Metals Exploration PLC
16 July 2026
METALS EXPLORATION PLC
Quarterly Update to 30 June 2026
Metals Exploration plc (AIM: MTL) ("Metals Exploration", the "Company" or the "Group"), a gold production, development and exploration company with assets in the Philippines and Nicaragua, is pleased to announce its unaudited quarterly results for Q2 2026 (the "Quarter").
Finance
· Q2 2026 positive pre-tax free cash flow of US$25.2 million (Q1 2026: US$29.4 million).
· Q2 2026 gold revenue of US$47.1 million (Q1 2026: US$52.9 million).
· Q2 2026 gold sales of 10,552 ounces ("oz") sold at an average realised gold price of US$4,463 per ounce ("/oz") (Q1 2026: 10,821 oz sold at an average US$4,885 /oz).
· Cash on hand of US$9.0 million at 30 June 2026.
Runruno - Mining Operations
· Q2 2026 mining production of ore and waste was 2.93 million tonnes ("Mt") (Q1 2026: 2.94 Mt), with a total of 198 thousand tonnes ("kt") of ore mined in Q2 2026 (Q1 2026: 396 kt).
Runruno - Processing Operations
· Q2 2026 gold production of 10,946 oz recovered from 492 kt at a head grade of 0.82 grammes per tonne ("g/t") (Q1 2026: 10,505 oz recovered from 461 kt at a head grade of 0.92 g/t).
· Q2 2026 all-in-sustaining-cost ("AISC") of US$2,019 /oz (Q1 2026: US$2,067 /oz).
· Q2 2026 gold recovery of 84.4% (Q1 2026: 77.1%).
Development - La India, Nicaragua
· Overall construction is 56% complete, with first gold pour remaining on track for December 2026.
· Project expenditure to date stands at US$123.9 million of the total revised budget of US$177 million.
· Construction continues to be funded by the Company's Runruno gold mine in the Philippines.
· 1.7 million hours worked with no lost time injuries.
· Processing plant construction is tracking at 25%.
· Key critical path activity - Carbon-In-Leach ("CIL") Tank installation progressed beyond 50%.
· Approximately 220,000 tonnes of commissioning ore is stockpiled on the run-of-mine pad in line with targeted 500,000 tonnes by the processing plant commissioning date.
Exploration - La India Nicaragua
· Multiple exploration drilling programmes completed or on-going across the Company's enlarged licence package.
· La India South Extension Phase 1 drilling programme underway with 3,683m planned. Core logging results show the presence of a wide epithermal vein system open at depth and along strike. This drill programme plans to extend the recent intersection of LIGT612, 31.2m at 4.37 g/t Au (From 181.6 to 212.8m), including: 0.48m at 138.4 g/t Au. Given the proximity to the Company's current underground mine plan, the La India South Extension is seen as a high priority target.
· Cacao Phase 1 drilling complete (7,852m), with high-grade westerly plunging ore shoot identified. Significant intercepts include:
o CCRD043, 12.7m at 3.52 g/t gold ("Au") (From 270.8m to 283.5m)
§ Including: 2.00m at 19.7 g/t Au
o CCRD044, 10.66m at 1.92 g/t Au (From 233.62m to 244.28m)
§ Including: 0.52m at 21.3 g/t Au
o CCRD052, 6.00m at 2.24 g/t Au (From 169.2m to 175.2m)
§ Including: 3.00m at 5.00 g/t Au
o CCRD055, 3.00m at 6.95 g/t Au (From 338m to 341m)
· La Grecia scout drilling programme underway, with an initial 1,691m planned. La Grecia forms part of the new tenement the Company received a licence for, as announced on 10 April 2026.
Exploration - Batong Buhay, the Philippines
· During the Quarter, the Company signed a series of agreements to develop the Batong Buhay Porphyry Copper-Gold Project in Northern Luzon, the Philippines (the "Batong Buhay Project").
· The main porphyry target, Dickson, has a historical non-JORC compliant resource of 86.9 million tonnes at 0.83% copper equivalent ("CuEq") from surface.
· Pre-drilling activities are underway and will determine the design of a drilling campaign expected to commence in H2 2026.
Darren Bowden, CEO of Metals Exploration, commented:
"Q2 2026 was a strong quarter for the Group. Runruno generated gold revenue of US$47.1 million and positive pre-tax free cash flow of US$25.2 million, with gold recovery improving to 84.4%. The cash generation from Runruno remains central to funding La India, where construction continued to progress well during the Quarter, with civil foundations, bulk earthworks and process plant mechanical erection all advancing well. First gold remains on track for December 2026. To further support our funding, the Group is in the process of finalising a US$27 million mining equipment loan with a local Nicaraguan bank, with the first drawdown against this facility expected in August 2026.
"We are particularly encouraged by the progress of our extensional drilling at La India South, which is now over halfway complete. Drilling is continuing to discover wide zones of epithermal mineralisation associated with the main La India system. This programme is testing the potential southeast extension of the deposit along the plunge direction, and successful results could support further Mineral Resource growth and extend the underground life of mine beyond our current expectations.
"Alongside this, we were delighted to secure the rights to develop the Batong Buhay Project in the Philippines, adding a significant copper-gold porphyry project to our growth pipeline. Pre-drilling activities are underway, which will be used to determine the design of a drilling campaign expected to commence in H2 2026."
Runruno Production and Finance Summary
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Runruno Project Report |
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Quarter |
Quarter |
FY 2026 |
FY 2025 |
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FY 2026 |
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Actual |
Actual |
Actual |
Actual |
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PHYSICALS |
Units |
Q2 2026 |
Q2 2025 |
6 Months |
6 Months |
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Mining |
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Ore Mined |
Tonnes |
198,478 |
524,870 |
566,049 |
1,028,333 |
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Waste Mined |
Tonnes |
2,728,476 |
2,456,963 |
5,303,507 |
4,889,310 |
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Total Mined |
Tonnes |
2,925,954 |
2,981,833 |
5,869,555 |
5,917,643 |
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Au Grade Mined |
g/tonne |
0.96 |
1.40 |
1.02 |
1.54 |
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Strip Ratio |
8.97 |
4.52 |
7.26 |
4.65 |
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Processing |
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Ore Milled |
Tonnes |
491,536 |
504,253 |
952,585 |
1,041,486 |
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Au Grade |
g/tonne |
0.82 |
1.34 |
0.87 |
1.34 |
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S2 Grade |
% |
1.06 |
1.21 |
1.06 |
1.18 |
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Au Milled (contained) |
Ounces |
12,970 |
21,702 |
26,591 |
44,841 |
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Recovery |
% |
84.4 |
92.1 |
80.7 |
91.4 |
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Au Recovered/Poured |
Ounces |
10,946 |
19,993 |
21,451 |
40,985 |
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Sales |
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Au Sold |
Ounces |
10,552 |
23,021 |
21,373 |
41.240 |
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Au Price |
US$/oz |
4,463 |
3,061 |
4,677 |
2,884 |
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FINANCIALS (Unaudited) |
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Revenue |
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Gold Sales |
(US$000's) |
47,099 |
70,473 |
99,954 |
118,949 |
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Operating Costs - Summary |
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Mining |
(US$000's) |
5,539 |
5,470 |
10,737 |
10,260 |
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Processing |
(US$000's) |
7,642 |
8,672 |
14,707 |
17,134 |
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G&A |
(US$000's) |
2,242 |
2,531 |
4,417 |
6,413 |
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Total Operating Costs |
(US$000's) |
15,423 |
16,673 |
29,860 |
33,807 |
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Excise Duty and local taxes |
(US$000's) |
2,022 |
2,827 |
5,740 |
4,779 |
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UK/Philippine G&A |
(US$000's) |
2,498 |
2,124 |
6,348 |
6,096 |
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Total Direct Production Costs |
(US$000's) |
|
19,944 |
21,624 |
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41,948 |
44,682 |
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Net Cash Income |
(US$000's) |
27,155 |
48,849 |
58,006 |
74,267 |
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Total Capital Costs |
(US$000's) |
1,922 |
1,641 |
3,345 |
3,523 |
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Total non-cash costs |
(US$000's) |
15,354 |
28,167 |
25,042 |
44,400 |
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Pre-tax Free Cashflow |
(US$000's) |
25,233 |
47,208 |
54,662 |
70,744 |
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Cash Cost / oz Sold - C1 |
US$/oz |
1,408 |
811 |
1,321 |
839 |
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Cash Cost / oz Sold - AISC1 |
US$/oz |
2,019 |
1,098 |
2,043 |
1,189 |
Note 1: AISC includes all UK Corporate costs. It excludes costs directly related to the Nicaraguan assets.
Runruno Operations
Finance
Q2 2026 recorded gold sales of US$47.1 million (Q1 2026: US$52.9 million), at an average realised gold price of US$4,463 /oz (Q1 2026: average gold price of US$4,885 /oz); producing positive pre-tax free cash flow of US$25.2 million (Q1 2026: US$29.4 million).
The Company's cash holdings at 30 June 2026 were US$9.0 million (31 March 2026: US$36.5 million). As part of managing working capital, the Group has an undrawn US$30 million gold pre-pay facility in place. As at 30 June 2026, the Group has no debt. To further support funding, the Group is in the process of finalising a US$27 million mining equipment loan from a leading Nicaraguan bank, with the first drawdown against this facility expected in August 2026.
Mining Operations
Mining production of ore and waste for Q2 2026 was slightly above management's forecast at 2.93 Mt (Q1 2026: 2.94 Mt). During Q2 2026, a total of 198 kt of ore was mined (Q1 2026: 396 kt).
Process Plant
Gold produced during Q2 2026 was 10,946 oz (Q1 2026: 10,505 oz) from ore milled in Q2 2026 of 492 kt (Q1 2026: 461 kt), at an AISC of US$2,019 /oz (Q1 2026: US$2,067 /oz). Head grade was lower than forecast at 0.82 g/t (Q1 2026: 0.92 g/t) due to less continuity of grade in the mining area.
The average gold recovery rate for Q2 2026 was 84.4% (Q1 2026: 77.1%).
Residual Storage Impoundment ("RSI")
The RSI dam water freeboard remains well above design minimum levels. Construction of the RSI final in-rock spillway continues and is scheduled to be fully operational during Q3 2026 with attendant reduction in on-going capex.
Development
La India Gold Project
Construction activities at the La India Project progressed well during the Quarter with overall construction on-track at 56% complete. The total Project budget was increased by 4% to US$177 million owing to unforeseen logistics costs and new import duties imposed on certain goods being imported. The first gold pour at La India remains on track for December 2026. Highlights for the Quarter include:
· 1.7 million hours worked with no lost time injuries.
· Civil foundations progressed to 90% complete, with concrete and rebar installation ongoing across the tailings area (thickener and detox tank foundations), gold room, pebble crusher and reagents areas.
· Structural, mechanical, piping and electrical installation ("SMPEI") delivered by Duroblock S.A. with Degbed Company Limited as specialist mill installation contractor, progressed across the process plant. CIL tank ring fit-out reached 32 of 60 rings (53%) across the ten tanks, comprising TK-1 (5/6 rings), TK-2 (0/6), TK-3 (3/6), TK-4 (2/6), TK-5 (1/6), TK-6 (3/6), TK-7 (0/6) and TK-8, TK-9 and TK-10 (each 6/6, complete), with verticalisation, ring lifting, reinforcement placement and vertical welding continuing across the remaining tanks.
· Mechanical erection of the SAG mill feed conveyor (CV-004), pebble crusher and grinding circuit structure continued, with Level 1 steelwork installed around the SAG mill and progressing around the ball mill, delivery to site of the cooling water surge tank, gold room hopper, primary crusher components and other long-lead items.
· The thickener arrived on site, with shake-out and support column installation underway; ring installation on the first Detox Tank (710-TK-07) also commenced. Agitators arrived on site with assembly due to begin imminently.
· On-site laboratory to be fully functional by the end of July.
· Bulk earthworks were 93% complete; cumulative material delivered to the ROM pad reached 211,000 tonnes, against the 500,000-tonne pre-commissioning target.
· The first three 777 Caterpillar dump trucks, part of the Group's mine fleet, arrived on-site and are undergoing fit-out. The remaining mining fleet components are due to arrive over the next two quarters in-line with ramp up of mining operations via the Company's owner-operator mining model.
· Foundation improvement for Stage 1 of the TSF has been completed, and backfilling of the starter dam has commenced.
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Exploration - Nicaragua
Since acquiring the La India Project, the Company's focus has been on extensional drilling from planned mining areas and the Cacao prospect. Given the Company recently increased its licence package in Nicaragua, greater focus has been given to La Grecia with an initial scout programme underway.
La India South Extension
The La India vein set currently hosts 1.3 Moz at 3.4 g/t Au and will be the initial area of focus for open pit mining. Southeast of the planned pit shell, there is no surface expression of mineralisation, however significant gold intercepts (shown in Figure 5) have identified gold mineralisation at depths from 50m below surface with intercepts such as 21.08m at 10.24 g/t Au from 193.80m drill depth in drillhole LIDC152. The deepest hole drilled in the area was LIDC324 and this hole returned 7.55m at 10.2 g/t Au.
Figure 5: Long Section through the La India South Prospect, showing significant historical drilling results.
This blind discovery suggests the epithermal vein set continues along strike to the southeast, representing a mineralised corridor that is 1.7km in length. The current drilling programme at La India South will allow the Company to rapidly test this target and provide additional key data to support the estimation of a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate, which if a positive outcome is achieved, will form part of the Company's underground mine plan in this under-explored area of the La India district. To date all the recent drill holes have intersected wide zones of epithermal mineralisation.
Cacao
Cacao is located approximately 4km from the La India processing plant, where first gold production is expected in December 2026. Cacao is a significant satellite deposit within the larger La India Gold District, and the prospect features a fully preserved, high-grade epithermal gold system. A preliminary inferred resource has been calculated at Cacao at 100,000 oz at 2.7g/t Au, but recent drilling has shown that the vein has a moderate plunge to the west and grades appear to increase with depth, suggesting substantial upside.
At surface isolated exposures of quartz veins in bedrock and colluvium suggests that the Cacao structure extends for 3km to 4km, with samples from artisanal mine workings about 1.6km along strike from Cacao, returning assays of up to 11.6 g/t Au. The surface expression of Cacao is interpreted to represent the top of an epithermal gold system, with all of the vertical extent exposed. Surface mapping and core logging data have now been integrated with multiple targets identified over the 4km strike length of the Cacao Structure (Figure 1). The next phase of drilling will systematically explore these targets.
Figure 6: Plan view and long Section through the Cacao host structure, showing multiple targets to be drill tested in Q4 2026.
La Grecia
Drilling at La Grecia is currently underway (Figure 3), with an initial programme consisting of 1,691m planned. Historical rock chip sampling by Newcrest identified grades of up to 97.42 g/t Au. 80 samples were taken during this sampling programme, and the average grade of all the samples was 18.84 g/t Au.
Figure 7: Drilling at La Grecia is underway.
Exploration - Philippines
Batong Buhay Project
As announced on 15 June 2026, Metals Exploration has signed a series of agreements to develop the Batong Buhay Porphyry Copper-Gold Project. Located ~200km north of Runruno, Batong Buhay was drilled in the late 1970s via a 21-hole drilling programme. The main porphyry target, Dickson has a historical non-JORC compliant resource of 86.9 million tonnes at 0.83% CuEq from surface.
Historical drill intercepts include:
Dickson:
o DDH-6A, 160.93m at 0.92% copper ("Cu") and 0.60 g/t Au (1.48% copper equivalent ("CuEq")
o DDH-10, 182.88m at 0.73% Cu and 0.36 g/t Au (1.06% CuEq)
o DDH-12, 173.74m at 0.33% Cu and 0.95 g/t Au (1.21% CuEq)
Maalinao North:
o DDH-02, 198.12m at 1.15% Cu and 0.10 g/t Au (1.24% (CuEq)
o DDH-01, 134.36m at 0.76% Cu and 0.16 g/t Au (0.91% CuEq)
The Company has commenced pre-drilling activities that will determine the design of a drilling campaign which is expected to commence in H2 2026.
Abra Project
No exploration undertaken during the Quarter.
ESG
Occupational Health & Safety
The Company completed the Quarter without a lost time injury in either the Philippines or Nicaragua.
Environment & Compliance
Compliance matters continue to be successfully monitored, and all operations in both the Philippines and Nicaragua are compliant with no outstanding material issues.
Community & Government Relations
The Company continues to receive strong support for Runruno and La India from local communities and government agencies in both the Philippines and Nicaragua.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014, which forms part of United Kingdom domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (as amended). Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
END
For further information, please contact or visit:
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Metals Exploration PLC |
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Via BlytheRay |
+44 (0) 207 138 3204 |
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Nominated & Financial Adviser: |
STRAND HANSON LIMITED |
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James Spinney, James Dance, Rob Patrick |
+44 (0) 207 409 3494 |
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Joint Broker: |
HANNAM & PARTNERS |
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Matt Hasson, Franck Nganou |
+44 (0) 207 907 8500 |
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Joint Broker: |
PANMURE LIBERUM |
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Amrit Mahbubani, Scott Mathieson, Zak Wadud |
+44 (0) 203 100 2000 |
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Public Relations: |
BLYTHERAY |
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Megan Ray, Said Izagaren |
+44 (0) 207 138 3204 |
Web: www.metalsexploration.com
LinkedIn: Metals Exploration
Competent Person's Statement
Mr Maxwell Donald Tuesley, BSc (Hons) Economic Geology, a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (No 111470 and employee of the Company, has compiled, read and approved the technical disclosure in relation to the projects in this regulatory announcement in accordance with the AIM Rules - Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements relating to the estimated or expected future production, operating results, cash flows and costs and financial condition of Metals Exploration, planned work at the Company's projects and the expected results of such work contained herein are forward-looking statements which are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the potential returns of the Group, industry and markets in which the Group operates in, the Directors' beliefs and assumptions made by the Directors. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by words such as the following: "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "forecasts", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "assumes", "potential" or variations of such words and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements also include reference to events or conditions that will, would, may, could or should occur. Information concerning exploration results and mineral reserve and resource estimates may also be deemed to be forward-looking statements, as it constitutes a prediction of what might be found to be present when and if a project is actually developed.
These statements are not guarantees of future performance or the ability to identify and consummate investments and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict, qualify or quantify. Among the factors that could cause actual results or projections to differ materially include, without limitation: uncertainties related to raising sufficient financing to fund the planned work in a timely manner and on acceptable terms; changes in planned work resulting from logistical, technical or other factors; the possibility that results of work will not fulfil projections/expectations and realize the perceived potential of the Company's projects; uncertainties involved in the interpretation of drilling results and other tests and the estimation of gold reserves and resources; risk of accidents, equipment breakdowns and labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties or interruptions; the possibility of environmental issues at the Company's projects; the possibility of cost overruns or unanticipated expenses in work programs; the need to obtain permits and comply with environmental laws and regulations and other government requirements; fluctuations in the price of gold and other risks and uncertainties.
The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the Group's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based unless required to do so by applicable law or the AIM Rules.
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