The Company’s 100% owned Cortez Summit Property (“Property” or “Cortez Summit”) consists of 142 unpatented claims and is centrally located on the Cortez Trend, within one of the most active gold mining areas in Nevada, between the historic Buckhorn mine and the Goldrush deposit/Fourmile resource. The Cortez Trend contains a major gold endowment that exceeds 60 million oz. total gold produced, reserves and resources (Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology annual mineral reports, Barrick Gold Corporation annual reports).

The mineralized zones and orebodies in the Cortez Trend area are generally aligned along northwest trending structural zones where intersecting with favorable lower plate carbonate host rocks. The main known deposit trends are the Pipeline-Robertson, Cortez Hills and the original 1968 Cortez Mine, Horse Canyon-Mill Creek, Goldrush-Fourmile, Aspen and Buckhorn (Figures 1 and 2).

Cortez Summit lies about 1.4 kilometers north-east of the north end of Nevada Gold Mines’ (“NGM”) Goldrush deposit and 1 kilometer east of Barrick’s Fourmile resource (Barrick results for Q4 2024 presentation). The Cortez Summit property is contiguous with Barrick and NGM claims on all sides.

Carlin’s primary target at Cortez Summit is Carlin-style mineralization in a structural and stratigraphic setting defined by geology, geochemistry and geophysics, referred to as the “Fourmile Structural Zone”*, which is subparallel to the alignment of the neighboring Goldrush/Fourmile reserve/resource. Much of this target is blind, being covered by Miocene-age post-mineral basaltic andesite and interlayered gravels. The “Fourmile Structural Zone” trends north-northwest for 4,500 ft. (1,370 m) within the southwestern part of the Property and onto Barrick property to the north. Barrick geologists have defined a pattern of surface alteration and geochemical anomalies spatially associated with this structural zone (Barrick Q4 2017 webcast). At Cortez Summit, Carlin geologists encountered a similar alteration and geochemistry pattern in limited upper plate rock exposures along Carlin’s “Fourmile Structural Zone” on the west edge of the Property. The east extent of this alteration pattern is unknown, as it is concealed along almost the entire west side of the Property by post-mineral Miocene gravels and basalts but is noted in the exploration drill holes that penetrated below the post-mineral rocks.

*Note: Quotation marks used around ”Fourmile Structural Zone” are to distinguish this structural corridor interpreted by Carlin geologists on the southwest portion of the Cortez Summit Property from Barrick’s high grade Fourmile resource located approximately 1 km to the west on Barrick property.

Two gold deposits, Goldrush and Fourmile, are located adjacent to the southwest and west of Carlin’s Cortez Summit property. These are summarized below for the reader’s information. The information about Goldrush and Fourmile is meant to demonstrate some parameters for the type of mineral deposit that the Company may encounter while conducting exploration at Cortez Summit. The Company cannot state, nor should it be implied, that similar mineralization will be discovered at Cortez Summit and Carlin’s QP is not able to verify the information referenced below.

After several years of extensive drilling, Barrick announced the Goldrush discovery in September 2011. NGM completed a stand-alone underground feasibility study for Goldrush in Q2 2021 (Barrick Q3 2021 report). A Record of Decision was issued in December 2023. Production for Goldrush began in 2024, with commercial production scheduled for 2026 and ramping up to >400,000 ounces per year by 2028 (Barrick 2024 Annual Report, Barrick Q1 2025 presentation). Goldrush measured and indicated resources are estimated to be 53 Mt @ 6.00 g/t for 10M oz Au and inferred resource 24 Mt @ 5.5 g/t for 4.5 M oz (Barrick September 2025 presentation). The mineralization is reported to be contained dominantly in the upper Wenban Formation in lower plate rocks.

The Fourmile discovery was announced by Barrick in November 2018 following several campaigns of exploration drilling north from Goldrush. The expanding resource, 1 km west of Cortez Summit, lies immediately north of Goldrush. Fourmile resource estimates, as of December 31, 2024, include an indicated resource of 3.6 million tonnes grading 11.76 g/t representing 1.4 million ounces of gold, and an inferred resource of 14 million tonnes grading 14.1 g/t, representing 6.4 million ounces of gold (Barrick 2024 Annual Report). These resources cover approximately one-third of the currently drilled mineralization (Barrick Q4 2024 results presentation). Prefeasibility study expenditures include using up to 20 drill rigs targeting growth of resources (Barrick September16,2025 news release and presentation) north toward the Sophia and Dorothy targets located approximately 800 meters to the north. This program is in progress designed to advance the project to the prefeasibility stage. Barrick is planning to gain underground access to the Fourmile resource with the development of the Bullion Hill access portal, for which a surface disturbance Plan of Operations has been submitted to the Bureau of Land Management. Barrick’s Q3 2023 report presentation states “2023 drilling continues to demonstrate continuity between the Sophia and Dorothy zones highlighted by 28.7 m @ 51.10 g/t Au”. 

Drilling at Dorothy has encountered two mineralized stratigraphic horizons, the lowermost of which had not been previously tested.  Intercepts in this lower zone include 39.6 meters of 12.71 g/t and 31.7 meters of 33.67 g/t (Barrick 2022 Annual Report).  Drilling in 2023 confirms this lower mineralized zone with an intercept of 28.7 meters of 51.1 g/t (Barrick Q3 2023 MD&A and presentation).  Fourmile is currently 100% Barrick-owned, and they anticipate the resource being incorporated into the NGM joint venture at fair market value if certain criteria are met (Barrick Q2 2025 MD&A).

The Fourmile 2024 deposit has an additional “exploration upside of 32-34 Mt @ 15-16 g/t outside the current 2024 resource”. “… Fourmile is rapidly competing to be the largest and highest grade gold discovery this century” (Barrick September 16, 2025 news release and presentation).

Cortez Summit Property is primarily underlain by gently dipping post-mineral Miocene basalt and gravels unconformably underlain Paleozoic upper plate siliclastic rocks of the Ordovician Vinini Formation. A poorly exposed sliver of Vinini on the west part of the property is altered and mineralized with geochemically anomalous gold and pathfinder elements, As, Hg and Sb. This upper plate alteration trends under the post mineral cover rocks and has been encountered in subsequent drilling to the west under the basalt. The Vinini is within the upper plate of the Roberts Mountain Trust (RMT) above the underlying carbonate rocks (lower plate) which host the nearby gold deposits.

Two intrusive units are recognized just west of the Property, including: 1) Jurassic-age quartz monzonite of the Mill Canyon stock; and 2) probable Tertiary-age quartz porphyry dikes and small intrusive bodies. These quartz porphyry intrusions may be correlative with early Oligocene quartz porphyry dikes which are common at the Horse Canyon, Cortez Hills and other Cortez district deposits. Dikes, plugs and minor flows of Miocene rhyolite locally intrude and overlie the gravel and basaltic andesite units, including the rhyolite plug exposed in the southwest corner of the property (Figure 3).

The main structural controls of mineralization in the Cortez District are aligned in NNW trends (Figure 4). Carlin has identified the “Fourmile Structural Zone” that extends 4,500 ft (1,370 m) along the west side of Cortez Summit associated with Carlin-style alteration and geochemistry. Rock chip sampling along this zone has yielded gold values of 0.447 and 0.263 g/t in altered upper plate Vinini. Rock sampling along a drill road cut yielded 0.175 over 50 ft (15 m) in altered upper plate siltstones. Barrick has mapped alteration in upper plate units along the northern extension of the “Fourmile Structural Zone” which extends off the Property and along Fourmile Canyon. The alteration zone extends along the west side of Cortez Summit and is concealed to the east under the post-mineral volcanics and gravels (Figure 5).

Seven (7) reverse circulation drill holes were completed in 2012 to depths ranging between 1500 and 1800 feet (457-549 m), for a total of 11,720 feet (3,573 m). All holes encountered upper plate Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. One hole was collared in the Paleozoic rocks and the remainder were drilled into Paleozoic rocks beneath younger Miocene basalts and gravels. Paleozoic lithologies include grey-black siltstone, with lesser sandstone and chert. CS12-7 penetrated and bottomed in a 300 foot interval containing variably laminated calcareous siltstones.

Anomalous gold, 0.101 to 0.267 g/t, with Carlin-type pathfinder elements are present in six of the seven holes drilled in 2012. Anomalous arsenic zones (>100 ppm) range up to 115 feet (35 m) in drilled thickness and contain values up to 1,530 ppm arsenic, 70 ppm antimony, 3 ppm thallium and 1.8 ppm mercury. Two holes with the longest anomalous arsenic intervals (CS12-1, 3) were drilled 1,900 feet (580 m) apart on the west side of the property, and are located in close proximity to the “Fourmile Structural Zone”. These intervals occur in the upper plate strata above the lower plate Horse Canyon and Wenban formations encountered in the subsequent drilling described below.

The alteration and drill holes are shown in the Photo Gallery.

In September 2013 the Company re-entered vertical reverse circulation hole CS12-2 with a  core drill which deepened the hole from 1,760 ft. (537 m) to 4,032 ft. (1,229 m). This site was chosen in part because it is located at the inferred intersection between the NE-trending Willow Creek structure and the NNW-trending “Fourmile Structural Zone”. Short intervals of anomalous gold values to 0.667 g/t and Carlin-type pathfinder elements were encountered in hole CS12-2C, including intervals of anomalous arsenic values (>100 ppm) ranging up to 85 ft. (25 m) of drilled thickness. The bottom 392 ft. (120 m) consisted of silty/sandy, laminated, variably carbonaceous limestone, interpreted to be lower plate strata of the Horse Canyon and Wenban (?) formations. This material locally displays Carlin-type alteration features such as decalcification, clay alteration and calcite veining, providing encouragement to Carlin Gold geologists  that favorable lower plate altered carbonate rocks are present near the projection of the “Fourmile Structural Zone”.

In November 2016 the Company signed an Exploration and Earn-In agreement with Barrick Gold Exploration Inc. (see news releases on this site). Barrick completed a 5,171 ft. (1,576 m) vertical core hole, SJV17-1D, in 2017, located along the east side of the “Fourmile Structural Zone” in the vicinity of Carlin’s shallow holes drilled in 2012 (Fig. 4). SJV17-1D encountered a long 567 ft. (173 m) zone at 333-900 ft. (102-274 m) in upper plate rocks consisting of variably clay-altered, iron oxide-stained, brecciated hornfels and lesser mudstone/siltstone, with the most intense clay alteration and iron oxide development at 652-798 ft. (199-243 m). Associated with this alteration is a very thick interval, 592 ft. (180 m), of highly anomalous arsenic at 328-920 ft. (100-280 m) averaging 480 ppm, with accompanying additional strongly anomalous Carlin-style pathfinder elements including mercury (to 17 ppm), antimony (to 173 ppm) and thallium (to 6.3 ppm). Gold values in this alteration zone include a 10 ft. (3 m) zone at 694-704 ft. (211-214 m) grading 2.6 g/t, as shown in the photo above.

The favorable lower plate carbonate section was encountered at a depth of 4,234 ft. (1,290 m), although no significant gold values were detected. After completing this one hole, Barrick terminated the Exploration and Earn-In agreement.

The main exploration target is in the area of the “Fourmile Structural Zone” where  the strong alteration and pathfinder elements along with elevated gold values is present in upper plate rocks. The extent of this “shallow” altered and geochemically anomalous zone has not been defined under the post mineral rocks. It potentially represents the upper level of a mineralized structural conduit, which could be used as a guide to deeper gold mineralization in lower plate carbonate rocks.

Cortez Summit has only been partially explored; drilling to date has tested just a small portion of the ground in the southwest corner of the 4 square mile claim block. SJV17-1D is the only drillhole to penetrate the favorable lower plate section that hosts the nearby Goldrush deposit and the Fourmile indicated and inferred resources (although this hole did not penetrate down to the stratigraphy that hosts Barrick’s recent Dorothy target intercepts described below). Hornfels alteration in upper plate rocks has been encountered in most of the holes drilled to date, which is likely produced by the thermal effects of the nearby Jurassic age Mill Canyon quartz monzonite stock. The thermal contact zone around this stock is an important geological control of the high-grade mineralization encountered at Barrick’s Fourmile resource. The presence of this feature suggests that in addition to the classic Carlin-type bedding replacement style mineralization displayed at Goldrush, the property also has excellent potential for higher grade, more structurally controlled mineralization within the contact aureole of the Mill Creek stock similar to the geological setting at the Fourmile deposit.

There are other identified stratigraphic targets. A shallower, ±200 ft. (60m drilled thickness) silty to sandy carbonate section contained within the upper plate sequence was encountered by Barrick core hole SJV17-1D and in one of the early Carlin drill holes (CS-7) located 2,200 ft. (670m) south-southeast. This represents an additional potentially significant host rock target, approximately 2,000 ft. (610 m) above the base of the Roberts Mountain Thrust.

Barrick continues to discover gold mineralization in deeper portions of the lower plate carbonate stratigraphy, highlighted by recent high-grade drill intercepts at the Dorothy target north of the Fourmile resource: 31.7 m @ 33.69 g/t Au (Barrick Q4-2022 results presentation), 28.7 m @ 51.1 g/t (Barrick Q3-2023 results presentation). These intercepts are hosted in deeper stratigraphic levels of the sedimentary rock section tested in the one core hole SJV17-1D drilled by Barrick in 2017.

Carlin Gold has evaluated existing ground and airborne geophysical survey data which has been helpful in better defining the “Fourmile Structural Zone” and also in identifying several other potentially important structures on the property. The geophysical information suggests the continuation of the “Fourmile Structural Zone” at depth below the post-mineral cover. The “Fourmile Structural Zone” represents a high -quality target for classic Carlin-style mineralization where it intersects the favorable lower plate carbonate stratigraphy. The available geological and geophysical information suggests that several additional prospective northwest-trending structures are located parallel to and east of the “Fourmile Structural Zone”. Carlin Gold geologists are encouraged by the exploration opportunities represented by these additional targets.

Drill targeting is planned in the “Fourmile Structural Zone” to offset the strongly altered Barrick drill hole and explore the area for Fourmile-type breccia mineralization and Goldrush-type strata controlled mineralization in lower plate carbonate rocks (Figure 6). Two additional structural trends defined by ZTEM geophysics and prior historical drilling also present excellent exploration drill targets.