Omineca Discovers Hard Rock Gold Source at Wingdam, Validating Placer Gold Origin

Omineca Mining and Metals Ltd. has announced a significant hard rock gold discovery at its Wingdam exploration project in the Cariboo Mining District of British Columbia. The discovery, made during the 2025 winter drill program, confirms the company's long-held theory that the rich paleoplacer gold beneath Lightning Creek originated from a proximal lode source. The initial gold intercepts, drilled 500 meters west of and at depths lower than the Wingdam underground paleoplacer project, returned grades up to 4.84 g/t gold over 1.07 meters in hole WD25-41, and 1.25 g/t gold over 2.0 meters in WD25-42.

These findings are particularly notable as they align with recent empirical evidence from underground workings showing that Lightning Creek historically flowed from west to east, opposite its present direction. This reversed flow indicates that the gold-bearing sediments were transported from a source located downstream (west) of the current placer deposits. The discovery of lode gold in close proximity to the paleoplacer provides a compelling explanation for the concentration of placer gold in the valley.

The highest-grade intercept was found in amygdaloidal basalt associated with the Slide Mountain Terrane, a sequence of ancient seafloor rocks thrust upward. This geological setting is well-known in British Columbia for hosting orogenic gold deposits, including the Barkerville Gold camp 30 kilometers east of Wingdam, the Cassiar camp, and the historic Bralorne mining camp. The structural relationship between ophiolites and gold mineralization underscores the potential for a significant hard rock gold system at Wingdam.

The company's exploration thesis involves isostatic depression caused by the Cordilleran glacial ice sheet, which altered drainage patterns and potentially reactivated the Eureka Thrust Fault. This fault is a major structural feature in the area and is associated with the emplacement of the Slide Mountain Terrane. The 2025 drill program, which totaled 3,091.9 meters in six NQ diamond drill holes, was designed to follow up on mineralization intersected in 2024 and to test the downdip extension of the ultramafic unit that returned anomalous gold values.

Hole WD25-41 was a downdip follow-up of WD24-37, which had intersected a brecciated and faulted ultramafic amygdaloidal basalt with anomalous gold concentrations. The new hole intersected the most anomalous gold result to date on the property, with visible calcite-quartz veins and disseminated pyrite. Hole WD25-42 targeted the magnetic high identified by the UAV survey and intersected gold mineralization in a lithic wacke with quartz veinlets and sulfides.

These results are a major step forward for Omineca, as they provide the first hard rock source for the placer gold that has been recovered at Wingdam for over 165 years. The company plans to focus its next phase of exploration on expanding the footprint of this discovery and further investigating the hydrothermal gold mineralization associated with the Eureka Thrust Fault. The implications of this discovery extend beyond Wingdam, as it may also inform exploration in other placer gold districts with similar geological settings.