McFarlane Lake Mining Expands Juby Gold Resource to Over 6 Million Ounces

TORONTO, ON – October 02, 2026 — The Abitibi Greenstone Belt has long been the engine of Canada’s gold mining industry, a prolific geological trend that has produced over 200 million ounces of gold over the last century. Yet, as the easy-to-reach, high-grade near-surface veins are depleted, the future of the region is increasingly defined by massive, bulk-tonnage deposits. McFarlane Lake Mining Limited has firmly positioned its flagship Juby Gold Project within this new paradigm, filing an updated National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report that outlines a significant resource expansion and underscores the evolving economics of modern gold exploration.

The updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE), effective August 14, 2026, and prepared by independent engineering firm BBA E&C Inc., paints a picture of a rapidly growing asset. The Juby Project now hosts 1.07 million indicated ounces of gold, contained within 34.68 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.96 grams per tonne (g/t). More strikingly, the inferred resource has ballooned to 5.09 million ounces of gold, contained in 183.05 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.87 g/t.

This represents a 61 percent increase in inferred resources and a 6 percent increase in indicated resources compared to the previous technical report dated September 29, 2025. For a junior exploration company, crossing the six-million-ounce threshold in total resources is a transformative milestone, moving the Juby Project from a promising exploration target to a globally significant gold asset.

“The filing of the updated MRE Technical Report is an important milestone in the development of the Juby Gold Project and for McFarlane Lake,” said Mark Trevisiol, CEO and Chairman of McFarlane Lake Mining, in the company's official release. “This independent NI 43-101 report reinforces the scale, quality, and growth potential of Juby and provides external validation of what we believe is a highly strategic gold asset in one of Ontario’s most prolific mining regions.”

Stress-Testing the Economic Parameters

The sheer volume of mineralized rock at Juby is impressive, but the underlying economic assumptions reflect a rapidly changing global macroeconomic environment. The 2026 MRE utilizes a long-term base gold price assumption of US$3,600 per ounce. This is a marked departure from the US$2,500 per ounce parameter used in the company’s 2025 estimate, and it sits higher than the base-case prices recently used by several peers in the sector, which often hover between US$2,500 and US$2,750 per ounce.

However, when viewed through the lens of current institutional forecasts, McFarlane Lake’s US$3,600 parameter appears less like aggressive optimism and more like a pragmatic alignment with future realities. Major financial institutions have aggressively revised their gold price targets throughout 2026. Global research desks have recently projected that gold could push toward US$6,000 per ounce by the fourth quarter of 2026, potentially reaching US$6,300 by the end of 2027. Similarly, other prominent investment banks maintain targets well above US$5,100 per ounce.

In this macroeconomic context, defining an open-pit shell at US$3,600 per ounce allows McFarlane Lake to capture lower-grade mineralization that would have been deemed sub-economic just two years ago. The project's open-pit cut-off grade sits at a highly efficient 0.25 g/t, while the underground cut-off is modeled at 1.60 g/t. These cut-offs are supported by strong metallurgical recoveries of 92 percent and tightly modeled operational costs, including US$11.00 per tonne for processing, US$4.00 for general and administrative costs, and US$4.50 per tonne for open-pit mining.

Sensitivity analyses further demonstrate the project's leverage to rising gold prices. While the base case is robust, earlier disclosures indicated that at a US$4,600 per ounce gold price, the deposit's inferred resources could swell to 5.40 million ounces, highlighting the immense optionality inherent in bulk-tonnage Abitibi deposits.

Building Local Value Through Indigenous Partnerships

While geological models and economic spreadsheets dictate a project's theoretical value, its practical reality is governed by community relations and environmental stewardship. The column of Future Forward consistently examines how innovation intersects with community impact, and McFarlane Lake’s operational strategy at Juby offers a blueprint for modern resource development.

The company recently secured a critical extension of its exploration drilling permit, valid through December 2029. This multi-year runway covers all main exploration target areas, including Golden Lake, Juby, Juby East, the 826 Zone, Hydro Creek, and the Big Dome deposit areas. But more important than the permit itself is how the company intends to execute the physical work.

McFarlane Lake has contracted Bagone'an Drilling Contractor to execute portions of this expanded program. Bagone'an is not a standard third-party vendor; it is a strategic partnership between JS Drilling of Sudbury and the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation (AAFN). The AAFN is one of three First Nations holding territorial rights over the Juby property area.

By engaging Bagone'an, McFarlane Lake is moving beyond the traditional, often passive, benefit-agreement model. Instead, the company is integrating Indigenous-owned businesses directly into the core commercial operations of the project. Two new drill rigs supplied by Bagone'an are being mobilized to the site this month, which will bring the total number of active drills on the property to three by the end of October.

This approach ensures that the economic benefits of exploration—wages, capacity building, and commercial revenues—flow directly into the local Indigenous communities long before a single ounce of gold is ever poured. It represents a forward-thinking paradigm where social license is not merely granted through consultation, but actively built through shared economic enterprise and mutual operational risk.

Technical Rigor and the Road to Development

The updated MRE also highlights the rigorous technical standards required in modern Canadian mining. The report, prepared primarily by senior technical staff from BBA E&C Inc.’s Sudbury office, incorporates ordinary kriging grade estimation within a three-dimensional block model, defined by wireframe solids.

During the finalization of the Technical Report, a minor reclassification was required due to an open-pit shell at Hydro Creek extending slightly beyond the claim boundary. While no actual gold ounces were located outside the boundary, correcting the pit geometry changed the resource attribution slightly. The independent Qualified Person reviewed and approved the corrected figures, resulting in a net variance of less than 0.6 percent from preliminary figures announced in August. This level of transparency and technical precision is crucial for maintaining institutional investor confidence as the project advances.

Looking ahead, McFarlane Lake is well-capitalized to sustain its aggressive three-drill exploration program across its Ontario portfolio, which also includes the past-producing McMillan Gold Mine and Mongowin properties west of Sudbury. The primary objective at Juby is clear: convert the massive 5.09 million ounces of inferred material into the higher-confidence indicated category, supporting the company's stated goal of growing the overall resource by another 60 percent.

The Juby Gold Project exemplifies the intersection of geological potential, forward-looking economic modeling, and progressive community partnerships. As the Abitibi Greenstone Belt continues to evolve, projects like Juby—anchored by scale, leveraged to rising commodity prices, and deeply integrated with First Nations commercial interests—will likely define the next generation of Canadian mining. For McFarlane Lake Mining, the updated MRE is not just a geological statement; it is a foundational blueprint for long-term, sustainable development in one of the world's most vital resource jurisdictions.