Dr. Charles Fipke reports

CANTEX'S METALLURGICAL TEST WORK DEMONSTRATES SUCCESSFUL SORTING FOR SULPHIDE MINERALIZATION AT NORTH RACKLA PROJECT IN YUKON, CANADA

Cantex Mine Development Corp. has provided an update on the metallurgical testwork program currently under way with ALS Kamloops Metallurgy, and Base Met Labs on its 100-per-cent-owned 14,077-hectare North Rackla claim block in the Yukon.

Massive sulphide silver-lead-zinc-germanium project

The metallurgical program, which started in January, 2026, was designed to evaluate preconcentration by X-ray transmission sorting, mineralogy, comminution characteristics, et cetera, for three composites that cover different mineralization types in the deposit. The three composites were selected to represent the range of mineralization styles seen across both the strike length and depth extent of the mineralization. The composites consist of half split HQ drill core.

• Oxide composite;
• High-grade sulphide composite;
• Low-grade sulphide composite.

The testwork program was split into two components: sorting testwork to identify opportunities to preconcentrate mill feed, conducted at Base Met Labs, and the conventional processing testwork conducted at ALS Kamloops Metallurgy, an independent metallurgical laboratory specializing in base and precious metal process development.

Sorting

Sorting amenability was carried out on a sample of 100 pieces of drill core which covered a range of lead, zinc, silver and sulphur grades, and included samples from all three zone types currently under testing. The results confirmed excellent differentiation between mineralization-rich rock and barren host rock, achieving strong preconcentration performance across the tested size fractions.

Core samples from multiple mineralized zones were subjected to sensor-based sorting using X-ray transmission (XRT) technology. XRT is a technology that differentiates rocks based on atomic density. As such, it is able to discern dense silver-lead-zinc-germanium-bearing rocks from lighter unmineralized country rock. In this test, the individual pieces of drill core measured approximately 10 centimetres in length.

The curve demonstrates that 95.0 per cent, 97.8 per cent and 97.9 per cent of the silver, zinc and lead report to a concentrate stream containing 70 per cent of the mass.

Conclusion

Cantex is pleased that the use of XRT sorting at North Rackla has the potential to reduce costs on the project. Should the project be amenable to shipping mineralization directly to an off-site smelter the ability to remove any unmineralized country rock would potentially reduce shipping costs. In the case where further processing is required on site, sorting using XRT as an early step in a plant would remove barren rock from the plant, thereby potentially reducing costs.

Sorting technology can be utilized on mineralized material without the addition of water, which potentially makes it ideal as an initial concentration method to reduce non-mineralized gangue prior to shipping or to further on site concentration.

The metallurgical and mineralogical work was conducted under the supervision of Shane Tad Crowie, PEng, of JDS Energy & Mining Inc., a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. JDS is an international mining consultancy with extensive experience across a wide range of deposit types and metals, including similar projects in Western Canada. Mr. Crowie has reviewed this news release and approved the technical information pertaining to the metallurgical work. The technical information and results reported here have been reviewed by Chad Ulansky, PGeol, the president and chief executive officer of Cantex and a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101, who is responsible for the technical content of this release.

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