Edmonton, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - March 2, 2026) - Metalero Mining Corp. (TSXV: MLO) ("Metalero" or the "Company") is pleased to announce results from its recent Ionic Leach soil geochemical survey and geophysics program at the Sundberg target, within its Benson Project, located in the prolific Quesnel Trough of central British Columbia (Figure 1).
"The Sundberg Target was initially staked to cover a double-lobe QUEST-AI target just 35 km northwest of Mt Polley, so we are excited to see copper-in-soil anomalies flanking magnetic and conductivity highs with our first pass of exploration," stated Rob L'Heureux, President & CEO of Metalero Mining. "We are also seeing the benefit of the ground magnetic and VLF-EM geophysical surveys as they produce high-resolution results relative to the existing historical data and could be indicating the presence of sulphide minerals at depth."
The copper-in-soil results at Sundberg show southeast trending anomalies which flank the strong magnetic signature and some of the conductivity highs from the VLF-EM survey (Very Low Frequency-Electromagnetics) (Figures 2 and 3). The copper anomalies, with a combined area of ~5 km2, are open in multiple directions and require follow-up exploration work.
The two 2025 Ionic Leach programs, conducted in the spring and fall of 2025, were designed to evaluate and refine copper-gold targets across the underexplored Cantin area, where historical exploration and recent Geoscience BC Artificial-Intelligence (AI) work has indicated strong potential for porphyry-style mineralization known as the QUEST targets. A total of 835 soil samples have been collected at the Cantin, Sundberg, and Chiaz targets with a 100-metre sample spacing and sample lines 500 to 1,500 metres apart.
Figure 1. Map of BC showing Benson, known porphyry Cu-Au occurrences, and some of the major, recent projects and mines all within the Quesnel Trough. Benson is host to known mineralization associated with porphyry systems which have not been systematically explored since the early 1990s.
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Figure 2. Ground and airborne magnetic survey results and copper-in-soil anomalies (yellow outlines) covering ~5 km2 at the Sundberg Target, Benson Project. These soil anomalies flank the magnetic highs and the AI-driven targets identified by Geoscience BC (QUEST), remaining open in several directions. The 1,300 ppb Cu limit represents the 80th percentile for all Ionic Leach sampling conducted by MLO at Benson to date (n=835).
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Figure 3. Ground VLF survey results over regional magnetics and copper-in-soil anomalies (yellow outlines) covering ~5 km2 at the Sundberg Target, Benson Project. These soil anomalies correlate well with several chargeability highs and remain open in several directions. The 1,300 ppb Cu limit represents the 80th percentile for all Ionic Leach sampling conducted by MLO at Benson to date (n=835).
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QAQC Procedures
Sample preparation and analysis for the Benson soil survey was completed at the ALS Global facility in Vancouver, BC. A non-biased 50g nominal soil sample was collected from the entire field sample without drying or screening. The Ionic Leach method was used to analyze samples for 61 elements. This procedure is defined by static sodium cyanide leach using ammonium chloride, citric acid, and EDTA, with the leachant buffered to an alkaline pH of 8.5. A secure chain of custody procedure was maintained in storing and transporting samples.
PDAC 2026 Participation
Metalero will be taking part in the upcoming Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada Conference held at the Metro Toronto Convention Center March 1-4. PDAC has been the World's premier mineral and exploration mining convention since 1932, bringing together over 27,000 attendees and 2,500 investors from over 125 countries. This year's event will feature keynote speakers such as Gustavo Pimenta, Don Lindsay, Mikko Tepponen, and Paul Bartos.
Interested parties are encouraged to come by booth 2849 to speak to the MLO team.
Benson Project Background
The Benson Project is strategically located in the Quesnel Trough, one of Canada's most important mineral belts. The Quesnel Trough is a Triassic/Jurassic-age belt of volcano-sedimentary and intrusive rocks which hosts >360 alkalic copper-gold porphyry occurrences and deposits. The >1,500 km long Quesnel Trough runs through the middle of BC stretching from the US to the Yukon Territory. It hosts several types of gold deposits and numerous major mines which produce copper and gold as well as variable amounts of silver.
High profile and long-lived mines in the Quesnel Trough include Highland Valley, Mt Milligan, New Afton, and Kemess which are complemented by recent exploration work including Woodjam, MPD, Kwanika, and the extensive staking by Australian mining giant, the Fortescue Group (Figure 1).
The Benson Project lies close to infrastructure and is traversed by Highway 26 and a vast network of logging roads allowing for ready access to all parts of the Property and capital-efficient exploration. The large land package covers 5 different target areas illuminated by recent Artificial-Intelligence ("AI") work by Geoscience BC (Mitchinson et al., Geoscience BC Report 2022-07). This AI study incorporated a wide variety of historical datasets including geophysics, geology, sampling information, and drilling data (where present) to identify high potential ("porphyry-like") anomalies with similarities to known porphyry deposits elsewhere in the belt. Even the limited historical exploration at Benson has identified numerous gold and copper surface geochemical anomalies while modest, historical drill programs have intersected skarn and epithermal gold and silver mineralization, which are both intrusive-related styles of mineralization and are commonly associated with porphyry systems.
About Metalero Mining Corp.
Metalero Mining Corp. is a Canadian-based junior exploration company focused on copper and gold projects in the Americas. Its 173 square kilometre, road-accessible Benson Project serves as Metalero's flagship and is host to five prospects containing gold and copper within porphyry-related mineralized systems.
Qualified Person
The technical content of this news release pertaining to the Benson Project was reviewed and approved by Michael Dufresne, M.Sc, P.Geol., P.Geo., a non-independent qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
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Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws including, without limitation, the timing, nature, scope and details regarding the Company's exploration plans and results at its projects. Such statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, its projects, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "expect", "believe", "plan", "anticipate", "estimate", "scheduled", "forecast", "predict" and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. These statements reflect the Company's current expectations regarding future events, performance and results and speak only as of the date of this release. Further details about the risks applicable to the Company are contained in the Company's public filings available on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca), under the Company's profile.
Forward-looking statements and information contained herein are based on certain factors and assumptions regarding, among other things, the estimation of mineral resources and reserves, the realization of resource and reserve estimates, metal prices, taxation, the estimation, timing and amount of future exploration and development, capital and operating costs, the availability of financing, the receipt of regulatory approvals, environmental risks, title disputes and other matters. While the Company considers its assumptions to be reasonable as of the date hereof, forward-looking statements and information are not guarantees of future performance and readers should not place undue importance on such statements as actual events and results may differ materially from those described herein. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or information except as may be required by applicable securities laws.
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