Maple Gold Announces Continued Growth of High-Grade Gold Zones Beyond Historical Mine Workings and Current Mineral Resources at Joutel

13:00 Uhr  |  Newsfile

Highlights

• Drilling at Joutel continues to extend broad zones of high-grade gold mineralization up to 450 metres ("m") beyond the historical Eagle-Telbel underground workings and the system remains open in multiple directions.

• Selected gold assay intercepts reported herein include:

  • JO-26-13: 16.3 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold ("Au") over 1.3 m within 2.7 g/t Au over 10.2 m in a 50-m step-out southeast of previously reported drill hole JO-25-05 within the Main Iron Carbonate Horizon ("MICH") hosting historical gold production at Joutel.

  • JO-26-14: 15.5 g/t Au over 2.0 m within 7.4 g/t Au over 7.5 m in a further 250-m step-out located 50 m above the eastern extent of the Telbel Mine underground workings.

  • JO-26-15: 32.6 g/t Au over 0.8 m within 14.0 g/t Au over 2.0 m, confirming high-grade gold mineralization within the footwall micro-gabbro unit.

• High-grade gold mineralization at Joutel demonstrates remarkable continuity and predictability along the stratiform MICH with a near 100% drill success rate to date.

• Assay results have now been reported for 32 holes (~17,600 m), 14 holes from Douay and 18 holes from Joutel, out of 66 holes (~30,500 m) completed to date under the current drill program, with additional, fully funded drilling planned in H2 2026 and 2027.

• Results from the current drill program are not included in the updated Mineral Resource Estimate ("2026 MRE") at Douay/Joutel (see news release dated April 27, 2026); the maiden Joutel Mineral Resource, reported at a 1.70 g/t Au underground cut-off grade, includes:

  • Indicated Resource: 0.9 million tonnes ("Mt") at an average grade of 4.53 g/t Au for 126,000 ounces ("oz") Au; and

  • Inferred Resource: 7.5 Mt at an average grade of 4.11 g/t Au for 992,000 oz Au.

Vancouver, June 3, 2026 - Maple Gold Mines Ltd. (TSXV: MGM) (OTCQX: MGMLF) (FSE: M3G0) ("Maple Gold" or the "Company") today reported new results from its ongoing, fully funded 32,000-m winter drill campaign (the "Program") at its 100%-owned Douay Gold Project ("Douay") and Joutel Gold Project ("Joutel") (together, "Douay/Joutel" or the "Project") located along the Casa Berardi-Douay Gold Trend in Québec, Canada. Four (4) shallow (<500 m vertical depth) drill holes completed east of the Telbel Mine shaft at Joutel continue to demonstrate strong grade continuity and further support the expansion potential of the high-grade gold system beyond the historical Eagle-Telbel underground workings and the 2026 MRE.

"Drilling at Joutel continues to demonstrate strong grade and continuity in previously under-explored areas, with the latest high-grade intercepts now extending gold mineralization up to 450 m beyond the historical Eagle-Telbel underground workings," stated Kiran Patankar, President and CEO of Maple Gold. "Recent results have sharpened our understanding of the key controls on mineralization and strengthened our confidence in Joutel's near-term resource expansion potential beyond the 2026 MRE. We expect to continue testing this high-grade gold system with aggressive, fully funded step-out drill programs in H2 2026 and 2027."

Discussion of Joutel Drilling Results

Results reported today include four (4) additional diamond drill holes ("DDH") designed to test shallow areas with limited drilling along strike from the historical Telbel Mine at Joutel (see Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4). These holes targeted interpreted zones of high-grade gold mineralization projected up-plunge and along strike from previously mined-out stopes within a geologically favourable stratigraphic host unit termed the MICH. The historical Eagle, Eagle West and Telbel gold mines (together, the "Joutel Mining Complex") produced 1.1 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 6.5 g/t Au from the MICH between 1974 and 1993.

The Joutel Mining Complex lies along the southern branch of the regional Casa Berardi Deformation Zone, a major gold-bearing structure in the prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt. Mineralization is hosted within the uppermost cycle of the Joutel volcanic complex (the "Mine Sequence"), which includes a thick rhyodacitic to dacitic pyroclastic footwall unit overlain by interbedded clastic and chemical sedimentary rocks, felsic pyroclastics, and mafic flows. Within the Mine Sequence, the continuous MICH, with strong iron carbonate alteration and veining, hosts the bulk of historical gold production. The Mine Sequence is also cut by two significant, late east-northeast to northeast-trending Proterozoic diabase dykes (see Figures 1 and 2).

Gold mineralization at Joutel is typically hosted within semi-massive pyrite-quartz-ankerite-siderite-carbonate horizons (including the MICH) cut by quartz and quartz-dolomite veins and veinlets. The MICH trends southeast at 130° azimuth and dips sub-vertically. Both the Eagle and Telbel mines host higher-grade 'shoots' that show primary plunges of 55° to 60° to the southeast, consistent with the regional plunge lineation. A secondary shallower westerly plunge has also been noted, orthogonal to the primary plunge. The MICH is the primary exploration target at Joutel, along strike, up- and down-dip, and up- and down-plunge of known high-grade mineralization. Sub-parallel carbonate horizons are secondary exploration targets.

Drill holes JO-26-12, JO-26-13, JO-26-14 and JO-26-15 were completed over a 350 m strike length and 450 m vertical distance, southeast of the Telbel Mine shaft, to target the interpreted up-plunge projections of high-grade gold mineralization in under-explored areas at shallower depths.

Drill holes JO-26-12 and JO-26-13 were designed as step-out holes 50 m above and 50 m east, respectively, from previously reported drill hole JO-25-05, which returned 8.5 g/t Au over 8.0 m including 17.5 g/t Au over 1.5 m within the MICH (see news release dated February 26, 2026). Highlights include:

• DDH JO-26-12: 2.3 g/t Au over 6.6 m, including

  • 2.9 g/t Au over 4.7 m

• DDH JO-26-13: 2.7 g/t Au over 10.2 m, including

  • 16.3 g/t Au over 1.3 m

Drill hole JO-26-14, a further 250-m step-out located southeast from drill hole JO-26-13 and 50 m above the eastern extent of the Telbel Mine underground workings returned another strong intersection in the MICH as follows:

• DDH JO-26-14: 5.6 g/t Au over 10.4 m, including

  • 7.4 g/t Au over 7.5 m, including

    • 15.5 g/t Au over 2.0 m

Drill hole JO-26-15 was drilled 350 m up-dip from JO-26-14 to test the shallow Telbel Mine environment for additional southeast plunging 'shoots' and intersected high-grade gold mineralization within the 'footwall micro-gabbro' unit. This distinct marker unit has previously returned 13.3 g/t Au over 3.0 m including 25.4 g/t Au over 1.5 m in drill hole JO-25-01 (see news release dated February 26, 2026), and 11.4 g/t Au over 3.0 m including 24.4 g/t Au over 1.0 m in drill hole EM-22-009, located 2 km to the northwest (see news release dated August 15, 2022). Highlights include:

• DDH JO-26-15: 14.0 g/t Au over 2.0 m, including

  • 20.9 g/t Au over 1.3 m, including

    • 32.6 g/t Au over 0.8 m

DDH and assay intercept locations are shown in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 with significant assay highlights provided in Table 1.

Key Findings of Joutel Drilling To-Date

1. Successful demonstration that the known MICH-hosted gold mineralization extends well beyond the historic Eagle-Telbel mine underground workings.

2. Gold mineralization is associated with a zone of hydrothermal breccia hosted by felsic tuff underlain by the MICH and then well bedded, semi-massive pyrite mineralization.

3. Anomalous gold is present locally within the hanging wall felsic tuff sequence and in a continuous microgabbro intrusive within the footwall sequence often carries gold grades > 1 g/t Au and occasionally > 20 g/ t Au (drill holes JO-25-01 and JO-26-15).

4. Five (5) of the drill holes (JO-25-01, JO-25-05, JO-25-07, JO-26-11, JO-26-15) have returned eight (8) individual assays greater than 20.0 g/t Au with a high of 40.8 g/t Au over 0.5 m in drill hole JO-25-05.

5. Current drilling at Joutel has now extended high-grade gold mineralization up to 450 m beyond the historical Eagle-Telbel underground workings.

6. The strength and continuity of the gold mineralization at Joutel is very encouraging and the system remains open in multiple directions with strong potential for expansion through follow-up drilling.

The Company has completed 22 drill holes to date at Joutel totaling 10,870 m of the approved 12,000-m program. Assays have now been reported for 18 drill holes at Joutel.

Figure 1: Plan view map of the Eagle-Telbel Area highlighting the MICH Horizon, Drill Target Areas, and 2025-2026 Completed Drill Holes

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Figure 2: Joutel longitudinal section with Eagle-Telbel Underground Workings & Mined-Out Stopes (in grey), 2026 MRE blocks and 2025-2026 Completed Drill Holes with Significant Assay Results. Looking Northeast.

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Figure 3: Joutel DDH Cross-Section - Telbel Mine East - Drill Holes JO-25-12 and JO-26-13 with Significant Assay Results. Looking West.

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Figure 4: Joutel DDH Cross-Section - Telbel Mine East - Drill Holes JO-25-14 and JO-26-15 with Significant Assay Results. Looking West.

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Table 1: Joutel 2026 Winter Program - Significant Assay Results

2026 Winter Program Update

The Company has completed 66 drill holes totaling ~30,500 m as part of its ongoing 32,000-m Program, with approximately 95% of the Program now complete. Assay results have now been reported for 14 holes from Douay and 18 holes from Joutel. Additional assay results will be reported as they are received, following QA/QC validation.

At Douay, drilling has focused on testing of the down-plunge extensions of the higher-grade Nika, 531, Douay West, Z10 and Porphyry West Zones.

At Joutel, drilling has focused on extensions of high-grade gold mineralization along the entire Eagle-Telbel mine trend and on 50-m-spaced step-out drill holes in the east Telbel Mine area to follow-up on encouraging results from drill holes JO-25-01, JO-25-05, JO-25-06, JO-25-07, and JO26-11.

Concurrent development milestones are anticipated throughout 2026 to advance and de-risk Douay/Joutel, including the recently released 2026 MRE as well as internal scoping/engineering/trade-off studies.

The Company has also completed an inaugural three (3) hole, 1,317-m diamond drill program at its Morris VMS Project ("Morris"), east of Matagami, Québec to evaluate prospective stratigraphy known to host the Matagami VMS deposits and mines. Results for the Morris drill program are currently pending.

A total exploration budget of $13.9 million has been approved for 2026, including permitting, 32,000 m of diamond drilling, regional sonic drilling, assaying, personnel, camp, and site support costs. This work will be fully funded from Maple Gold's existing ~$30 million treasury. Planning for expanded H2 2026 and 2027 exploration programs is currently underway.

Additional Notes

Starting azimuth, dip and final length (Azimuth/Dip/Length (m)) for the four (4) drill holes reported in this news release are noted as follows: JO-25-12 (037/65/636), JO-25-13 (034/65.5/700), JO-25-14 (037/63/756), and JO-26-15 (049/47/312).

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

The Company implements strict Quality Assurance ("QA") and Quality Control ("QC") protocols at Joutel covering the planning and placing of drill holes in the field, drilling and retrieving the NQ-sized drill core, drill hole surveying, core transport, core logging by qualified personnel, sampling and bagging of ½ cut drill core for analysis, and the transport of samples from site to commercial laboratories for analysis.

All core drilling conducted by the Company is oriented. Samples of drill core were cut by a diamond blade rock saw, with half of the cut core placed in individual sealed polyurethane bags and half placed back in the original core box for permanent storage at the Douay site. Sample lengths typically vary from a minimum 0.3-m interval to a maximum 1.5-m interval, with an average 0.5 to 1.0-m sample length. Drill core samples were delivered by truck in sealed woven plastic bags to ALS Geochemistry laboratory facility in Val-d'Or, Quebec for sample preparation with final analysis at ALS Geochemistry Analytical Lab facility in North Vancouver, BC. for the fire assay fusion method and induced coupled plasma ("ICP") atomic emission spectroscopy. ALS Geochemistry operate meeting all requirements of International Standards ISO/IE 17025:2017 and ISO 9001:2015.

Drill core samples were crushed to 70% passing 2mm, then a representative split is taken and pulverized to 85% passing 75μm. Gold was determined by the fire-assay fusion method (Au-AA24) of a 50-gram sub-sample with atomic absorption spectroscopy ("AAS"). Samples that returned values >5 ppm gold from fire assay and AAS were determined by using fire assay and a gravimetric finish. Various metals including silver, gold, copper, lead and zinc were analyzed by ICP mass spectroscopy (ME-MS41), following aqua regia digestion.

All ALS Geochemistry sites operate under a single Global Geochemistry Quality Manual that complies with ISO/IEC 17025:2017. ALS Geochemistry follows the quality management and operational guidelines set out in the international standards ISO/IEC 17025 - "General Requirement for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories" and ISO 9001 - "Quality Management Systems".

Qualified Person

Pascal Lessard, géo (OGQ #00434), Vice President, Exploration of Maple Gold, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information related to exploration and Mineral Resource matters contained in this news release. Mr. Lessard is a Qualified Person as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

About the Douay/Joutel Gold Project

The Douay/Joutel Gold Project is located adjacent to Highway 109 in the heart of Québec's Abitibi greenstone belt, Canada's premier gold mining jurisdiction. This large, 100%-owned land package includes the Company's flagship Douay Gold Project, which hosts an established pit-constrained and underground mineral resource^[1] containing 779,000 ounces of gold (Indicated) and 3.31 million ounces of gold (Inferred), as well as the Joutel Gold Project, which hosts an established underground mineral resource^[2] containing 126,000 ounces of gold (Indicated) and 992,000 ounces of gold (Inferred) proximal to the past-producing, high-grade Joutel Mining Complex^[3]. The Property contains ~481 square kilometers of highly prospective geology within the influence of the major gold-bearing Casa Berardi Deformation Zone. Gold mines in the immediate region include the Casa Berardi Gold Mine, operated by Orezone Gold Corporation, and the Detour Lake Gold Mine operated by Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd..

About Maple Gold

Maple Gold Mines Ltd. is a well-funded Canadian gold exploration company focused on advancing its 100%-owned, district-scale Douay/Joutel Gold Project located in Québec's prolific Abitibi Greenstone Gold Belt. Douay/Joutel benefits from exceptional infrastructure access and boasts ~481 square kilometers of highly prospective ground hosting an established multi-million-ounce gold mineral resource at the Douay¹ and Joutel² deposits, both with significant expansion potential, as well as the past-producing Telbel and Eagle West mines at Joutel. In addition, the Company holds an exclusive option to acquire 100% of the Eagle Mine Property, a key part of the historical Joutel Mining Complex.

Maple Gold's property package also hosts a significant number of regional exploration targets along a 55-kilometer strike length of the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone that have yet to be tested through drilling, making the property ripe for new gold and volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) discoveries. The Company is currently focused on carrying out exploration and drill programs to grow mineral resources and make new discoveries to establish an exciting new gold district in the heart of the Abitibi. For more information, please visit www.maplegoldmines.com.

ON BEHALF OF MAPLE GOLD MINES LTD.

"Kiran Patankar"

Kiran Patankar, President & CEO

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS PRESS RELEASE.

Forward-Looking Statements and Cautionary Notes:

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively referred to as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation in Canada, including, without limitation, statements regarding the intended acceleration of the Warrants. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective,", "strategy", "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements about the resource expansion and discovery potential across the Company's gold projects, and its intention to pursue such potential, and the Company's exploration work and results from current and future work programs. Although the Company believes that forward-looking statements in this news release are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct, as forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, uncertainties and management's best estimate of future events on the date the statements are made and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations and projections, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. For a more detailed discussion of additional risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements in this news release, please refer to the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators available on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval Plus (SEDAR+) at www.sedarplus.ca or the Company's website at www.maplegoldmines.com. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and/or the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any intention to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

^[1] The Douay Gold Project contains Indicated Mineral Resources estimated at 18.2 Mt at a grade of 1.33 g/t Au (containing 779,000 oz Au), and Inferred Mineral Resources estimated at 122.7 Mt at a grade of 0.84 g/t Au (containing 3,305,000 oz Au). The 2026 Douay Mineral Resource Estimate was prepared by SLR with an effective date of April 24, 2026.
^[2] The Joutel Gold Project contains Indicated Mineral Resources estimated at 0.9 Mt at a grade of 4.53 g/t Au (containing 126,000 oz Au), and Inferred Mineral Resources estimated at 7.5 Mt at a grade of 4.11 g/t Au (containing 992,000 oz Au). The 2026 Joutel Mineral Resource Estimate was prepared by SLR with an effective date of April 24, 2026.
^[3] The Eagle, Eagle West and Telbel Gold Mines at Joutel were in production from 1974 to 1993 and produced 1.1 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 6.5 g/t Au (Agnico Eagle Mines Limited's corporate website).

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