-80 Gold Corp. (NYSE: IAUX) work through their own development timelines in the United States.

The price backdrop explains the urgency. Gold set a record above $5,500 an ounce in late January 2026 and, despite easing since, has held above $4,300 through September. Antimony has cooled from the record near $59,750 per tonne that Fastmarkets recorded in July 2025, and China suspended its export ban on the metal in November 2025, but Western buyers have spent the past two years learning how exposed they were. The result is a development market that rewards two things above all: grade, and time to a permit.

New Zealand's Six-Month Clock

On July 30, 2026, RUA GOLD announced that Auld Creek had been accepted as a listed project under New Zealand's Fast-Track Approvals Act 2024, a regime designed to consolidate consents for nationally significant projects into a single process with a defined decision window. The Company has said it remains on track to submit its substantive application in October 2026 and to publish a pre-feasibility study in December 2026, with the PFS being prepared by Mining One and Pitch Black.

The drilling feeding that study has been getting better, not worse. On September 8, 2026, RUA GOLD reported what it described as its highest-grade drill results to date at Auld Creek, after completing 19,600 metres of resource drilling against a 19,000-metre target. The best intercept returned 0.6 metres grading 136.2 g/t gold equivalent (82.9 g/t gold and 24.8% antimony). Other highlights included 2.7 metres at 23.2 g/t AuEq, 7.0 metres at 9.9 g/t AuEq and a broader 32.0 metres at 2.4 g/t AuEq. The Company also reported its first observations of visible gold at the project.

“These exceptional exploration results are informing the mine plan and reinforcing the significant development potential of the Auld Creek Project,” said Robert Eckford, Chief Executive Officer of RUA GOLD. “The deposit continues to exceed our expectations and remains open in all directions.”

The Company says mineralization now extends over more than 1,000 metres of strike and to more than 500 metres depth, with assays from a further 18 holes pending for an updated Mineral Resource estimate expected in the fourth quarter of 2026. Four rigs are continuing to drill along strike and at depth.

That update will build on a modest starting point. The maiden resource, effective February 27, 2026, stands at 0.3 million tonnes Indicated at 5.67 g/t AuEq for 54,000 ounces and 1.3 million tonnes Inferred at 3.66 g/t AuEq for 150,000 ounces. A preliminary economic assessment announced in May 2026 outlined a compact underground operation with a 5.5-year life, US$132.6 million in initial capital, a no-cyanide grind-and-flotation flowsheet producing separate gold and antimony concentrates, and an after-tax NPV5% of US$42 million with a 17% IRR at US$3,300 gold and US$27,000 per tonne antimony. At a US$4,700 gold case, the PEA outlined an after-tax NPV5% of US$113 million and a 36% IRR.

Why the Second Metal Matters

Antimony changes the math at Auld Creek in two ways. The first is grade. Under the Company's gold equivalent formula, each 1% of antimony adds 2.15 g/t to the gold equivalent grade, which is why the 24.8% antimony in the September intercept lifted an 82.9 g/t gold result to 136.2 g/t AuEq. The second is market access. Antimony sits on critical minerals lists in the United States, Canada, the European Union and elsewhere, and a Western concentrate with documented origin is a different product from material that has to clear an export licence in Beijing.

That second point is not unique to RUA GOLD. It is the same logic behind the federal financing that has flowed to antimony projects in the United States, and it is why gold-antimony deposits have attracted attention out of proportion to their size. The difference in New Zealand is that the lever is permitting speed rather than government capital.

The geology also has history behind it. The Reefton Goldfield on New Zealand's South Island historically produced more than two million ounces of gold at grades the Company cites in the range of 9 to 50 g/t, according to its February 27, 2026 technical report. RUA GOLD holds more than 120,000 hectares of permits across the district and has described a longer-term vision of multiple underground sources feeding a central mill at Auld Creek, while also holding the Glamorgan project in the Hauraki District of the North Island.

How the Sector Compares

Perpetua Resources Corp. (Nasdaq: PPTA) is the benchmark every gold-antimony developer gets measured against. Its Stibnite Gold Project in Idaho moved through the federal FAST-41 permitting framework, secured final approvals in 2025 and is now in critical-path construction, supported by a US$2.9 billion Export-Import Bank loan. In August 2026, Perpetua reported new high-grade gold and antimony discoveries and a new gold-tungsten zone near its planned pits. Stibnite is a far larger project than Auld Creek, and it took years longer to permit.

Nova Minerals Corp (NYSE American: NVA) is attacking antimony from the processing end. On September 8, 2026, the company reported the arrival of roughly 500 tons of crushing, ore sorting, milling, flotation and refining equipment at Port MacKenzie, Alaska, for a planned antimony processing and refining facility funded by a US$43.4 million Department of War award under Title III of the Defense Production Act. Nova is targeting antimony trisulfide production in 2027 while advancing the broader Estelle gold project toward pre-feasibility.

Dakota Gold Corp. (NYSE American: DC) shares RUA GOLD's calendar but little else. Its Richmond Hill project in South Dakota's Homestake District is a large, low-grade oxide heap-leach deposit, with a July 2025 initial assessment mine plan averaging 0.566 g/t gold. In September 2026 the company reported column-leach recoveries of up to 92.0% and said its pre-feasibility study remains on track for the fourth quarter of 2026, the same quarter RUA GOLD is targeting.

i-80 Gold Corp. (NYSE: IAUX) is the reminder that high-grade underground projects do not always hold their schedules. In June 2026, the company reported infill results from its Archimedes Underground project in Nevada including 16.2 g/t gold over 56.4 metres and said development remained on schedule for first gold in the fourth quarter of 2026. In the same release, it pushed the timing of feasibility-level studies for its Granite Creek and Cove underground projects back by a quarter.

What the Comparison Shows

Set side by side, the group sorts neatly by what investors are being asked to underwrite. Perpetua offers scale and federal backing, but a multi-year build. Dakota Gold offers a long-life, low-grade deposit that depends on volume. Nova is betting on processing capacity ahead of its own mine. i-80 shows both the upside of high-grade underground ore and how easily technical timelines move.

RUA GOLD sits at the small, high-grade end of that spectrum. Its PEA describes a short-life starter mine rather than a district-scale operation, and the base-case economics are modest. What stands out is the combination of grade, a flowsheet that avoids cyanide, a second payable metal on a Western critical minerals list, and a permitting process with a defined time frame. Whether that combination holds up will be decided by the numbers still to come.

There are real risks. The PEA is preliminary in nature, includes Inferred resources that are too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them, and does not establish mineral reserves. Its upside case assumes a gold price above where the metal trades today. Acceptance into Fast-Track is not a permit, and the October application and December PFS are Company targets rather than certainties. Drill intercepts are downhole lengths, and the highlighted results are selected intervals that may not reflect the deposit as a whole.

What to Watch

Four markers will define the next six months at Auld Creek: the substantive Fast-Track application in October, assays from the 18 pending holes, the updated Mineral Resource estimate expected in the fourth quarter, and the pre-feasibility study targeted for December. Across the sector, the same question applies to every name above: which of these projects turns a permitting advantage into a funded, built mine first.

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Article Sources:

[1] Rua Gold Inc., "RUA GOLD Reports Highest-Grade Drill Results to Date at the Auld Creek Gold-Antimony Project," September 8, 2026 (drilling, intercepts, program status, Robert Eckford commentary). [2] Rua Gold Inc., "RUA GOLD's Auld Creek Project Qualifies for New Zealand's 6-Month Fast-Track Approvals Process," July 30, 2026; Company disclosure of the February 27, 2026 Mineral Resource estimate and May 2026 preliminary economic assessment, available at www.ruagold.com and www.sedarplus.ca. [3] Fastmarkets, antimony market commentary, March 2026. [4] Public disclosures of Perpetua Resources Corp., Nova Minerals Corp, Dakota Gold Corp. and i-80 Gold Corp.

Contact Information: US Metal News info@usmetalnews.com

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Qualified Persons: Rua Gold Inc. has disclosed that Simon Henderson, CP, AusIMM, the Company's Chief Operating Officer and a director, is the Qualified Person responsible for general technical disclosure, and he is not independent of the Company. The Company has disclosed that the Qualified Persons for the preliminary economic assessment, Abraham Whaanga (resources), Gary Davison (mining and economics) and Marius Phillips (processing), are independent.

Cautionary Note Regarding the Preliminary Economic Assessment and Exploration Results: The Auld Creek preliminary economic assessment is preliminary in nature. It includes Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as Mineral Reserves, and there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. No pre-feasibility or feasibility study has been completed, and Rua Gold Inc. has not made a production decision. Any future production decision not based on a feasibility study of Mineral Reserves would carry increased uncertainty and a higher risk of economic and technical failure. Acceptance of the Auld Creek Project as a listed project under New Zealand's Fast-Track Approvals regime is not a permit or approval to mine, and the stated application and PFS dates are Company targets. Drill intercepts are downhole lengths and may not represent true widths, and highlighted intervals are selected results. Gold equivalent values are calculated by the Company as Au g/t + 2.15 x Sb%, using the price and recovery assumptions set out in its February 27, 2026 technical report. Readers should refer to the Company's filings at www.sedarplus.ca.

References to Perpetua Resources Corp., Nova Minerals Corp, Dakota Gold Corp. and i-80 Gold Corp. are provided solely as market and sector context. Those companies are not peers, competitors, or financial comparables of Rua Gold Inc., none of them is involved in this publication, their results are not indicative of Rua Gold Inc.'s prospects, and no partnership, affiliation, or endorsement is implied.

Eagle Eye Disclosure: Eagle Eye is an investor signal-intelligence platform affiliated with the publisher of this article, and this reference constitutes promotion of an affiliated product. Eagle Eye is not a broker-dealer, and nothing in the platform or in this article is financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Data provided in the platform is for informational purposes only and may be delayed. Always do your own research before making any investment decision.

Forward-Looking Statements: This publication contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and forward-looking information under applicable Canadian securities laws, including statements regarding the timing of the Fast-Track application, the updated Mineral Resource estimate and the pre-feasibility study, the results of pending assays and continued drilling, the potential development of the Auld Creek Project, and commodity markets. These statements are based on current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including exploration and study results, regulatory decisions, financing, metal prices, and general economic conditions. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this publication, and we undertake no obligation to update them except as required by law.

GlobeNewswire

September 24, 2026 - 6:05 AM PDT

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