Apogee Minerals Closes Knife Lake Copper Project Option Transaction and Files Independent NI 43-101 Technical Report
Vancouver, British Columbia, Sept. 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apogee Minerals Ltd. (“Apogee” or the “Company”) (TSXV: APMI) is pleased to announce that it has closed its previously announced option transaction (the “Transaction”) with Trident Resources Corp. (“Trident”) (TSXV: ROCK), an arm’s length party, pursuant to which Trident has granted the Company the sole and exclusive right and option (the “Option”) to acquire a 100% right, title and interest in and to the Knife Lake Copper Project located in east-central Saskatchewan (the “Property” or the “Knife Lake Project”), subject to the Underlying NSR Royalties described below. Concurrently with the closing of the Transaction, the Company has filed an independent technical report prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”) titled “NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Knife Lake Copper VMS Project, Saskatchewan” (the “Technical Report”), with an effective date of July 13, 2026 and a signature date of August 24, 2026, in respect of the Property. The Transaction was previously announced in the Company’s news release dated July 14, 2026.
The Transaction has received final acceptance from the TSX Venture Exchange (the “TSXV”). In connection with the closing of the Transaction (the “Closing”, and the date of Closing, the “Closing Date”), the Company paid Trident $100,000 in cash and issued to Trident 7,400,000 common shares of the Company (each, a “Share”). All Shares issued are subject to a statutory hold period of four months and one day from the date of issuance in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws. Apogee will act as operator on the Property during the option period, and no finder’s fees are payable in connection with the Transaction.
Transaction Terms:
To exercise the Option and acquire a 100% interest in the Property, the Company must pay Trident a total of $400,000 in cash, issue a total of 7,400,000 Shares plus Shares having an aggregate deemed value of $700,000, and incur a minimum of $1,000,000 in exploration expenditures on the Property, as follows:
| Date | Cash Payments | Share Issuances | Exploration Expenditures |
| On the Closing Date | $100,000 | 7,400,000 Shares | — |
| On or before the first anniversary of the Closing Date | $150,000 | Shares having a deemed value of $350,000(1) | $500,000 |
| On or before the second anniversary of the Closing Date | $150,000 | Shares having a deemed value of $350,000(1) | $500,000 (additional) |
| Total | $400,000 | 7,400,000 Shares plus Shares having a deemed value of $700,000(1) | $1,000,000 |
(1) Shares to be issued at the greater of (i) $0.09 and (ii) the ten (10) day volume weighted average closing price of the Shares on the TSXV at the applicable time.
No Shares will be issued to Trident to the extent such issuance would result in Trident holding ten percent (10%) or more of the outstanding common shares of Apogee or becoming a reporting insider of the Company; in such circumstances, the Company may satisfy the applicable amount by way of an equivalent cash payment. Apogee may accelerate the exercise of the Option at any time by completing the required payments and exploration expenditures, and may elect to satisfy any portion of the required exploration expenditures in cash.
Upon exercise of the Option, the Company will hold a 100% interest in the Property, subject to existing underlying royalties consisting of a 2.5% net smelter returns (“NSR”) royalty payable to Summit Royalties Ltd. and a 1.5% NSR royalty payable to a private individual on certain mineral claims comprising the Property (collectively, the “Underlying NSR Royalties”).
Filing of the NI 43-101 Technical Report:
The Technical Report provides an independent, consolidated technical assessment of the Knife Lake Project as of its July 13, 2026 effective date. Its principal purpose is to expand upon the September, 2019, technical report by including the exploration work completed on the Property by Rockridge Resources Ltd. (now Trident) in 2021 and 2022, comprising two diamond drilling campaigns, prospecting, and airborne (VTEM) and borehole electromagnetic surveys, together with a June, 2026, independent site visit and data verification. This is the first time that the 2021 and 2022 exploration results have been captured within an NI 43-101 technical report for the Project, and the filing supports Apogee’s scientific and technical disclosure regarding the Property under NI 43-101.
There is a historical mineral resource at Knife Lake but no current mineral resource estimate or mineral reserve estimate has been prepared for the Project, and none is disclosed in the Technical Report. No metallurgical test work, mining, recovery, infrastructure, market, capital or operating cost, or economic analysis has been undertaken by the Company, and the Technical Report does not report any such studies.
The Technical Report was prepared for Apogee by Mikaela Miller, B.Sc. (Hons.), P.Geo., and John Shmyr, B.Sc. (Hons.), P.Geo., both of Dahrouge Geological Consulting Ltd. and each an independent “Qualified Person” as defined under NI 43-101.
Historical Mineral Resource Estimate:
The Knife Lake Project hosts a historical NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate with an effective date of June 12, 2019, prepared for Trident’s predecessor company, Rockridge, by Moose Mountain Technical Services Inc. under the direction of Sue Bird, P.Eng., an independent qualified person. The estimate is documented in the technical report titled “NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimation for the Knife Lake Property, Saskatchewan” (Kenwood, Bird & Meintjes), dated September 27, 2019, and filed on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) under Rockridge’s issuer profile. The estimate is summarized below at a 0.4% CuEq cut-off:
| Category | Tonnage (kt) | CuEq (%) | Cu (%) | Ag (g/t) | Au (g/t) | Co (ppm) | Zn (ppm) | CuEq (Mlbs) | Cu (Mlbs) | Ag (koz) | Au (oz) |
| Indicated | 3,836 | 1.02 | 0.83 | 3.7 | 0.097 | 82.0 | 1,740.7 | 86 | 70 | 456 | 11,951 |
| Inferred | 7,902 | 0.67 | 0.53 | 2.4 | 0.084 | 53.1 | 1,454.9 | 117 | 92 | 610 | 21,340 |
Notes: CuEq (%) = Cu (%) + 0.0000398 × Zn (ppm) + 0.0005901 × Co (ppm) + 0.553 × Au (g/t) + 0.005 × Ag (g/t). The metal factors reflect each metal’s recoverable, payable value relative to copper at the assumptions adopted for the 2019 estimate: Cu US$2.80/lb (95% recovery, 99% payable); Zn US$1.20/lb (90%, 97%); Co US$18.00/lb (89%, 97%); Au US$1,300/oz (80%, 96%); and Ag US$17.00/oz (55%, 90%), at an exchange rate of US$0.77 = C$1.00. The 0.4% CuEq cut-off corresponds to a net smelter return cut-off of approximately C$30 per tonne. These are 2019 assumptions and are not current metal prices. Contained-metal figures are on a 100% basis and reflect rounding. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.
Apogee acquired its interest in the Project after the 2019 estimate was prepared, and accordingly the estimate is a historical estimate for the purposes of NI 43-101. A separate non NI 43-101 compliant historical geological resource of 20.3 million tonnes grading 0.60% Cu, 0.10 g/t Au, 3.0 g/t Ag, 0.06% Co and 0.11% Zn, together with an open-pittable historical geological resource of 11.0 million tonnes grading 0.75% Cu, was also reported by Leader Mining International Inc. in 1998 and is described in the Technical Report as a historical estimate.
The Qualified Persons have not done sufficient work to classify either historical estimate as a current mineral resource, and the Company is not treating either historical estimate as a current mineral resource. To advance the 2019 historical estimate to a current mineral resource estimate, the Qualified Persons have recommended verification of the historical drill hole database, twinning of representative drill holes, confirmation sampling of any accessible core, and updated resource modelling by a qualified person incorporating the 2021 and 2022 infill drilling. Readers are cautioned that the 2019 to 2022 drill core stored on the Property was destroyed in a forest fire and is no longer available for re-sampling. The Company is not aware of any more recent mineral resource estimate for the Property, and considers the historical estimates relevant and reliable as an indication of the exploration potential of the Project. Historical information may not be representative of expected results. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.
2021 and 2022 Drilling Included in Updated Technical Report:
The Technical Report incorporates the results of the 2021 and 2022 diamond drilling programs completed on the Property. The 2021 program included 12 diamond drill holes totalling 2,043 metres targeting both the Gilbert Lake area and the main Knife Lake Deposit. The two holes drilled at the deposit correlated closely with the modelled VTEM conductor plates, demonstrating that plate modelling of the survey data can be used to target VMS-style mineralization on the Property; the stronger of the two, hole KF21021, returned 14.02 metres grading 1.95% Cu, 7.41 g/t Ag, 0.11 g/t Au, 0.53% Zn and 0.02% Co.
The 2022 program comprised six holes totalling 939 metres, including four infill holes at the Knife Lake Deposit. All four infill holes intersected significant copper mineralization. Selected results include hole KF22030, which returned 15.90 metres grading 1.93% Cu, 0.26 g/t Au, 7.50 g/t Ag, 0.17% Zn and 0.02% Co from 13.80 metres downhole, including 9.00 metres grading 2.18% Cu. Hole KF22029 returned 15.75 metres grading 1.91% Cu, 0.23 g/t Au, 7.79 g/t Ag, 0.30% Zn and 0.01% Co from 13.00 metres, including a higher-grade interval of 0.75 metres grading 3.80% Cu. The Qualified Persons note that these results support the continuity of mineralization and indicate that additional drilling may expand the historical resource while improving the understanding of zoning within the deposit.
The reported intervals are drilled core lengths and true thicknesses are undetermined.
Recommended Work Program:
The Technical Report recommends a two-phase exploration program for the Project. Phase 1 comprises data verification, geological and geophysical modelling and target generation; Phase 2 comprises drill testing of the targets defined by Phase 1 and is contingent on Phase 1 results. The estimated cost of the recommended work is C$785,000 for Phase 1 and C$1,600,000 for Phase 2, for a combined total of C$2,385,000, of which only the Phase 1 amount is recommended as committed expenditure. Recommended work at the deposit includes reinterpretation of the historic ground geophysics, additional geological modelling to define down-dip and along-strike potential, borehole electromagnetic surveying of completed holes, expansion and confirmation drilling, and updated resource modelling incorporating the 2021 and 2022 infill drilling. Regional recommendations include a property-scale, high-resolution, deep-penetrating airborne electromagnetic survey followed by ground follow-up, and additional prospecting, mapping and drilling at the Gilbert Lake, Scimitar Lake and other regional targets.
Availability of the Technical Report:
A copy of the Technical Report is available under the Company’s issuer profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and on the Company’s website at www.apogeemineralsltd.com. Readers are encouraged to review the Technical Report in its entirety, including the assumptions, qualifications and limitations set out therein. This news release summarizes only selected information from the Technical Report and does not purport to be a complete summary of it.
About the Knife Lake Project:
The Knife Lake Project comprises 54 mineral claims totalling approximately 35,255 hectares in two discrete contiguous blocks in east-central Saskatchewan, located approximately 136 kilometres northwest of Flin Flon, Manitoba and approximately 180 kilometres northeast of La Ronge, Saskatchewan – a jurisdiction consistently ranked among the top mining jurisdictions in the world by the Fraser Institute. The Property hosts the Knife Lake Deposit, a near-surface, stratabound volcanogenic massive sulphide (“VMS”) style copper-zinc-silver-gold-cobalt deposit. The deposit comprises three stratabound zones – Central-South, Bay and North – that collectively extend approximately 4.5 kilometres along strike, with mineralization averaging approximately 15 metres in thickness and dipping 30–45° to the east. Apogee holds an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Property from Trident under an option agreement.
Qualified Person:
The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by John Shmyr, P.Geo., of Dahrouge Geological Consulting Ltd., a co-author of the Technical Report and a “Qualified Person” as defined by NI 43-101 who is independent of the Company. Mr. Shmyr has verified the data disclosed in this news release, including the sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information, and consents to the inclusion of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
About Apogee Minerals Ltd.:
Apogee Minerals Ltd. is a mineral exploration company. Our goal is to build shareholder value through mineral project acquisitions and advancement, as well as new mineral discoveries.
To find out more about Apogee Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V: APMI) visit the Company’s website: www.apogeemineralsltd.com
Apogee Minerals Ltd.
“Tim Fernback”
Tim Fernback
Interim CEO and Director
For further information, please contact:
Apogee Minerals Ltd.
Nicholas Coltura, Director
Email: ncoltura@sentinelmarket.com
Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
Cautionary Note Regarding Historical Estimates:
The historical estimates referred to in this news release are considered “historical estimates” as defined under NI 43-101. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current mineral resources, and the Company is not treating the historical estimates as current mineral resources. The historical estimates should not be relied upon. Significant additional work, including data verification, twinning of historical drill holes, confirmation sampling and updated resource modelling by a qualified person, would be required to verify the historical estimates as current mineral resources, and there is no certainty that such work would result in the historical estimates being verified as current mineral resources.
Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information:
This press release contains “forward-looking information” and “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. The forward-looking statements herein are made as of the date of this press release only, and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects”, “is expected”, “budgets”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “predicts”, “projects”, “intends”, “targets”, “aims”, “anticipates” or “believes” or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions “may”, “could”, “should”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements relating to the anticipated benefits of the Transaction; the issuance of Shares and the payments and exploration expenditures required to exercise the Option and acquire a 100% interest in the Property; the recommended exploration program and the Company’s planned exploration activities on the Property; the potential to advance the 2019 historical estimate to a current mineral resource estimate and the anticipated work required to do so; the potential for additional drilling to expand mineralization; the exercise of the option and the acquisition of a 100% interest in the Property; and the further advancement of the Knife Lake Project.
Such forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions of management of the Company, including, without limitation, that the Company will be able to pursue its exploration plans on the Property as anticipated and within the expected time frame; that results of exploration activities will be consistent with management’s expectations; that the work required to verify the historical estimates as current mineral resources can be completed as recommended; that the Company will be able to satisfy the required option payments and exploration expenditures necessary to exercise the option; and that the Company will have access to the resources and capital required to pursue further advancement of the Knife Lake Project.
Additionally, forward-looking information involves a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual plans, intentions, activities, results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future plans, intentions, activities, results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks include, without limitation: that the historical estimates may not be verified as current mineral resources; that actual results of the Company’s exploration activities may be different than those expected by management; the early-stage nature of the Project and the risk that current or future exploration may not result in the delineation of an economic mineral deposit; the inability to satisfy the requirements for the exercise of the option; delays in obtaining or failure to obtain required government, regulatory or TSXV approvals; the ability to obtain adequate financing to conduct planned exploration programs; and changes in legislation, changes in TSXV policies, political instability or general market conditions.
Such forward-looking information represents the best judgment of management of the Company based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual future results may vary materially. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. Neither the Company nor any of its representatives make any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, sufficiency or completeness of the information in this press release. Neither the Company nor any of its representatives shall have any liability whatsoever, under contract, tort, trust or otherwise, to you or any person resulting from the use of the information in this press release by you or any of your representatives or for omissions from the information in this press release.
