New Copper Zone Discovery Fuels Fresh Exploration Momentum

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Monday, March 2, 2026

Copper and gold explorers are back in focus as investors look for projects that can deliver scale, grade, and near-surface growth in established mining jurisdictions. With electrification driving long-term copper demand and gold maintaining its role as a macro hedge, drill results that point to resource expansion potential are drawing renewed attention across the junior mining space.

Shares of Visionary Copper and Gold Mines Inc. (TSX-V: VCG) (OTCQB: VCGMF) are moving higher Monday after the company reported initial results from its Phase 1 drill program at the 100% owned Pt. Leamington Project in central Newfoundland. The program is designed to expand the existing volcanogenic massive sulphide, or VMS, deposit and test high-priority exploration targets near surface.

Among the highlights, drill hole PL-112 intersected 20.9 meters grading 0.35 g/t gold, 18.25 g/t silver, 0.30% copper, and 1.96% zinc, followed by 51.9 meters grading 0.46 g/t gold, 9.4 g/t silver, 0.37% copper, and 1.32% zinc. The company noted these widths and grades are higher and wider than nearby historic holes included in the current mineral resource estimate.

PL-112 also led to the discovery of a new copper-rich zone, named the Kraken zone, returning 75.8 meters of 0.45% copper and an additional 23.5 meters of 0.43% copper on a newly emerging lower footwall horizon. Visionary said the Kraken mineralization sits outside the existing resource and pit shell, suggesting potential for near-surface resource growth that could be incorporated into an expanded pit design.

Drill hole PL-111 extended the strike of the Pt. Leamington deposit to more than one kilometer by testing a 350-meter airborne electromagnetic anomaly south of the current deposit. The hole intersected 2.8 meters grading 1.20 g/t gold, 0.62% copper, and 1.87% zinc, along with 9.2 meters of stringer mineralization grading 1.16 g/t gold and 0.53% zinc. The target had not previously been drill tested.

To date, the company has completed 2,119 meters across six of the seven proposed holes in the 3,000-meter program, with additional holes added to follow up on the newly discovered mineralization. Step-out drilling is ongoing to define and expand the Kraken zone along its stratigraphic horizon.

Visionary also reported that samples from the gold and copper-rich zones have been submitted for mineralogical studies, with a bench-scale metallurgical program planned to evaluate flotation and gold recovery methods in support of a future Preliminary Economic Assessment.

The Pt. Leamington Project currently hosts a pit-constrained indicated mineral resource of 5.0 million tonnes grading 2.5 g/t gold equivalent for 402,000 ounces gold equivalent, along with significant inferred resources both within and outside the pit shell.

Shares of VCG are up 4.6% to C$0.91 in early Monday trading, while shares of VCGMF are ahead 0.05% to $0.644.

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