Nortec Minerals Corp. has returned grab sample assays up to 24.2 g/t gold from a waste-rock pile alongside historical workings at the Barker Bay Gold Project in northwestern Ontario.

The exploration program, located approximately 55 kilometres south of Dryden, also returned channel sampling highlights including 4.59 g/t gold over 0.50 metres from the newly excavated North Trench. The 0.50-metre interval sat within a broader 8.0-metre sample averaging 0.42 g/t gold. Channel sampling at the 800 Trench yielded 0.50 metres at 1.36 g/t gold within a 5.0-metre interval averaging 0.19 g/t gold.

Altogether, the team completed eight slit trenches spanning approximately 700 metres in length, following up on drone magnetic and LiDAR surveys flown over the Barker North and Petrie target areas. Trenching exposed shearing and alteration along an 850-metre strike length of the interpreted structural trend.

Concurrently, Nortec has consolidated 100% ownership of the mineral rights across the project area. The mineral rights underlying the historical Barker Bros. Mine shaft area reverted to surface-rights-only status following unpaid mining taxes on the former Barker Patent. These rights have now been incorporated into Nortec’s mineral claim 712903.

The company completed its acquisition of a 100% interest in the Barker Bay property in May 2026, following an asset purchase agreement entered into in November 2025.

“The summer exploration program at Barker Bay has moved our targeting sequence from a predominantly geochemical soil and magnetic anomaly towards a better understood bedrock structural target. We have exposed widespread shearing and alteration over approximately 850 meters, within discrete gold-bearing intervals in the trenches, and high-grade gold in waste rock material at the Barker Bros Mine workings. With the mineral rights at the shaft area consolidated into the Barker Bay project, our next priority is to define the controls on the high-grade mineralization there, and rank follow-up targets for drilling based on the findings”

— Ryan Hrkac, CEO of Nortec Minerals Corp.

Future field work at the property will include mechanical trenching and channel sampling across the shaft areas, along with structural studies of exposed bedrock to refine orientation and geometry before drill testing.

Read the full announcement: Nortec Minerals Corp. Reports 24.2 g/t Au from Waste Rock Pile and 4.59 g/t Au over 0.50 m at the North Trench, and Consolidates 100% Mineral Rights at Barker Bay