Meridian Announces Álamo Discovery & High Grades
RNS Number : 3221E
Meridian Mining plc
14 May 2026
Meridian Announces The Discovery of Gold Mineralisation at Álamo and Reports Further High-Grade Results From Santa Helena Central
HIGHLIGHTS:
· Meridian's exploration programme discovers new high-grade gold at Álamo:
o CD-852 returns 3.5m @ 2.4g/t Au, 0.5% Cu, 9.5g/t Ag & 0.7% Zn from 108.9m;
o Peak gold assay of 8.8 g/t Au over 0.4m, with robust gold grades over multiple metres;
§ Structurally hosted gold mineralisation that remains open in all directions
§ Located on the western sector of the 1.6km Álamo trend;
· Infill drill programme at Santa Helena Central returns near-surface high-grade results:
o CD-854: 21.2m @ 1.5g/t Au, 1.2% Cu, 45.7g/t Ag & 6.0% Zn from 71.6m;
§ Incl. 10.7m @ 2.5g/t Au, 2.4% Cu, 76.7g/t Ag & 11.7% Zn from 73.0m;
o CD-853: 14.8m @ 1.5g/t Au, 1.6% Cu, 41.9g/t Ag & 5.8% Zn from 29.7m;
§ Incl. 6.9m @ 2.8g/t Au, 3.2% Cu, 78.0g/t Ag & 10.3% Zn from 32.8m;
o CD-849: 11.7m @ 2.2g/t Au, 1.8% Cu, 50.3g/t Ag & 3.9% Zn from 46.4m;
§ Incl. 5.3m @ 4.5g/t Au, 3.9% Cu, 103.7g/t Ag & 7.7% Zn from 47.4m; and
o Peak grades of 17.5 g/t Au (CD-840, 26.5 - 27.2m), 311g/t Ag (CD-847: 79.8 - 80.4m), 11.6% Cu (CD-833, 32.4 - 33.2m) and 22.1% Zn (79.8 - 80.4m) are among the highest ever recorded at Santa Helena Central
LONDON, United Kingdom, January 20, 2026 / Newsfile / Meridian Mining plc (LSE: MNO) (TSX: MNO) (FSE: N2E0) (Tradegate: N2E0) (OTCQX: MRRDF) ("Meridian" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the discovery of gold and base metal mineralisation at Álamo ("Álamo"), located at the southeastern end of the Cabaçal Au-Cu-Ag VMS belt ("Cabaçal") and only 1km from Santa Helena's infrastructure area (Figure 1). The exploration discovery hole, CD-852, intersected 3.5m @ 2.4g/t Au, 0.5% Cu, 9.5g/t Ag & 0.7% Zn from 108.9m. It represents a newly defined mineralised position, open along strike, up-dip and down-dip, along a 1.6km Induced Polarisation ("IP") anomaly.
The Company also reports results from Santa Helena Central's resource infill programme (Figure 1). The high-grade zones of gold-copper-silver and lead-zinc include CD-854's high-grade core of 10.7m @ 2.5g/t Au, 2.4% Cu, 76.7g/t Ag & 11.7% Zn from 73.0m. These results will be included in a future resource upgrade.
Mr. Gilbert Clark, CEO, comments: "The discovery of gold at Álamo is a tremendous result from one of our many exploration targets. The discovery hole, CD-852, is located on the western sector of the Álamo prospect and structurally overprints the mine sequence stratigraphy. The development of gold-dominant intersections is an element we see at the Cabaçal deposit to the northwest. If Álamo's success continues, it can only strengthen the potential of realising a second operational hub at the adjacent deposit of Santa Helena Central".
Álamo Gold Discovery
The Álamo trend represents a 1.6km eastern trend that connects to the west with the larger Santa Helena system. Hydrothermal processes are reflected by geophysical response with a positive chargeability anomaly (consistent with bedrock sulphides), and peak soil responses from past historical sampling of 820 ppm Cu, 1300 ppm Zn, 3040 ppm Pb, and up to 90 gold counts (gold specks in panned 5 litre soil sample).
CD-852's discovery represents a return to the evaluation of the opportunities that the Álamo trend presents, with recent drilling purposefully directed into the Santa Helena system's footwall position. In this underlying position below and to the east of the Santa Helena Central resource, historical drilling (JUCHD018, JUCHD014, JUCHD021) intercepted mineralisation, that although at low levels, signalled that a fertile hydrothermal system was present in the poorly tested lower position.
CD-852 was collared 240m from the limit of the Santa Helena Central resource model extent, and ~230m east of the mineralised position of the historical JUCHD021, that assayed trace level gold grades in the Santa Helena footwall position. CD-852 passed through an interlayered sequence of mafic and felsic meta-volcanics, and encountered multiple horizons with anomalous gold, base metal and/or pathfinder signatures. Gold-only zones were first encountered at 48.0 - 48.3m and 62.3 - 63.1m. A zinc-lead interval from 88.1 - 93.6m with higher Ba/Zr ratios and adjacent elevated Mo-Cd may mark an exhalative position. Importantly, the interval from 108.9 - 112.4m returned strong gold-silver mineralisation, with an intersection of 3.5m @ 2.4g/t Au, 0.5% Cu, 9.5g/t Ag & 0.7% Zn from 108.9m (Table 1; Figure 2). The peak gold grade reported was 8.8g/t Au over 0.4m from 110.8m. This is the highest gold grade encountered to date in the limited drill-testing of the Santa Helena footwall position. The interval has elevated base metals, but is overall a low-sulphur zone, with gold grades higher than those characteristic of the VMS-only event. The interval occurs in a zone of Na-depletion characteristic of hydrothermal leaching and is accompanied by an elevated pathfinder signal (Bi-Mo-Se-Cd). The mineralised interval is interpreted to dip moderately to the southwest and remains open.
Previously CD-431, drilled north of CD-852, returned 5.4m @ 0.4g/t Au, 27.8 g/t Ag, 0.4% Zn from 38.4m, in a shallow northerly dipping package. BHEM surveys of CD-431 and CD-432 (NSA) identified a modelled conductor extending over 40m+ along strike, that is the strongest BHEM response detected to date at Santa Helena, with a high conductivity of ~4200 Siemens. This will be tested as part of Álamo's ongoing 2026 exploration programme.
Table 1: CD-852 Álamo gold zone assay results.
| Hole_id | From | To | Interval | Samp-id | Cu pct | Au ppm | Ag ppm | Zn pct | Pb pct | S pct | Bi ppm | Se ppm |
| CD852 | 108.9 | 109.5 | 0.5 | CBDS126354 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 2.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 5 |
| CD852 | 109.5 | 109.9 | 0.4 | CBDS126356 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 12.6 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 2.4 | 5 |
| CD852 | 109.9 | 110.5 | 0.6 | CBDS126357 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 17.5 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 15.7 | 22 |
| CD852 | 110.5 | 110.8 | 0.3 | CBDS126358 | 0.7 | 4.9 | 9.7 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 2.6 | 14 |
| CD852 | 110.8 | 111.2 | 0.4 | CBDS126359 | 0.4 | 8.8 | 10.1 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 24 |
| CD852 | 111.2 | 111.5 | 0.3 | CBDS126360 | 0.1 | 4.4 | 11.7 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 4.5 | 11 |
| CD852 | 111.5 | 111.9 | 0.4 | CBDS126362 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 12.8 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 7.0 | 11 |
| CD852 | 111.9 | 112.4 | 0.5 | CBDS126363 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.5 |
| Hole-id | Dip | Azi | EOH (m) | Zone | Int (m) | Au (g/t) | Cu (%) | Ag (g/t) | Zn (%) | Pb (%) | From (m) |
| CD-858 | -85 | 004 | 44.8 | SHM | Concluded in Mining Void | ||||||
| 3.7 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 47.9 | 4.7 | 1.0 | 38.0 | |||||
| Including | 1.1 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 126.2 | 14.4 | 2.9 | 40.6 | ||||
| CD-855 | -85 | 175 | 76.3 | SHM | |||||||
| 22.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 25.8 | 2.6 | 0.5 | 31.0 | |||||
| Including | 14.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 37.5 | 3.7 | 0.7 | 34.7 | ||||
| Including | 7.3 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 46.5 | 5.5 | 1.0 | 34.7 | ||||
| Including | 1.2 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 106.9 | 11.6 | 1.9 | 40.5 | ||||
| Including | 1.7 | 1.8 | 2.6 | 91.2 | 5.6 | 0.8 | 46.4 | ||||
| 3.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 55.5 | |||||
| 5.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 61.5 | |||||
| CD-854 | -68 | 086 | 108.2 | SHM | |||||||
| 21.2 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 45.7 | 6.0 | 0.9 | 71.6 | |||||
| Including | 10.7 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 76.7 | 11.7 | 1.5 | 73.0 | ||||
| Including | 1.6 | 5.6 | 3.9 | 116.4 | 12.1 | 1.6 | 75.1 | ||||
| 2.4 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 97.0 | |||||
| CD-853 | -83 | 009 | 70.3 | ||||||||
| 14.8 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 41.9 | 5.8 | 0.8 | 29.7 | |||||
| Including | 8.7 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 67.5 | 9.2 | 1.3 | 32.8 | ||||
| Including | 6.9 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 78.0 | 10.3 | 1.4 | 32.8 | ||||
| 5.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 49.5 | |||||
| 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 60.1 | |||||
| CD-850 | -87 | 018 | 97.7 | SHM | |||||||
| 15.0 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 41.4 | 3.5 | 0.8 | 75.4 | |||||
| Including | 8.6 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 69.0 | 5.4 | 1.2 | 78.0 | ||||
| Including | 5.0 | 2.5 | 2.0 | 74.2 | 9.0 | 1.5 | 78.4 | ||||
| Including | 1.1 | 6.2 | 3.4 | 139.3 | 8.2 | 1.1 | 81.0 | ||||
| CD-849 | -80 | 188 | 76.1 | SHM | |||||||
| 11.7 | 2.2 | 1.8 | 50.3 | 3.9 | 0.6 | 46.4 | |||||
| Including | 5.3 | 4.5 | 3.9 | 103.7 | 7.7 | 1.2 | 47.4 | ||||
| 4.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 60.9 | |||||
| 0.9 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 2.7 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 70.4 | |||||
| CD-847 | -72 | 036 | 131.5 | SHM | |||||||
| 20.2 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 49.3 | 9.7 | 1.3 | 54.2 | |||||
| Including | 12.3 | 1.2 | 1.8 | 70.5 | 13.3 | 1.8 | 59.8 | ||||
| 7.5 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 38.8 | 2.8 | 1.0 | 78.4 | |||||
| Including | 0.8 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 275.6 | 20.0 | 7.7 | 79.8 | ||||
| 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 15.5 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 88.4 | |||||
| 2.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 93.6 | |||||
| 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 8.9 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 114.0 | |||||
| CD-845 | -89 | 000 | 114.2 | SHM | |||||||
| 13.5 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 48.9 | 6.4 | 0.9 | 77.5 | |||||
| Including | 9.9 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 64.8 | 8.6 | 1.3 | 77.8 | ||||
| Including | 6.5 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 78.6 | 13.1 | 1.7 | 77.8 | ||||
| 2.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 97.2 | |||||
| 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 15.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 104.4 | |||||
| CD-844 | -86 | 187 | 87.1 | SHM | |||||||
| 2.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 65.5 | |||||
| 8.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 12.1 | 2.1 | 0.3 | 75.3 | |||||
| Including | 0.8 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 102.0 | 16.7 | 2.1 | 76.0 | ||||
| CD-843 | -87 | 011 | 97.3 | SHM | |||||||
| 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 4.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 53.5 | |||||
| 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 66.9 | |||||
| 2.4 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 36.3 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 79.3 | |||||
| 3.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 0.0 | 87.7 | |||||
| CD-840 | -21 | 035 | 100.2 | SHM | |||||||
| 13.2 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 22.9 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 21.0 | |||||
| Including | 2.1 | 7.8 | 1.1 | 120.4 | 5.8 | 1.4 | 25.6 | ||||
| Including | 1.3 | 12.5 | 1.2 | 142.3 | 6.9 | 1.3 | 25.9 | ||||
| 2.6 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 38.4 | |||||
| 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 43.9 | |||||
| CD-839 | -70 | 035 | 70.1 | SHM | |||||||
| 15.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 11.6 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 22.8 | |||||
| Including | 4.3 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 35.9 | 7.4 | 1.4 | 28.9 | ||||
| 1.5 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 4.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 42.5 | |||||
| 6.8 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 14.9 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 47.7 | |||||
| CD-834 | -75 | 213 | 35.1 | SHM | |||||||
| 2.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 5.5 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 0.0 | |||||
| 6.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 4.6 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 17.0 | |||||
| 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 4.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 26.6 | |||||
| 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 30.1 | |||||
| CD-833 | -20 | 035 | 122.2 | SHM | |||||||
| 6.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 2.2 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 10.5 | |||||
| 21.2 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 17.8 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 24.9 | |||||
| Including | 5.1 | 4.0 | 2.1 | 66.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 28.7 | ||||
| Including | 0.8 | 16.1 | 11.6 | 228.0 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 32.4 | ||||
| 3.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 50.2 | |||||
| 1.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 3.8 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 58.6 | |||||
| 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 64.0 | |||||
| 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 88.7 | |||||
| 5.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 96.6 | |||||
| CD-831 | -40 | 265 | 64.0 | SHM | |||||||
| 6.7 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 6.1 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 11.0 | |||||
| 5.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 16.7 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 21.7 | |||||
| 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 12.3 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 32.7 | |||||
| 8.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 9.0 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 40.7 | |||||
| CD-830 | -60 | 217 | 55.4 | SHM | |||||||
| 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 12.4 | |||||
| 8.9 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 13.8 | 1.6 | 0.2 | 17.7 | |||||
| Including | 1.6 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 62.1 | 7.0 | 0.9 | 21.6 | ||||
| 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 11.9 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 31.4 | |||||
| 2.1 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 2.9 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 35.0 | |||||
| 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 41.2 | |||||
| CD-827 | -59 | 034 | 74.8 | SHM | |||||||
| 0.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 18.2 | |||||
| 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 22.0 | |||||
| 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 40.3 | |||||
| 2.6 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 32.0 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 45.4 | |||||
| 8.8 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 5.8 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 52.2 | |||||
| 1.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 10.7 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 64.5 | |||||
| CD-824 | -74 | 214 | 65.0 | SHM | |||||||
| 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 19.0 | |||||
| 3.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 26.0 | |||||
| 8.3 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 11.7 | 1.9 | 0.3 | 32.1 | |||||
| Including | 2.9 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 19.0 | 3.5 | 0.6 | 37.1 | ||||
| Including | 1.1 | 2.7 | 1.2 | 38.3 | 6.6 | 1.0 | 37.1 | ||||
| 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 5.9 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 43.0 | |||||
| 5.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 47.0 | |||||
| 3.0 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 9.8 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 55.0 | |||||
| Hole-id | Dip | Azi | EOH (m) | Zone | Int | Au (g/t) | Cu (%) | Ag (g/t) | Zn (%) | From (m) |
| CD-852 | -60 | 045 | 270.6 | Alamo | ||||||
| 3.5 | 2.4 | 0.5 | 9.5 | 0.7 | 108.9 | |||||
| Including | 1.1 | 6.3 | 0.4 | 10.4 | 1.5 | 110.5 | ||||
| CD-825 | -71 | 213 | 106.5 | SH South | ||||||
| 1.3 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 0.0 | 22.9 | |||||
| 6.5 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 26.4 | |||||
| 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 57.2 | |||||
| 6.7 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 72.0 | |||||
| CD-819 | 46 | 181 | 129.9 | Sucuri | ||||||
| 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 0.0 | 89.9 | |||||
| 1.9 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 93.2 | |||||
| 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 2.2 | 0.3 | 98.1 | |||||
| CD-816 | 45 | 182 | 106.0 | Sucuri | ||||||
| 2.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 4.9 | 0.0 | 25.3 | |||||
| Including | 1.1 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 8.8 | 0.0 | 25.3 | ||||
| 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 0.0 | 34.9 | |||||
| 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 83.5 | |||||
| 3.7 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 0.2 | 99.1 | |||||
| Including | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 9.4 | 0.4 | 101.4 | ||||
| CD-795 | 21 | 215 | 150.0 | Sucuri | NSI | |||||
| CD-767 | -44 | 030 | 85.1 | Alamo | NSI | |||||
| CD-762 | -80 | 028 | 90.1 | Alamo | ||||||
| 3.3 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 2.6 | 0.1 | 34.3 | |||||
| 1.7 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 48.0 | |||||
| 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 51.2 | |||||