TomaGold's Strategic Pivot: Deferring Work to Navigate Mining Headwinds

MONTREAL, QC – December 05, 2025

In a move that underscores the operational realities facing the mineral exploration sector, junior mining company TomaGold Corporation has renegotiated a key agreement with SOQUEM Inc., a subsidiary of Investissement Québec. The amendment defers approximately $2.75 million in work commitments on several properties in Quebec's prolific Chibougamau Mining Camp, providing the company with what it calls "increased financial flexibility" and more time to optimize exploration.

While a delay in exploration might initially seem like a setback, this strategic pivot highlights a broader industry trend where junior miners are adapting to systemic bottlenecks, particularly in laboratory assay services. For companies like TomaGold, exercising patience is becoming a crucial tool for navigating a complex landscape, ensuring that capital is preserved and exploration programs are executed effectively, not just quickly.

Navigating a Challenging Landscape

The core of the amendment pushes back significant financial deadlines. A work commitment of $1.25 million, originally slated for the agreement's third year, is now deferred to June 2027. A further $1.5 million in fourth-year work is scheduled for June 2028. This deferment of $2.75 million provides critical breathing room for a junior explorer, where cash flow is the lifeblood of operations. In an industry reliant on regular financing rounds to fund capital-intensive drilling and exploration, preserving capital can extend a company's operational runway, allowing it to weather market volatility without having to raise funds under potentially unfavorable conditions.

The impetus for this renegotiation, as cited by the company, is "longer-than-expected assay delays." This is not an issue unique to TomaGold. Across the global mining industry, a surge in exploration activity post-pandemic, coupled with lingering logistical challenges, has created a significant backlog at analytical labs. Turnaround times for drill core sample results, which are essential for guiding exploration programs and reporting progress to investors, have stretched from weeks to several months.

This operational bottleneck has profound implications. For junior miners, a steady flow of positive drill results is paramount for maintaining market interest and shareholder confidence. Prolonged silences can lead to investor anxiety and negatively impact share prices. By acknowledging this reality and proactively adjusting its contractual obligations, TomaGold is mitigating the risk of being forced to spend capital inefficiently while waiting for crucial data. The amended timeline allows the company to align its spending with the practical pace of its exploration feedback loop, ensuring that future drilling is informed by complete and properly analyzed results.

A Strategic Partnership in a Storied Camp

The agreement is with SOQUEM Inc., a formidable partner in Quebec's resource sector. As the exploration-focused subsidiary of Investissement Québec, the provincial government's investment arm, SOQUEM's mandate is to explore, discover, and develop Quebec's mineral wealth, often through joint ventures. This partnership provides TomaGold not only with access to highly prospective land but also with the implicit backing of a government-supported entity dedicated to de-risking and advancing mineral projects.

This collaboration is centered on the Chibougamau Mining Camp, a region with a rich and storied past. Located in the northeastern part of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, one of the world's most mineral-rich geological formations, Chibougamau has been a hub of mining activity for over 70 years. Between 1958 and 2008, the camp produced over 3 million ounces of gold and 2.1 billion pounds of copper. Despite this extensive history, significant mineral resources remain, and modern exploration techniques continue to unveil new potential.

TomaGold has been actively consolidating its position in the camp, and the properties included in the SOQUEM agreement—David, Radar, Dufault, Williams, Brosman, McKenzie, and Bruneau—are central to this strategy. By securing a dominant land package and now adjusting its development timeline, the company is positioning itself for a systematic, long-term exploration effort in a proven, mining-friendly jurisdiction. The amendment, subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange, reflects the strength of the partnership, allowing for the flexibility needed to achieve shared long-term goals.

Unlocking Potential on a New Timeline

The deferred timeline directly impacts the exploration prospects of several key properties, each with its own unique geological promise. The extra year provides TomaGold with the opportunity to conduct more thorough groundwork and better target its future drilling campaigns.

The David Property, for instance, is located just two kilometers from the town of Chibougamau and has already been the subject of an initial drilling campaign by TomaGold, with assay results currently pending. Historical findings on the property include high-grade zinc and gold occurrences, and the new schedule allows for these pending results to be fully integrated into planning for the next phase of work.

Similarly, the Radar Property is being prepped for a winter drilling program with 26 high-priority targets already identified. This property contains the extension of geological structures that hosted the former Norbeau mine and the Brosman deposit, with historical drill intercepts showing high grades of gold, silver, and copper. The revised timeline ensures this planned program will not be rushed and can be adapted based on incoming data from other projects in the portfolio.

Other properties like Dufault show potential for large-scale, gold-copper porphyry mineralization, similar to adjacent deposits. The Brosman Property already has a historical resource estimate and features promising geology for both porphyry and epithermal-style mineralization. The Bruneau Property sits just 300 meters from a former producing mine, adding to its prospectivity.

By renegotiating its commitments, TomaGold is not abandoning these promising assets but rather adopting a more measured and data-driven approach to unlocking their value. This strategic patience allows for the methodical exploration required to translate geological potential into tangible resources, a process that is now better insulated from the pressures of external operational delays and market cycles. The company can now optimize its exploration sequencing across its entire Chibougamau portfolio, ensuring capital is deployed where and when it can have the greatest impact.