Mr. John Karagiannidis reports

QIMC TIES NEW SALEM-APPLE RIVER HELIUM ZONES TO A BURIED BASEMENT STRUCTURE: GRAVITY, MAGNETICS AND GEOCHEMISTRY CONVERGE ON A SINGLE FAULT-BOUNDED RAMP

Quebec Innovative Materials Corp. has released the integrated geophysical interpretation of the helium zones announced on Sept. 22, 2026, at its New Salem-Apple River area, Cumberland basin project, Nova Scotia. Working with Prof. Marc Richer-Lafleche, PhD, of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique, the company has integrated the 526-sample helium survey with regional gravity and aeromagnetic data and finds that the helium zones, the mapped faults and the buried basement architecture describe a single structure.

Highlights:

• Soil-gas helium anomalies concentrate within 1.5 kilometres of faults F-I, F-II and F-III, confirming direct structural control on basement degasing in the southwestern part of the Cumberland basin. Anomalous stations are approximately five times more frequent within 1.5 km of a mapped fault than beyond two km.
• The width of the anomaly corridors around the faults points to porous and permeable rocks in the New Salem and Apple River sectors -- an essential element in the formation of a reservoir for hydrogen, helium or natural gas.
• Regional gravity reveals a structural transition zone between the Cumberland basin and the Cobequid highlands -- a northwest-dipping ramp between low-density basin sediments and dense, older basement -- acting as a corridor that focuses gas toward the surface. The helium zones lie strictly within this transition zone.
• Tilt-derivative processing of aeromagnetic data locates a magnetic intrusive body approximately 10 km by two km beneath zones B and C, along fault F-III. This magnetic source is interpreted as the likely deep source of the degasing observed at surface. Fault F-III follows its edge, and both zones occur where the fault bends or intersects cross-structures.
• These results confirm the predictive degasing model developed jointly by Quebec Innovative and INRS, validating the company's multimethod approach for the next phase of its exploration program.
• Seismic program expanded: Approximately 8.5 additional line kilometres of 2-D seismic have been added to the Nova Scotia program, now approximately 50 km, dedicated to the new helium anomalies, including a north-south segment across Zone C to image the fault, the basement ramp and the hangingwall section in a single seismic section.
• Additional soil-gas geochemistry: The company will undertake additional broader-spectrum soil-gas surveys, including C1-C4 hydrocarbons, across the New Salem-Apple River fairway.
• Conventional, non-stimulated model: The New Salem-Apple River play is a conventional gas system -- natural migration along faults into structural traps at shallow depth. The company does not use and does not intend to use hydraulic fracturing or any form of reservoir stimulation in Nova Scotia.

"Three independent data sets now point to the same structure at New Salem-Apple River, and that is what turns an exploration idea into a new clean gas corridor," said John Karagiannidis, president and chief executive officer. "Regional gravity shows a buried basement ramp. Aeromagnetics show a basement block whose edge our faults follow, and more than 500 helium samples show exactly where that system reaches the surface. None of these data sets knows about the others, yet all three agree -- and they place the target at 600 to 1,000 metres, the same depths where we intersected 24 to 30 per cent clean natural hydrogen at Bennett Hill. For investors, the significance is simple: New Salem-Apple River is no longer a surface anomaly. It is a mapped structure with a depth, a footprint and 50 kilometres of seismic about to be shot across it."

New Salem-Apple River helium zones -- Prof. Richer-Lafleche, PhD, INRS, qualified person

Helium as a tracer of basement degasing

In studying the southern part of the Cumberland basin, the company has used helium as a geochemical tracer of basement degasing processes at the regional scale. Because it is unaffected by the biogeochemical reactions that take place in soils, helium displays concentration variations of which even the most subtle are indicative of fluctuations in diffusive flux and thereby record the processes by which gases disperse through the materials of the continental crust. Whether the objective is the search for energy resources such as hydrogen or natural gas, or the search for rare gases of interest to high-technology industries, helium geochemistry is a key step in building a model of gas circulation at the scale of a sedimentary basin such as the Cumberland basin.

Sampling was concentrated in the southwestern part of the basin, a region that had until now remained essentially unexplored. The study area is crossed by three faults (F-I, F-II and F-III), which converge eastward with the North Cobequid fault zone. The predictive model used by Quebec Innovative and INRS anticipated a setting of elevated degasing in this sector. The use of helium as a tracer of basement degasing clearly highlights the importance of the local faults in the distribution of diffusive helium anomalies at the basin scale. Over all, the data reveal anomalies located mainly within the Cumberland group (Ragged Reef formation), but also south of the North Cobequid fault, in the sedimentary units of the Rapid Brook formation (Horton group). This points both to a deep origin for the helium (granitic basement) and to regional structural control. To evaluate the importance of the granitic basement beneath the basin, the company superimposed the helium soil-gas data on the gravity and aeromagnetic data.

Spatial relationship between helium anomalies and faults

Analysis of the spatial relationship between the position of the helium anomalies and that of the faults nearest to the sampling sites reveals a close geometric association between the principal structural breaks and the helium concentrations measured in soils. Over all, the anomalies tend to concentrate in a restricted zone, within 1.5 km on either side of faults F-I, F-II and F-III. It should be noted that the spatial distribution of helium anomalies around a fault can serve as a qualitative indicator of the permeability of the host rock. In a low-permeability setting (for example, granitic basement), transport should be limited to diffusion along the fracture planes of the fault, producing a relatively narrow corridor of anomalies and a rapid decay of the signal with distance. In a more permeable setting, such as the New Salem and Apple River sectors (porous lower Carboniferous sandstones and conglomerates), gas can migrate laterally through the rock matrix once it has reached the near surface, which widens the corridor and flattens the decay curve.

The presence of the faults is a key element in the distribution of helium at the local scale. It does not, however, by itself explain the intensity or the regional character of the anomalies observed. To explain the distribution of the helium anomalies, the company used the gravity and aeromagnetic data available for this sector of Nova Scotia. The use of gravity data is a classic step in the study of a sedimentary basin for energy resource exploration (hydrocarbons, hydrogen and geothermal). The observed spatial variations of the Bouguer anomaly underline, in a simple and robust manner, a strong contrast between the northwest (low-density sedimentary rocks of the Cumberland basin) and the southeast (high-density rocks of the Cobequid highlands). A transition zone, dipping to the northwest, marks the contact between the Cumberland basin and the older terranes to the south. In basin studies, this type of transition is common and frequently controls the transfer of gases (focusing), because the older basement rocks (gravity high), rich in granitoids, are poorly permeable to fluids and gases compared with the sandstone and conglomerate rocks of the lower Carboniferous, which are much more porous and permeable. The distribution of helium anomalies on the gravity map highlights a dual control, involving first the transition zone and second the faults F-I, F-II and F-III. The clustering of a large number of anomalies in anomalous zones B and C justified a more detailed study, based on processing of the local aeromagnetic data.

Aeromagnetics: a magnetic intrusive body beneath zones B and C

Tilt-derivative processing of the aeromagnetic data sharpens the edges of magnetic sources at depth. It reveals a discrete magnetic body approximately 10 km long and two km wide beneath anomalous zones B and C, along fault F-III. Fault F-III follows the southwestern edge of this body, and both zones occur where the fault bends or intersects cross-structures. This magnetic intrusive body is interpreted as the likely deep source of the degasing observed at surface. Tilt-depth analysis of the same data places the top of the magnetic basement at roughly 600 to 750 metres beneath Zone C and 900 to 1 000 m beneath Zone B.

The geological model

Crystalline basement is effectively impermeable, so gas generated within or beneath it migrates along the basement sediment interface toward the shallow edge of the basin and escapes where regional faults breach the cover. At New Salem-Apple River, the aeromagnetic data show a discrete basement block, and the helium reaches the surface precisely where the faults bend or intersect along that edge. The lower Carboniferous units cut by these faults host most of the anomalies. This basement-ramp-and-fault configuration is similar to the one that focuses helium migration in producing helium provinces internationally.

No hydraulic fracturing, no reservoir stimulation

The gases identified at New Salem-Apple River helium and, elsewhere on the corridor, clean natural hydrogen and thermogenic hydrocarbons -- migrating naturally through faults and along the basement interface to the surface today. The exploration model is therefore conventional: gas trapped in porous sandstones within fault-bounded structures at 600 to 1,000 m, to be tested by conventional wells and produced, if warranted, by natural flow. Quebec Innovative does not use hydraulic fracturing or any other form of reservoir stimulation and has no intention of doing so in Nova Scotia. This is a natural flow, low-footprint exploration model, consistent with the company's approach to clean natural hydrogen at Apple River-Bennett Hill.

Qualified person

The scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Prof. Richer-Lafleche, PhD, PGeo, of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Prof. Richer-Lafleche led the geological and geophysical interpretation described in this release.

About Quebec Innovative Materials Corp.

Quebec Innovative is a North American exploration and development company advancing a portfolio of natural hydrogen and critical mineral projects. The company is advancing its district-scale hydrogen exploration model across Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Minnesota, leveraging its proprietary R2G2 framework.

Quebec Innovative is committed to responsible exploration, technical innovation and sustainable development, with the objective of supporting clean energy and decarbonization initiatives.

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