Overview

• 440-hectare licence area in Barangay Balatoc, Municipality of Pasil, Kalinga Province, Northern Luzon.
• Hosts at least two porphyry copper-gold deposits — Dickson and Maalinao North — together with a high sulphidation quartz-enargite gold vein system known as Level 5.
• Mining was undertaken at Dickson from 1979 to 1984; 21 historical diamond drillholes have been completed across the Project, all ending in mineralisation.
• Historical, non-JORC compliant resource at Dickson of 86.9 million tonnes at 0.60% Cu and 0.25 g/t Au (0.83% CuEq)*.
• Approvals received from the indigenous community via an Indigenous Peoples’ Order, and from the Philippine Mining Development Corporation (“PMDC”), enabling exploration to commence.
• Initial exploration work is underway, with a drill programme anticipated to commence in H2 2026.

Metals Exploration, through FCF, has jointly incorporated Faratuk Exploration and Mining Corporation (“FEMC”) with the Balatoc (Kalinga) Tribe, Inc. (“BKTI”), the recognised indigenous community whose ancestral domain covers the Project. FEMC is the vehicle through which all exploration and mining activity on the Project will be conducted:

• A wholly owned Metals Exploration subsidiary holds 80% of FEMC.
• BKTI holds a 20% free-carried, non-dilutable interest.
• BKTI’s existing Joint Operating Agreement (“JOA”) with PMDC – the government-owned corporation holding title over the Project – is being renewed and assigned to FEMC, granting FEMC the exclusive right to explore and mine for the term of the Project.
• As PMDC holds the Exploration Permit, and will hold the Mineral Production Sharing Agreement if development proceeds, the 60% Filipino ownership requirement under the Philippine Mining Act is automatically satisfied.
• Metals Exploration has the right to incorporate a wholly owned Mineral Processing Company (“MPC”), which will have the exclusive right to acquire and process all ore from the Project under an Ore Supply Agreement with FEMC on a cost-plus basis – enabling the Company to consolidate the full ore processing margin in addition to its 80% profit share in FEMC.

• 2% Net Smelter Return (“NSR”) royalty to PMDC during the first 10 years of production, rising to 3% thereafter.
• PHP 50 million (~US$800,000) upfront signing fee to PMDC, plus an annual commitment fee of PHP 10 million (~US$160,000), payable until any NSR royalty becomes due and deductible against future NSR payments.
• 1% Gross Output Royalty to BKTI, together with an annual Social Development and Management Programme (“SDMP”) contribution of 2.5% of yearly operating costs once the Project reaches commercial production.
• During exploration, 6% of the annual exploration budget is allocated to local community programmes, with a further PHP 100 million (~US$1.6 million) committed to community and road-access projects in the first two years.
• Minimum committed exploration and development expenditure: PHP 30 million (~US$500,000) in Year 1, PHP 60 million (~US$1,000,000) in Year 2, rising to a five-year programme total of PHP 1 billion (~US$16,000,000).

Batong Buhay is located in the Cordillera region of Northern Luzon, part of a prolific gold and copper belt that has produced approximately 40 million ounces of gold historically and which also hosts the Company’s Abra exploration tenement. The Project has not been subject to modern exploration; initial work – including a LIDAR survey, drone-based magnetic and radiometric survey, detailed geological mapping and regional geochemical soil sampling – is underway to inform the design of the forthcoming drill programme.