Vancouver, British Columbia -
Newsfile Corp. - July 15, 2026 - Founders Metals Inc. (TSXV: FDR) (OTCQX: FDMIF) (FSE: 9DL0) ("Founders" or the "Company") announces surface exploration and drilling results from its fully funded 70,000-metre drill program at the Antino Gold Project ("Antino" or the "Project") in southeastern Suriname (Figure 1). In the first half of 2026 Founders has advanced multiple gold systems simultaneously - this release highlights a new discovery at Antino Northeast, continued growth at Antino North and Maria Geralda, and an exciting follow-up drill hole at Antino West.
HighlightsAntino Northeast- First-ever drilling confirms a new gold discovery on a kilometre-scale gold-in-auger anomaly with 1,200 m drill-confirmed strike length (Figure 1)
- 58.5 metres (m) of 1.00 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) from 18.6 m (ANE009), including 18.0 m of 1.59 g/t Au
- 53.0 m of 0.46 g/t Au from 149.0 m (ANE002), including 8.0 m of 2.29 g/t Au
Antino North- Drilling has now tested and confirmed mineralization along three of twelve mapped northwest-trending parallel shear zones; nine shears remain untested (Figure 1)
- 16.5 m of 1.82 g/t Au from 8.1 m, including 3.0 m of 6.38 g/t Au (AN002), 8.1 m of 3.42 g/t Au from surface (AN009), and 22.5 m of 0.46 g/t Au from 32.1 m (AN005)
Maria Geralda- Fifteen new deep auger holes expand the high-grade gold previously defined, with near-surface intercepts including (Figure 2):
- 30.0 m of 4.52 g/t Au (MGAD061), 23.0 m of 5.31 g/t Au (MGAD062), 19.0 m of 4.02 g/t Au (MGAD064), 9.0 m of 6.24 g/t Au (MGAD074), 30.0 m of 3.69 g/t Au (MGAD060), and 17.0 m of 2.94 g/t Au (MGAD063)
- In several holes, mineralization continues to the 30 m auger limit. The Company has a diamond drill moving to Maria Geralda in early August to test these results in bedrock.
Antino West- A 35-metre-wide shear zone with visible gold intersected in drill hole FR251 at Antino West, 50 m along strike from the previously released discovery hole (FR217: 53.1 m of 1.21 g/t Au); assays pending (Figure 3)
Colin Padget, President & CEO, commented, "Our exploration strategy continues to deliver, and we are thrilled to keep making new gold discoveries across Antino - this time at Antino Northeast, where drilling returned 58.5 metres of 1.00 g/t gold. This comes as we continue to expand the Antino North discovery, now with mineralization across three parallel structures and to 200 metres of vertical depth, and as deep auger drilling grows the high-grade, near-surface gold footprint at Maria Geralda. At Antino West, follow-up drilling has intersected a 35-metre-wide shear zone with visible gold in core, 50 metres away from the initial discovery, with assays pending. With multiple discovery fronts advancing at once and a fully funded 70,000-metre drill program underway, we believe we are only beginning to unlock the district-scale potential of Antino."
Geological DiscussionAntino Northeast At Antino Northeast, the Company completed its first-ever drilling, testing a kilometre-scale gold-in-auger anomaly - one of the largest geochemical anomalies identified anywhere on the Antino land package. Discovery hole ANE009 returned
58.5 m of 1.00 g/t Au from 18.6 m, confirming a new mineralized gold system within the anomaly. Approximately 1,200 m away, hole ANE002 intersected
53.0 m of 0.46 g/t Au from 149.0 m, further demonstrating the scale of the system (Figure 1). Mineralization remains open in all directions, and the majority of the auger anomaly has yet to be drill-tested. Follow-up drilling is planned to further define the extent of the gold system and test a second major parallel structure identified with structural mapping as well as surficial auger sampling programs.
Antino North The Antino North discovery, first announced in April 2026, is a series of northwest-trending, shear-hosted gold zones mapped over multiple kilometres across the area. To date, the Company's surface program has identified twelve parallel shear structures, of which three have now been drill-tested. Mineralization is similar in character to the shear- and vein-hosted gold at Upper Antino, comprising sheared subvertical quartz veins with a sericite-ankerite-tourmaline alteration assemblage and late brittle deformation overprinting. The mapped shear zones are spatially coincident with a large regional-scale fold - a structural setting commonly associated with orogenic gold deposits across the Guiana Shield. Results include
16.5 m of 1.82 g/t Au from 8.1 m (AN002),
8.1 m of 3.42 g/t Au from surface (AN009),
10.0 m of 0.87 g/t Au from 209.0 m (AN004), and
22.5 m of 0.46 g/t Au from 32.1 m (AN005) (Figure 1).
Maria Geralda Deep Auger Building on the deep auger program reported in May 2026, which defined a coherent, plunging high-grade gold shoot at Maria Geralda, the Company has completed fifteen additional deep auger holes. Five...
