McEwen Finalizes Golden Lake Deal, Forging a Nevada Gold Hub

TORONTO, ON – May 01, 2026 – McEwen Inc. has officially closed its acquisition of Golden Lake Exploration Inc., a strategic move that significantly bolsters its foothold in Nevada's prolific Eureka Mining District. The completion of the business combination, finalized on April 30, integrates Golden Lake's principal asset, the Jewel Ridge project, directly into McEwen's expanding Gold Bar Mine Complex. This consolidation is a cornerstone of McEwen's strategy to transform its Nevada operations into a long-life, multi-deposit production hub.

A Regional Consolidation Strategy Takes Shape

The acquisition is more than a simple "bolt-on"; it represents a calculated step in McEwen's regional consolidation plan. The company aims to emulate the successful hub-and-spoke models used by major producers, turning a cluster of promising deposits and existing infrastructure into a single, highly efficient operating center. By absorbing the Jewel Ridge and Jewel Ridge West projects, which are contiguous to its own Windfall and Lookout Mountain discoveries, McEwen creates a seamless and expanded exploration frontier.

This integration is expected to yield significant operational synergies. By leveraging the existing infrastructure at the Gold Bar Mine, McEwen can reduce the capital intensity typically required to develop new satellite deposits. The goal is to extend the mine's operational life well beyond its current projections, creating a sustainable production platform in one of the world's premier mining jurisdictions.

McEwen has committed approximately $10 million to exploration at the Gold Bar Complex for 2026. The results will feed into updated Mineral Resource Estimates and advance the Windfall and Unity Ridge deposits toward a production decision. The company's production forecast for Gold Bar in 2026 is already set at 39,000 to 43,000 gold ounces, and this acquisition is a key component of a much larger ambition: to have its Nevada assets contribute between 90,000 and 110,000 ounces of gold annually by 2030.

Unlocking the Geological Promise of Jewel Ridge

The true value of the deal lies in the geological potential of the Jewel Ridge property. Situated at the southern end of Nevada's famed Battle Mountain-Eureka trend, the project is surrounded by giants. It sits along strike from the former two-million-ounce Archimedes/Ruby Hill mine and is adjacent to other advanced-stage projects. The area is a prime hunting ground for Carlin-style disseminated gold deposits, the very type that has made Nevada one of the most endowed gold regions on the planet, with over 250 million ounces discovered to date.

Historical drilling at Jewel Ridge has already yielded compelling results, including intercepts such as 2.20 grams per tonne (gpt) gold over 28.96 meters and 2.37 gpt gold over 67.57 meters. These findings are particularly encouraging as they lie just north of McEwen's own Windfall deposit, where a recent drill hole returned a high-grade intercept of 5.55 gpt gold over 44.2 meters. This geological continuity allows McEwen’s technical team to treat the newly acquired ground as a natural extension of its exploration footprint, applying its proven expertise in Nevada's complex geology to unlock further value.

The integration of Jewel Ridge into the Gold Bar Complex will be overseen by McEwen’s experienced Nevada team, which has a track record in gold exploration, open-pit mining, and heap leach processing—the very skills needed to advance the project efficiently through permitting and development.

A Diversified Vision for Modern Mining

While the Golden Lake acquisition sharpens McEwen’s focus on Nevada gold, it fits within a much broader and more diversified corporate strategy. Chairman and Chief Owner Rob McEwen, who famously built Goldcorp Inc. into a powerhouse, is crafting a company designed for the future of mining. The stated goal is to double company-wide production to between 250,000 and 300,000 gold-equivalent ounces per year by 2030, a plan built on three pillars: gold and silver production, large-scale copper development, and investment in disruptive technology.

Beyond the Gold Bar Complex, the company is advancing its Black Fox Complex in Canada, which is expected to become its flagship asset. In Mexico, the El Gallo gold-silver mine is being reactivated, and the company maintains a 49% interest in the San José mine in Argentina.

Perhaps the most ambitious piece of the portfolio is the Los Azules copper project in Argentina, held by McEwen Copper, in which McEwen Inc. has a 46.3% stake. A 2025 feasibility study confirmed Los Azules as an economically robust, world-class copper asset. More importantly, it is being designed as one of the world's first "regenerative" mines, with a goal to be carbon neutral by 2038. With plans to begin construction in 2026 and produce its first copper in 2030, Los Azules represents a massive, long-term value proposition that diversifies the company far beyond precious metals.

Further burnishing its forward-thinking credentials, McEwen Inc. recently acquired a 27.3% interest in Paragon Advanced Labs, a company deploying PhotonAssay™ units. This technology promises a faster, safer, and more accurate method for assaying metals, and McEwen believes it is poised to become the new industry standard.

The End of the Line for Golden Lake

For shareholders of Golden Lake Exploration, the deal marks the end of its journey as a junior explorer and the beginning of a new chapter as part-of a larger, producing entity. Under the terms of the arrangement, Golden Lake shareholders received 0.003876 McEwen common shares for each share they held. This exchange ratio represented an approximate 60% premium to Golden Lake's 20-day volume-weighted average price at the time of the announcement, rewarding shareholders for the exploration potential the company had cultivated.

Former Golden Lake shareholders now collectively own about 0.5% of the combined company, gaining exposure to McEwen's diversified portfolio, its producing assets, and significantly greater trading liquidity on both the NYSE and TSX. The shares of Golden Lake are expected to be delisted from the Canadian Securities Exchange, and the company will cease to be a reporting issuer, completing its lifecycle in a manner common for successful junior explorers that de-risk a project to the point of attracting a larger partner.

The market has largely viewed the transaction as a logical strategic step for McEwen, though analyst opinions on the company's stock remain varied. While McEwen’s shares have delivered impressive returns over the past year, ratings from different research firms have been mixed, reflecting the inherent complexities and risks of the mining sector. This acquisition, however, provides a clear and tangible step forward in executing the company's well-defined growth plan in Nevada.

The deal underscores a powerful trend in the mining industry: the consolidation of regional assets to build scale and efficiency. By bringing Jewel Ridge into its fold, McEwen Inc. not only extends the life of its Gold Bar Mine but also strengthens its foundation for achieving its ambitious growth targets for the coming decade.